Daily Item 2018 Thanksgiving Football Preview

THANKSGIVING FOOTBALL 2018 ESSEX MEDIA GROUP 11
Peabody wants to end on an up-note
By Harold Rivera
ITEM SPORTS EDITOR
The goal for Peabody football coach
Mark Bettencourt and his Tanners
coming into their Thanksgiving
game against Saugus is simple. Peabody,
4-6 this season, won’t accept a
loss to close a tough, injury-riddled
2018 campaign.
“The seniors want to end the season
on a win,” Bettencourt said. “Our goal
of finishing the season over. 500 or at
.500 was lost. Finishing at 5-6 is the
best we can do and we have to make
sure we do that. Finishing 4-7 isn’t
an option, that doesn’t speak for the
work we’ve put in this year.”
Saugus, however, will have other
plans. Bettencourt has studied the
Sachems on film and knows they aren’t
an easy opponent to beat.
PEABODY (4-6)
9/7................. Peabody 36, Somerville 7
9/14/.............. Peabody 3, Danvers 30
9/21............... Peabody 7, Marblehead 28
9/28............... Peabody 25, Revere 27
10/5............... Peabody 21, Masconomet 6
10/12............. Peabody 42, Malden 12
10/20............. Peabody 7, Beverly 28
10/26............. Peabody 21, Reading 35
11/2................ Peabody 20, Haverhill 10
11/9................ Peabody 24, Woburn 28
11/22.............. vs. Saugus (10)
“They’re tough kids,” Bettencourt
said. “The story early in the season
about what happened there and the
way they’ve persevered with Coach
Mike Mabee, he’s done a great job
rallying these kids, motivating them
and giving them something positive.
When you inspire kids to overcome
adversity you get good results. Watching
the film, they had growing pains
early in the year but they’re playing
cleaner with every game. They’re
coming here expecting to win.”
Peabody plans to control the line of
scrimmage and establish an effective
running game in hopes of creating
opportunities through the air. That
makes it a big game for Peabody’s offensive
line, led by Abe Kabba, Chris
Glass and Mike Lock, and running
backs Luis Guridys and Angel Paulino.
“The biggest key is up front,” Bettencourt
said. “We have to control
the line of scrimmage. In the games
we’ve won we’ve controlled the line of
scrimmage. We’ve shown we can do it
against teams a little bigger than us.
We did it against Masco and Haverhill.
If we can’t establish a running
game, it affects our passing game.
“If we can control the trenches, it
allows us to do a lot more with ball
control and that allows us to control
the passing game.”
Other key offensive contributors include
quarterback Alex DeNisco and
PHOTO | XYXY
Luis Guridys has come through for Peabody this year in the offensive
backfield.
kicker Austin Leggett.
Defensively, Bettencourt pointed to
sticking to assignments as Peabody’s
key. He also foresees a tall task ahead
for cornerbacks Dylan Peluso and
Carlos Hernandez, who’ll be relied on
to prevent big plays in Saugus’ passing
game. Linebackers Tyler Norman
and Kyle Maglione have played well
as of late.
“Defensively, we have to read our
keys and trust what the coaches
are telling them to do,” Bettencourt
said. “When we get away from reading
our keys, we step into problems.
The defense we run relies on 11 guys
doing their jobs. What helps us is
we’ve played some really good teams.
Haverhill, Masco and Woburn were
good teams. Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead,
that’s going to help.
“We have to step up and make sure
we play our best game on Thanksgiving
morning or the turkey might not
taste so well.”
Kickoff for Thanksgiving’s clash between
Peabody and Saugus is scheduled
for 10 a.m. at Coley Lee Field.
Warmest wishes for a happy and healthy Thanksgiving. Good Luck Teams!
DRS. ZICHERMAN, LAGO & ASSOCIATES
PEDIATRIC DENTISTRY, ADULT DENTISTRY
& ORTHODONTICS SINCE 1975
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