By Austin Mendes
Bears pose with the Thanksgiving trophy following their win
FALL RIVER - GNB Voc-Tech’s drive home from Diman Voc-Tech on Thanksgiving Day will be a celebratory one. The Bears rolled into Diman Regional with sights set forth onto their large vocational Super Bowl matchup against Northeast Metro Voc-Tech in the upcoming week. But first, the Bears had business to take care first. Following the lead of senior running back Rylan Rose, who was returning from an absence the prior week due to a sickness. “Having a full week of practice, it’s great having what he [Rylan Rose] and Elijah Raymond do.”
HOW IT HAPPENED: New Bedford Voke held Diman on the opening drive of the game after Elijah Raymond broke up what was sure to be a touchdown. The next play, Bears Running back Avery Sylvia took a rush to the right 71 yards for a touchdown. Diman however, would respond with a strong drive by senior Jayden Massey, which would end with a touchdown connection between quarterback Jacob Furtado and receiver Alex Rivest from 26 yards out. “Replacing Jacob and Rivet, our home run hitter will be tough to replace next year.” said Coach Bahry.
GNB Voc-Tech quarterback Cam Lynch would respond with a 60-yard touchdown of his own. “The line opened the holes, and the backs were able to get the job done.” said Lynch. Getting the ball back after a 10-yard loss by Furtado on a sack from Jerry Vasconcelos, Rose would punch in his first touchdown of the game with a 52-yard run. Another three-and-out by Diman left the ball back in the hands of Greater New Bedford Voke.
The first play with the ball back, Rylan Rose would capitalize for the Bears as another big rush, this time for 57 yards would go for six. A big defensive series from Bear Cyle Bulgar would give the Bears the ball back, where they would go into the halftime break with a 28-7 advantage over Diman. A surprise onside kick by Diman would give them the ball to start the second half, where the Bears defense would stand tall and stop a charging Diman team.
Voke returning to their sideline following a halftime speech
Another big run by Cam Lynch for 47 yards would set up the Bears offense for the next play. As Lynch would connect with a leaping Aziz Ba for a 16-yard touchdown pass. The 35-7 lead for the Bears would put pressure on Diman. Jayden Massey would score a 36 yard touchdown in hopes of sparking a comeback for the Bengals. A fumble forced by Bengal Devyn Arruda would give them the ball back.
The Bears defense continued to shine with another defensive stop. Rylan Rose would top off his hat trick with his 3rd touchdown on the day when Voke got the ball back, this time from 14 yards out. A garbage time touchdown for Jacob Furtado on a 10 yard pass connection with Alex Rivest would not be enough for the Bengals, as the GNBVT Bears would win the Thanksgiving matchup 41-21. The win would be Voke’s 7th on the season, and give them momentum ahead of their matchup against Northeast Metro Voke next week.
Bears raise the trophy in celebration following their win.
WHAT IT MEANS: The Bears (7-4) win the Superintendent’s Trophy against their Thanksgiving rival Diman Bengals. The Bears will play on for one more week as they will battle Northeast Metro Voke next Friday for the MVADA large vocational Super Bowl.
KEY PLAY: GNB Voc-Tech Running Back Rylan Rose broke through a line of Diman defenders and sped off for a 52-yard touchdown run to give Voke a 21-7 lead in the second quarter.
PIVOTAL SEQUENCE: On the first drive of the 2nd half following Diman’s onside kick recovery, the Bears defense stood strong in their own red zone and did not allow Diman to score, which would have put Diman back in the game.
SOUTHCOASTVARSITY PLAYER OF THE GAME:
GNB Voc-Tech Senior Running Back Rylan Rose accounted for 3 of the Bears’ 6 touchdowns. He accumulated 170 yards on 8 rushes. “My teammate [Elijah] gave me the drive to do well in this game. The offensive line opened the holes for us to make the plays we needed.” said Rose following the game.
