Kilty, Stoneham rolls past Burlington in ML battle of unbeatens

WOBURN – Stoneham surely knows how to make themselves feel at home at their home away from home.

The Spartans (7-0; 4-0) dominated on the ground from the opening whistle to the final snap and doubled up previously unbeaten Burlington, 42-21, at Woburn High School to take the top prize atop the Middlesex League – Freedom Division.

Sean Kilty rushed for 156 of his game-high 191 yards and punched in four of his five touchdown runs in the first half as Stoneham ran for a total of 446 yards on the legs of the trio of Kilty, quarterback Sean Powers (12 for 124; TD) and senior tailback Logan Tran (12 for 106).

The Spartans scored on all five first-half possessions to take a 35-14 lead as they play their home games at Connolly Memorial Stadium while their new field is being built at Stoneham High School for the 2025 season.

“It all starts up front, and I couldn’t do anything I am doing without the lineman, the tight ends, the other wing, the quarterback, the fullback, so it starts with everyone else. I just execute it,” said the senior Kilty. “I use my eyes to run, find the hole, put my foot on the ground and go. When we are running our plays, we can adjust and when we are running a rip call and it’s going to the left side, we will know we are taking four or five guys to the right so we will just keep doing it.”

The Red Devils (6-1; 3-1) hung tough in the second quarter after falling behind 14-0 right out of the gate. The Red Devils limited the inside reverse counters for the Spartans and forced Kilty and the backfield to adjust to more sweeps and more methodical offensive play.

“I thought (Burlington head coach George Ballian) had a great plan, but he really emphasized this year and last year when we played them to take away the off-tackle power stuff, but we were able to exploit the outside,” said Stoneham head coach, Bob Almeida. “Our guys hit it downhill but hats off to our coaching staff and the job they do. Coach (Mike) Barry, my defensive coordinator, was with me for 12 years in Wilmington and this is our third year here and he battles because (Burlington) out-man us at some positions and their skill is outstanding.”

Burlington QB Anthony Gerrior tossed three TD passes – two in the second quarter to keep things close as Ryan Brooks and Matty Conte hauled in scores before the break. Gerrior finished 22-of-32 for 287 yards and posted his third touchdown to Ryan Ellis (eight receptions for 95 yards) at 5:53 of the fourth quarter with the game well in hand.

“At first, turnovers, penalties – kind of self-inflicted wounds but once we got things together, we moved right down field and scored,” said Ballian. “We still have our skill, it’s still tough to beat and the best around. But they are a good football team, tough team. This doesn’t define us, it’s only one loss, so if we keep doing what we are doing – we end up 10-and-1. I’ll take that record any day of the week, so we just have to keep working hard.”

Kilty had touchdown runs of 28, 1, 51, 60, and 11 to cap things off midway through the fourth quarter.

“We never felt safe ever in this football game because we know what they can do and (Gerrior) is outstanding. We had him a bunch of times and he escaped, and he doesn’t just take off and he is so well-coached,” said Almeida. “Oh man, I’ve known Kilty since he was seven years old and he was the field rat running around with his Pop Warner shirt on and I told his dad that I was going to coach to see Sean throughout his career so it’s come full circle and he’s come into his own. He is so explosive.”