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Clancy passes Port to victory

Monday, October, 27 By Mike Grenier
Staff writer

HAMILTON — Judging strictly by its record, one would assume that Newburyport High is just another mediocre 3-5 football team playing out the string this season.

But nothing could be further from the truth. The Clippers look every bit like championship-caliber material in the Cape Ann League Small and stated their case in emphatic fashion here Saturday with a 28-14 thumping of Hamilton-Wenham.

This is a team that Newburyport (3-0 in the CAL Small) had to beat to play even more meaningful games in November, and coach Ed Gaudiano’s team did it by carving up the Generals in the passing game.

Senior quarterback Joe Clancy played brilliantly, hitting on 18-of-29 passes for 257 yards and three touchdowns. He set the tone on the first play of the game, executing a flea flicker to Kyle LeBlanc for a 68-yard touchdown.

Newburyport simply carried the play most of the day, forcing the Generals (4-3 overall, 1-1 in the CAL Small) to fight the uphill battle to the final whistle.

“There’s a lot of youth on this team and it showed when we lost those five games, but youth will be served,” said Clancy, who also threw 4-yard touchdown passes to Andrew Sokol and Nick Welch. “We could’ve quit when we were 0-5, but this is a team that wants to learn.

“I think the big thing is that we just come ready to play. Last week we played only a half (in a 41-21 decision over winless Ipswich), but this week we played four quarters.”

Hamilton-Wenham displayed an inconsistent running game, which led to too many punts and, consequently, too many opportunities for Clancy and his army of receivers. Sokol finished with seven catches for 130 yards and Clancy also completed two or more passes to Nick Welch, Dave Freeman, Derek Freeman and LeBlanc.

“Clancy was the difference,” said Hamilton-Wenham coach Andrew Morency. “We knew what they were going to do, but they followed through on their game plan. I mean, that was like an NFL drive at the end of the first half (Newburyport scored with 12 seconds left for a 20-7 lead). Clancy threw about a 40-yard rope to set up the touchdown.”

Still, Hamilton-Wenham went down stubbornly. Quarterback Andy Duval (9 for 16 for 136 yards and two touchdowns) connected with Corey Daff for a 42-yard touchdown pass in the opening half, and the Generals closed the gap to 20-14 with 6:18 left in the game when Duval scrambled out of the pocket and found Casey Colyer on a 21-yard scoring pass.

The Hamilton-Wenham crowd stirred at that point as the fans could sense a momentum shift.

The Generals were perhaps one big defensive stop away from stealing the game at the end. However, Clancy kept his team moving, and on a fourth down play at the H-W 36-yard line, the Clippers surprised with an option pass from LeBlanc to Sokol that netted 33 yards. Dave Freeman (14 carries, 46 yards) took it in from there to make it 28-14 with 2:26 left in the game.

“We played well, but as you saw, we didn’t seal it until the fourth down (option pass) and the touchdown,” said Gaudiano. “Hamilton-Wenham came at us aggressively on the pass rush and got to Clancy a couple of times. We addressed some protection issues at halftime and did a much better job. Clancy really spread the ball around and, defensively, No. 73 (Darren Wright) had a great game for us.”

The loss put a dent in Hamilton-Wenham’s pursuit of a league title. Moreover, the Generals still have to deal with contenders Georgetown and Amesbury in the next two weeks. But Morency refuses to think his team is out of the race.

“No excuses today,” said Morency. “They made more big plays than we did. There are no easy weeks in this league. Teams like Newburyport and Amesbury still have to play each other. We have to regroup and get ready for next week. There’s still a lot of football left to be played.”