Peabody solidifies playoff spot with win over Salem

SALEM – For quite some time now, the Peabody football team has harped on a firm belief that its offensive prowess was far more than a solo act and on Friday evening at Bertram Field, the Tanners allowed senior stalwart, Doug Santos, something of a breather in a 34-0, diversified victory over Salem.Don’t be fooled, the feature back was plenty involved from the get-go, rushing 13 times for 124 yards and two touchdowns in three quarters of work before earning an 11-minute break with his team comfortably ahead.”We assumed they would focus on stopping ‘No.32′ so we tried to show early that we have other weapons,” said coach Mark Bettencourt. “We moved some guys around to put us in a better position to spread the ball and it paid off tonight.”The offense was indeed stretched from the visitors opening drive, which in addition to a quick 24 yards from Santos, featured two passes from Michael Raymond for a combined 43-yards, the latter a 13-yard scoring strike to a wide-open Ugonna Okananwa at 5:25.”He was phenomenal tonight and has been all year, we just haven’t needed him much,” said Bettencourt of Okananwa who added a 2-yard rushing touchdown on Peabody’s next drive after an impressive 22-yard pick up earlier in the sequence.Henry Hernandez, a defensive back, set up an eight-play, 58-yard march with an athletic interception of Joel Nunez at 2:48.”That’s Henry’s M.O., he wants team’s to throw the ball to the middle of the field so he has a chance to make a play,” said Bettencourt.Peabody upped its lead shortly after when a blocked punt led to a Jay Luna-Gil recovery and 20-yard return to pay dirt. Raymond (5 for 5, 86 yards) tacked on a two-point conversion rush to make it 20-0 with 7:10 to go.Nunez’ second interception of the game moments later, this time to John Villani, set up Santos for a 10-yard touchdown run to the left pylon on the very next snap.A 36-yard scamper from the latter on the third play of the second half capped the scoring.”The hope was that they’d eventually forget about Doug and he was able to found some room for a couple of big runs.”Now 6-1 on the season, the Tanners await word on its opening game in the playoffs, potentially a meeting with Chelmsford who defeated Peabody 37-14 last November.”We didn’t come into the year with any expectations,” said Bettencourt of what has been an enjoyable second-year on the sidelines.”I don’t think many people had us with the record we have at this point,” he continued. “That kind of success is transparent to the hard work the kids have put in. We’re going to enjoy this win until we find out our next opponent and move on from there.”Despite its record (0-7), Salem coach Matt Bouchard had nothing but praise for his team, particularly his senior who were honored prior to the game.”They’ve done a great job setting the standard as far as character goes. We’re not getting victories but I couldn’t be any prouder of the kid’s efforts this season.”