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Special teams play gives Sachems stunning win

Saturday, September, 11 By David Willis
Staff writer

WEST NEWBURY — Pentucket’s Mike Doud couldn’t believe his eyes.

“I thought (the punter) was going to pick the ball up and run with it so I was getting ready to make a tackle,” said the senior. “But he just landed on the ball and I gave him a touch just to make sure he was down. It didn’t set in at first, then I looked up and saw the score and just went crazy.”

With 22 seconds left on clock and Pentucket trailing by a point, the Sachems sent a punt block that forced a snap that sailed over the punter’s head. The punter dove onto the ball in the end zone, resulting in a safety and the Sachems recovered the subsequent on-sides kick to clinch a stunning 29-28 victory over Marblehead yesterday.

The Magicians beat Pentucket 27-2 last season on their way to the Division 3 Super Bowl.

“It was nuts,” said Doud. “I have never seen anything like that happen. For it to come down to the last second and to see that happen. Nothing could be sweeter.”

But the Sachems appeared all but finished in the final moment of the contest.

With under three minutes left in the game, Sean Brennan recovered a fumble to give Pentucket the ball on the Magicians’ 11-yard line. Four plays later, Doud ran a quarterback sneak into the end zone for a touchdown.

The Sachems then elected to play for the lead with a two-point conversion, but the pass was just tipped away and Marblehead held onto a 28-27 lead with 1:49 left on the clock.

“That is the type of play-calling we believe in,” said Doud. “We are an aggressive team, and we are not going to settle for a tie. We are going to go for a win right there. I didn’t deliver a good enough pass.”

But the injury-depleted Sachems defense held strong. Missing three key starters due to injury in linebackers Tim Freiermoth and Nolan Dragon and defensive back C.J. Lataille, it was freshman Chris Croteau that delivered big tackles on first and second down, and junior Dan McGovern added a stop to complete the three-and-out. But without a time out, Pentucket could not stop the clock.

“Coach always says it comes down to special teams,” said senior Jeremy Krugh. “They thought they were going to pin us deep, and we were ready to step up and make a play.”

The Sachems sent 10 players on the block, applying pressure that caused the long snapper to send the snap high and into the end zone for the safety. Senior newcomer Dan Cashman then landed on the on-sides kick to clinch the win.

“It’s not over until the clock hits zeros,” said Doud. “There were a lot of emotions in that pile. It was amazing to see everyone with their hands in the air in celebration.”

Doud led the Pentucket attack. The senior quarterback completed 10-of-17 passes for 138 yard, including a stellar 33-yard touchdown pass to Cashman (three catches, 55 yards). Doud added 10 carries for 36 yards and another score.

With Dragon, last year’s leading rusher, on the bench, Krugh started at fullback and tallied a team-high 54 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown.

In his first career varsity game, 143-pound freshman Croteau was all over the field on his way to a team-high eight tackles. Brennan added six tackles and the big fumble recovery and Doud made five stops and picked off a pair of passes. Kyle Nickerson added a pair of key stops late in the contest.

“There is nothing line this,” said Dragon, limping from his foot injury. “Watching the team pick it up like this was great. Croteau came up huge, Krugh, (John) Modlish, Nickerson. It was just perfect.”

The Sachems continue with their tough non-league schedule when they host Danvers on Saturday at 1 p.m.

“You couldn’t have written fiction crazier than this game,” one veteran fan commented.