PEABODY — The Peabody and Saugus football teams ended the season with their annual rivalry game Friday night and it was the Tanners who once again came out on top.
Peabody’s defense was unforgiving in a 24-0 shutout at Coley Lee Stadium.
“For a quarter and a half Saugus showed that even if it’s not Thanksgiving this rivalry is still very strong,” Peabody coach Mark Bettencourt said. “They weren’t going to let us roll over them.
“Our offense had a little trouble getting the engine started, Saugus’ defense was aggressive. But once we figured things out and made some adjustments we got things going.”
Brandon Pszenny had a big first half with four catches for 78 yards and one touchdown while also adding an interception on defense to help Peabody get started.
Quarterback Shea Lynch ended a great sophomore campaign with another solid outing completing 8-of-18 passes for 180 yards and one touchdown. Kyle Maglione ran tough with 32 yards on six carries for two touchdowns. Joseph Swanton had one 24-yard field goal and tacked on three extra points.
But the most consistent part of the game for Peabody was the defense, which added a pair of picks from Pszenny and Jack O’Hara. Shay-Wesley Palmer was a force on the defensive line with one sack and Maglione had a big tackle for loss on a fourth-and-inches in the second half.
The Saugus offense was powered almost exclusively by senior captain Sal Franco who totaled 73 yards on 16 carries. Despite the loss, Saugus’ defensive line, highlighted by Dougie Clark, Dom Calder and Tre Sanders, controlled the line of scrimmage all night long.
Franco totaled 62 yards on the ground in the first half but key penalties left the Sachems empty-handed drive after drive.
“Those first drives of the game, we really needed something,” Saugus coach Steve Cummings said. “But we really hurt ourselves with penalties. When you’re trying to get four or five yards a run the difference a third-and-2 or 7 will kill you. We needed to be a little bit crisper. If you’re going to beat good teams like Peabody you can’t make those mistakes.”
Before long Pszenny kickstarted the Tanners offense late in the half. The senior caught a pair of passes totaling 39 yards and set up a 10-yard touchdown run from Maglione to put Peabody ahead, 7-0.
Pszenny continued his impact on the defensive side, picking off a pass on the next drive to set up the Tanners around midfield.
Lynch followed with a 44-yard quarterback keeper and then found Pszenny in the endzone on a slant route for a 4-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead to 14-0.
Saugus faced a fourth-and-inches at their 20 to start the second half and turned back to Franco, but Maglione made a nice tackle to set up Peabody in prime position to start the third quarter.
A few plays later Maglione punched in his second 1-yard score to put the Tanners up, 21-0.
Saugus’ offense struggled the rest of the way and Swanton booted his 24-yard field goal midway through the fourth to cap off the scoring.
Peabody ends the season with five straight victories over Northeastern Conference opponents and 5-1 record overall. The Tanners graduate 21 seniors.
“I think right when we got the word in February our seniors were out shoveling the field so that shows you how determined they’ve been as a group,” Bettencourt said. “They almost helped motivate us coaches this season. They set the tone and now hopefully, ending the year with five straight wins heading to the fall that will carry over for our underclassmen too.”
Saugus finishes 2-5 on the season and has 11 seniors graduating.
“When I saw the fall guidelines I didn’t think we’d play this year,” Cummings said. “But I’m thrilled we did and we got all seven games in too. The seniors probably didn’t have the year they’d always planned too but I couldn’t be more impressed with how they handled it.”
