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Defense delivers, Sachems clip Triton

Friday, November, 28 By Mac Cerullo

WEST NEWBURY – It was a game that won’t soon be forgotten, as the Pentucket football team defeated archrival Triton 14-10 on a snowy, muddy Thanksgiving morning.
With the game tied at eight going into the fourth quarter, Pentucket took the lead with just under nine minutes to play thanks to a one-yard quarterback sneak by sophomore Pat Freiermuth, and from there the defense held strong to keep the high-powered Viking offense out of the end zone.
“It was really fun,” said senior running back Jeff Porter after the game. “I’ve never played in anything like this before and I’m sure I never will again, so I’m going to remember this one forever.”
It took a while for either team to find their footing in the heavy snow, but early in the second quarter the Sachems finally broke through. Porter found the edge on the right sideline and escaped for a 67-yard touchdown to put his team on the board with 9:15 to play. Freiermuth found senior Josh Wesolowski in the end zone for a two-point conversion, and just like that Pentucket had an 8-0 lead.
Pentucket was able to contain Triton for the rest of the first half, but in the third quarter the Vikings began breaking off the big plays that have sustained their offense all season.
Facing a 3rd and 10 situation, Triton quarterback Justin Cashman hit receiver Jack Germinara for an 18-yard completion, and then on the next play he ran right up the middle for a 36-yard rush to bring his team to the Pentucket goal line.
Pentucket was able to stop Triton on three-straight plays at the goal line, but on 4th and 1 Luke Boyle found a hole up the middle and ran untouched into the end zone. Cashman completed a pass to Jake Gilbert on the two-point conversion, tying the game at 8-8 with 4:12 left in the third.
Triton shut down the Pentucket offense on their next possession, but on the ensuing punt the Triton return man fumbled the ball away to the Sachems, who took over with a fresh set of downs inside the Triton red zone.
A personal foul penalty on Triton moved the ball up to the Viking goal line, and in a sequence that almost perfectly mirrored their own scoring drive a few minutes earlier, the Vikings stopped Pentucket on three-straight plays before Freiermuth got in on 4th and 1 to put the Sachems back in front 14-8.
Pentucket failed to convert the subsequent two-point conversion, meaning that with 8:48 to play, Triton still had a good shot at taking the lead, but time was starting to become a serious factor.
Triton went three and out on its next drive, and when Pentucket got the ball back, the Sachems gave up a first down on a critical 3rd and 6 play. The Sachems continued to run the clock over the next few plays, but the Vikings finally caught a break after senior Kevin Clark out-jumped a Pentucket receiver to intercept Freiermuth, giving Triton another shot with just under four minutes to play.
Starting off at midfield, the Vikings quickly got into scoring range after Cashman picked up 19 yards on a wild quarterback scramble, most of which came after he hurdled a Pentucket defender coming at him near the sideline.
Triton’s next three running plays went nowhere, which set up a 4th and 3 play that Triton absolutely had to convert. Cashman found Germinara again for a 13-yard gain, giving the Vikings a fresh set of downs at the Pentucket 14-yard line.
With their backs to the wall and roughly a minute to play, the Pentucket defense stepped up. The Sachems stopped Cashman on first down, forced two interceptions, and then facing another critical fourth down situation, sophomore Liam Sheehy intercepted Cashman to preserve the lead.
Since Sheehy was ruled down at the one, Pentucket was forced to burn Triton’s three remaining timeouts and then take an intentional safety in the end zone to minimize the possibility of Triton forcing a turnover or blocking a punt in the end zone. The gambit made it 14-10 and gave the Vikings one last shot at a miracle, but the Sachem secondary held strong and finished off the huge Thanksgiving Day victory.
“It’s really awesome, we were fighting to get the positive record today, and I’m really glad we could get the win over Triton on Thanksgiving,” Wesolowski said afterwards. “That’s always a big win, and it’s coach Perry’s last game so we definitely wanted to do that for him.”