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Defense, Kinchley help Swampscott knock off Winthrop

Friday, October, 19 By Nick Turczak
Staff writer

WINTHROP | Once again, Swampscott's defense came up big.

And once again, the Big Blue prevailed in a tight ballgame.

On a miserable, rainy night that caused the turf at Miller Field to be turned into a quagmire, visiting Swampscott dug down on the defensive side of the ball and gutted out a 14-12 victory over host Winthrop.

"Our defense responded really well, holding up well in all that mud," said Swampscott coach Steve Dembowski, whose team won its second 14-12 game of the season. "We gave them one touchdown in the second half, but other than that shut them down."

That included negating Winthrop from scoring what would have been the tying points on a two point conversion rush following a 3-yard TD run from the hosts' Joe McDermott.

Swampscott, which has won a one-point game and two two-point games this season, improved to 6-1 overall after winning last night's Northeastern Conference Small opener. Winthrop fell to 3-4 overall, 0-2 in league play.

Big-play drives led to both of the Big Blue's touchdowns, and both were keyed by quarterback Peter Kinchley. He finished the game with 131 yards passing and one score.

On his team's second possession, Kinchley guided Swampscott on a 13-play, 54-yard drive before taking it in himself from two yards out in the second quarter. Then, with time running out until halftime, he marched his team 11 plays in a little over two minutes, connecting with Trevor Wheeler (3 catches, 54 yards) on a 9-yard TD pass with 12 seconds until the break. Matt Barbuzzi kicked both extra points successfully.

McDermott (game-high 121 yards) had both of the Vikings' touchdowns, including a 2-yard burst in the second quarter. He did, however, fumbled twice.

Winthrop made a last effort to win the game in the waning minutes, going 14 plays down to the Swampscott 29-yard line. But a fumble with 40 seconds left that was recovered by the Big Blue ended their hopes.