'It makes us better': Durfee football rolled by Taunton in Mansfield; eyes bounceback win

MANSFIELD — For much of the week, the question was where the annual non-league matchup between Taunton and Durfee would take place.

Initially scheduled to be the Tigers' home opener on the new turf field at Aleixo “Tiger” Stadium Friday night, supply chain issues caused delays to the track’s completion, forcing Taunton to find a new home for the game. Originally they thought they’d be playing at W.B. Mason Stadium, home of the newly Division I FCS Stonehill College Skyhawks, but then those hopes were dashed when, according to Stonehill, a “mid-level employee” cancelled the game without authorization after reading reports of last week’s Taunton-New Bedford game having to be called off after three quarters due to an incident that began outside the stadium, from which no arrests were made.

“Stonehill College's Conference & Event Services staff this week withdrew an invitation to Taunton High School's football team to play on our field in error, which we deeply regret,” the college wrote in a press release to the Taunton Daily Gazette.

“I am very disappointed for the kids of Taunton and the parents and the whole Taunton community,” Taunton Superintendent of Schools and Durfee graduate John Cabral told the Gazette. “Everyone was very excited to have the game at a great college campus with wonderful facilities like Stonehill, and we’ve had a great relationship with Stonehill, but it’s very disappointing with the way it all transpired… If there were concerns, I wish we could have talked about it with the school and had a chance to address those concerns.”

Durfee coach Taylor Brown expressed a similar sentiment of disappointment.

“It’s unfortunate we couldn’t play at Stonehill because I was looking forward to bringing the kids up there and experiencing the college atmosphere and (playing in a) college stadium so it’s unfortunate that they couldn’t host us,” Brown said.

At the last moment, Mansfield High School Athletic Director Tim Selmon offered use of the school’s Alumni Field for the matchup, as well as Taunton’s Week 3 game against Middleboro. The move however would have little affect on the scoreline as the Hilltoppers were shut down by a dominant Tiger team on both sides of the ball, 41-0, and fall to 0-2 on the year.

“We knew all week long that it was going to be a tough matchup up front and especially with the skill level,” Brown said. “They’re well coached, they’re a good team and I think they’re going to be right in the mix in the Hockomock this year.”

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The Durfee defense proved no match for the potent Taunton offense as quarterback Jacob Leonard went six-of-seven for 142 passing yards and three touchdowns, two of which went to wide receiver Jose Touron, who had three catches for 72 yards, and the other a 25 yard pass to Braden Mullen on his only catch of the day.

Running back Malachi Johnson also performed well on the ground as he had four carries for 95 yards and a pair of touchdowns while Bryan Batista had five carries for 27 yards.

For the Hilltoppers, starting quarterback Eli Chase was two-of-six for two yards and an interception while also recording a carry for two yards. He was replaced by Keith Strong in the second quarter, who was one-for-four with seven yards and two interceptions as well as seven carries for 22 yards split between his snaps at running back and quarterback.

In the backfield, Miguelangel Mercado had five Carrie’s for 17 yards.

“We knew all week it was going to be a battle,” Brown said. “We knew we couldn’t make mental mistakes and we had to be more physical and I think that wasn’t the case today, but it’s a rebuilding process for us and we just want to make sure that the kids play hard until the end and improve every practice and every play and that’s what we’re trying to get across to the group, so I’m happy with the effort with the guys who continued to fight until the final whistle and that’s what we’re going to roll with.”

After a three and out for the Hilltoppers to start the game, it took the Tigers just three plays before they found the end zone as Leonard connected with Mullen for a 25-yard touchdown with 8:39 left in the first quarter, with the successful extra point attempt by Johnny Escobalez making it 7-0.

Durfee dug deeper into Taunton territory on their next drive, aided by a pair of penalties, making it to the Tigers’ 33 yard line before Anthony Pettijohn picked off Chase at the host’s eight yard line.

“(That) was a really nice interception by Pettijohn that kind got everything going ahead,” Sidwell said. “We scored and they started driving down field and we had a couple of penalties and it was like ‘ugh we’re falling into this rut,’ but then that play kicked it into the whole rest of the game.”

Taunton capitalized on the opportunity, quickly driving down the field before Leonard connected with Touron for a 20-yard touchdown to make it 14-0 Tigers after the successful extra point attempt from Escobalez with 0:01 left in the opening quarter.

It only took six seconds for the hosts to find the end zone again as after a quick three and out for the Hilltoppers, a bad snap was fumbled by punter Lucas Couto and scooped up by Peter Moor, who ran it from 26 out to make it 21-0 after the extra point with 10:55 left in the half.

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The Tigers turned up the notch even further as they scored on their next two drives, first when Leonard found Touron in the end zone from 40 yards out to make it 28-0 after the extra point with 7:46 left in the half and then Johnson ran it in on the next Taunton drive from 15 out to make it 34-0 with 5:39, which it would stay at for the remainder of the half as Escobalez’s extra point attempt went wide.

The Tigers continued their domination early in the second half as after Batista returned the kickoff to the Taunton 45, Johnson broke through on the first play and drove in the ball from 55 yards out making it 41-0 after the extra point with 11:40 left in the third quarter.

From there, despite usually needing to meet a 42-0 criteria, the coaches and officials agreed to let the clock run down due to the wide gap, with each side having one more drive and the Tigers’ junior varsity offense playing the entirety of the fourth quarter as Durfee fell to 0-2 on the young season.

Despite being 0-2 after back-to-back defeats to Hockomock Kelley-Rex members Attleboro and Taunton, Brown said he feels the experience of playing such tough competition will pay off in the long run for his young players.

“I don’t see how it cannot help us,” Brown said. “Two big, physical teams with skill guys all over the place, it makes us better. Regardless of the outcome, (playing those teams) is going to make us better going into our league play and that’s what we hope for.”

They’ll now look to get in the win column next Friday as they host non-league foes Somerset Berkley, who also played Saturday as they defeated Lawrence 48-22 on the road to improve to 1-1 on the season.

“We’ve had some pretty great battles with them through the years and I think we’ve had their number the past couple of years, so I think they’re going to be coming out wanting to put it to us,” Brown said. “We think they’re a physical football team as well, they run the double wing (offense) and they run it well, so going into that game we’ve got to match up and be more physical and fly around to the football and look at the mistakes like every other game.”

The Hilltoppers are set to host the Raiders next Friday with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m.

Taunton Daily Gazette and Herald News sports reporter Cameron Merritt can be reached at cmerritt@tauntongazette.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @CamMerritt_News. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to the Taunton Daily Gazette or The Herald News today.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Durfee football rolled by Taunton in Mansfield