Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff

The game of the year didn’t take long to become the rout of the year.

Jeff Moore’s Dracut Middies took it to Billerica at Calabrese Field Friday night, jumping out to a 40-0 halftime lead (that’s right…no misprint there) against the previously unbeaten Indians. The lead grew to 47-0 before the Middies called off the dogs and Billerica scored a pair of late touchdowns. (Read Carmine Frongillo’s game recap or watch a replay of The Sun’s game webcast)

That Dracut won isn’t surprising. Even Billerica insiders I spoke to during the course of the week admitted their boys would be hard-pressed to knock off the MVC’s pre-season favorites, who hold wins over Brockton and St. John’s prep this year. However nobody saw this magnitude of victory coming, not even the most ardent Middies supporter.

Besides being the better team, Dracut’s big-game experience, and Billerica’s lack thereof, ultimately proved critical. Once things started going wrong for the Indians fabulous freshman QB Nick Laspada and the rest of the team, it snowballed out of control and the experience Middies pounced.

And don’t underestimate the motivation factor, as Dracut’s sensational senior QB Matt Grimard had to share top billing in this one with his underclassman counterpart. Grimard admitted as much last night, saying he certainly heard and read the accolades coming Laspada’s way, and very much wanted to prove he was the best signal-caller in the conference. As a result, Grimard followed up an amazing performance against Andover (6-TD passes, 1-TD run) with a table turning 6-TD runs and 1-TD pass. In case you’re not quick with the math, that’s 14-touchdowns in two games. WOW!!! Grimard even had the pleasure of capping two of his scoring runs by plowing through and then leaping over Laspada, who also plays Safety.

The Middies are now in the driver’s seat in the MVC. With Lowell going down in Chelmsford last night, every team in the MVC has at least 2-losses except for Billerica. However, by virtue of the win over the Indians, Dracut would need to lose twice and have Billerica run the table for Coach Moore and company to end up with a worst-case scenario tie atop the conference.

Judging by last night’s performance, this Dracut squad losing two games is about as likely as John McCain winning Massachusetts’ electoral votes.

That’s the view from here…how do you see things? Is the MVC title chase over, for all intents and purposes? What about the other results last night? Should Al Pare have played for overtime instead of going for the two-point conversion in Lowell’s 7-6 loss at Chelmsford?