RallyNorth.net

Pentucket football upsets Masconomet

Sunday, November, 04 By Mike Grenier
Staff writer

WEST NEWBURY | Pentucket Regional football standout Nathan Bunnell initially didn't grasp the magnitude of his team's accomplishment against highly-regarded Masconomet yesterday.

"I think it's one of our biggest wins of the year," said Bunnell, who clobbered the Masco defense with 136 yards in 17 carries in the Sachems' stirring 21-14 triumph.

Bunnell had to amend that statement after he was reminded that Masco came in with an 8-0 record and was in charge of the Cape Ann League Large Division with a 2-0 mark.

"Well, it's definitely our biggest win of the season," said Bunnell, whose team is 7-2 overall, 2-1 in the CAL Large.

The pile driving Bunnell had a lot to do with it, setting up the winning touchdown in the fourth quarter with a masterful 62-yard run on a third-and-two from the Pentucket 33. Teammate Chris Modlish lammed it home from the five and Ryan Durkin kicked the extra point for a 21-14 lead with 4:42 remaining.

Pentucket coach Steve Hayden then turned the game over to his defense and the Sachems came through big time as they finally contained Masco quarterback Chris Splinter (129 yards rushing, 91 yards passing) and the rest of the Chieftains down the stretch.

The Sachems victory turned the CAL race upside down. Pentucket, Masco, Wilmington and North Andover all have one loss in the division with two games remaining. In short, it's anybody's championship.

"We kind of dented (Masco's) chances a little bit," said Bunnell. "All these other teams in the league have been saying 'beat Masco' (because the Chieftains were undefeated). I thought we wanted it a little more than they did today. We would've been pretty upset if we'd lost."

Coach Jim Pugh's Masco team had a strange day. The Chieftains looked flat in the early going and paid for it within the first three minutes when Pentucket quarterback Jordan Silva scored from five yards out and Durkin kicked the extra point for a 7-0.

However, that touchdown was a wakeup call for Masco | or so it seemed. Splinter's 47-yard scoring run up the middle and Nick Salvo's extra point made it 7-7 just 59 seconds later. It stayed that way until the first possession of the third quarter when Masco caught fire and easily marched 85 yards in six plays, capped by T.C. Mannetta's 22-yard touchdown run and Salvo's PAT for a 14-7 lead.

Pentucket reversed the flow of the game after that. Silva hooked up with Modlish on a 49-yard pass play that had touchdown written all over it | until Modlish fumbled it just short of the goal line. Teammate Justin Bolla, who was making a downfield block at the time, alertly saw the loose ball in the end zone and covered it for the touchdown that made it 14-14.

Masco responded with a well-executed drive into the red zone, but Pentucket's defense held and Bunnell popped the big run that left his team in prime position to win it. "Awesome," Hayden said of Bunnell's run. "We just executed today. We weren't thinking about the league race. We just wanted to play hard against a real good team."

Pugh didn't hide his disappointment in the Chieftains' performance from top to bottom.

"This was a case where we were outcoached and outplayed," said Pugh. "They wanted it more than we did. No excuses. It was not a good day for us in any phase of the game.

"I don't know what happened to us, but the big thing now is that we don't control our own destiny. Everybody has a loss in the league and it's going to come down to Thanksgiving Day."