NORWELL – In what was a back-and-forth battle, Norwell had just enough on defense to come away with the victory at home Friday night.

The fourth-seeded Clippers scored the final 18 points in the fourth to take down the upset-minded and No. 13 North Reading Hornets, 39-28, at Norwell Community Complex in the Div. 6 first round contest.

“We saw the draw and we watched (North Reading) on film, like this isn’t a first-round game,” Norwell coach John Willis said about the matchup. “They’re as good as any team in the division. Division 6 is loaded. They’re terrific. They can do so many things offensively and we hung in.”

With a 28-27 deficit entering the fourth, Norwell (7-2) forced the first punt for either team in the second half. The Clippers then marched down the field on four plays as sophomore Jack Luccarelli rushed in his third score and fifth total touchdown to make it 33-28 with 5:07 remaining.

“We changed something up a little bit and it’s something we haven’t done a lot of,” Willis said about the defense coming out in the fourth with the stop. “To their credit, the kids executed and did a great job.”

Luccarelli finished with 173 yards on the ground and 109 yards through the air.

“I like how diversified we were offensively tonight,” said Willis. “We’ve had games where we’ve thrown the ball twice or even once. So, we made some big completions when we had to.”

North Reading (7-2) got the ball back and eventually turned the ball over on downs and that led to another four-play drive that was capped by senior captain Will Bostrom running it in from eight yards out with just over 1:30 left. Bostrom finished the day with 16 carries and 106 yards on the ground.

The Clippers’ defense then stood tall and ran out the clock with the Hornets driving

In a third quarter that saw each side score twice, the Hornets got two two-yard scores from junior Otto Indelicato. The Clippers answered each time with a score as Luccarelli found sophomore Cole Maguire for an 18-yard score on fourth down and the two-point pass from Luccarelli to senior captain Drew Lazcano knotted the score 21-21.

A six-yard TD run for Luccarelli to cap a six-play, 53-yard drive made it a 28-27 hole early in the fourth after the PAT hit the left upright.

After a first quarter that saw just 54 total yards between the two squads and a pick for senior captain Will Bostrom, North Reading put together the first sustained drive for either side as the floodgates opened.

The drive saw 10 plays with junior Jason Berry completing 5-of-5 on the drive, including an 11-yard TD pass to junior Gavin Brady to make it 7-0 with 7:09 to go in the second.

Brady also returned a kickoff 84 yards to put the Hornets back on top 14-7 with 1:52 left in the first half after a one-yard keeper for sophomore Jack Luccarelli knotted the score 7-7.

After that, Luccarelli led Norwell on a 10-play drive that only took 1:47 as he found Maguire for a one-yard TD reception a play after Bostrom was stopped at the goal line. The PAT was no good as the Clippers trailed 14-13 at the break.

“At the end of the half, scoring like that was big for us,” Willis said. “You work on those situations in practice, but the kids have to execute it and to their credit they did it.”

Norwell will now play No. 5 Abington back at home next week.