GNBV COACH CRUZ REFLECTING ON THE WIN: “Our run game worked really well with, we leaned on them for success.” said Coach Cruz. “The fact that we get an extra week to play together, a lot of these seniors, who missed half of a season last year due to COVID, being able to play for a vocational championship, it is great for the kids and great for the program.” when asked about his upcoming game against Northeast Metro Voke.
DIMAN COACH BAHRY FOLLOWING THE GAME: “We have a lot of really good young guys who got good varsity experience, hitting the weight room will help us a lot preparing for next year. I feel good, these kids are hard workers.” said Diman Coach Bahry when asked about looking ahead to next season.
GNBVT TEAM STATS: GNB Voc-Tech accounted for 482 total yards. 439 rushing yards, and 43 passing yards
DIMAN TEAM STATS: Diman RVT accounted for 298 total yards. 104 passing yards, and 194 rushing yards
NOTES: This was the first game back for Rylan Rose following his absence the week prior due to a sickness. Diman RB Jayden Massey surpassed 1,000 yards on the season.
GNB VOC-TECH 42, DIMAN 21
GNB VOC-TECH;7;21;7;7 — 42
DIMAN;7;0;0;14 — 21
Scoring
First Quarter
GNBVT: Avery Sylvia 71 yard rush for a touchdown. (Connor McManus kick) 6:49
DIMAN: Jacob Furtado to Alex Rivest for a 26 yard touchdown pass. (Chaplin Dean kick) 2:18
Second Quarter
GNBVT: Cam Lynch 60 yard touchdown rush. (Connor McManus kick) 11:49
GNBVT: Rylan Rose 52 yard touchdown run. (Connor McManus kick) 8:31
GNBVT: Rylan Rose 57 yard touchdown run. (Connor McManus kick) 6:22
Third Quarter
GNBVT: Cam Lynch - Aziz Ba 16 yard touchdown pass and catch. (Connor McManus kick) 3:01
Fourth Quarter
DIMAN: Jayden Massey 36 yard touchdown run. (Chapin Dean kick) 11:42
GNBVT: Rylan Rose touchdown run from 14 yards out. (Connor McManus kick) 5:31
DIMAN: Jacob Furtado to Alex Rivest for a 10 yard touchdown (Chaplin Dean kick) 2:03
Individual Statistics
Rushing —
DIMAN: Jayden Massey 27-149-1, Aiden Dumond 5-26, Jacob Furtado 4-19
GNBVT: Rylan Rose 8-170-3, Cam Lynch 7-134-1, Avery Sylvia 5-110-1, Joseph Brightman 4-21, Elijah Raymond 2-7, Jhaden Reis 1-1, Odelio Benique 1-(-4)
Passing —
DIMAN: Jacob Furtado 9-27-104-2-0 GNBVT: Cam Lynch 3-4-43-1-0
Receiving —
DIMAN: Alex Rivet 3-60-2, Jayden Massey 3-26, Samuel Perry 2-14, Byron Bell 1-14
GNBVT: Aziz Ba 2-29-1, Jacob Raggiani 1-14
Defense -
GNBVT: Jerry Vasconcelos: 2 sacks, Jared Quann: 1 Pass Break up, Elijah Raymond: 1 Pass Break up, Cyle Bulger: 1 Pass Break up
DIMAN: Byron Bell: 1 Pass Break up, Forced Fumble by Devyn Arruda, Noah Desmarais: 1 sack
Special Teams -
GNBVT: McManus 6-6 PAT, Elijah Raymond 16 return yards
DIMAN: Chapin Dean 3-3 PAT, Alex Rivest 48 return yards, Samuel Perry 43 return yards, Byron Bell - 5 return yards
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Thank you to Greater New Bedford Voc-Tech's Athletic Director Ryan Methia for his help with the game. Thank you to my dad for his help covering the game as well! This is my first article being published by Southcoast Today. Best of luck next week to Greater New Bedford Voc-Tech. Hope you enjoyed, Happy Thanksgiving. (Photos in this article are not the same as the newspaper.)
Thank you for taking your time to read this article!
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