Bay Path rolls to Large School Vocational Bowl title

WORCESTER – Bay Path football head coach Cody Giampa didn’t exactly see the future three years ago, but he did see a large group of talented sophomores with the potential to become something special.

With a 38-0 domination of Whittier Tech in the MVADA Large Schools Vocational final Wednesday night at Assumption University, that something special was a third straight vocational state title.

Senior Kaiden Brochu (138 rushing yards) ran wild, producing nearly 200 total yards with three touchdowns in his farewell from a record-breaking career with the Minutemen (12-1).

Senior quarterback Corey Scovil (132 passing yards) tossed two touchdown passes to classmate Bradyn Downes (65 rushing yards, 43 receiving yards), and the defense forced four turnovers-on-downs along with a 3-for-10 third-down conversion as part of the shutout.

“We saw something in this group, but it wasn’t this,” Giampa said. “They’ve risen to every occasion. These kids are unbelievable. We have the best kids in the world at our school. … They work their tails off all day and then they come out and play football. I’m so lucky to be their coach.”

“The last three years have been great years with my seniors,” Downes added. “We all kind of had a connection at the start and just kept that through our high school careers. We love to have that connection with our teammates and that gets us to go farther.”

Bay Path set the tone right away, allowing a couple first downs on Whittier’s opening drive before forcing a turnover-on-downs at the Minutemen 19. Brochu and Downes fueled a six-play drive in response that Brochu ended with a 20-yard touchdown run for an early 8-0 lead.

“You have to start off good, keep that momentum,” Downes said. “Especially that defense. Our defense had a great game. … Just that keeps our motivation up.”

Whittier thrice went for it on fourth-and-short in the first half with two or less yards to gain, each time coming up short. Billy Galvin and Anderson Pineda Martinez helped the Wildcats get into Bay Path’s territory several times, but the Minutemen feasted on third-down and fourth-down attempts.

“Our defense played outstanding against a really tough team,” Giampa said. “They were flying around. We told them all week they were going to have to be selfless to win this game. … They’ve been rising to that occasion all year.”

As the defense starred, so did Brochu on offense.

After the 20-yard touchdown run, Brochu’s next carry was for 39 yards. He and Downes needed just seven plays on the drive to double its lead, finished off by a Brochu 9-yard touchdown run that put him at 107 rushing yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter.

Downes’ 16-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter put the lead at 24-0 entering the half, and Brochu extended that to 31-0 in the third quarter on a 48-yard punt return touchdown.

“I could stand out here and talk for four hours about Kaiden Brochu,” Giampa said. “Every time you think that he’s done something, he does something else. … We’ve been so fortunate to have him over the past four years. He’s a kid that we’re really going to miss.”

Bay Path produced another score on a 27-yard touchdown pass to Downes to force a 38-0 lead and running clock.

Scovil performed well in the few moments Whittier slowed down the run, connecting with Downes and senior Aiden Fausek (three receptions, 84 yards). Senior Austin Kravitz added 29 rushing yards, senior Dale Nussey had a tackle for loss and senior Matt Chatterton added a sack.

“We have a lot of key talent on our defense, offense,” Downes said. “It’s just an all-around good team and that’s great to have.”