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10<br />
Coach urges urgency<br />
on Thanksgiving<br />
By Harold Rivera<br />
By Anne Marie Tobin<br />
PEABODY — It was a battle<br />
for Tanner city bragging rights<br />
Friday night at rain-drenched<br />
Coley Lee Field as the hometown<br />
<strong>Peabody</strong> Tanners football<br />
team took on their Woburn<br />
counterparts in a non-playoff<br />
contest.<br />
The game was a back-andforth<br />
affair, but in the end,<br />
the <strong>Peabody</strong> Tanners came up<br />
short, 28-24.<br />
<strong>Peabody</strong> led 24-21 after a<br />
clutch 37-yard field goal by senior<br />
kicker Austin Leggett with<br />
9:31 left in the game.<br />
But Woburn took back the<br />
lead with a 70-yard, clockeating<br />
scoring drive that<br />
chewed more than six minutes<br />
off the clock, capped by on a<br />
3-yard touchdown pass from<br />
quarterback Ryan Qualey to<br />
tight end Anthony Morales and<br />
point after by Ayob Essquabin.<br />
With 3:17 to play, <strong>Peabody</strong><br />
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had good field position at its 35-<br />
yard line, but shot themselves in<br />
the foot when assessed a delay<br />
of game penalty, followed by<br />
2-yard loss on a botched run attempt,<br />
a sack and Alex DeNisco<br />
(3-of-<strong>11</strong>, 32 yards, INT) incompletion,<br />
turning the ball over<br />
on downs to Woburn with 1:32<br />
to play, effectively ending the<br />
game.<br />
“We were trying to go wide<br />
on that second down, but there<br />
was confusion, so that was a<br />
real killer, that delay of game<br />
penalty,” said <strong>Peabody</strong> coach<br />
Mark Bettencourt. “We had our<br />
opportunities, but couldn’t find<br />
that big play when we needed<br />
it. But we lost the game because<br />
we put no pressure on their<br />
quarterback. We couldn’t flush<br />
him out and that game him<br />
time to read our defense and<br />
find open receivers. Their offense<br />
had a lot of diversity and<br />
ran some things we had not seen<br />
before, so that also hurt us.”<br />
<strong>Peabody</strong> led 7-0 after the<br />
first quarter, thanks to a 79-<br />
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The goal for <strong>Peabody</strong> football coach<br />
Mark Bettencourt and his Tanners coming<br />
into their Thanksgiving game against<br />
Saugus is simple. <strong>Peabody</strong>, 4-6 this season,<br />
won’t accept a loss to close a tough, injury-riddled<br />
2018 campaign.<br />
“The seniors want to end the season on<br />
a win,” Bettencourt said. “Our goal of finishing<br />
the season over or at .500 was lost.<br />
Finishing at 5-6 is the best we can do and<br />
we have to make sure we do that. Finishing<br />
4-7 isn’t an option, that doesn’t speak for<br />
the work we’ve put in this year.”<br />
Saugus, however, will have other plans.<br />
Bettencourt has studied the Sachems on<br />
film and knows they aren’t an easy opponent<br />
to beat.<br />
“They’re tough kids,” Bettencourt said.<br />
“The story early in the season about what<br />
happened there and the way they’ve persevered<br />
with Coach Mike Mabee, he’s done<br />
a great job rallying these kids, motivating<br />
them and giving them something positive.<br />
When you inspire kids to overcome adversity<br />
you get good results. Watching the film,<br />
they had growing pains early in the year but<br />
they’re playing cleaner with every game.<br />
They’re coming here expecting to win.”<br />
<strong>Peabody</strong> plans to control the line of<br />
scrimmage and establish an effective running<br />
game in hopes of creating opportunities<br />
through the air. That makes it a big game for<br />
