PEABODY— Halloween is still a few weeks away, but the Peabody Tanners are looking extremely scary after their 42-20 victory over the Leominster Blue Devils.
Peabody quarterback Shea Lynch’s duel threat ability was, yet again, on display as he totaled four touchdowns on the night with two on the ground and two passing. He threw for 267 yards and added another 46 on the ground. Peabody’s offense has been potent all year, and it continued Friday night as the team put up 35 points in the opening half. Pacing the team in both receptions and receiving yards was Colin Ridley who had 8 catches and 122 yards.
The Tanner’s defense looked like they were going to be in trouble early on Leominster’s first drive of the game. The Blue Devils were able to pick up a few small gains before quarterback Osiris Lopez lobbed the ball up to receiver Kaiden Drinkwater who came down with a 45-yard catch to advance his team to Peabody’s 30-yard line. Back to back holding calls plagued Leominster, however, and Peabody was able to get off the field after a Jayce Dooley interception on fourth down.
Lynch made the Blue Devils pay on their opening drive of the game, passing for 60 yards and capping off the 89-yard drive with a 16-yard rushing touchdown to put Peabody up 7-0 early.
On the ensuing Leominster drive, the Tanners defense was on its heels again as the Blue Devils crossed into Tanners territory. Yet, the defense held strong and seemed to have adopted a ‘bend don’t break’ mentality as the Tanners were able to force another interception by Lopez – this time thanks to Peabody cornerback Vincent O’Hara who read the receiver’s slant route perfectly, returning the ball to midfield.
It took just one play on Peabody’s second drive for the offense to find the endzone again as Yoskar Batista beat his defender clean off of the line of scrimmage and went out for a streak as Lynch connected with the wide reciever for a wide open 50-yard touchdown with one minute remaining in the first quarter.
Later in the second, the Blue Devils had a chance to get back into the game when a pass from Lynch bounced off of Batista’s hands and into Drinkwater’s for an interception. More penalties followed for Leominster on their drive, however, and Peabody was yet again able to give its offense the ball back. Lynch led the team downfield on a long, methodical drive which resulted in an Alan Paulino 3-yard reception touchdown.
Moments later, the Tanners took complete control of the game with a Jayce Dooley 60 yard interception return for a touchdown. The pick was Lopez’s fourth of the first half. Despite Leominster’s offensive woes, the Blue Devils were able to get on the scoreboard after a Lopez rushing touchdown with just seconds remaining in the half to make it a 35-7 game heading into the third quarter.
Both teams punted on their first possession of the second half but Lynch drove his team downfield on their second go around. It looked like the Tanners were about to score yet another touchdown, but Lynch was picked off deep into Leominster territory. The Blue Devils put together another quality drive after the pick and scored a touchdown to make it a 35-13 game with just under two minutes left in the third quarter. In a gutsy attempt to get the ball back, the Blue Devils attempted an onside kick and recovered it around midfield – although, failing to capitalize on that possession.
When the final quarter started and it came time for Peabody to begin chewing clock, they turned to the Pinto power running game. Lynch handed the ball off to running back Will Pinto five times in a row as he totaled 76 yards on the drive. When things are going good for a team, they’ve got the lucky bounce – that’s exactly what happened with the Tanners on Pinto’s fifth carry of the drive. The ball was punched out of his hands and found its way into the endzone where both teams had a mad dash to scoop it up. Ultimately, receiver Danny Bettencourt was able to fall on it for a fumble recovery touchdown to put the Tanners up 42-13. On Leominster’s next drive, the game was all but sealed with Kaba Abou picking off Lopez for the fifth time in the game.
Strong-legged kicker Dominic Scalese had a great night on special teams for the Tanners as he had two touchbacks and made all six of his point after attempts.
It seems like the Tanners can’t be slowed down in any way, shape, or form at this point in the season as they improve to 5-0 and continue to carve up their competition. Next up for Peabody is a home matchup with a 2-2 Winthrop team that can only hope to stop the juggernaut that is the Tanners.
Ryan Vermette can be reached at [email protected]
