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Pentucket Sachems Football '14

Defense delivers, Sachems clip Triton

WEST NEWBURY – It was a game that won’t soon be forgotten, as the Pentucket football team defeated archrival Triton 14-10 on a snowy, muddy Thanksgiving morning. With the game tied at eight going into the fourth quarter, Pentucket took the lead with just under nine minutes to play thanks to a one-yard quarterback sneak by sophomore Pat Freiermuth, and from there the defense held strong to keep the high-powered Viking offense out of the end zone. “It was really fun,” said senior running back Jeff Porter after the game. “I’ve never played in anything like this before and I’m sure I never will again, so I’m going to remember this one forever.” It took a while for either team to find their footing in the heavy snow, but early in the second quarter the Sachems finally broke through. Porter found the edge on the right sideline and escaped for a 67-yard touchdown to put his team on the board with 9:15 to play. Freiermuth found senior Josh Wesolowski in the end zone for a two-point conversion, and just like that Pentucket had an 8-0 lead. Pentucket was able to contain Triton for the rest of the first half, but in the third quarter the Vikings began breaking off the big plays that have sustained their offense all season. Facing a 3rd and 10 situation, Triton quarterback Justin Cashman hit receiver Jack Germinara for an 18-yard completion, and then on the next play he ran right up the middle for a 36-yard rush to bring his team to the Pentucket goal line. Pentucket was able to stop Triton on three-straight plays at the goal line, but on 4th and 1 Luke Boyle found a hole up the middle and ran untouched into the end zone. Cashman completed a pass to Jake Gilbert on the two-point conversion, tying the game at 8-8 with 4:12 left in the third. Triton shut down the Pentucket offense on their next possession, but on the ensuing punt the Triton return man fumbled the ball away to the Sachems, who took over with a fresh set of downs inside the Triton red zone. A personal foul penalty on Triton moved the ball up to the Viking goal line, and in a sequence that almost perfectly mirrored their own scoring drive a few minutes earlier, the Vikings stopped Pentucket on three-straight plays before Freiermuth got in on 4th and 1 to put the Sachems back in front 14-8. Pentucket failed to convert the subsequent two-point conversion, meaning that with 8:48 to play, Triton still had a good shot at taking the lead, but time was starting to become a serious factor. Triton went three and out on its next drive, and when Pentucket got the ball back, the Sachems gave up a first down on a critical 3rd and 6 play. The Sachems continued to run the clock over the next few plays, but the Vikings finally caught a break after senior Kevin Clark out-jumped a Pentucket receiver to intercept Freiermuth, giving Triton another shot with just under four minutes to play. Starting off at midfield, the Vikings quickly got into scoring range after Cashman picked up 19 yards on a wild quarterback scramble, most of which came after he hurdled a Pentucket defender coming at him near the sideline. Triton’s next three running plays went nowhere, which set up a 4th and 3 play that Triton absolutely had to convert. Cashman found Germinara again for a 13-yard gain, giving the Vikings a fresh set of downs at the Pentucket 14-yard line. With their backs to the wall and roughly a minute to play, the Pentucket defense stepped up. The Sachems stopped Cashman on first down, forced two interceptions, and then facing another critical fourth down situation, sophomore Liam Sheehy intercepted Cashman to preserve the lead. Since Sheehy was ruled down at the one, Pentucket was forced to burn Triton’s three remaining timeouts and then take an intentional safety in the end zone to minimize the possibility of Triton forcing a turnover or blocking a punt in the end zone. The gambit made it 14-10 and gave the Vikings one last shot at a miracle, but the Sachem secondary held strong and finished off the huge Thanksgiving Day victory. “It’s really awesome, we were fighting to get the positive record today, and I’m really glad we could get the win over Triton on Thanksgiving,” Wesolowski said afterwards. “That’s always a big win, and it’s coach Perry’s last game so we definitely wanted to do that for him.”

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Football, 11/28/14 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars

Noyes heads balanced offense in Sachem win

WEST NEWBURY — Things went so well for Pentucket yesterday that one of its eight scoring possessions required less than a second — seven-tenths to be exact — to find success.

But it was an afternoon of successful results for the Sachems who routed visiting Arlington Catholic 53-0 before a small, but satisfied crowd.

"It's the second to last game for the seniors, so definitely we were motivated," said Andrew Noyes, who scored a pair of touchdowns while leading a balanced yard-eating ground attack with 114 yards. "All we have left is Thanksgiving (at home against Triton), so naturally we're motivated.

"Some of us aren't going to play football ever again. Everyone says you don't know how fast it's going to go by. It turns out it goes by reaL fast."

It was the Pentucket offense that played fast yesterday. After a three-and-out first possession, the Sachems (5-5) scored each of the next seven times they had the ball. Bouncing back from a shutout loss last week, Pentucket finished with 330 yards on 32 carries and 396 total yards on 40 plays.

"It's hard to tell who's going to come to play," longtime Pentucket coach Steve Hayden said. "I think our guys worked hard and played hard during the week. We got back to some basics, which is good,"

In addition to Noyes, Jeff Porter ran for a score and caught another from Pat Freirmuth, who also ran for two. Chris Muello capped the scoring with a 70-yard blast with 7:23 left.

The defense also set up their offensive mates in great field position:

— A Liam Sheehy fumble recovery set up the first of two Jeff Porter touchdowns and got Pentucket on the board.

