RallyNorth.net

Fri, Sep 14, 2007 07:00 PM @ Ipswich

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
Pentucket	20	13	9	6	48
Ipswich	0	0	6	0	6

Pentucket's Bunnell (4 TDs) scorches Ipswich

Friday, September, 14 By Phil Stacey
Sports editor

IPSWICH | One carry into last night's game, Nate Bunnell knew it was going to be a good night for himself and his Pentucket football teammates.

His first carry | a fullback trap on the game's third play | resulted in a 51-yard touchdown and set the tone for the entire night. Bunnell finished with a career-high four touchdowns, rushing for 138 yards on just five carries as the visiting Sachems cruised to their first victory of the season by crushing host Ipswich, 48-6.

The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Bunnell added scoring runs of 2, 10 and 72 yards as Pentucket (1-1) shot out to a 20-0 lead after one quarter and led by a comfortable 33-0 margin at the break.

"Right after that first time I got the ball, I had a real good feeling we'd have a pretty good night," Bunnell said afterwards. "My line opened up the hole, their linebacker tried to stop me with his shoulder, and I just put my head down and got away from him. I knew right then it'd be different than last week."

Last week was a disappointing 32-20 season-opening loss at home to Hamilton-Wenham, a game in which the Sachems didn't score in the second half and suffered from fatigue in the 90-degree temperatures. That wasn't a problem last night, as both the temperatures | and the outcome | were much different.

Running just 17 plays in the first half, Pentucket gained 239 yards (over 14 yards a play) while scoring on all five of their first half drives.

Less than two minutes into the second half, the lead grew to 42-0 thanks to a safety and a 36-yard scoring run from junior halfback Chris Modish.

Ipswich (0-2), which was decimated by graduation after winning last year's Division 3A Super Bowl title, was battling both inexperience and injury last night. They had no answer against a Sachems team that was, in head coach Ted Flaherty's words, "bigger, faster and stronger than us in all areas."

"We were just overmatched," admitted Flaherty, whose team scored its only points on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Zach Gorrell to Eli Natti midway through the third quarter. "Sophomores struggle to tackle seniors. And that Bunnell | he's just a bull, one of the best backs in the entire Cape Ann League."

Running back Max Arthur threw a nice block to open a hole for Bunnell to run through on his first TD run. Bunnell then blocked an Ipswich punt on the following series that was recovered at the Tigers' 13-yard line. Five plays later, Bunnell sauntered into the end zone untouched from two yards out.

Pentucket quarterback Jordan Silva made it 20-0 before the quarter was out on a pretty 16-yard bootleg run to the right. Bunnell went in from 10 yard out to make it 26-0 on his team's next series, and finished his monster night with a 72-yard burst up the gut.

The visitors' final score came with 4:07 to play when senior Bobby Karlberg completed a nine-play, 85-yard drive by taking it to the house from 49 yards out.

Additional stories:

• Ipswich football has rough go of it vs. Pentucket