Football: Swampscott outlasts A.C. in wild one

There was certainly no shortage of excitement in Division 4 North non-qualifier games involving area teams Saturday afternoon.Swampscott outlasted Catholic Central Large foe Arlington Catholic, 54-40, while Saugus saw a two-touchdown lead disappear in the fourth quarter of a 40-39 loss to Ipswich in a meeting of CAL Baker and CAL Kinney clubs.Swampscott 54, Arlington Catholic 40At Blocksidge Field, the Big Blue bounced back from the previous week?s crushing defeat against Beverly to outgun the Cougars. Swampscott raced out to leads of 27-6 and 40-12 and AC never got closer than 13 the rest of the way.Senior running back Desmond Wilhelmsen scored on runs of nine, 19 and three yards, all in the second period. Quarterback Brendan McDonald scored on two runs of four yards and another of 22 and added a 15-yard scoring pass to Cam Frary. Senior Maleek Newsome added a 22-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.Swampscott (2-6) plays at Ipswich Friday (7).Ipswich 40, Saugus 39At Stackpole Field, the Tigers (2-6) rallied behind Nate Glaster in the fourth quarter for the win. Glaster scored on a 40-yard punt return to cut the Sachems? lead to 39-34, then hauled in a winning 55-yard TD pass from Kyle Blomster. Glaster also had an 85-yard kickoff return and 12-yard run in the first quarter of this back-and-forth contest.The loss overshadowed a breakout game by Saugus freshman Marcus Atkins. The 6-0, 170-pounder scored on runs of 30 and 24 yards and hauled in a 31-yard TD pass from junior quarterback Justin Winn, who also scored on two one-yard runs and had a four-yard TD pass to junior Alex Pettenati.Next up for Saugus (1-7) is a visit to Arlington Catholic.