Gloucester Fishermen capture shutout victory over Auburn

Last Friday, the Gloucester Fishermen Football program made history — ending an 8-year long drought without a playoff win. 

“The ‘Stew’ was fantastic,” Head Coach Daniel O’Connor said when asked about the atmosphere at Newell Stadium. “They’ve been fantastic all year. The players really love it…I’d say it helped a lot.”

For the first time this year, Auburn’s explosive offense was completely shutout, not even sniffing the end zone in Newell Stadium. The cold and windy night certainly contributed to the lack of success from the Rockets. Whipping winds would force them to turn to the run game on the legs of Brayden Belanger, fresh off of an ankle injury. 

Luckily, these conditions are exactly where the Fishermen thrive. Max Thomas and Kaleb Allen both had monster nights, with the former collecting a handful of tackles for loss, as well as a forced fumble and a sequential recovery. 

Thomas would see a much different workload on the other side of the ball, wearing number 87 as a tight end. In relief of wide receiver Cameron Olsen who suffered an ankle injury in the season finale against Winthrop, Gavin Bren would fill the role of designated wideout. 

The Fishermen offense saw most of their success running to the edges of the line, with Joseph Allen and Jaylen Severino finding bountiful chunked runs. Joseph Allen recorded 77 rushing yards and a touchdown, while Jaylen Severino would put up 169 yards off of 15 rushes and two touchdowns. One of Severino’s touchdowns would come off of a reverse as time expired in the first half. 

“I think Jaylen’s touchdown at the end of the first half [was one of the biggest plays of the game],” O’Connor said. “You know, we’re just trying to take the thing down to the end. His athleticism [is key]. He takes that one for a long touchdown to make it a three-score game. It’s a bad thing for [the Rockets]. [It was] such a good play for us.”

While the second half was relatively quiet from both sides offensively, the Fishermen defense would hold strong, while penalties would kill Gloucester’s offensive efforts.

On Friday, the Fishermen will travel to Foxborough to take on the #2 Warriors, a strong competitor. As the second seed, the Warriors have only lost two games, including one to Division Two favorites, King Philip Regional High School. They boast a strong run game and a quarterback with running ability unlike any that the Fishermen have faced up to this point. 

“It’s playoff time,” O’Connor said when asked about the Week 2 challenge down in Foxborough. “It’s football. It’s one play at a time. We gotta study, we have to have a good week of practice, and we just have to get after them.”

Come support the Fishermen on Friday at 6 P.M. at Ahern Middle School as they take on Foxborough!

Gallery • 11 Photos

Aleena Brown

Auburn's quarterback grabs junior Nash Marshall's mask during a pass attempt.