RallyNorth.net

Sat, Oct 27, 2007 02:30 PM @ Saugus

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
Swampscott	7	9	7	0	23
Saugus	0	6	7	6	19

Swampscott staves off Saugus to set up NEC South showdown

Monday, October, 29 By Matt Williams
Staff writer

On an afternoon that featured mishaps of every sort | from penalties and turnovers to sloppy play and even two inadvertent whistles | the Swampscott High football team showed why it is in good position to capture the Northeastern Conference Small championship.

Despite all the miscues, the Big Blue found a way to win, escaping Stackpole Field with a 23-19 triumph over host Saugus Saturday afternoon.

"We were sloppy | we looked like we were working in quicksand a little bit," said Big Blue coach Steve Dembowski, whose team improved to 7-1 on the season, including 3-0 in the NEC Small. "But we made enough plays to win."

Swampscott won its third straight and remained unbeaten away from Blocksidge Field. It was the Big Blue's fifth contest decided by seven or less points this year, games in which they are 4-1.

The victory sets up a huge showdown this Saturday between the NEC Small's only two unbeaten teams when Beverly High (5-3) invades Blocksidge Field for a 2:30 p.m. showdown with Swampscott. Both teams are 3-0 in league play, and the winner will all but wrap up the league crown and postseason berth that goes with it.

This marked Swampscott's seventh straight victory over Saugus in an all-time series they now lead, 39-28-7.

On Saturday, the Big Blue were fearful that a slew of turnovers | two interceptions by quarterback Peter Kinchley and a late fumble on an errant option pitch, which led to all 19 Saugus points | would produce a repeat of their lone loss, a 21-14 setback to unbeaten Gloucester earlier this month.

"The turnovers really hurt us. This is the second game (this year) where we've turned it over and when we do, its either a close game or we lose," said Dembowski.

It certainly looked that way throughout the second half. With Swampscott leading 16-6 and in the Sachems' red zone, a Kinchley pass was tipped and collected by the hosts' Rodrigo Henriques, who raced by everyone upfield for a 90-yard TD return to give Saugus life.

Later, the Big Blue lost a fumble deep in their own end with 2:52 remaining. On the Sachems' first play after the turnover, quarterback Bret Reid connected with Taylor Trainor for a 20-yard scoring strike to make it 23-19.

When Saugus recovered a perfectly executed onsides kick, the Big Blue sideline held its breath. But as it has all year, the defense held, stopping the Sachems on fourth down. Some clock mismanagement gave Saugus one more chance after a punt, but Big Blue junior Ilya Levin picked off Reid to ice the win.

"That's the kind of day it was. Too many mistakes by the coaches, players | everyone," said Dembowski, who called two clock-killing kneeldowns before realizing that the Sachems' remaining timeouts would force his team to punt before time actually ran out.

Levin's interception capped a solid day for Swampscott's "D." The unit forced four turnovers and twice stopped the Sachems inside the red zone in the fourth quarter, providing the kind of play that's helped the Big Blue win close games all season.

"We have a lot of size and a lot of speed (on defense)," said Dembowski. "You can't credit one guy, but when we're all on the same page we're good."

Kinchley's offense was sloppy at times, but also efficient. The senior signal caller completed 19 of 33 passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns. It produced a TD run from Shawn Hubauer immediately after the interception return that swung momentum.

Senior Justin Mitchell turned in a whale of a game, hauling in seven passes for 73 yards and both scores. The first came when he found himself wide open in the back of the end zone from five yards out on the opening drive. The second was a 9-yard strike with just nine seconds remaining in the first half, which saw the rugged senior catch a curl at the 7-yard line and pinball off Sachem defenders to paydirt.

Mitchell had recovered the fumble that led to the score minutes earlier, and though he fumbled on the ensuing return, an inadvertent whistle saved possession for the Big Blue.

It was the second inadvertent whistle of the contest. The first came on the opening drive when Kinchley's play-fake was so good that it fooled the officials. They whistled Levin down at the line | even though the QB had the ball and was scampering around the end for a 60-yard TD.

Kinchley also had a 74-yard TD run called back due to an illegal formation.

"Every time we play Saugus they hang around. They're a scrappy team and we couldn't put them away," said Dembowski. "Hopefully we can regroup and learn from this."