RallyNorth.net

Sat, Nov 10, 2007 12:00 PM @ Swampscott

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
Danvers	0	3	0	0	3
Swampscott	0	19	7	0	26

Big Blue rides Kinchley's arm to title

Monday, November, 12 By Bill Kipouras
Staff writer

Clemson's Death Valley has been a pit for Atlantic Coast Conference football opponents over the years. Danvers might be inclined to think of Blocksidge Field in the same terms. The fact the Big Blue (9-1) had an opportunity to clinch the Northeastern Conference's small division championship and an MIAA playoff berth didn't help Danvers in its latest bid to snap the Blocksidge Hex.

Danvers still hasn't won on the road here since 1991, but it wasn't like Swampscott's motivational edge produced an expected dominating 26-3 title clincher behind Peter Kinchley's three touchdowns passes, his 12th, 13th and 14th, and Ilya Levin's 100-yard rushing effort on 11 carries, one a 39-yard burst off a gigantic hole in the middle for a third quarter TD.

The Big Blue hardly displayed its "A" game outside of a 19-point second quarter against a winless opponent, and Coach Steve Dembowski admitted "it wasn't pretty," citing the team's inconsistency. "We were up and down," he said. "But Danvers played hard. Give Danvers credit."

The score didn't reflect Danvers' spirited defensive effort, led by senior linebacker Kevin Keogh and junior defensive tackle John Gikas, who were relentless in their pursuit. Danvers' man coverage and blitz against the Big Blue's spread offense had the host struggling early on. Kinchley was 0-for-6 passing in the opening quarter and the Big Blue was showing 26 yards on the ground.

Still, Swampscott and Kinchley (9-for-24, 146 yards) got the job done with three TDs in the final 7:34 of the second quarter that led to a 19-3 halftime lead.

Kinchley went twice to Jordan Kelly for six yards and 34 yards and had a 22-yard payoff pass to Trevor Wheeler in the turnaround.

Junior Nick Pellino's booming 39-yard field goal for Danvers cut a 7-0 deficit to 7-3 with 4:40 left in the half, but Swampscott quickly responded with a 65-yard drive featured by Kinchley's 16 yard connection with Kyle Shonio and a 22-yard hookup with Wheeler for 13-3, just 1:34 until the break.

The Big Blue forced a punt and got on the board again with Kinchley and Kelly combining on a 34-yard pass score for 19-3 with 15 seconds remaining in the half.

"That was the killer, giving that one up with 15 seconds. Instead of 12-3 it's 19-3, and that's a big difference," Danvers coach John Sullivan said. "We made them earn it. We weren't going to give them the victory. Our defense was outstanding. They played their butts off. We won't quit. We never will. I think we confused them a bit. We also didn't tackle well. We missed tackles on two of their scores in the second period."

Once again Danvers' offense (7 TDs on the season) struggled, this time throwing three picks, and passing for just 64 yards and rushing for 96. The Big Blue had 149 in the air, 165 on land.

The Falcons' Keogh blocked a punt that made for a 1st-and-goal at the Big Blue 4, but four plays later the host got even, blocking Pellino's 14-yard field goal attempt. Levin, a junior born in Moscow, then led a 61-yard scoring journey for the Big Blue, opening it with a 25-yard gainer and closing it with a 39-yard jaunt.

"I don't know if we were nervous or not," Dembowski said. "They must have spent their whole week on defene. They had a solid game plan. They showed us stuff we hadn't seen from them and we didn't pick it up until the second period. They did confuse us for a while. Like the first period. We had a great second, an OK third and the fourth was for the young guys."

Big Blue tackle Brian Palangi (6-4, 275) said it all for the seniors.

"The title is what we worked for for four years," Palangi said. "Now we're part of Swampscott's football history. It's not what we expected today, but getting the win was the No. 1 thing for us."

Dorsey Dobias, another tackle who is 6-2, 228, said Danvers played its hearts out, "but accomplishing our goal just feels so good. We got better as the season went on." It's Dembowski's third NEC crown in nine years.

"We didn't have any super stars. No 1000-yard receivers like Jason Blydell or Tim Keily, nobody (power back) like Alex Stone, no quarterback like Kyle Beatrice. No one super star at any position. We changed the defense and modified the offense. The one constant is that we worked hard every day and came together."

Swampscott now leads the 81-game series, 55-23-3, since the 1905 inaugural.