Santos almost ‘superhuman’ as Peabody outshoots Lexington

PEABODY – For all the outstanding things that Peabody’s Doug Santos did on offense, and there was plenty of them in his 255 yard, six touchdown performance, Friday night against Lexington in the Division 1 North opening round, it might have been the two that he made on defense in the final moments that were the biggest.Santos came on to rush the passer with Lexington on the Tanners 14 yard line inside the final 30 seconds and the move worked as Peabody’s front line pressured Minutemen quarterback Jeff Costello just enough so he was unable to throw accurately as Peabody won it’s first playoff game in nearly 30 years with a pulse-pounding 42-38 victory at Coley Lee Field.The Tanners advance to face an old rival from the Greater Boston League in No. 1 seed Everett next week in the Division 1 North semifinals.?We knew that this wasn’t going to be an easy game,” Peabody coach Mark Bettencourt said. “I was happy that we took advantage of a couple of their mistakes but you also saw the talent of Doug. He was making one cut and then going as fast as his legs would take him.”It looked like Lexington was going to spoil the party on Peabody’s first playoff game since 1994 when they stopped Santos on a fourth-and-three at the eight with just over six minutes left to go. Costello, who completed 25-of-36 passes for 308 yards in a brilliant performance, then moved the ball out to the 40 on a keeper.On the next snap, however, he fumbled and Peabody’s Matt Schweitzer recovered at the Lexington 35. The Tanners (7-1) then climbed on the back of their workhorse as Santos carried five times on a six play drive, the last of which was a 15-yard touchdown with 2:06 to go that gave Peabody a 42-38 lead.Problem for the Tanners was that they had left 126 seconds for a Lexington (4-4) offense that was nearly unstoppable all game.Costello quickly moved his team over midfield thanks to completions to Alexavier Huff, James Lane and two to Elan Harris. A screen pass to Glenn Smith got the ball to the 26 and had the Minutemen in position to win it.That’s when Santos went to the Peabody coaches and asked to go in and rush the passer. The move worked as he teamed with Victor Texiera for a sack that set Lexington back to third-and-18 at the 34.Costello, however, wasn’t done as he hit Smith for a 20-yard gain to the 14 with 20 seconds left. Two plays later, the Minutemen faced fourth-and-10 with :03 on the board.Costello was harried and forced to scramble before lofting a pass into the end zone that Huff got his hands on before having it knocked away as time expired.?Jeff was just fantastic,” Lexington coach George Peterson said. “I’m very proud of the way he played. But (Santos) is the best runner that we’ve gone against in my four years here. He was outstanding.”Lexington’s offense was brilliant in the first half, holding the ball for 43 plays to Peabody’s 22, but the Tanners were able to hang tough thanks to Santos’ brilliance. The teams traded scores throughout the first half before the Minutemen got a 26 yard field goal from Costello on the final play of the half to lead 23-21 at the break.Peabody responded with a 13-play, 69 yard drive out of halftime that was capped by a three-yard Santos run that gave the Tanners a 29-23 lead. Lexington’s response was a flea flicker as Smith caught a lateral then flipped it back to Costello, who fired long for Huff.Henry Hernandez deflected the underthrown ball but it went right into Huff’s hands and he was off on a 73-yard score that gave the Mustangs back the lead. Peabody responded with another long drive that ended early in the fourth on Santos’ fifth touchdown of the game for a 35-30 lead with 9:39 to go.