Barbuzzi powers Big Blue past Danvers

SWAMPSCOTT – With Blocksidge Field turned pretty much into a quagmire because of heavy rain on Saturday, Swampscott needed to find another way to get its high powered offense going in its NEC South opener against Danvers.Leave it to quarterback Matt Barbuzzi and the Big Blue defense to find a way to get the job done. Barbuzzi completed 23-of-36 passes for 251 yards and three touchdowns while the defense returned an interception for a touchdown and forced three other turnovers that resulted in points and a 29-20 win over the Falcons.”They had some turnovers and that was the big difference in the game,” Swampscott coach Steve Dembowski said. “When you’re only playing five league games, you have to start with a win in the first one. This was critical for us.”Barbuzzi needed to be on his game because the Danvers defense was ready to shut down the Big Blue’s power run attack. Kyle Shonio was held to 57 yards on 17 carries and Swampscott as a team was limited to 69 yards on 27 totes.But Barbuzzi’s deadly accuracy helped over come the lack of a run game. A.J. Baker caught 11 passes for 108 yards and two touchdowns while Pat Costin had the interception return for a score and caught five balls for 37 yards and another score.”Danvers was doing a good job putting six and seven men in the box to stop the run,” Dembowski said. “And we saw that we had some good matchups on the outside and we took advantage of that.”Neither team could score on its initial possession before Danvers’ Eric Burgos fumbled on the second play of the Falcons second drive. Swampscott recovered at the 23 and wasted little time in turning the fumble into a touchdown.It took only five plays to go the distance with Shonio powering in from the two for a 7-0 lead after Barbuzzi’s extra point.Danvers (4-3) came right back as Burgos made amends for the fumble with hard running and capped a 76-yard drive with a 42-yard touchdown run that made it 7-6 after one quarter.Swampscott was driving early in the second quarter when Baker fumbled along the sideline and the Falcons recovered at the 28. But Costin came up with his first big play, stepping in front of a Greg Ladd pass and taking it 43 yards to the house to up the lead back to seven.On the next play, Burgos looked to be going for a touchdown, but was stripped from behind and Shonio recovered at the Falcon 45. A 27-yard screen pass to Baker got the Big Blue in position to score and Barbuzzi went back to his favorite target to close the drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass that made it 20-6.Late in the half, the Big Blue forced a punt and then got a 48-yard screen pass to Randall Kelleher that moved the ball to the Falcon five. Two passes fell incomplete and a delay of game forced Barbuzzi to settle for a 23-yard field goal that increased the lead to 23-7 at the half.”They were able to keep the ball for long periods of time,” Danvers coach John Sullivan said.The Falcons needed a boost at the start of the second half and they got it in the form of a Pat McBride interception. John McInnis paid off the interception with a 2-yard touchdown that cut the gap to 23-12 after three.But the Swampscott defense came up with one more big play as Mike Walsh picked off Ladd midway through the fourth quarter. Three plays later, Costin caught a slant for a score and the Big Blue could finally relax.