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Pentucket Sachems Football '14

Sat, Oct 04, 2014 01:00 PM @ Pentucket
Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Newburyport 0 0 7 7 14
Pentucket 6 8 0 7 21

Pentucket earns bragging rights by beating Newyburyport

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Saturday, October, 04 By David Willis
Staff writer

WEST NEWBURY — With the game on the line and the slick ball bouncing on the muddy turf in his direction, Pentucket sophomore Liam Sheehy could feel a nasty case of butterflies in his stomach.

“I was very nervous,” said the fullback/linebacker. “But I knew that I should just jump on the ball and hope my teammates would back me up and jump on top of me.”

That’s exactly what Sheehy did, pouncing on the onside kick with 1:44 left in the game to clinch Pentucket’s 21-14 upset victory over rival Newburyport Saturday afternoon.

“Sheehy coming up with that kick was huge,” said senior co-captain Jeff Porter. “If he doesn’t recover that, it could have been a totally different outcome. We knew that we needed this victory to get something going, we knew we could play with them and we did it.”

The Sachems played the game in memory of classmate Ben Stevens, who passed away last weekend. The game ball was presented to his family after the game in his honor.

“We did it all for Ben,” said sophomore quarterback/linebacker Patrick Freiermuth. “We wanted to win it for him. We came out with a big score, and we didn’t let up from there.

“Pentucket and Newburyport is always a huge rivalry. They are our next-door neighbors, we all know each other and to beat them means we have the bragging rights for the rest of the year.”

The Sachems wasted no time taking control. After holding Newburyport to a three-and-out on its first series, Porter gave Pentucket the lead with a 29-yard touchdown.

“We definitely needed that first touchdown,” said Porter, who left last week’s loss to Triton with an ankle injury. “The line opened up a big hole for me, I cut up and scored. We were confident going in, but getting the first score was big.”

The Sachems added to their lead a possession later when Jack Richard ran a sweep in from 25 yards out for a touchdown.

Pentucket had another drive inside the Newburyport 40 stall, but Freiermuth stuck a mud-aided punt on the 1-yard line, then a play later broke in from his outside linebacker position to tackle the running back in the end zone for a safety.

“That safety was definitely a big play,” said star linebacker Josh Wesolowski. “We get the two scores, then come up with that big play and it is 14-0. That was a huge confidence boost.”

Newburyport broke onto the scoreboard late in the third with a touchdown, then drove to the Sachem 43-yard line. But Porter picked off a pass to end that threat, and the Sachems responded with a 10-play drive that Sheehy capped off with a 5-yard plunge for a score.

The Clippers continued to rally back, driving to the Pentucket 19-yard line. But Freiermuth knocked down a pass on third down, and Noah Malhi crushed QB Michael Shay on fourth down to cause an errant pass.

Newburyport was able to post one more score, on a touchdown with 1:46 left. But Sheehy scooped up the onsides kick, and Porter iced the victory with a 48-yard run to the Newburyport 1-yard line. The Sachems then kneeled to end the game.

Wesolowski continued his dominant ways at linebacker with 16 tackles, while Sheehy made 10 stops.

“This was just an awesome day,” said Wesolowski. “We love playing our rivals and Newburyport is one of our biggest. It is always fun to get after them and it is fun to get a win. We are the underdogs a lot, so it is always fun to prove people wrong.”

Game Statistics:

First Quarter

P — Jeff Porter 29 run (kick blocked), 5:55

Second Quarter

P — Jack Richard 25 run (pass failed), 8:21

P — Safety, Patrick Freiermuth tackles running back in end zone, 0:55

Third Quarter

N — Michael Shay 11 run (Jon Bajok kick), 3:16

Fourth Quarter

P — Liam Sheehy 5 run (Porter kick), 4:35

N — Shay 1 run (Bajok kick), 1:46

 


INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING: P (42-229) — Jeff Porter 12-126, Andrew Noyes 8-41, Liam Sheehy 11-29, Jack Richard 2-25, Patrick Freiermuth 9-8; N (27-109) — Jon Bajko 5-49, James Gallo 10-33, Nick LaValley 2-7, Justin Cole 3-6, Michael Shay 4-5, Peter Greene 2-5, Ronnie Mwai 1-4

PASSING: P — Freiermuth 3-7-0, 31; N — Shay 10-24-1, 161

RECEIVING: P — Porter 1-12, Sheehy 1-11, Noyes 1-8; N — Bajko 6-104, LaValley 2-26, Thomas Isabel 2-31

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