FOXBOROUGH — It was midway through the third quarter when J.B. Mills dropped back to pass deep in Amherst Regional’s own end of the field.
He took the snap out of the shotgun and surveyed the field from inside the Hurricanes’ end zone.
Mills looked to his right at receiver CJ Woodfine-Holmes running down the seam, but he was tightly defended by a Swampscott defender.
By the time Mills looked to his left, three Big Blue defenders were in the backfield and flushing him out of the pocket. Mills threw an incomplete pass before Swampscott’s Dylan January wrapped him up and brought him to the turf.
“The pass rush was overwhelming,” Mills said. “We were having a tough time picking up their blitz. … The rest of the year we have dominated teams physically. … The pass rush, blitz and strength of those guys was a big step up. You have to give them a lot of credit.”
Swampscott’s pass rush led the Big Blue to victory over the Hurricanes, 21-0, in the Division 5 Super Bowl on Saturday at Gillette Stadium.
“They sent the blitz more than we were expecting,” Amherst coach Chris Ehorn Jr. said. “At the same time, it’s the state championship game. They’re coming with everything they’ve got. I should have had our guys ready for it.”
Throughout the season, the Hurricanes used reads as plays developed on offense to decide who needed to be blocked. Right before the ball was snapped, Swampscott’s defensive line shifted to confuse the Hurricanes’ offensive line. After the ball was snapped, Swampscott’s defensive ends used a delayed rush to find gaps and get into the backfield.
“We had a bunch of blitzes and we put a bunch of people in binds with them,” Swampscott linebacker Nick Reiser said.
Mills is a mobile quarterback who made plays with his legs for the Hurricanes this season, but the collective speed and size of Swampscott’s front seven flushed him out of the pocket multiple times and brought him down behind the line of scrimmage.
“They ran a lot of stunts that were tough for us to block. It didn’t go our way today,” Amherst lineman Jack Nagy said. “Sometimes, in western Mass., J.B. would be able to outrun some of those guys. Today it just didn’t quite work.”
Swampscott’s defense forced two turnovers during Saturday’s game. Mills threw an interception in the end zone at the end of the first half. Late in the fourth quarter with Amherst trailing 21-0, Mills was strip sacked in the Hurricanes end of the field.
Amherst got into the red zone midway through the third quarter with help from back-to-back personal fouls from Swampscott, but the drive ended with Mills’ interception. It was the only time the Hurricanes’ offense got inside Swampscott’s 25-yard line.
Amherst’s biggest offensive play of the game came on its first drive with a 12-yard run from Dan Block. The Hurricanes’ finished the game with 53 total yards: 12 on the ground and 41 through the air. Mills threw for 41 yards on 6 of 22 passing.
“I think a lot of it’s momentum,” Ehorn said. “Those few plays where they are able to hold us and we hold them. … It just kind of shifts the momentum.”