Three weeks ago, Joseph Case took Fairhaven down to the wire before ultimately falling to the reigning Division 6 state champions.
Cardinals star Aedan Borges wasn’t going to suffer the same fate twice.
On Thursday night, the 11th-seeded Cardinals flipped the script on the sixth-seeded Blue Devils, with Borges scoring six times in a 42-37 first-round win to advance to the Division 6 quarterfinals. It was Case’s first playoff win since 1992.
Last month’s 45-37 South Coast Conference loss to Fairhaven, which had reached the Super Bowl every year since 2023, gave the Cardinals (8-2) confidence.
“We knew after three weeks ago that we could fight with [Fairhaven]” said first-year Case coach Mike Cloutier. “No disrespect to Fairhaven, they’re a great team and they’re well coached, but we were just sick of Fairhaven.”
Ultimately, the decisive score came on the defensive end. With seven minutes remaining, Borges grabbed a fumble and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown to put the Cardinals ahead, 42-31.
“I was playing the pitch and the ball just popped right into my hands. I made the quarterback fall, and I was able to get into the end zone,” said Borges.
Fairhaven (8-1) would not go down lightly. Jackson Williams broke loose for a 66-yard touchdown just 79 seconds later to cut the deficit to 5.
Fairhaven’s defense followed by stuffing Borges on a fourth-down run to get the ball back.
The Blue Devils got as far as the Case 25-yard line, but ultimately fell short and turned the ball over on downs.
“We had such a strong summer,” said Cloutier. “[Borges] bought into everything we’ve been preaching. The other kids follow him and what he did tonight wasn’t human. This, tonight, was the most amazing win of my life.”
Fairhaven built two-score leads twice in the first half, 13-0 and 19-7, but the Cardinals remained poised and leaned on Borges (182 rushing yards), who scored two first-half touchdowns, the second of which trimmed the deficit to 19-14 with 80 seconds left before halftime.
To open the second half, Borges scored on a designed run to the right from 69 yards out to give the Cardinals their first lead, 21-19.
“This is crazy,” said Borges. “Freshman year, we knew this would be a good group. We all bought in and this is what comes out of it. It was a great win.”
Later in the third quarter, Cooper Watson recovered a Fairhaven fumble and Borges again found the end zone from 1 yard out to extend the lead to 28-19. The key play on the short drive was a 30-yard pass from Borges to Aaron Sellers on fourth down.
Fairhaven outgained Joseph Case 540-265 in the game, but failed to convert on 5-of-6 extra-point attempts. Jackson Ponte carried the ball 22 times for 217 yards and running back Maddox Joseph ran for 118 yards on 31 carries.
Case will face third-seeded Abington in the quarterfinals.
“Fairhaven’s been bullying D6 for years now and I think somebody needed to shut them up and that’s where we came to play,” Borges.
