WAYLAND – With Melrose coach Tim Morris looking to join the 200-win club, Wayland did just enough to spoil the victory with a strong rushing attack.

Junior captain Max Dresens rushed for 203 of his 271 yards in the second half while scoring three times on the ground as Wayland edged Melrose 35-28 at home Friday night.

“I have all the respect for Tim,” said Wayland coach Scott Parseghian about defeating Morris. “We coach the Shriners game together. We have a little bit of history there and nothing but the utmost respect for coach Morris.”

Morris (199-109-4) will try again for win No. 200 on Thanksgiving Day at Wakefield.

Melrose (7-3) started the second half with a three-and-out on defense before taking the ball 52 yards on four plays capped by a 19-yard catch-and-run score from senior Connor Brophy to senior captain Bennett Cassavoy. The two-point conversion from Brophy to Nicholas Hitchman made it 21-14 for the Raiders.

Wayland (7-3) wasted no time and used a 60-yard return from Benjamin Wright to set up the 30-yard rushing score for Dresens to knot the score 21-21 just 19 second later.

“Max (Dresens) has been a great running back,” Parseghian said. “We didn’t have him last year, so we are glad to have him. The line did a great job.”

The Raiders answered with an 86-yard kickoff return touchdown for junior Marco Albanese before both teams were able to settle in as Melrose led 28-21.

On the ensuing drive, the Warriors needed just seven plays to find paydirt as Dresens scored from eight yards out with 3:21 left in the third to tie it up 28-all.

After a Melrose punt, Dresens made it a hat trick as he rushed it in from 25 yards out to put Wayland back in front 35-28 with 10:05 left.

“The whole season the offensive line has been one of the strongest parts of our team,” Dresens said about finding a lane to run. “I don’t think the offensive line gets enough credit.”

The Warriors forced a punt and then ran the ball to the Melrose 34 wbefore the drive stalled with 45 ticks remaining.

The Raiders put a couple huge pass plays together to go to the Wayland 35 where the final pass attempt for Brophy (10-of-17, 178) fell incomplete in the endzone in the final seconds.

“When you think about great teams, you think about teams that have that clutch factor and not giving up those game changing plays,” Dresens said about the defensive stop to end the contest. “I think we are one of those teams.”

In the first half, after forcing a three-and-out, Wayland went 73 yards on nine plays as junior Michael Keenan found senior Benjamin Wright in the seam for a 40-yard touchdown grab to go up 7-0 with 4:54 left in the first quarter.

Wayland then forced another three-and-out and this time marched 91 yards on 12 plays. A key 36-yard strike on third down from Keenan to Owen Finnegan picked up a huge third down before another 35-yard pass to Wright four plays later on another third down set up a goal-to-go situation for the Warriors. Sophomore Michael Caulfield scored on fourth down to make it a 14-0 contest with 9:39 to go in the first half.

Melrose took over on the next drive with a 10-play, 67-yard drive that was capped by a Maximilian Lanciani four-yard TD run.

Lanciani also came away with a pick three plays later as well as a key 27-yard catch on the ensuing Raiders’ drive to put Melrose in business at the Warriors’ 32. Six plays after that, Brophy found Cassavoy open in the flat for a 19-yard catch and score. The extra point went wide left as the Raiders trailed 14-13 at the half.

Wayland’s Peyton Moran, left, is stopped by Melrose’s Jack Feeney during Wayland’s 35-28 victory. (Photo by Amanda Sabga/Boston Herald)