SWAMPSCOTT — The Big Blue are back in the state semifinal.
With solid play across all phases, No. 4 Swampscott rolled past No. 7 Amesbury, 39-8, in the Division 5 North final Friday at Blocksidge Field.
“It feels pretty good,” Swampscott coach Bobby Serino said. “We have a lot of mistakes to cover up, but we’ll talk about them later. We can’t take some of the penalties we’re taking. But this group’s a special group.”
Serino spoke highly of his coaching staff for putting together an ideal game plan.
“I heard a little while ago from (Swampscott baseball) coach Joe Caponigro that these coaches aren’t assistant coaches,” Serino said. “These coaches are equal to me. They do the coaching, every day, day in and day out. They break down film. I have an unbelievable staff, probably the best staff on the North Shore.”
A well-balanced attack carried Swampscott’s offense. Dylan January ran for 96 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Graham Inzana (12-of-19, 210 yards) hit Cam O’Brien, Andrew Augustin and Arturo Vasquez for a touchdown pass each.
“With how many athletes we have on our team, you can’t make everyone happy because everyone wants the ball,” Serino said. “But if you’re a team player it doesn’t matter. The bottom line is we go out to get the win as a team.”
Thomas Frisoli went 5-for-5 on PATs. Swampscott recorded a pair of safeties to round out the scoring.
Defensively, Swampscott was ready to stop Amesbury’s run-heavy offense. Aside from a touchdown drive in the second quarter, the Indians didn’t get much going.
“Coach (Peter) Bush has the defense prepared,” Serino said. “He does more work than anyone on this staff. He does his job and the defense is prepared. They know what they’re doing in any set. We needed this defense to just do their job and they did their jobs.”
O’Brien’s third-down sack on the opening possession set the Big Blue up for the game’s first score. January followed with 2-yard plunge, putting Swampscott up, 7-0, with 6:21 left in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, Swampscott’s defense played up to the task. The Indians punted on their first two possessions before gaining rhythm on their third.
A 16-yard toss from Troy Hamel to Brady Dore was the drive’s key play, ending in Kyle Donovan’s 5-yard touchdown run. Hamel hit Ethan Catania on the conversion, giving Amesbury an 8-7 lead with 9:45 left in the half.
Swampscott regained the lead in 73 seconds. Inzana found openings in the passing game and connected with O’Brien on a 10-yard touchdown toss.
Amesbury lined up to punt on its ensuing possession but a bad snap opened the door for Swampscott to add 2 points via safety. The Big Blue led, 16-8, at halftime.
Swampscott gave itself breathing room in the third quarter, turning an 8-point game into a comfortable 30-8 lead.
January rumbled into the end zone from eight yards out midway through the period. Inzana found Augustin for a 26-yard touchdown pass three minutes later.
“We were on the brink of opening it up and we just had a couple costly penalties,” Serino said. “We didn’t pick up the blitz a couple times with a couple penalties. The kids played their game all day.”
The Big Blue tacked on 9 points in the final period. Another bad snap prior to a punt attempt led to a safety and Vasquez reeled in a 37-yard touchdown strike from Inzana.
Swampscott will play Holliston in next weekend’s state semifinal (TBA).
