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Last season, Pentucket avenged its first Thanksgiving Day loss in seven years with a 28-0 win. Now, the Sachems hope to keep the new streak rolling when they host Triton.

After two seasons of Nate Bunnell dominating the stats, Pentucket (6-4) has returned to spreading out the carries in its run-heavy wing-T offense. Halfback Chris Modlish (101 carries, 797 yards, 13 touchdowns) is the home run threat while fullback Dan Johanson (105 carries, 624 yards, 7 touchdowns) has grinded out the tough yards. Both have battled injuries throughout the year.

WEST NEWBURY — Senior quarterback and co-captain Jordan Silva was Johnnny on the Spot for Pentucket yesterday.

Silva scored the Sachems’ first touchdown, completed a key pass to set up a second touchdown, recovered a fumble in the end zone and had a late interception to hold off stubborn Triton, 14-7, before more than 1,500 fans at Pentucket.

But Silva’s offensive heroics, and indeed the Pentucket victory, probably wouldn’t have been possible if it hadn’t been for a rousing halftime speech from assistant coach Shawn McElligott, who last year just happened to be Triton’s head coach.

The score was tied 0-0 at halftime, but Pentucket (7-4) knew it was fortunate not to be trailing.

The Vikings (5-6) threatened right out of the gates. Bill Tindle ran 48 yards from scrimmage on the first play of the game and quarterback Sam Ferrara went nine yards to the 2-yard line on the second play only to be followed by a fumble into the end zone that Silva recovered on the third play.

Triton threatened again two possessions later only to be foiled by a C.J. Lataille interception in the end zone. Another Vikings’ drive advanced to the Pentucket 14 before the Sachems turned it away.

Pentucket, meanwhile, could not march past the Triton 32 all half, and it was obvious that the Vikings were winning the battle in the trenches and generally a more charged up football team.

“We kind of came out flat and just weren’t playing very well,” said co-captain Matt Fiore. “Coach McElligott got on us pretty good. He told the seniors that they only had one half left and, if we didn’t play better, we weren’t going to like the result. That got us going.”

Agreed Silva: “We got a speech from coach Mac that fired us up. We came out (for the second half) ready to play.”

The Sachems started taking control on the second possession of the third quarter, following a shanked punt that gave them the ball on Triton’s 41. A 32-yard jaunt by Dan Johanson (17 carries, 105 yards) brought the ball to the 9-yard-line and, three plays later, Silva rolled left and sprinted into the end zone for a 6-0 lead.

Silva’s extra-point kick hit the goal post, but Pentucket scored on its next possession as well after stopping Triton on its own 46 on a fourth and 4. Eight plays later, Johanson scored on an 11-yard run, but the key to the drive was when Silva hit Bob DiSorba brilliantly on a 14-yard pass to the sidelines on a 4th-and-9 situation.

A pass from Silva to Cam Spofford for two points made it 14-0 with 8:37 to play in the game.

But Triton battled back gamely. Taking over on its own 30, Ferrara completed passes to Tindle, Brendan O’Neil and Matt Brimcombe for a combined 50 yards and O’Neil eventually scored on a 4-yard run which, following an extra-point kick, made it 14-7 with 4:12 to play.

A stout defensive stand on the next series gave the Vikings the ball back with 3:39 still left to play. But Silva intercepted a Ferrara pass three plays later to all but seal the Sachems’ victory.

The Thanksgiving win was the seventh in the last eight years for the Sachems, who now lead the series against Triton by a 20-13-1 count.

“I’m definitely happy that we got fired up and won the game,” said Silva, who also played well in last year’s 28-0 Thanksgiving win. “But I’m upset that it’s over.”

As for Triton, the disappointing setback was tempered by knowledge that its 5-6 season was a big improvement over 2007 (1-10) and that it gave Pentucket all it could handle.

“I told the team how proud I was of them,” said Triton coach Jim O’Leary. “Except for a few mistakes, we played a great game.

“I think some of our guys put them (Pentucket) ahead of themselves before the game and they felt we had to play a perfect game to beat them, but then they found we could play with them.

“We got better and better this year, and we have a lot of our line back next year, so we’re looking forward to seeing how good we can become.”

BYFIELD - Like most of his Lawrence High teammates, Ramon Heredia was by no means immune to the stumble on the mudbog that was Triton's home football field last night.

At some point, though, big-play ability and talent somehow got Heredia and the Lancers over the hump, 19-15, at Triton.

BYFIELD — It figures that on Halloween night, the number 13 would be a factor.

Triton never led against North Andover but haunted the visitors throughout regulation and two overtime sessions. After a quick-strike TD brought the Vikings within a conversion of another deadlock,  senior linebacker Ricky Williams pulled down running quarterback Sam Ferrara three yards short of the end zone. Williams’ 13th tackle of the game rewarded the clutch passing of Brandon Walsh with a 37-35 victory.

BYFIELD — There is no doubt that Masconomet’s 4-3 record, the same as the team the Chieftains beat 28-0 last night the Triton Vikings, is quite misleading.

Playing a brutal non-conference schedule that included the likes of Division 1 St. John’s Prep and reigning Division 2A Super Bowl Champs Gloucester, Masconomet is now 2-0 in the CAL Large having won those two games by a combined score of 70-15.

TRITON — Don’t look now, but the Triton Vikings are off to a terrific start at 4-2 after shutting out Lynnfield, 22-0.

Perhaps sneaking up on other teams this season, the Vikes won their third straight in convincing fashion behind the bruising running of tailback Brendan O’Neil (15 carries, 76 yards, 2 touchdowns). Wrapping up their CAL Small portion of the schedule, the Vikes quadrupled the total of wins of the team from a year ago, something that has even caught the players themselves off guard.

North Reading — After starting the year with three straight wins, North Reading dropped its second game in a row Saturday 33-6 against a strong Triton Regional squad.

NORTH READING — After starting the year with three straight wins, North Reading dropped its second straight game, 33-6 against Triton.
For the second week in a row, the Hornets (3-2) were unable to stop the run as Triton (3-2) pounded out 191 rushing yards and scored all five of its touchdowns on the ground.
Triton opened the game with a 76-yard drive, ending with a 4-yard plunge into the end zone by quarterback Sam Ferrara.
North Reading looked to answer with a score of its own, driving down to Triton’s 4-yard line before quarterback Dylan Desrosiers (3 for 7, 23 yards) missed his receiver and was intercepted for a touchback.
The teams traded possessions before Triton again struck with another short touchdown run, going into halftime with a 12-0 lead.
North Reading coach Jeff Wall looked to mix things up a bit in the second half, putting  running back Dino Rizzo into the shotgun as a quarterback.
“They had our passes covered up pretty well so we wanted to spread them out a bit to get Rizzo some running room,” explain Wall. “He is our best runner so if we could spread them out a little bit we could run him up the middle from the quarterback.”
But Rizzo had some trouble handling the shotgun snap, fumbling twice in the second half.
Triton put the game away when the ensuing kickoff was fumbled and recovered by the Viking leading to another touchdown.
A late touchdown pass on a trick play from wide receiver Darren Hartwell to Robert Rosano gave the Hornets their only points of the day.
“We did not have a good week of practice and the coaching staff was concerned about that coming into today,” said Wall. “We only have 19 kids dressed with a few starters out with injuries so we cannot just show up and play and expect to win.”

The Triton Vikings walked away with the win after Nick DeFrancesco nailed a last second 31 yard field goal to beat the Ipswich Tigers.