Down 21-0, Peabody stages furious rally to defeat Classical

LYNN – Football coaches always preach that good teams can execute in all three phases of the game: offense, defense, special teams. For Peabody on Friday night, all three came together to overcome a 21-point deficit in the first quarter to complete a massive comeback win over Classical, 30-27, at Manning Field.Behind good quarterbacking from Jason Hiou, good running and great tackling by Nat Gaye, and the strong leg of Sean Wlasuk, the Tanners (4-5) were able to fight their way back to victory.”You can never give up in a game,” said Peabody coach Scott Wlasuk. “Classical played a great game and they played very well.”In the first quarter, Classical (4-5) came out on fire. On the opening possession of the game, quarterback John Finnigan led the Rams downfield in nine plays. On the drive Finnigan ripped off a 38 yard run also completed two passes, including a 1- yard touchdown to Joe Rose in the back corner of the endzone.On the ensuing kick off, a good Peabody return turned into a disastrous fumble that was recovered by Calvin Ebieshieva. The turnover allowed the Rams to move 50 yards downfield in four plays. This time Finnigan found paydirt on a 31-yard rush.After gaining only two yards on three plays, Peabody was forced to punt on their next possession. The punt was fielded at the 45 by Brad Scuzzarella and returned for a touchdown. With a little more than six and a half minutes elapsed from the game clock, Classical sat on a 21-0 lead.”We had the luxury of getting those three quick scores at the start of the game,” said Classical coach Tim Phelps. “We told out guys to keep playing, but we just couldn’t hold the lead.”Even after Peabody’s first score of the night, an eight yard touchdown run by Hiou, Classical showed poise and offensive ball control by putting together a 10 play drive in which Finnigan found Scuzzarella on a 37 yard touchdown pass to jump up to a 27-6 lead.The Tanners took a deep breath, jogged out onto the field, and simply got back to work.A five play drive, with Hiou finding Nick Ingham over the middle for a 34-yard touchdown brought the Tanners a little closer just before halftime, 27-13.In the second half, Peabody moved 76 yards downfield in three plays to score on a Hiou touchdown run from 14 yards out. The score was set up by Gaye’s 59 yard romp through the middle of the field. Peabody was down 27-20.Classicals ensuing possession fizzled out as the Peabody defense, girded by sure tackling and Gaye’s presence seemingly all over the field, tightened up. Classical was forced to punt.Peabody tied the score at 27 when on an 3rd and 11, Hiou once again found Ingham over the middle, this time for a 51 yard touchdown. Ingham had managed to just barely get beyond the defense and Hiou’s pass was just long enough to avoid being knocked down or intercepted by the Rams.On the ensuing kick off, Classical fumbled the ball on the return only to see it recovered by the Tanners.With the score tied, Peabody moved the ball downfield with a variety of running plays to find themselves once again knocking on the goal line. This time Classical’s defense could keep Peabody from scoring a touchdown, but could not do anything to prevent Wlasuk kicking a 26-yard field goal to give the Tanners the lead at 30-27.”After the deficit, we knew that we were not going to get all of the points back in just a few minutes,” said Wlasuk. “We stayed with our offense, thought that if we could get a couple of breaks, that we could get back into this game.”Classical did not give up the fight after facing their first deficit of the evening. Finnigan and Justin Avery moved the ball down field, grabbing first downs and chewing up clock. However, with 26 second remaining, and the Rams facing an 2nd and seven from the seven-yard line, a bad snap got away from Finnigan and was recovered by Joey Brennan for Peabody. The recovered fumble sealed the win for Peabody and snapped a five game losing streak.”We can’t blame (Finnigan)” said Phelps of the quart