Peabody lanced by Malden Catholic

PEABODY – It took a half for the Peabody football team to find itself on Sunday at Coley Lee Field against Malden Catholic. Problem was, that in that first half, the Tanners didn’t make a first down and were pushed all over the field by the Lancers.Malden Catholic28Peabody13 Peabody fought back and made a game out of it, but saw the MC defense come up with a couple big stands in the final five minutes to preserve a 28-13 win.”I was proud of how we came out and battled in the second half,” Peabody coach Scott Wlasuk said.”I felt like we didn’t come out with the spark we had last week against Swampscott. I could sense that when we left the locker room.”The Tanner (1-3) defense played very well against the Lancers, holding MC to just 202 yards but the offenses struggles in the first half put Peabody behind the 8-ball.After punting on the game’s opening possession, Peabody forced a turnover when Brian DeAngelis stripped MC quarterback Anthony Scurto and the Tanners recovered.But two plays later, Alex Weiner got the ball back for the Lancers when he picked off a Jason Hiou throw.MC then struck first as Scurto hit Saugus native Kenny Runge for a 17-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.”I didn’t feel like we played our best game and that was because Peabody was a more physical team than I thought,” MC coach Bob Almeida said.The Lancers doubled the lead at the start of the second quarter, putting together a 10 play drive that mixed the run and pass efficiently.Scurto capped the 63 yard march with a two-yard dive for a 14-0 lead.Peabody went three-and-out on its next possession before the defense rose up and stopped the Lancers inside the 30 to end the first half.”I thought they were more physical than us in the first half,” Wlasuk said.Peabody’s defense continued to play well in the third quarter, stoning the Lancers on two possessions before the offense took advantage of a short fied late in the quarter.Hiou bobbed-and-weaved his way on a 15-yard touchdown run that cut the lead to 14-6 after three.The Lancers, though, forced a Peabody fumble early in the fourth quarter and scored when Alex Weiner raced 29 yards to make it 21-6 with 7:55 left.Peabody fought back with just over three minutes left as Nate Gaye dashed 65 yards to make things interesting at 21-13.The drama increased when Peabody forced MC to go three-and-out on the next possession. But the Lancer defense sacked Hiou twice on the next series to force a turnover on downs with 2:12 left.Scurto took it in from the nine two plays later, allowing the Lancers to finally breath easy.