COHASSET – In what ended up being a one-score contest, Cohasset used a strong rushing attack in the second half to upend Manchester-Essex at home.

The two-seeded Skippers finished with 226 yards on the ground as well as four rushing scores to take down the No. 15 Hornets, 35-28, at Alumni Field on Friday in the Div. 7 first round.

“The kids played well,” said Cohasset coach Pete Afanasiw. “We made a bunch of mistakes in the first half, but in that second half the offensive line opened up some really nice holes. The backs held onto the ball, which was nice, and we made some positive runs and stayed in front of the chains and grinded out some first downs.”

To start the third, Cohasset (5-3) extended its lead to 14-6 as a 12-play drive was capped by a 17-yard score for senior captain Liam Appleton to make it 14-6.

Appleton wasn’t done as he caught a huge 36-yard pass on third down on the next Skippers’ drive after a 62-yard rushing score for sophomore Zach Hurd knotted the score 14-14. Two plays after his catch, junior Will Norgeot took a jet sweep in from seven yards up to go up 21-14 with 1:58 left in the third.

On the ensuing kickoff, senior Blaine Basile recovered the ball for Cohasset and the Skippers once again leaned on Appleton. On the eight-play, 33-yard drive, Appleton found halfback Will McLoughlin from five yards out to push the lead to 29-14 with only 10:18 left.

“He’s a generational type of player,” Afanasiw said about the senior captain who had two scores and 102 total yards. “He has a lot of tools at his disposal and I am very happy that he is on our team.”

Manchester-Essex (5-4) did not go quietly as Hurd found senior Preston Potter from 40 yards out to make it 29-20 after a failed two-point attempt.

The Skippers sealed it on the next drive as sophomore Max Monahan (18 carries, 92 yards) scored from 17 yards out to put this one away at 35-20 with 5:23 to go.

The Hornets ate up 3:46 on the next drive to make it a one possession game after an eight-yard rushing score for senior Stephen Martin. Senior John Shannon recovered the onside kick attempt for Cohasset as the Skippers then ran the rest of the clock out with a couple Appleton runs.

In the first half, after a couple defensive stops, Cohasset finally got some momentum going on offense as sophomore Mike Wildfire hit junior Shane Mulcahy for a 40-yard pass. Two runs later, sophomore Gus Greene (10 rush, 85 yards) ran it in from 17 yards out to make it a 6-0 Skippers lead after a failed pass attempt on the two-point try.

Cohasset’s offense nearly got on the board again, but Manchester-Essex recovered a fumble at the Hornets’ four-yard line. After three plays that went nowhere, the ball on the punt attempt was fumbled out of the endzone for a Cohasset safety and an 8-0 lead for the Skippers with 3:30 left in the half.

Manchester-Essex’s defense came up with a pick at the their own 33 for Potter. After a loss on the first play, Hurd hit junior Jarrett Croft for 22 yards and Potter for 44 more to put the Hornets at the Skippers’ three-yard line. Hurd then kept it to cut the deficit to 8-6 right before the half after a failed two-point rush attempt.

Cohasset will host the winner of Mashpee and Blue Hills in the Div. 7 quarterfinals next week.

Cohasset’s Max Monahan dives for the TD, dragging Manchester-Essex’s Stephen Martin with him into the end zone Friday. (Staff Photo/Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)