RallyNorth.net

Fri, Nov 03, 2017 07:00 PM @ Haverhill

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
Peabody	7	7	7	13	34
Haverhill	6	0	10	7	23

Haverhill falls to Peabody

Friday, November, 03 By By Mike Grenier

HAVERHILL - On a night of wild, long-yardage scoring plays that Peabody and Haverhill kept trading off, it seemed reasonable to think that some unorthodox play would finally decide the game.

But it was nothing like that. Not at all.

Instead, it was a tough, well-executed fourth down play deep in Haverhill territory with three minutes left that pushed Peabody over the hump in a 34-23 victory.

The crucial situation late in the game came with Peabody nursing an unsafe 28-23 edge. On fourth-and-two, Angel Paulino, who had a gigantic night with 178 yards on 26 carries, surged behind a strong offensive line for five yards and a first down at the Haverhill 20.

Two plays later, Peabody delivered the knockout punch when Jonell Espinal threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Noah Freedman, putting it out of reach, 34-23.

Peabody did considerable damage with its ground attack, led by Paulino, but it could never distance itself from the persistent Hillies (now 2-7). That's because Haverhill quarterback Brady Skafas kept the Tanners backpedaling.

Skafas was 9-for-24 through the air, but piled up 201 yards. He threw a 52-yard touchdown bomb to Devon Cunningham (who had opened the game with a 90-yard kickoff return for a score) and added a 22-yard scoring strike to David Carreiro in the fourth quarter, cutting Peabody's lead to 28-23.

"Well, tonight you saw both of my teams play," said Peabody coach Mark Bettencourt. "There's the one that plays well and the one that kind of panics and falls apart. We were going in the wrong direction late in the first half (Peabody led 14-6 at the break), we panicked a little bit. That's the team we saw earlier in the year."

But Peabody put together a 68-yard scoring march that boosted it to 21-6. It gave the Tanners just enough momentum, and the visitors never relinquished the lead. Haverhill did narrow it to 21-16 later on a Sergio Martinez 30-yard field goal and again at 28-23, but the Hillies never did quite enough.

 

Peabody 34, Haverhill 23

Peabody:     7 7  7 13 - 34

Haverhill (2-7):     6 0 10  7 - 23

First Quarter

H - Devon Cunningham 90 kickoff return (kick failed)

P - Angel Paulino 8 run (Austin Legget kick)

Second Quarter

P - Noah Freedman 2 run (Legget kick)

Third Quarter

P - Paulino 5 run (Legget kick)

H - Cunningham 52 pass from Brady Skafas (Sergio Martinez kick)

H - Martinez 30 field goal

Fourth Quarter

P - Dylan Peluso 13 pass from Colby Therrien (Legget kick)

H - David Carreiro 22 pass from Skafas (Martinez kick)

P - Freedman 18 pass from Jonell Espinal (kick failed)

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

Rushing: P(46-279) Angel Paulino 26-178, Noah Freedman 12-55, Colby Therrien 3-45, Jonell Espinal 2-8, Nolan Murphy 1-(-3), Elijah White 2-(-4); H (8-(-15)): Ayden Alvarado 2-6, Colum O'Brien 1-(-5), Brady Skafas 5-(-16).

Passing: P - Therrien 2-6-0, 14, Espinal 3-4-0, 32; H - Skafas 9-24-0, 201

Receiving: P - Dylan Peluso 2-26, Freedman 1-18, Jake Sousa 2-4; H - Nicholas Skafas 3-85, David Carreiro 3-33, Cunningham 1-52, Dante Cadeus 1-22, Sam Prescott 1-9.