Turnovers kill Classical in loss to Masconomet

LYNN – Give a good team an inch, and more often than not, they will take a mile. That proved to be the case at Manning Field on Friday as red hot Masconomet pounced on Classical, 40-6.Click here for a photo gallery of Friday night’s gameThe Chieftains, winners of four in a row after a 1-3 start, turned three Classical turnovers into 14 points as quarterback Ben Panunzio threw three touchdowns and six different Masco players scored touchdowns.”This is two games in a row now where we haven’t played our best,” Classical coach Tim Phelps said.”We have to play mistake free. When we do that we’ve looked pretty good.”Masco (5-3, 2-0 NEC/CAL Tier 1) took the opening kick and drove to a 7-0 lead in a little under four minutes, capped by Dylan Mann’s two yard touchdown run.Classical (3-4, 0-2 NEC/CAL Tier 1) turned the ball over on its first series and the Chieftains made them pay early in the second quarter when Panunzio scrambled and floated a 14-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Nathan Silveira for a 13-0 lead.The Rams went three-and-out on the next series but the defense held Panunzio on a fourth-and-goal carry from the two to keep it a two score game.”Ben is playing with a lot more confidence right now,” Masconomet coach Jim Pugh said.”But that was the one mistake he made all game.”Classical gained only one yard after the stop and a short punt put the ball at the Ram 32. Two plays later, Jake Gillespie took a screen pass 28-yards to the endzone on a first-and-20 play for a 19-0 lead at halftime.”We had some sparks in the first half but we didn’t make enough plays,” Phelps said. “We had them in third and long a couple times and they were able to get out of it.”Mann helped the Chieftains move in for the knockout punch on the second play of the third quarter when he picked off Finnigan at the Ram 28. On the next snap, Panunzio hit Tim Towler for a 28 yard touchdown and a 26-0 lead less than two minutes in.Masco drove again late in the third and Mike Tivinis capped the drive with a nine yard run on the first play of the fourth for a 33-0 lead.Brad Scuzzarella finally got the Rams on the board with 3:58 left via a six yard run that closed a 13 play drive. Mckenzie Cashin’s 66 yard run closed the scoring.