PEABODY — Another frustrating night of offense proved costly for the Peabody football team in a 17-7 loss to Beverly Friday on the Tanners’ Senior Night at Coley Lee Field.
After being shut out last week against Swampscott (21-0 loss) the Tanners struggled to move the ball once again with their lone touchdown coming on a 80-yard kickoff return touchdown by Frederick Koffi.
“Our offense just isn’t clicking right now,” Peabody coach Mark Bettencourt said. “We can’t go offside on first down, we can’t play behind the sticks. We’re not able to overcome playing on 1st-and-15 or 20. That’s on us.”
The offensive troubles started right from the beginning. After an interception from Nick Vecchio the Tanners offense jumped offside twice before their first offensive snap of the game.
“We couldn’t hit (Peabody quarterback) Krisli Miralca’s calls,” Bettencourt said. “That offside should have happened once and been adjusted. We ran the ball hard. Krisli is put in a tough spot, hasn’t played in probably six weeks. Offensively we have to score points.
“It’s very frustrating to go out and execute in practice, look good and feel confident coming into games, then we come out here and first possession go offside twice,” Bettencourt said. “It deflates the entire program. Those things can’t happen.”
Despite the offensive struggles the Peabody defense rose to the occasion in the first half. The Tanners recovered a fumble at their own 11 yard line and Beverly missed a field goal later in the first half to keep the game scoreless before the break.
The second half started perfectly for Peabody when Steven Bua caught the opening kickoff and quickly pitched the ball back to Koffi who went 80-yards to give Peabody a 7-0 lead (Joseph Swanton PAT kick). It had all the makings of a momentum-swinging play but the Tanners still couldn’t build any momentum on offense in the second half.
“We needed something to spark us and I thought that would be it,” Bettencourt said. “Offensively we still had trouble moving the ball. We’re having trouble on first down, putting ourselves in doable situations. Our third-down conversion rate has to be abysmal. We have to move the sticks.”
Beverly’s Marje Mulumba (26 carries, 187 yards, two touchdowns) answered on Beverly’s next drive with a 15-yard touchdown run. Peabody fumbled on its next drive and on the next play from scrimmage Mulumba broke a handful of tackles for 57-yard touchdown run to give the Panthers a 14-7 lead (Joe Loretti PAT’s).
“(Mulumba) played a great game,” Bettencourt said. “He’s a hard runner. A North-South runner. I don’t think he went down once on the first hit. But we knew that coming in. That’s Beverly football. They’re going to pound the ball and we have to be ready to stop it. We’re having trouble getting off the field on third downs on defense.”
Later in the second half Beverly added another score on a 35-yard field goal from Loretti to ice the game with a few minutes remaining.
“We have to make adjustments,” Bettencourt said. “We have four games left and we have to find a way to put points on the board. We’re a couple plays away from being 4-3 or 5-2, offensively and defensively.”
The Tanners (2-5) and Panthers (4-3) wrap up the regular season and now wait for Sunday’s tournament seedings.
