Dedham Escapes Braintree in Opener

The Dedham Marauders kicked of football season on a positive note with a 12-8 victory against Braintree Saturday afternoon. After a first half offensive struggle for Dedham saw them trail 8-0 at the intermission, the Marauders put up 12 unanswered points in the second half and held on late to seal the win.

The first score of the game for the Marauders came with 2:50 left in the third quarter when running back Shane Lowe muscled in a three-yard touchdown. Lowe carried the load on the ground for Dedham, rushing the ball 24 times for 168 yards.

"I knew we were going to try and run a lot and drive the ball down the field today because that's our best game," said Lowe. I give all the credit to the line; without them, I wouldn't have done any of this."

Complimenting the aggressive ground game was captain and senior quarterback Dan O'Connor. O'Connor completed seven of eight second half passes for 82 yards, including the winning touchdown to fellow captain Brian Coakley with three and a half minutes left in the game.

O'Connor bounced back with the touchdown after ending a scoring opportunity in the third quarter with an interception just in front of the end zone. O'Connor talked about how he battled back and won the game for his team.

"I've thrown some interceptions before so I know how to come back from them," said the second year starter, O'Connor. "You just have to stay in there, stay tough and keep fighting. You can't look at the past, you have to keep looking forward."

The Dedham defense rallied behind O'Connor in the second half and buckled down, not allowing a single point. With just about two minutes remaining in the game, the defense stopped the Womps deep in their own territory and forced a punt. After a three-and-out for Dedham, combined with three Braintree timeouts, Dedham was then forced to punt. The punt was blocked, giving Braintree tremendous field position. However, the Marauder defense came up huge once again, forcing a fumble and regaining possession, eventually running out the clock.

Dedham head coach Keith Comeau talks about how tough hisdefense played after surrendering a first half touchdown.

"We could've crumbled a bit after letting up that early score but we put our backs against the wall and fought back," he said.

The win keeps Dedham heading in the right direction after two consecutive wins to finish last season.

"It's good to get off on the right foot," Comeau added. It's nice to have a '1-0' after our name. "

Dedham's next game will be against Natick on Thursday at 6 pm.