— A Noah Malhi fumble recovery set up a four-play drive that ended with a Jack Richard 6-yard run and a 20-0 lead.

— A Porter interception at the goal line shut down AC's best scoring chance and led to the Freirmuth-to-Porter scoring pass.

— A 27-yard Freirmuth interception return set up the Sachems at the AC 1-yard line (hence the sub-second possession).

— A Ben Thornton fumble recovery set up Noyes' final scoring run for a 46-0 lead with 5:27 left in the third.

One week after giving up 413 yards rushing in a 21-0 loss to North Reading, the Sachems shut down the Cougar attack. After 30 carries, AC finished with negative-11 yards, which included 54 yards lost on six sacks. Pentucket's front line of Thornton, (who added a sack), Sean McGrath (in on two sacks) and Joe Raimondi helped stuff 14 of the rushing attempts for zero yards or fewer.

"We knew they were going to be more of a threat through the air, so we've been working on a lot of coverages this past week. We did what we had to do. We had our toughest week of practice all year, and that probably made the difference."

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Football, 11/15/14 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars

Pentucket overcomes early deficit, rally to defeat rival Newburyport

WEST NEWBURY — It may not have been a playoff matchup, but that didn’t mean that Pentucket was about to approach Saturday with anything less that postseason intensity.

Facing heavy rain and a sopping field that left players ankle deep in mud, the Sachems saw Newburyport jump out to a nine-point lead before Pentucket recovered with a dominant second half on the way to earning a 22-9 victory over their neighboring rival Clippers.

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Football, 11/01/14 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars

Pentucket allows just 43 total yards in revenge victory over North Reading

WEST NEWBURY — No matter how the rest of his day played out, a little revenge made it a “Sweet 16” for Pentucket’s Pat Freiermuth.

The quarterback threw a touchdown to fellow sophomore Liam Sheehy and, from his linebacker position, helped lead a dominating defense effort that allowed just 43 total yards as the Sachems celebrated Freiermuth’s 16th birthday with a 16-0 domination over North Reading on Saturday.

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Football, 10/25/14 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars

Second quarter woes doom Pentucket in loss ot Masco

WEST NEWBURY — For three quarters, Pentucket football stood toe-to-toe with Cape Ann League-leading Masconomet.

Unfortunately for the Sachems, the Chieftains delivered a dominant second quarter that saw them score three touchdowns, and that was enough for Masco in a 21-8 victory over their longtime league rival.

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Football, 10/11/14 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars

Pentucket earns bragging rights by beating Newyburyport

WEST NEWBURY — With the game on the line and the slick ball bouncing on the muddy turf in his direction, Pentucket sophomore Liam Sheehy could feel a nasty case of butterflies in his stomach.

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Football, 10/04/14 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars

Triton snaps Pentucket streak

BYFIELD — Triton beat Pentucket for the first time in six tries last night by a score of 31-7. Triton (3-1) outplayed its Thanksgiving rival in just about every facet of the game, holding the run-oriented Sachems to just 116 yards on the ground. “There’s no greater feeling than winning with this group of guys,” said Triton quarterback Justin Cashman, who finished with 106 yards rushing and a touchdown while completing 5 of 7 passes for 61 yards and another touchdown. Pentucket’s All-Star back Jeff Porter got off to a tough start. He fumbled the opening kickoff, which the Sachems were just barely able to recover. Then he fumbled on the team’s first play from scrimmage. Taking over at the Pentucket 20, the Vikings only needed four plays to reach the endzone, as Luke Boyle capped off the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run to put his team up 7-0. On the next kickoff, Porter shook off the bad start and nearly took the ball all the way to the house before he was caught at midfield. Pentucket, which fell to 1-2, marched down the field on a series of short runs, but the Triton defense didn’t break, forcing a turnover on downs. Both offenses remained quiet until midway through the second quarter, when Cashman broke loose for a 50-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 14-0. Triton drove to the 5 late in the half but the Sachem defense stiffened. The hosts settles for a 22-yard field goal from Max Luttenbacher to make it 17-0. Boyle fumbled the ball on the first play of the second half and Pentucket captain Josh Wesolowski recovered. The Triton defense stepped up and stuffed Pentucket on four straight plays. On the following drive, Triton effectively put the game away after Cashman executed a perfect play action fake and hit receiver James Wood in stride for a 32-yard touchdown. Pentucket got on the board in its next drive, as Pat Freiermuth found Andrew Noyes for a 16-yard touchdown pass with 10:53 to play in the fourth quarter. The drive also included one incredible play by Porter, who almost jumped over a Triton defender to break free for what would have been a long touchdown run. He ended up clipping his foot on the player’s shoulder, and wound up with a 17-yard gain instead. Pentucket will look to rebound next Saturday when it hosts Newburyport at 1 p.m.

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Football, 09/26/14 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars

Porter’s three third-quarter touchdowns lead Pentucket past Amesbury

WEST NEWBURY — After two quarters of frustration, it took Jeff Porter just one play to turn the entire game around for Pentucket.

On the second play of the second half, the running back took a handoff going right and broke free for a 60-yard touchdown, his first of three scored on three consecutive touches as the Sachems scored 28 points in the third quarter alone to roll past Amesbury 36-7 Saturday.

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Football, 09/20/14 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars

Lynnfield claws past Pentucket

Banged up Pentucket got out to a 7-0 lead but then withered to Lynnfield, losing 28-7.

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Football, 09/06/14 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars