DANVERS — After allowing a touchdown as time expired in the first half, Swampscott looked to execute a game-tying drive downfield after receiving the ball to start the second half. But on the very first snap of the third quarter, a giant mishap for Swampscott changed the entire course of the game.
Danvers squibbed the ball on the opening kick to give Swampscott great starting field position, just shy of Big Blue’s 40 yard line.The ball was snapped and went sailing past quarterback Zach Ryan before being scooped up by Danvers linebacker Aris Xerras for a 39-yard fumble recovery touchdown, putting the Falcons up 21-7. Thanks to their smothering defense, Danvers never looked back and the Falcons flew away with the win by a score of 35-7 at Danvers High School.
Both teams were jockeying for field position for most of the first half as neither could get into an offensive rhythm. Swampscott and Danvers combined to punt five times in the first two quarters and turned the ball over on downs twice. Positive yardage was at a premium for Swampscott in the first quarter with Ryan throwing for -2 yards, and running back Jason Codispoti totaling six yards on two carries. Danvers, on the other hand, had a nice first drive. Falcons running back Owen Gasinowski saw a steady dosage of carries that got his team inside of Swampscott’s 5-yard line. A false start backed the offense up, however, and Swampscott’s defense forced a turnover on downs.
Danvers didn’t make the same mistake twice on their second drive. The Falcons scored on a 32-yard touchdown pass just seven seconds into the second quarter to take a 7-0 lead. Swampscott made some adjustments after getting the ball back on their third drive and were able to pick up two first downs, but stalled out after two back-to-back plays of negative yardage. Big Blue’s defense gave Ryan and the offensive another chance after forcing a very quick 3-and-out.
This time, Swampscott was able to break through.
Starting with prime field position after a Danvers punt, it only took three plays to tie the game up as Zack Ryan threw up a 14-yard, uncontested pass into the endzone to receiver Chris Ferragamo. The successful PAT made it a 7-7 ballgame.
With just four seconds left in the second quarter, all Swampscott needed to do was defend the endzone to go into halftime tied with Danvers, but an extended play forced a complete breakdown in coverage by Swampscott, and a wide open touchdown was scored by Gasinowski to give Danvers a 14-7 lead into the break.
Xerras’ defensive touchdown at the start of the third gave the Falcons a 21-7 lead, and Danvers had scored 14 points in just 8 seconds of game time between the second and third quarters. An injury to a player on Swampscott’s offensive line in the first half threw everything into chaos for the offense – as players were forced to switch positions, resulting in multiple miscues. Codispoti started to get going late in the second quarter, but the line could not open up holes for the running back after the injury. Big Blue’s line was already banged up coming into the game, which affected the way Head Coach Bob Serino wanted to run his offense.
“Our center went into guard, then we switched it over. Our line is beat up,” Serino said. “We’ll get healthier next week, we’ll have two guys back .”
Frustrations grew for Big Blue on the ensuing drive as an unsportsmanlike penalty forced the offense into a 3rd down and 20 when Xerras made another huge defensive play by picking off a Ryan screen pass. Danvers continued to feed off of the team’s defensive energy and tacked on two more touchdowns in the half to bring the score to 35-7. Danvers was able to use their fourth quarter drives to run the clock out and ran into the locker rooms after an impressive victory. Serino knew it was going to be a tough game coming in and was proud of the way his team battled despite the end result.
“We knew it was going to be hard coming in. They have a really, really good line,” he said. “They took it to us, but these kids didn’t quit. They kept playing.”
A bright spot for Big Blue Friday night was the defense. Aside from the touchdown at the end of the first half, each level of the defense played well, and the 28 points given up were a mere result of having to continuously go back onto the field.
Swampscott now sits at 3-3 on the season – a far cry from where the team was last season – but has an incredible opportunity to right the ship next week against a winless Beverly team at home at 7 p.m next Friday.
Ryan Vermette can be reached at [email protected]
