LYNNFIELD — The No. 3 Lynnfield football team overcame a slow start to score 27 unanswered points and seal a 27-3 win over No. 6 Newburyport at Pioneer Stadium in Friday’s Division 5 North quarterfinal.
Quarterback Clayton Marengi had a record-breaking game, completing 20-of-24 passes for 206 yards with four touchdowns, the final one a 4-yard toss to Jack Ford (5 catches, 59 yards) in the fourth quarter to set a program single-season record for touchdown passes (22). He broke the previous record of 21 set by Dan Sullivan in 2014 and tied by Matt Mortellite in 2016.
With the win, the Pioneers advance to the semifinal where they’ll play the winner of Saturday’s clash between No. 2 Bedford and No. 7 Amesbury.
“We definitely had a few mistakes and we had some special teams issues that we needed to clean up,” said Lynnfield coach Pat Lamusta. “I’m thrilled about the win but I know we can play better. I was pleased to see the offense keep up the pressure in that first half and then the defense coming up with some big stops.”
The Clippers took a 3-0 lead on their first possession on Walker Bartkiewicz’ 33-yard field goal.
That was as good as it got for Newburyport, which picked up only 17 yards from scrimmage the rest of the half.
Lynnfield had just three drives in the half, but scored on two of them (both in the second quarter), the first on an 18-play, 90-yard drive capped by a 2-yard Marengi to Capachietti pass and the second on a 5-yard pass to Bakari Mitchell (5 catches, 72 yards) that capped a 10-play, 60-yard drive.
With 7:16 left in the third quarter, an 11-yard Marengi-to-Ford touchdown pass and 2-point conversion catch by Blake Peters bumped the lead to 21-3.
The Pioneers put the nail in the Clippers’ coffin with the Marengi-to-Ford record breaker.
Marengi’s four TD passes tied the single-game record for the third time this season and fourth in his career.
“Clay continues to impress and I wouldn’t want the ball in anyone else’s hands,” said Lamusta. “Newburyport blitzed a ton and it was kind of a new blitz setup for us. The offensive line and Clay did a good job of adjusting to the blitz pressure. It just took a few possessions.”
The Pioneers’ defense put up an impressive performance, holding the Clippers to only 80 yards from scrimmage and forcing one fumble, recovered by Liam Farrell.
With Anthony Floramo out due to injury, Capachietti (11 carries, 60 yards) did a nice job filling in offensively.
“DJ runs hard and runs low so he is hard to tackle,” said Lamusta.
Lamusta said there will be no day off Saturday.
“We are hoping to get to the Bedford/Amesbury game and see them in action,” he said. “Bedford is more of spread team compared to Amesbury, but however the cards fall, we will do our best to prepare for either team.”