<strong>Peabody</strong>’s offensive line, led by Abe Kaba,<br />
Chris Glass and Mike Lock, and running<br />
backs Luis Guridys and Angel Paulino.<br />
“The biggest key is up front,” Bettencourt<br />
said. “We have to control the line of scrimmage.<br />
In the games we’ve won we’ve<br />
controlled the line of scrimmage. We’ve<br />
shown we can do it against teams a little<br />
bigger than us. We did it against Masco and<br />
Haverhill. If we can’t establish a running<br />
game, it affects our passing game.<br />
“If we can control the trenches, it allows<br />
us to do a lot more with ball control and that<br />
allows us to control the passing game.”<br />
Other key offensive contributors include<br />
quarterback Alex DeNisco and kicker<br />
Austin Leggett.<br />
Defensively, Bettencourt pointed to<br />
sticking to assignments as <strong>Peabody</strong>’s key.<br />
He also foresees a tall task ahead for cornerbacks<br />
Dylan Peluso and Carlos Hernandez,<br />
who’ll be relied on to prevent big plays in<br />
Saugus’ passing game. Linebackers Tyler<br />
Norman and Kyle Maglione also have<br />
played well.<br />
“Defensively, we have to read our keys<br />
and trust what the coaches are telling them<br />
to do,” Bettencourt said. “When we get<br />
away from reading our keys, we step into<br />
<strong>Peabody</strong> loses battle of Tanners<br />
yard fumble recovery and return<br />
by Luis Guridys, who had<br />
a monster game. After Woburn<br />
tied the game in the second<br />
quarter on a 12-yard touchdown<br />
pass, Qualey to Tyler Parrish<br />
(Essquabin PAT), Guridys answered<br />
right back three plays<br />
later, exploding for a 61-yard<br />
dash into the end zone to make<br />
it 14-7 with 3:41 left in the half.<br />
Woburn then drove 73 yards<br />
in nine plays, the final play a<br />
4-yard dash into the end zone<br />
by Stephen Kolodko with 32<br />
seconds left in the half to make<br />
it 14-13 at halftime.<br />
Woburn regained the lead,<br />
21-14, with 4:37 left in the third<br />
quarter on a 48-yard Qualey<br />
to Kolodko strike and Qualey<br />
to Ryan McLaughlin 2-point<br />
conversion.<br />
With 1:23 left in the quarter,<br />
Colby Therrien pulled the<br />
Tanners to within one, 21-20,<br />
with a 1-yard plunge.<br />
Guridys (4 carries, 96 yards,<br />
2 TDs) was the man of the hour<br />
again, recovering a pooch kick<br />
PHOTO | BOB CARBONE<br />
Luis Guridys has been a mainstay in the<br />
<strong>Peabody</strong> backfield.<br />
problems. The defense we run relies on<br />
<strong>11</strong> guys doing their jobs. What helps us<br />
is we’ve played some really good teams.<br />
Haverhill, Masco and Woburn were good<br />
teams. Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead,<br />
that’s going to help.<br />
“We have to step up and make sure we play<br />
our best game on Thanksgiving morning or<br />
the turkey might not taste so well.”<br />
Kickoff for Thanksgiving’s clash between<br />
<strong>Peabody</strong> and Saugus is scheduled for<br />
10 a.m. at Coley Lee Field.<br />
at the Woburn 39, the second<br />
successful pooch kick of the<br />
game executed by <strong>Peabody</strong>.<br />
The drive stalled at the 20, but<br />
Leggett (3-of-3 PATs) split<br />
the uprights to make it 24-21,<br />
<strong>Peabody</strong>.<br />
“Luis did everything in this<br />
game, he was just everywhere<br />
on both sides of the ball and<br />
on special teams,” Bettencourt<br />
said.<br />
“I couldn’t be happier for him<br />
as he is such a hard worker and<br />
a game like this is so special for<br />
him and our coaches, just a big<br />
day for a great kid.”<br />
Angel Paulino finished with<br />
82 rushing yards on 12 carries.<br />
