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H-W surges past Pentucket in 2nd half

Saturday, September, 08 By Chuck Frye
Staff writer

WEST NEWBURY | At halftime, there were more than a few puzzled expressions among the 300 fans at Pentucket on a sweltering opening day Saturday afternoon.

At the house where defensive dominance and ball-control offense are revered, there was a bona fide shootout going on between the Sachems and Hamilton-Wenham.

With a flurry of three total touchdowns over the last 2:09 of the half, the exhausted teams staggered to their locker rooms after generating over 400 yards of total offense with the score knotted up at 20.

As the afternoon progressed, leg and abdominal muscles also started to knot and cramp, forcing both teams to reach deep into their rosters. But the most important cramping executed in the final 20 minutes was done to Pentucket's offensive style by an energetic General front seven.

With a savvy and unstoppable offensive line continuing to click, Hamilton-Wenham pulled away to a hard-fought 32-20 victory.

"Give credit to Pentucket," General head coach Andrew Morency said. "They came out firing off the ball and had our defense on its heels in the first half. I was surprised how much Pentucket moved the ball."

Fullback Nate Bunnell had four 10-plus yard carries in the first half, contributing to a 69-yard effort with a touchdown. Later, junior quarterback Jordan Silva came alive, hitting on 6 of 8 passes including four in a row for 125 yards and another score while adding a rushing TD.

But in the second half, Hamilton-Wenham "took away our run a little bit more and they brought up some more guys on the corners for the pass," according to Sachem head coach Steve Hayden.

Pentucket was held to just 49 yards of offense and got no closer that the General 28 to scoring, with that drive ending on an interception.

Meanwhile, Hamilton's formidable line kept the running game rolling.

Senior tri-captain Jake Cotter was the gleeful beneficiary of the front wall's work, piling up 221 yards on 23 carries and all five General scores. With Nate Masterson (91 yards on 12 attempts) setting the table, Cotter garnered the glory.

Pentucket opened the game's scoring on Bunnell's 2-yard run to cap a 13-play march late in the first quarter, added a 9-yard Silva score 5:37 before halftime, then tied the game at 20 with 9 seconds left on a 6-yard Silva to Ryan Durkin pass.

"The most important thing for us is to get better defensively," Hayden concluded. "Scoring 20 points should be enough for us to win the game. We've got to be able to stop them."