Wildcats let chance to win slip through their fingers
WORCESTER— They don’t call it a game of inches for nothing.
Despite hurting themselves with turnovers and costly penalties, the Worcester Wildcats still had a chance to win in the closing seconds of yesterday’s NEFL clash with the visiting South Shore Outlaws of Plymouth at Commerce Bank Field at Foley Stadium.
Much to the dismay of the highly partisan crowd, however, the Wildcats saw their best chance slip away when quarterback Mark Ayotte’s pass sailed through the hands of a sprawling Willie Bates in the end zone with two seconds left. Ayotte’s final pass then sailed out of bounds and the Wildcats were left to chew on a tough, 14-13 loss.
Running back David Bugan of Webster took the loss particularly hard, as the 2003 Shepherd Hill graduate blamed himself after losing two fumbles in the second half. Despite the fact that Worcester would not have been in a position to win the game without the former Ram star running back, who scored both of his team’s touchdowns, Bugan was inconsolable after the Wildcats fell to 1-3 on the season.
“Six months I’ve been training for this season,” said the despondent Bugan, who finished with a game-high 148 yards on 14 carries. “This is my fourth year on the team, and we’re expecting big things this year. It’s tough.”
Even tougher when the difference in the game is a blocked extra point.
That extra point attempt came after a 57-yard touchdown run by Bugan in the first minute of the fourth quarter, a run in which Bugan was sprung on the left side by a great block from ex-Ram teammate Robert Sullivan. Bugan and Sullivan, a first-year Wildcats player from Dudley who graduated from UMass-Dartmouth last fall, combined to set many records in their two seasons together at Shepherd Hill. It’s clear the two haven’t missed a beat.
“Defender got up, I took him out,” said Sullivan about the touchdown play. “Clear sailing from there.”
Not quite, as Bugan still had one defender to beat — one he handled easily with a ferocious stiff-arm.
College recruiters take notice — the 23-year-old, 6-foot-1,
230-pound Bugan considers himself to be in the best shape he has ever been, a presumption affirmed by the way he separated himself from the pack on the long scoring run.
“I didn’t go to college but now I want to,” Bugan said. “Been training for a long time and would love to play Division 1.”
“We could easily be 4-0 right now,” said Wildcats head coach Bill Nash. “We had a strong game plan, the execution just wasn’t there.”
Bugan’s 2-yard TD run with 5:30 left in the first gave Worcester the lead, but the Outlaws responded with a 1-yard touchdown run by Mike Masse early in the second to tie the game and a third-quarter touchdown reception by Jequan Johnson gave the Outlaws a 14-7 lead after the extra point.
WORCESTER— They don’t call it a game of inches for nothing. 
