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Pentucket Sachems Football '14

Sat, Nov 01, 2014 01:30 PM @ Pentucket
Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Newburyport 3 6 0 0 9
Pentucket 0 6 0 16 22

Pentucket overcomes early deficit, rally to defeat rival Newburyport

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Saturday, November, 01 By David Willis
Staff writer

WEST NEWBURY — It may not have been a playoff matchup, but that didn’t mean that Pentucket was about to approach Saturday with anything less that postseason intensity.

Facing heavy rain and a sopping field that left players ankle deep in mud, the Sachems saw Newburyport jump out to a nine-point lead before Pentucket recovered with a dominant second half on the way to earning a 22-9 victory over their neighboring rival Clippers.

“It is always huge to beat Newburyport,” said senior linebacker/tight end Josh Wesolowski. “It is such a huge rivalry, so we always want to beat them. We knew it was going to be tough conditions. When they made mistakes we had to take advantage, and we did.”

The victory earned the Sachems a two-game sweep over the Clippers this flal, winning once in the regular season and again in the consolation section of the second-year playoff system.

“It is always special to beat Newburyport, and twice in one year is even sweeter,” said running back/defensive back Jeff Porter. “We didn’t make the tournament, so this is our playoffs and we want to win out.”

The game hardly started in promising fashion for Pentucket, as the Clippers took the opening kickoff and held the ball for all but two play of the opening quarter, finishing off the 16-play drive with a field goal to make it 3-0. Newburyport then forced a turnover and just two plays into the second had a 9-0 lead.

“Coach (Steve Hayden) pulled us aside and told us to forget about the score,” said Wesolowski. “We just had to think of it as a new game and had to make it up. We had to make fewer mistakes.”

It was Wesolowski who turned in a big play to begin the rally, making the first catch of his varsity career, a 35-yard pass from Pat Freiermuth for a third down conversion. Freiermuth then hit Porter in the end zone for a score to make it 9-6.

Pentucket looked as if it could go in again right before halftime, as Freiermuth found Andrew Noyes for a pass to the Clipper 1-yard linee. But the referees ruled time expired as the catch was made.

The Sachems quickly shook that off after the break, however, grabbing momentum when junior defensive back Brandon Barlow stuffed a Newburyport fake punt attempt.

The Sachems then methodically drove down the field and Freiermuth took a QB sneak into the end zone for a touchdown to give his squad a 14-9 lead.

“This is the best game I have seen Fry play,” said defensive back/running back Andrew Noyes. “He really stepped up, and a lot of other guys did too. This is our playoff and we want to win.”

Pentucket then forced a fumble that Wesolowski recovered, and four plays later fullback Liam Sheehy broke a 42-yard touchdown run, using some impressive footwork to avoid slipping in the heavy mud.

“Sheehy’s run was huge,” said Noyes. “That was the last nail in the coffin and locked up the win. We recovered and had a good day.”

Sheehy finished with a game-high 83 rushing yards, while Wesolowski had two catches for a team-best 45 yards and made 12 tackles. Noah Malhi also impressed with eight stops.

“These games mean a lot to us because we want to finish strong,” said Freiermuth. “In this game we showed that we can face adversity, we are not afraid of being down and we can step up and get a win. We started slow but we finished strong.”

Game Statistics:

First Quarter

N — Jon Bajko 21 field goal, 0:51

Second Quarter

N — Bajko 21 pass from Michael Shay (kick failed), 10:41

P — Jeff Porter 10 pass from Pat Freiermuth (rush failed), 6:10

Fourth Quarter

P — Freiermuth 1 run (Liam Sheehy rush), 9:29

P — Sheehy 42 run (Josh Wesolowski pass from Freiermuth), 6:01

 


INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING: P (35-160) — Liam Sheehy 10-83, Jeff Porter 10-30, Pat Freiermuth 9-28, Andrew Noyes 6-19; N (20-104) — Michael Shay 8-41, James Gallo 7-32, Tyler Therrien 1-23, Evan Trego 2-6, Nick LaValley 1-8, Jon Bajko 1-(-6),

PASSING: P — Freiermuth 6-11-2, 127; N — Shay 12-29-0, 111

RECEIVING: P — Josh Wesolowski 2-45, Noyes 2-42, Jeff Porter 2-40; N — Evan Trego 5-47, Bajko 4-33, Gallo 1-16, Therrien 1-15, Brian Bary 1-0

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