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Clancy leads Newburyport past Triton

Friday, September, 21 By Dan Guttenplan
Sports editor

BYFIELD | Newburyport's Joe Clancy is quickly making a name for himself as one of the top quarterbacks in the Cape Ann League.

The junior field general delivered his third consecutive 100-plus yard, multiple passing touchdown performance last night, leading the Clippers to a 26-0 victory at Triton. Clancy completed 8 of 12 passes for 124 yards and three touchdowns, giving him 460 passing yards and eight touchdown passes through three games.

"Clancy obviously is one of the better quarterbacks around," Triton coach Shawn McElligott said. "They've probably got the best quarterback in the (Cape Ann League) right now."

That recipe has led to a 2-1 start for Newburyport on the heels of its 4-7 season. Triton, on the other hand, drops to 0-3 and has yet to score a point this season.

The Vikings were held to 101 yards of total offense. They amassed just 44 total yards through three quarters before Billy Tindle collected 57 rushing yards on their final drive.

Clancy opened the scoring on the opening drive when he connected with Andrew Sokol on a 6-yard touchdown pass. But the majority of the damage was done in the second quarter when the Clippers scored three touchdowns in a span of 3:13.

Derek Freeman stretched the Clippers' lead to 14-0 on an 8-yard touchdown run with 3:32 remaining. But then Clancy took over, connecting on touchdowns passes of 36 and 19 yards. The first | the 36-yard pass | went to Ashlyn Calcagni with 2:04 remaining. After a three-and-out by Triton, the Clippers regained possession with 30.3 remaining on Triton's 29-yard-line.

Two plays later, Clancy connected on the 19-yard touchdown connection with Calcagni. Calcagni, a senior, had four receptions for 72 yards and two touchdowns. The Clippers ground game was led by Derek Freeman (6 carries, 56 yards) and Justin Burl (13 carries, 58 yards).

Triton | a team that has struggled to sustain drives all season | threatened to score its first points in the closing minutes. Tindle gashed the Clippers second-team defense to the tune of 10 carries for 73 yards on the final drive alone. That gave the Vikings possession at the Clippers' 3-yard-line with the clock winding down under 20 seconds.

On Triton's final snap, the pitch to Tindle was misguided, resulting in a fumble in the backfield. Tindle landed on the fumble after a 16-yard loss as the clock expired.

"That stop was probably better for their team than the points would've been good for our team," McElligott said. "We need to score against their No. 1 defense."