Blair paces Cathedral

Senior on the mark in win over Tech Boston

A new Thanksgiving Day tradition continued yesterday at Roberts Field in Dorchester as Cathedral and TechBoston squared off for a second time in the Turkey Bowl.

The story was not dissimilar from last year’s inaugural game, as once again Khalil Blair stole the show with a four-touchdown performance for Cathedral, lifting it to a 28-8 victory.

The win was momentous for the Panthers (102), as it marks just the fourth time in school history that the football team has reached the 10-win plateau.

Cathedral coach Paul Sobolewski said it was understandably hard for his team to rally after losing to Millis last week in its bid for a Super Bowl berth.

“But,” he said, “we expressed the significance of playing in a game like this on Thanksgiving with a great tradition that we have going now against TechBoston, and we wanted to make sure it was a winning tradition for our team also.”

The day also was very special for Blair, as the senior ran for 228 yards on 21 carries with three touchdowns, while adding a 26-yard touchdown reception.

In the process, Blair surpassed 4,500 yards for his career, and broke the school touchdown record with his final score, making it 70 for his career.

“He’s an incredible player,” Sobolewski said. “Teams have really keyed in on Khalil this year and he still scored 33 touchdowns . ... I don’t know how opposing coaches plan to defend him because he’s so dynamic.”

Said Blair: “TechBoston gives us great competition, I really just want to say thank you to my teammates for my whole career, and giving me the best time I could ever ask for.”

Both teams realize this game is a chance to bring people together.

“I hope that it continues to grow and become strong,” TechBoston athletic director Brian Buckley said. “Everyone is working together to bring everyone here and to be one.”

But the spirit of the day could not quell either team’s hunger for victory.

The Bears (4-6) opened the scoring with a 39-yard touchdown rush down the left sideline by Marcus Gonzalez, and with a two-point conversion TechBoston assumed an 8-0 lead.

Cathedral struck back on the first play of the second quarter when Blair found the end zone for the first time, breaking multiple tackles on his way to a 39-yard touchdown run before adding the two-point conversion to tie the game.

Blair punched in a 3-yard touchdown with 23 seconds left before the half, making it a 14-8 Cathedral lead.

The Panthers wasted no time extending their lead in the second half, opening with a three-play drive that covered 61 yards, capped off by a 26-yard touchdown pass from Anthony Mejia to Blair.

Blair added his school-record 70th TD as time expired, a 31-yard dash into the history books.

Cathedral athletic director Larry Meritt may have summed up the spirit of the day best. “It’s about bringing in brothers from different walks of life together, in a unifying football game and being in a healthy environment, win or lose, just being able to play football on Thanksgiving morning,” he said.

“There’s no negative relationships on this day amongst each other, it’s all love . . . . Their kids know our kids and our kids know theirs, the coaching staffs know each other — it’s one big family.”