Dartmouth football was struggling with injuries and needed someone to step up. Enter Brady Beauparland.

LAKEVILLE – Injuries opened the door for Brady Beauparland to make his first sure start of the season Friday night, and the Dartmouth junior took advantage of his chance.

Beauparland recovered from two fumbles in the second half as Dartmouth High held off a comeback attempt from Apponequet to win 34-30 in the nonleague game at Griffith Field.

“That was huge,” Dartmouth head coach Rick White said of the fumble recoveries. “Thank God for that.”

Dartmouth senior Markus Andrews added, “We had a lot of guys behind, but we had some juniors that hadn't started all year, like Brady, who came up big.”

Beauparland's second fumble recovery came when Apponequet lost 12 points and drove into the Dartmouth red zone late in the third quarter.

“It was a close game at halftime, so we knew we had to make some big plays, so we went out and tried,” Beauparland said. “We made some plays possible.”

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Dartmouth's defense forced three turnovers in the second half and needed every one of them to try to contain Apponequet senior running back Brody Joly.

Joly made one big run after another, carrying the ball 34 times for 287 yards and scoring three touchdowns. He also threw a halfback option pass for another score.

“We obviously had a hard time stopping No. 19,” White said. “He’s a great football player; Probably one of the best games we've had since I've been here, but we just kept playing.

“Luckily we were able to get some points on the board. I knew it would probably be a shootout because of the injuries. They also had some injuries.”

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The Lakers were without two of their four seniors, with linemen Lucas Tremblay and Kenny Wisniewski on the sidelines.

“It was a win for us,” Apponequet head coach Zane Fyfe said of the close game. “With the injuries we have, we are literally putting it all together week in, week out.

“I am proud of the children. I told them that. They played phenomenal, tenacious football from start to finish.”

Apponequet got within 34-30 on Joly's 7-yard touchdown run and 2-point conversion with 5:59 to play.

After a 39-yard run by Andrews put Dartmouth into Apponequet territory, the Lakers held their defensive position and forced the visitors to punt with 4:04 left.

Dartmouth pushed Apponequet deep into its own territory and the Lakers failed to score on fourth-and-16 from their own 20 to end the game.

“It’s a learning curve, especially for the younger guys,” Fyfe said. “You try to put them in the best position possible, but you can’t ask them to do much.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

It only took three plays for Dartmouth to get on the scoreboard when senior quarterback Jackson Hart hit Andrews for a 56-yard scoring strike.

Apponequet responded with a nine-play, 94-yard drive capped by a 58-yard touchdown run by Joly.

The teams were back and forth, with senior running back Ray Gramlich scoring on a 4-yard run for Dartmouth and Joly adding a 12-yard TD run for Apponequet to tie the game at 14.

“I’m really proud of how they played and everything they did tonight was fantastic,” Fyfe said.

An Andrews interception set up another touchdown run for Gramlich as Dartmouth took a 20-14 lead with 5:12 left in the first half.

On the ensuing kickoff return, the Lakers wobbled the ball and turned it over again. Dartmouth took advantage with a 6-yard touchdown run from Hart.

The resilient Lakers responded when Joly hit junior receiver Colin Cyr for a 50-yard score, pulling Apponequet within 26-22 at halftime.

WHAT IT MEANS

Dartmouth, which improved to 4-1, has a bye in Week 6. … The winless Lakers (0-4) travel to Dighton-Rehoboth on Friday to open their South Coast Conference schedule. “We’ll continue to build on this and get into league play next week against Dighton-Rehoboth,” Fyfe said.

DARTMOUTH 34, APPONEQUET 30

DARTMOUTH;14;12;8;0 – 34

APPONEQUET;8;14;0;8 — 30

Rating

First quarter

D: Markus Andrews 56. Pass from Jackson Hart (kick failed), 10:29

A: Brody Joly 58 run (Evan Dupras pass from Paxton Canessa), 4:49

D: Ray Gramlich 4 run (Jackson Hart run), 2:32

Second quarter

A: Brody Joly 12 runs (pass failed), 8:45

D: Ray Gramlich 8 runs (pass failed), 5:12

D: Jackson Hart 6 run (pass failed), 3:41

A: Colin Cyr 50 pass from Brody Joly (Brody Joly run), 2:51

Third quarter

D: Jackson Hart 7 Run (Jackson Hart Run), 5:56

Fourth quarter

A: Brody Joly 7-run (Brody-Joly run), 5:59

Individual statistics

Rushing – D: Ray Gramlich 12-60-2, Markus Andrews 3-55, Jackson Hart 9-44-2; A: Brody Joly 34-287-3, Sean Lundrigan 5-14, Paxton Canessa 3-(-23), Evan Dupras 3-(1-), Elijah Barlow 1-4, Joseph Procaccini 1-8.

Passing – D: Jackson Hart 7-14-165-1-1; A: Paxton Canessa 6-8-60-2, Brody Joly 1-1-50-1.

Reception – D: Markus Andrews 4-86-1, Jayden Nunes-Medeiros 2-57, Asante Aurora 1-22; A: Colin Cyr 3-67-1, Sean Lundrigan 2-18, Brody Joly 2-25.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Dartmouth football defeated Apponequet in a non-league game