BURLINGTON – Even a pelting deluge could not wipe away the smile from veteran Wayland coach Scott Parseghian.

“I’ve been doing this 24 years and this game just cracked my Top 10 all time,” said the elated coach after watching his No. 10 Knights prevail to take a 48-44 thriller over No. 7 Burlington to advance in the first round of the Div. 4 playoffs.

“It might have cracked the Top 5, it was just up and down, up and down. It was just awesome.”

No one from either town will likely disagree with that lofty ranking. In an epic game that seemed destined to go whoever had the ball last on this rain swept evening, it was the Wayland defense that answered the bell as Nathan Tobe sacked Burlington’s dynamic Anthony Gerrior on fourth-and-goal on the Wayland 14 to end it.

Wayland tailback Max Dresens found the end zone five times, including a 60-yard TD, and backfield mate Mike Caulfield added two more, including a 70-yard kickoff return, as Wayland survived Burlington’s lethal air attack that saw Gerrior (4 TD passes) connect with Ryan Brooks for over 200 yards alone, including TD strikes of 89 and 62 yards.

Trailing 21-20 at the half, Wayland went up 48-44 with 5:07 left on Dresens fifth and final TD, but with a steady rain swirling, Gerrior and Burlington went right back to work, driving down to the Wayland 9 with just over a minute to play. With just 30 seconds left, Gerrior eluded several rushers and seemingly hit Chris O’Divin with what appeared to be the go-ahead score, but the play was nullified by illegal touching on the receiver returning to the end zone after being out of bounds.

After an incompletion on third down, Gerrior lost control of the slippery ball on fourth down momentarily, began to run, but could not escape the clutches of Tobe as the Wayland sidelines erupted.

Burlington would go up 29-20 in the third after a huge interception by Sam Fernandes deep in Burlington territory set up the Red Devils at the Wayland 36. Four plays later, Gerrior connected with Fernandes for the score only to see Caulfield return the ensuing kickoff in the wild second half.

Behind the 1-2 punch of Dresens and Caulfield, Wayland roared out to a 20-7 lead, but the half changed for the Red Devils when Burlington coach George Balian rolled the dice and went for a 4th and 8 on his own 42 down 20-7 early in the second quarter. Gerrior hit Ryan Ellis right at the sticks and Brady Richer did the rest carrying the ball on seven of the next 10 plays including a two-yard plunge off left tackle to pull the hosts within six with 6:51 to play.

After a quick stop on defense, Richer and the Red Devils were right back at it as the junior back carried five times to get the ball to the 16, where Gerrior found Matt Conte in the right flat for the go ahead score.

“I was shaking, I think I’m still shaking,” said Caulfield of his reaction to the frantic finish before shifting the spotlight to their next opponent Scituate, which handed Wayland its lone loss. “It feels great that we get another chance to beat Scituate.”