Tanners’ last-ditch drive falls just short

PEABODY – Malden Catholic had just taken the lead against Peabody for the first time all game. The Lancers led their Thanksgiving Day matchup against Peabody, 14-12, with 2:17 left in regulation after Steven Souza ran for a 4-yard touchdown and Andrew Desimone supplied MC the go-ahead two points on a conversion.Panic time? Not likely. Just as they have done all season long, the Tanners (4-7) kept their fans interested, staging a last-minute drive that made sure the Lancers didn’t get too comfortable.Jon Balcacer got the Peabody faithful cheering when he returned a Lancer kickoff 20 yards. Peabody took over at its 40 with 2:10 remaining. The Tanners, who developed a bit of a reputation this season for pulling games out in the final minutes, seemed poised to do it again.”Our four wins came pretty much in dramatic fashion,” said Peabody coach Scott Wlasuk, who noted that two of the Tanners’ losses – to Cambridge Rindge & Latin and to MC – “could’ve gone either way.””I give all the credit to Scotty,” MC coach Bob Almeida said. “He did a great job with the program.”The first carry of the drive went to junior halfback Mark D’Addario, who had scored both Tanner touchdowns, but this time MC senior Mike Norton tackled him after a gain of just one yard.”D’Addario ran tough,” Wlasuk said of the junior’s performance, which included a 70-yard score. “He came into his own this year. We’ll get him back.”Next up, Peabody senior co-captain Nick Hiou got the ball, and picked up five yards. With 1:48 left, Hiou got the ball again on the ensuing play, a pass from senior co-captain Tom Ciulla, but Hiou fell down after the catch, and it went for a 2-yard gain (muddy field conditions challenged players throughout the game).The Tanners faced fourth-and-two on their 47, and they took a time-out. When they returned to the field, Ciulla fired a pass toward Balcacer, but the result was an incompletion, and MC took over on downs.”Honestly, they had us,” Almeida said. “That pass was open ? They had the right play called. If he hits it, they’re still going.””We noticed the outside linebacker from MC was moving off the slot guy into blitz position,” Wlasuk said. “He was wide open. We didn’t make that last connection.”With 1:23 remaining, the Lancers would hold on for the 14-12 victory.NOTES: One of the MC seniors playing in his final game was a familiar name to North Shore sports fans: Matt Muldoon, who participated on the Saugus Little League baseball team that made it to the World Series in 2003. Muldoon stands at 6-2, 260, and played center for the Lancers on Turkey Day. “He’s a great kid and a good athlete,” Almeida said. “He’s a lot of fun to be around.” The coach also noted his cooperativeness in shifting from tight end last season to center this year.