DUXBURY -- James Scanlon called it a "weird" game.
Weird in the sense that one of the pillars of the Duxbury High football team's run to the No. 1 seed in the Division 4 playoffs this fall had been a near-impenetrable defense that came in allowing just 11.1 points per game with a pair of shutouts, including one in last week's playoff opener.
Opponents had completed less than half of their passing attempts against the Dragons, were converting just 29 percent of their third downs and had mustered only 411 rushing yards all season, a paltry average of 45.7 yards per game.
And yet ... underdog No. 8 Canton spent most of Friday night's Div. 4 quarterfinal zipping all over the field against Duxbury's vaunted D, churning out four touchdowns (three from lightning-quick senior Kareem Chaplin II) and 11 plays that went for 10-plus yards.
In the end, though, the Dragons rediscovered their defensive identity when it mattered most. Big plays on that side of the ball helped Duxbury, the two-time defending state champs, rally late for a 30-27 win that sends the Dragons (9-1) into a semifinal showdown with No. 5 Tewksbury (8-2).
None of those defensive plays stood out more than Scanlon's fumble recovery and 17-yard return down to the Canton 19-yard line that set up QB Trevor Jones' game-winning 5-yard TD run with 1:19 left. Linebacker Jack Rees (who rushed for 191 yards and 2 TDs on offense) forced the fumble, stripping Canton QB J.T. Norton on a third-and-10 scramble up the middle with the Bulldogs nursing a 27-24 lead with less than 4 minutes left.
Scalon scooped the ball up around the Canton 36 and plowed down the right sideline, shrugging off what appeared to be a horse-collar tackle attempt at one point.
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"It was a huge defensive play," said Duxbury coach Matt Landolfi, who's now 42-4 since taking over in 2021. "We started putting pressure on (Norton) at the end because he was throwing the ball all over us and he's a really good quarterback. We started to go after him and that really turned (the momentum) for us. He coughed the ball up and Scanlon was smart enough to pick it up and run. He'll remember that forever."
"I just saw the ball, took it, ran," said Scanlon, who plays all over the defensive line and is the left guard on offense. "I always wanted to play fullback and I got my chance. That was awesome."
Scanlon said the last fumble recovery he remembers came in youth league "but I fumbled."
"That's probably his dream right there," Jones said with a laugh. "I love the kid to death. He fully deserves that. The biggest play he's ever made."
Jones' biggest play of the night soon followed as he flowed left and darted in from 5 yards out for the winning score. He finished with 10 carries for 58 yards and a pair of TDs. His 4-yard scoring run put the Dragons up 17-14 early in the third quarter.
"I was a little down at halftime," said Jones, who kicked a 25-yard field goal in the closing seconds of the second quarter to get Duxbury within 14-10, "but my teammates picked me up in the locker room. They made me play better (in the second half), definitely."
After Jones' late go-ahead score, Duxbury made one final defensive stop, forcing four incomplete passes to get a turnover on downs that sealed the Dragons' 10th straight playoff win.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for Canton (6-4), which had leads of 7-0, 14-7, 20-17 and 27-24 before succumbing. "I thought we had them," Bulldogs coach Anthony Fallon said. "We had a good game plan. I thought we'd stop them a little bit more on defense, but they did a great job. The kids executed. We just (came up short). The last fumble (hurt us) and penalties (did, too)."
Chaplin had a 21-yard TD run in the second quarter for a 14-7 lead and then twice put the Bulldogs ahead in the second half with a 65-yard TD catch (that made it 20-17) and an 11-yard run (for a 27-24 advantage). Norton completed just 9 of 20 attempts, but they went for 180 yards and a TD.
"We expected a lot from them," senior H-back John Rovegno said of Canton. "They put up a really good fight. All props to them."
Duxbury, though, wound up leaning on what got them here. Rees got his 191 rushing yards on 26 attempts. He had TD runs of 47 yards (to tie the game at 7-7 in the first quarter) and 27 yards (for a late 24-20 lead). Jones did his thing on the ground, including a 31-yard scramble to set up Rees' second TD, and Brett Barr made a pair of big plays on special teams, blocking a PAT and running for a first down on a fake punt.
Now the Dragons get to continue their bid for a three-peat. They beat Grafton in the 2022 Div. 4 Super Bowl and clobbered Scituate, 62-33, in last year's final. Now they draw Tewksbury, whom they beat 19-7 in last year's semifinals.
"It feels awesome," Scanlon said of advancing. "Especially as the 1 seed, we don't want to let people down. We've got stuff to live up to. We've got to keep going. It's not over yet."