The Tanners hope to wrap<br />
up the season in style with a<br />
Thanksgiving Day win over<br />
Saugus. Kickoff is set for 10<br />
a.m. Nov. 22 at Coley Lee Field.<br />
While <strong>Peabody</strong> leads the<br />
series, 44-33, and <strong>Peabody</strong><br />
has won the last four contests<br />
games, Bettencourt expects a<br />
tougher Saugus squad will give<br />
<strong>Peabody</strong> a real battle.<br />
“This is not the same Saugus<br />
team we have beaten these last<br />
four years,” said Bettencourt.<br />
“Saugus is the real deal this<br />
year, and considering all that<br />
program has gone through, they<br />
are having a great season. I expect<br />
we will need to play our<br />
best to come out on top. We<br />
need to finish the season strong<br />
as we have worked hard all<br />
year, so it’s important to come<br />
out with our best.”<br />
Prep<br />
onto<br />
Super<br />
Bowl<br />
By Steve Krause<br />
DANVERS — Brian St.<br />
Pierre has a chance to do something<br />
unique in St. John’s Prep<br />
football history: win a championship<br />
both as a player and a coach.<br />
St. Pierre accomplished the<br />
former in 1997 when his Eagles<br />
beat New Bedford in the Division<br />
1 Super Bowl. The Prep moved a<br />
step closer to the latter Saturday<br />
by defeating Central Catholic,<br />
21-0, in the Division 1 North final<br />
at Glatz Field.<br />
With the win, the Eagles move<br />
straight to the Division 1 Super<br />
Bowl on Dec. 1 against perennial<br />
Prep nemesis John DiBiaso and<br />
Catholic Memorial. The game is at<br />
Gillette Stadium in Foxborough at<br />
a time to be announced (Division 1<br />
has no teams in Central or Western<br />
Massachusetts).<br />
“This is a special place,” said<br />
St. Pierre. “It’s why I came back<br />
here to coach.”<br />
If there were ever a championship<br />
“trap” game, Saturday’s game<br />
against the Red Raiders would<br />
have been it. All eyes pointed to<br />
a rematch between The Prep and<br />
Everett for a Super Bowl berth<br />
after the Crimson Tide survived a<br />
Week 3 tussle with the Eagles (26-<br />
14). But Central put an end to those<br />
hopes by upsetting the Crimson<br />
Tide last week. So even though<br />
The Prep had beaten Central in<br />
Week 2, St. Pierre was wary.<br />
“Central Catholic is a very good<br />
team,” he said. “They went into<br />
Everett and won.”<br />
The game couldn’t have started<br />
better for the Eagles.<br />
“We hoped to win the toss,<br />
defer, take the wind, stop them,<br />
and then come down and score.<br />
We checked off all those boxes.”<br />
A defense that combined for six<br />
sacks Saturday got started early<br />
with a three-and-out, after which<br />
offense became the Matt Crowley<br />
show. The junior quarterback<br />
completed his first five passes and<br />
ended up at 10-for-13, 173 yards<br />
and a touchdown (he also set a<br />
single-season record for passing<br />
yards with 1,081).<br />
After running back Trent Tully<br />
(shouldering almost the whole<br />
load after Aise Pream went down<br />
with an injury) capped a long<br />
drive with a 3-yard plunge to<br />
make it 7-0, Crowley combined<br />
with Luke Brennan on a 49-yard<br />
thing of beauty in the second<br />
quarter. Crowley’s play fake lured<br />
Central’s defense toward the<br />
pocket, and he hit Brennan with a<br />
bullet about 10 years from the line.<br />
Brennan ran untouched to the end<br />
zone.<br />
Tully’s 8-yard run in the fourth<br />
quarter capped off the scoring.<br />
Now, the Eagles get ready to<br />
play at Fenway Park the night<br />
before Thanksgiving against<br />
Xaverian, and then at Gillette<br />
against Catholic Memorial.