HAVERHILL— It took every bit of effort for the Swampscott football team to continue its postseason run.
The No. 5 Big Blue outlasted No. 1 Pentucket in Saturday’s Division 5 North semifinal at Haverhill Stadium in a 14-13 win.
Swampscott will host No. 7 Amesbury Friday night (7) in the sectional final at Blocksidge Field.
Defense led the way for Swampscott in Saturday’s win, which wasn’t decided until late in the fourth quarter.
Swampscott held a 14-7 lead before Pentucket, moving the chains in attempting to knot the score, pieced together a 5-minute drive to the Big Blue’s 13-yard line.
Sachems quarterback Peter Cleary hit Jake Etter with a 10-yard scoring pass to make it a 14-13 game, and the Sachems quickly lined up for a 2-point conversion attempt. They attempted a pass but Swampscott’s Cam O’Brien broke up the play. It was the senior’s third big play of the game- he picked off a Cleary pass and recovered a fumble to go along with knocking away the possible winning conversion attempt.
After a scoreless 12 minutes to start the game, the ball started finding its way into the end zone in.
Swampscott started its third possession of the game and its own 30, and using the run and pass, moved steadily into Sachems territory.
Dylan January capped off a 9-play drive, bowling his way in from the 1-yard line. The first of Thomas Frisoli’s conversion kicks made if 7-0 in favor of the Big Blue.
Pentucket’s quarterback Cleary had a great series to start the fourth quarter, using passes to Etter and Andrew Joyce to cover 72 yards and get into the end zone on a 25-yard scoring pass to Richard Labritz. Aidan Tierney’s kick made it 7-7, with a lot of game left.
The Big Blue took the lead back on a 9-play drive that covered 54 yards, and ended with January scoring his second touchdown of the game, with Frisoli’s kick making the score 14-7, in the fourth quarter.
Cleary took over and hit Etter for six points with 59 seconds to go in the game, setting the stage for O’Brien’s late heroics on the ensuing conversion try.
Big Blue coach Bobby Serino said the team had a great week a practice, but made some mistakes against Pentucket and they’ll work on those things this week.
“We’re going home, we’re in the final and we’re going home,” Serino said. “We certainly have a lot of work to do this week and believe me, we’ll get right on it at practice this week.”
