Scituate manhandles Canton to win D5 South crown

Scituate	21
Canton	0

SCITUATE — On a rainy Friday night for the Division 5 South sectional final, third-seeded Scituate weathered the storm, setting the tone with an opening-drive touchdown and shutting down fourth-seeded Canton’s high-powered running game in a 21-0 victory.

Scituate captured the school’s first sectional title and will make a second appearance in the EMass Division 5 championship against the winner of Saturday’s Swampscott-Amesbury North final.

“Absolutely proud of our guys,” said Scituate coach Herb Devine. “First sectional title here and our team was ready to play tonight. They just made smart plays all night long.”

With the wet weather potentially a major obstacle to Scituate’s passing offense, quarterback Aidan Sullivan battled through the elements. On Scituate’s first drive, Sullivan completed all three of his passes for 54 yards, setting up a 5-yard touchdown run by junior Will Sheskey on the eighth play from scrimmage.

Sheskey finished with 142 yards rushing and a touchdown on 26 carries.

“It was big because personally I think a lot of teams underestimate us a little bit,” said Devine. “I loved that they went down and executed, we had a pretty good script to go down the first series.”

Sheskey added a second touchdown through the air in the second quarter to extend the Sailors’ lead. After Sullivan read the Canton blitz and called an audible into a short drop pass, he found Sheskey for a 62-yard catch-and-run.

Despite the conditions, Sullivan was 10-for-15 passing for 220 yards and one touchdown. He also added a late fourth-quarter rushing score to seal the win.

“It was a bit of a screen,” said Sheskey of his touchdown catch. “When I saw they were bringing six [rushers], I turned and Aidan saw me. I had the big guys down field helping me out so overall it was just a great play by everyone.”

The Scituate defense held Canton to just 112 yards of total offense. With Canton threatening to get on the board late in the first half, Scituate senior Jack Ruble picked off a pass from Bulldogs quarterback Johnny Hagan at the goal line.

“Our defensive performance was A-plus all night long,” said Devine. “We had to do everything we could to shut them down and that was the focus.”

PIVOTAL PLAY: Early in the second quarter, Scituate quarterback Aidan Sullivan hit Will Sheskey on a 62-yard touchdown catch-and-run to put the Sailors ahead, 14-0.