PEABODY — The Winthrop football team continued its strong start to the season with a powerful performance Saturday afternoon, rolling to a 41-0 win over Salem in a Northeastern Conference bout at Donaldson Stadium. The game was called with more than six minutes left in the game after a scary play involving Salem quarterback Michael Ready, who suffered a helmet-to-helmet hit and was taken from the field in an ambulance as a precaution.
Salem Athletic Director Scott Connolly reported that Ready never lost feeling in his extremities following the hit, and as of Sunday Ready was feeling better aside from some soreness in his neck.
Quarterback Duke Doherty had a big game under center for Winthrop, completing 4-of-5 passes for 142 yards and two touchdowns. Chris Ferrara scored two touchdowns on the day and totaled 58 yards from scrimmage, while Ryan Hovermale rushed for 113 yards. Mikey Chaves had two receptions for 75 yards and one touchdown. Bobby Hubert scored two touchdowns in the win, rushing for one and returning a punt for another, while Bryan Conceicao rushed for one touchdown.
Ready had a solid day for the Witches before his injury, completing 7-of-10 passes for 82 yards. Jariel Del Valle had five receptions for 66 yards in the loss, while Connor McRae led Salem with 28 yards rushing.
The Vikings were all over Salem from the very beginning. After forcing Salem to punt on its first drive, Winthrop blocked the punt to set up deep in Salem territory. It only took one play to find the end zone from there, as Ferrara took a handoff through a hole and scored a 22-yard touchdown.
Hubert added a rushing touchdown for Winthrop on its next offensive possession, then he scored again when he took a Salem punt back 65 yards for a score to make it 22-0. The Vikings added one more score before the half on a 35-yard connection from Doherty to Ferrara, and Winthrop took a 28-0 lead into the halftime break.
Two plays into the third quarter, Doherty found Chaves for a 53-yard touchdown to make it 34-0. Conceicao added a rushing touchdown on the next drive to round out the scoring for Winthrop.
Salem (0-3) plays on the road at Saugus Saturday morning (10).
Winthrop (2-0) will host Cathedral in a non-conference matchup Saturday afternoon (1).
