Peabody gridders fend off late Salem surge to win opener

PEABODY – After one game, it’s hard to tell how well the Peabody and Salem high football teams will fare this season. But both teams are going to be exciting.The Tanners scored twice in the first eight minutes and then held off the Witches and their electrifying junior quarterback Christian Dunston, 14-13, in front of a huge opening night crowd at Lee Field.After running the single wing for the past three years, Peabody broke out its new offense behind quarterback Jason Hiou, who threw a 45-yard scoring strike to tight end Nick Ingham and set up another score with a 29-yard throw to Brady Doyle.For Salem, Dunston shook, spun and slithered his way to a game-high 92 yards on 20 carries, including a 13-yard touchdown run. He also threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Nick Paine for the Witches’ other score.”We saw him in the 7-on-7 league this summer and we knew he could play,” Peabody coach Scott Wlasuk said. “We were kind of glad (Brad) Skeffington (Salem’s quarterback the last two years) left, but now we’ve got another source of headaches.”Salem got off to a terrible start, allowing the Tanners to score off the opening kickoff, and then a fumble on the Witches’ first play from scrimmage led to another drive that ended with a 3-yard scoring run by Nat Gaye to give Peabody a 14-0 lead.”We made a few mistakes early in the game, and they pounced on them,” Salem coach Scott Connolly said. “Their quarterback did a nice job of staying in the pocket and he made some big plays for them.”Edwin Alcantara’s 50-yard kickoff return jump-started a scoring drive by Salem that included a fourth down conversion by Dunston and then a touchdown run around left end.Peabody’s Sean Wlasuk hit the left upright on a 35-yard field goal attempt on the next drive, and Salem took he ball right down the field again, with Alcantara running for a a 39-yard gain before Dunston hooked up with Paine in the left corner of the end zone with 16 seconds left in the first half. Jonathan Crimble, a straight-ahead kicker, hooked the PAT attempt way wide to the left and Peabody maintained a 1-point lead at halftime.Salem had the best chance to score in the second half when the Witches embarked on a workmanlike drive that reached Peabody’s 13-yard line, but a personal foul pushed them backwards, and the Tanners eventually stopped Dunston well short of the stick on fourth-and-9.”We’ve got to take advantage of drives like that and punch it in,” Connolly said. “But give credit to Peabody. They stepped up and stopped us.”