IPSWICH — Friday just wasn’t the Lynnfield football team’s day. In a battle of unbeatens on the road at Cape Ann League rival Ipswich, the mistakes piled up in a 33-7 loss for Lynnfield.
For the Pioneers, the game came down to the trenches up front, where they couldn’t do enough to slow down Ipswich’s run game led by Cole Terry.
“It was a leverage game,” Lynnfield coach Pat Lamusta said. “(Ipswich) is a team where if you can cause some problems in the trenches, you’ll be effective. But we struggled to hold that line of scrimmage. We had times where we held them a little bit, but not nearly enough overall.”
On the offensive side, Lynnfield struggled to move the ball for most of the game, with their lone touchdown coming on a 12-yard run from running back DJ Capachietti late in the fourth quarter to avoid the shutout.
“(Ipswich) coach Kevin Fessette does a nice job with that team,” Lamusta said. “They’re always tough defensively and they did a great job switching their offense to a wing-t in this shortened season. His guys were prepared. We hung in there, but needed more points and couldn’t convert on our opportunities.
“Our senior leaders, DJ, Jack Ford, Trent Balian and Bakari Mitchell, were out there for all four quarters, bloodied, working hard,” Lamusta said. “They just kept playing and we were able to squeeze some points in at the end.”
Two first-quarter turnovers stalled the Lynnfield early on, and Ipswich was able to capitalize. Aiden Arnold punched in a touchdown run from two yards out to put the Tigers ahead 6-0 midway through the first quarter.
Later on in the second quarter, Cole Terry hit Justin Bruhm on a 32-yard touchdown pass to bump the Ipswich lead to 12-0. Bruhm added another receiving touchdown later in the quarter, this time hauling in a pass from Arnold, to put the Tigers ahead 19-0 going into the half.
The second half wasn’t better for Lynnfield on either side of the ball. Terry led the rushing attack for the Tigers, scoring on a quarterback keeper on fourth-and-one from the Lynnfield three-yard line to put Ipswich ahead 26-0 after its first successful extra point of the night.
Ipswich effectively sealed the game midway through the fourth quarter when Henry Wright scored on a one-yard touchdown run to stretch the lead to 33-0 with 6:29 to play.
A late one-handed grab by Ford helped set up Capachietti’s touchdown run for Lynnfield in the final minutes, but it was too little too late for the Pioneers.
Lynnfield (4-1) will hope to bounce back next on the road at Triton (5).
“I’m looking to see our players pick themselves up and dust themselves off,” Lamusta said. “Triton is a team that’s familiar with us and we’re familiar with them so I’m expecting a competitive game. Our players are eager to get back to it.”
