Nashoba Tech football team edged by Randoph in state semifinal, 20-12

WAYLAND The Nashoba Tech football team did everything it could to avenge last year’s state semifinal loss to Randolph when the teams met again on Saturday afternoon. The Vikings held advantages in almost every statistical category: 265 total yards of offense to 165; 15 first downs to 8; Time of possession 26: 22 to 21: 38. And trick plays, Nashoba Tech 4-0 with two onside kicks and two fake punts. But all of that together still wasn’t enough as the fourth-seeded Blue Devils upset the top-seeded Vikings, 20-12, in a Division 8 state semifinal game at Wayland High School. “This is tough. They are a real good team. It’s tough to get back here twice and get to the final four, but what are you going to do? They are a great team,” said Vikings’ head coach Danny Kelly. “They were the better team today and they won the line of scrimmage.” Undefeated Randolph (11-0) took a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter. After a short punt moved the ball just 16 yards, it took just five running plays before Abraham Cornet scored on a 6-yard TD run, and the PAT kick by Alin Norisca was good. The score remained that way until the wild fourth quarter. After Nashoba turned the ball over on a muffed punt, the Blue Devils extended their lead to 14-0 with 11: 36 left in the game after a two-yard run by Mekhi White. The Vikings stormed right back. Behind a 36-yard gain by sophomore Zack Deschenes (22 carries, 122 yards), it took just five plays before Nashoba Tech got into the end zone with Jayden Garshong taking it in from four yards out. The conversion rush failed. Trailing 14-6 with 9: 47 to go, Nashoba elected for the onside kick, but Randolph recovered it, before scoring 2: 52 later thanks to a 29-yard run by White, coming on fourth-and-two. Trailing 20-6, Nashoba went to the air. Quarterback Nick Sloboda (7 for 15, 83 yards), who started the game off completing just 1 of 7 passes for five yards, connected on four attempts, all to Dylan Hall, of 2, 12, 38 and 9 yards with the last turning into a touchdown. The conversion pass failed. Trailing 20-12 with four minutes to go and all three timeouts left, Kelly called for the onside kick again and Randolph recovered it. “We didn’t want them to get the ball back. I know that they could kill the clock, so we didn’t want them to have the ball back. We took chances throughout the game. We had two fake punts, and we were willing to take all the risks,” said Kelly. Randolph managed a first down but eventually had to punt. Nashoba had one last shot, starting out on its own 15 with 1: 25 to go. Sloboda completed two passes for a combined 17 yards before throwing an interception into the hands of White, who is headed to UMass Lowell next year on a track scholarship. “I thought we played well. Our defense played well. We should’ve gotten the job done today, but we didn’t. They were better,” said Kelly. Nashoba (8-3) has now have been eliminated by Randolph for the second straight time in a state semifinal game. “It’s been an unbelievable season,” said Kelly, noting that the team will face Monty Tech on Thanksgiving to end the season. “To get to the final four again, these seniors are 9-0 against the league in the past two years, three out of four league titles so it’s going to be tough to replace them, honestly. We do have so much coming back next year. We return everybody but three starters on the line, so we’ll be back. These guys are hurting, and this one is going to sting more than last year because they were so close. We felt like we had our chances today, more so than last year.” Nashoba Tech played a brutually tough schedule. The Vikings moved up a couple of divisions in taking on Stoneham. They really turned heads when they moved up six divisions to take on Division 2 powerhouse Catholic Memorial. These Vikings didn’t back down against any challenge this season.
https://www.lowellsun.com/2025/11/22/nashoba-tech-football-team-edged-by-randoph-in-state-semifinal-20-12/