Danvers football defeats Saugus

SAUGUS – After a promising 4-1 start, the Saugus football team has hit some hard times.The Sachems fumbled twice in the fourth quarter, including once deep in Danvers territory late in the game, to help Danvers get its first win, 20-14, at Stackpole Field Saturday.Danvers20Saugus14 Yet even with the two miscues, Saugus had a chance to come back. After Danvers (1-9) recovered a Saugus fumble at the Falcons 38, driving to the Sachem 43, the Falcons were hit with a 15-yard penalty and had to punt. That gave Saugus a shot at its own 26 with 2:49 left. The Sachems advanced the ball to the Danvers 30, but the drive stalled and Danvers ran the clock out.Saugus coach Mike Broderick described what he saw succinctly: “We stunk.”Trailing 14-7 early in the fourth quarter, the Sachems received a quick spark. With a third-and-6 from his own 36, quarterback David Witham hit Stephen Almquist at the Falcons 40, and he rambled down the far sidelines with the tying TD.But Danvers’ Nick Valles returned the kickoff 80 yards to the Saugus 5, and after three tries, the Falcons had to settle for Scott Hovey’s 25-yard field goal and a 17-14 lead.Shamir Guillaume fumbled on Saugus’ first subsequent play, and that led to Hovey’s second field goal – this one from 37 yards out – to increase Danvers’ lead to 20-14 with just over five minutes remaining.”Saugus has a great triple (running back) threat in the backfield, and we wanted to control that,” said Danvers coach Kevin Rogers. “We did a good job tackling, especially causing the fumbles with helmet-to-ball hits. And the kids just kept doing their assignments, with the offense doing the little things necessary.”The teams battled through a scoreless first half, though Danvers had the better scoring opportunities, missing a pair of field goals and having a Greg Little pass picked off by Saugus’ Alex Rivera.Saugus took a 7-0 lead when Rivera returned Hovey’s second-half kick 72 yards, running down the middle of the field and cutting along the near sidelines. But Danvers converted a trio of third down plays on its following possession, including a third-and-19 from its 25, to tie the game. Little ran it in for the score to tie the game at 7-7.A Saugus pass interference call set up Danvers’ second touchdown, with T.J. Stanley running it in for the score with 44 seconds to go in the quarter.