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Haverhill Hillies Football '16

Fri, Nov 11, 2016 07:00 PM @ Peabody
Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Haverhill 7 7 0 6 20
Peabody 0 8 0 0 8

Five interceptions fuel Haverhill

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Sunday, November, 13 By David Willis

PEABODY — From the night of its heartbreaking tournament loss to Everett, Haverhill football set one goal for the rest of 2016, to finish the season 9-2.

It may not have been pretty on Friday night, but the Hillies are now one victory from that milestone.

“That is our main goal now,” said receiver/defensive back Aaron Brooks. “We want it, coach (Tim) O’Connor wants it and the whole city of Haverhill wants it. We have to do it for them. Now we just have Thanksgiving left to finish our mission.”

Brooks and Teshaun Watson each intercepted two passes to highlight a dominant Haverhill defensive effort as the Hillies defeated upset-minded Peabody 20-8 on Friday night.

“Peabody was a tough team and they came ready to play,” said Haverhill linebacker Jason Tufts. “Maybe it was a little tougher than we thought. But we played great defense all-around and we finished off another good win.”

Haverhill, now 8-2, has just its annual Thanksgiving meeting with Lowell left.

“We had to pick it up out there, especially on defense,” said Watson. “It was ugly, it really was. But we did it when we had to and got the victory.”

The Hillie defensive backs stymied the Peabody passing game on a windy night. Watson — who now has four interceptions in two weeks after having none the first nine games — picked off a pass in each half, Brooks intercepted two in the second half and Pedro Santiago all but sealed the win with his interception.

“I was mad that I didn’t have a pick until last week because I was always going for the hits,” said Watson. “But I really felt like I needed to step up and make the plays the last two weeks. We were reading the QB well, had good coverage and made the plays when we needed to.”

Haverhill jumped out to a lead five plays into the game. Quarterback Broghean McGovern turned a broken play into a 40-yard run, then a play later found Brooks in the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown.

The Hillies then forced a punt, and following a 35-yard McGovern bomb to Brooks, J.C. Laguerre scored a 1-yard touchdown.

McGovern’s biggest play, however, came on a tackle.

After Peabody cut the lead to 14-8, Tanners defensive back Cedric Gutierrez intercepted a pass and seemed to have a clear lane to the end zone.

But a furious McGovern ran him down and made the tackle at the Hillie 4-yard line as time expired in the half.

“That was huge,” said Brooks. “It seem like everyone had given up on the play, but Broghean kept going and because of him we went into halftime ahead instead of losing.”

Haverhill scored the clinching touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Santiago intercepted a pass to give the Hillies the ball, caught a 39-yard pass to the Peabody 1-yard line and then ended the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run.

“We lost out on that playoff run,” said Tufts. “But once you lose one goal you set another, and now we are one win from 9-2.”

Reach sportswriter/videographer David Willis on Twitter at @DWillisET

Game Statistics:

First Quarter

H— Aaron Brooks 11 pass from Broghean McGovern (Dominic Rafferty kick), 4:20

Second Quarter

H —J.C. Laguerre 1 rush (Rafferty kick), 10:11

P — Eric Demayo 13 pass from Jonell Espinal (Demayo rush), 3:34 

Fourth Quarter

H —Pedro Santiago 1 run (rush failed), 8:28

 


INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING: H (24-98) — Broghean McGovern 3-40, J.C. Lagurerre 14-26, Pedro Santiago 5-29, Jason Tufts 2-3; P (26-68) —  Jake Doherty 12-51, Cedric Gutierrez 7-13, Eric Demayo 2-4, Luis Guridys 1-2, Jonell Espinal 4-(-2)

PASSING: H — McGovern 7-14-1, 121; P — Espinal 8-17-4, 83

RECEIVING: H — Aaron Brooks 2-46, Pedro Santiago 1-39, Teshawn Watson 2-19, Jukka Morales 1-13, Tufts 1-4; P — Doherty 3-55, Demayo 4-18, Owen Carr 1-10

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