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MANCHESTER — The final score (Georgetown 26, Manchester Essex 14) doesn’t tell the whole story of the Thanksgiving showdown at Hyland Field.

With just over two minutes left in regulation, the hosts trailed 20-14 and were on the Royals’ 15-yard line. Craig Carter threw to a receiver for what looked to be a tying score. But the ball hit off the receiver’s hands and helmet and bounced right into the hands of 5-10, 138-pound Georgetown defensive back Liam Lydon.

  HAVERHILL – It was a long time coming for Georgetown, which beat Manchester Essex 14-13 in a thrilling fourth quarter comeback to claim the program’s first win of the season and its first conference victory since Thanksgiving of 2010.   Down 13-6 with three minutes to play, quarterback Cooper Martens and the Georgetown offense drove the length of the field. After Nick DePasquale came up just short of the pylon on a diving rush to the outside, Martens pushed his way in to pull the Royals within one with 10 seconds to play.   Faced with a decision of playing for the tie with an extra point, or going for two and the win, first-year coach Justin Spurr decided to lay his cards on the table and go for the win right there.   “You don’t get many chances like that,” Spurr said. “We felt like the kids were hungry and ready to do it. We knew that they had it burning inside.”   Despite a false start penalty that pushed the Royals back five yards, Georgetown wouldn’t be denied. Martens fired a short pass over the middle to tight end Nick Calvani, who caught the pass to give Georgetown the lead and the win.   An elated Spurr said after the game, “They’ve been through a lot of hard years. And it’s not about me or the coaching staff, I’m here for the kids and they deserve this win. It’s their win.”   Coming into the game, Georgetown had struggled mightily in its first two matchups, losing by four touchdowns to both Cathedral and Greater Lowell. Manchester Essex hadn’t fared much better.   That changed in the second quarter, when Manchester Essex running back Chris Carr found the end zone twice to give his team the lead. The junior tailback opened the scoring with a goal line touchdown run on fourth down early in the second quarter, and then he repeated the fourth down feat from seven yards out on the next possession after the Royals fumbled away the ensuing kickoff.   “It takes a lot out of us on defense when at halftime it’s 31-17 in plays,” Spurr said.   DePasquale cut the lead to 13-6 when he got to the edge on a sweep and scored from 13 yards out.   The Royals made the biggest defensive stand of the game when they halted a Manchester-Essex drive that would have iced the game.   The Royals, who went 2-9 last year, came up with a fourth down stop in their own territory with three minutes to play. The front seven hung tough against Carr, who ran for over 100 yards on the day, and got the stop to set up the game’s dramatic finish.