Sophomore Sawyer Bosch’s running game and his 3 touchdowns on the night were a key component to the Rangers’ commanding win over the Lowell Red Arrows 33-8. Sawyer was a constant threat to the Lowell defense throughout the game. After having solid run after solid run, a breakout play was bound to happen.

With the Rangers leading 20-0 as 6:55 remained on the clock in the first half, the team was looking for a big play to put the game to bed early. As the snap was taken out of the shotgun, sophomore quarterback Maguire Mahacek took the ball, handed it off to his offensive counterpart, and watched the play develop. Starting from the 47-yard line, Sawyer beat a defender, broke some tackles, and found the right edge with nothing but green grass ahead of him for the score.

“[That touchdown play] felt great,” Sawyer said. “We are very happy to beat Lowell. We came in knowing it may be a hard game, but it was a little easier than we thought because we just powered through.”

From the beginning the Rangers dominated the line of scrimmage, driving down the field at will using their strong run game.

“We really controlled the line of scrimmage,” sophomore George Cobb said. “Our offensive and defensive line played a great game, which was definitely a key to success.”

In the first quarter, the Ranger offense ran straight through the defensive line from Lowell. The game started quickly with a touchdown, as the Rangers returned the opening kickoff and drove to the 25-yard line, where Sawyer and his offensive line took over and scored to make it 7-0.

Continuing on, the FHC defense forced a fumble on their first play to put the Rangers in easy scoring position. From there, Maguire took it in himself for the 1-yard touchdown. Still in the first quarter, the Red Arrows fumbled once again; however, once the Rangers got the ball, they were stopped at the 15-yard line on third down, giving them a tough fourth-down opportunity. On the pressure of fourth and long, Maguire threw a perfect pass to sophomore Isaac Gurley for the 15-yard score. For Maguire and company, things came easily from there.

“We just overpowered [Lowell] and won, simple as that,” Maguire said.

Defensively, the Ranger defense got continuous stops. The stellar defensive line play from sophomores Mason Wiltz, Aidan Paciorek, and Jason Downey forced 2 turnovers on downs in the second quarter, with even more coming in the second half. Besides the stops, the fumble recoveries were no less important, as the fumbles led to key offensive scores. After another fourth down stop, Sawyer’s aforementioned 47-yard run brought the lead to 26-0 at the half.

Sawyer came out into the second half still hungry for more, as he continued to drive through the Lowell defense. He had, once again, another big run from 35 yards out to get the final score of the second half and secure the 33-8 FHC victory. After this touchdown, the game slowed down as the rotation players started to fill in. Stellar performances from everyone on the team, even in the second half, led to holding the Red Arrows to a near shutout.

“Our team played very well tonight,” Head coach Ty Hallock said. “They looked very good on offense, defense, and special teams, which is exactly what the coach would like to see.”

Specifically, the offensive line played great, as their great blocking led to easy runs for the running backs down the field. Sophomore offensive lineman Sam Tuori and his teammates on the line played exactly how they needed to for this big win.

“The offensive line was really working hard this week in practice, and it’s really good to know our hard work paid off,” Sam said.

For the final game next week, the Rangers will be looking to close the season off with a win they can look back upon as a fond memory. The team will be looking to perform at higher levels and gain momentum going into next year.

“My only negative for the season is at times we have not executed at the highest level we could,” Hallock said. “Although we have a few guys that are up on varsity, [this season] has been a great opportunity for the rest of the guys to step up.”