Pirates beat Branford in bowl game

The Sneads Pirates finished the football season in style Thursday night in Branford, taking a 37-20 victory over the home-standing Buccaneers.

Sneads finishes the season with a record of 6-5.

“We played good,” Pirates coach Don Dowling said after the game. “It was a good, clean game. Everybody got after one another, and we made some plays when we had to.”

Mark Lawson scored two touchdowns for Sneads, and Terrance Green added a 60-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Dawkins on the Pirates’ first possession of the game.

Jeff Davis kicked a 30-yard field goal to put Sneads up 10-0 after a Branford turnover.

A 56-yard TD run by Green, set up by a Jamar White interception, gave SHS a 17-7 halftime lead.

Branford scored a touchdown early in the third to make it 17-14, but Lawson answered with a 3-yard TD run to put the Pirates back up 10.

After another Lawson touchdown, White scored the final TD for the Pirates to close the game out.

Dowling said the bowl experience for his team was a lot of fun.

“I liked the way it was set up by (Branford coach Bill Wiles). “They had a big Pirate ship with a cannon, and they shot it off every time they scored. It almost scared us to death.”

It was just the second road win of the season for Sneads, and it puts SHS above .500 for the year.

“That was one of the goals that the seniors had, which was to have a winning season,” Dowling said. “I think that will carry over to next season for the simple fact that it was a long trip that we won. That will help us next year.”