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Peabody 11-15

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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.

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