RallyNorth.net

Thu, Nov 23, 2006 10:00 AM @ Amesbury

Team	Final
Newburyport	0
Amesbury	20

Indians write new chapter

Wednesday, August, 22 By Bob Albright
Staff writer

AMESBURY -- One year later it was the same score, the same weather, but one infinitely happier group of Indians. After losing 20-0 a year ago in the rain and sleet, Amesbury proudly hoisted the J. Walter Chase trophy in Landry Stadium in front of its soggy faithful after shutting out Newburyport by the identical score in the 84th meeting in the storied rivalry.

The win gave the Indians (5-5) their first .500 or better record since rolling up a 6-4 mark in 1998, but ask anyone wearing red and white afterward and the mark was merely a consolation prize.

"This means everything. This is the first time I have ever beaten Newburyport so it feels great," said Amesbury co-captain Jamie Mroz. "It's the greatest feeling to finish like this."

Playing through intermittent downpours and in front of an Amesbury-dominated crowd of better than 1,100, the Indians made a special teams touchdown stand up as the deciding score thanks both to a suffocating secondary that racked up four interceptions and a super sophomore by the name of Steve Serwon.

It was Serwon who scooped up the loose ball after Marion Wilder's blocked punt on Port's first possession and rumbled 38 yard for the score just three minutes into the contest. For good measure he picked off two passes and caught a conversion pass to close out the scoring. "Steve Serwon came up huge today," Mroz said. "I am so happy with the way the underclassmen came out. I am very proud of our team. We have a young team and they came out and played."

But yesterday's win ultimately rests with a determined group of Amesbury seniors like Mroz and fellow captain Ryan Kilmartin, as well as senior quarterback Joe Klufts whose 36-yard QB waggle run with just a minute left in the half may have broken the Clippers' backs.

"Our seniors have worked hard and it was real important for them to take a win away from here," said Amesbury coach Thom Connors with one arm firmly around the golden football-shaped trophy afterward. "They had lost two years in a row. For them to get this win makes real happy." Newburyport, which rushed for 140 yards led by freshman Kyle LeBlanc's 59, came out looking to establish the run and moved he ball convincingly at times. But the visitors (3-8) never converted a single third down the entire game and on several third-and-long plays fell prey to the Indians' opportunistic secondary which was draped over Port's lone receiving target, Pat Sheehan. Andrew Bibeau and Kevin Johnston both recorded picks on deep ballls intended for Sheehan, with Serwon snaring two more Clipper passes across the middle.

"Give them credit, their secondary guys were in the right position a lot and made the plays," said Newburyport's Ed Gaudiano. "They knew who to watch, Pat Sheehan -- you didn't have to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out." Staring at a first-and-10 at Port's 36 with a minute to play in the half, Klufts found a seam right up the middle and sprinted in with the score that coincided with a renewed downpour from the skies. Suffice it to say, the forecast would not get much brighter for the Clippers the rest of the morning.

"That was a very big play," said Gaudiano. "It's a lot different going into the half down one score than two." The freshman phenom, Wilder, rounded out the scoring in the final quarter with a five-yard dash and sophomore Jared Flanigan connected with his classmate, Serwon, on an impromptu conversion pass to complete the role reversal from a year ago. While his young team showed some predictable growing pains early on, Connors is clearly excited about the potential of this nucleus in years to come.

"Your not sophomores anymore on Thanksgiving," said Connors of the team's rapid growth curve."Now it's up to these kids to start a new winning streak."