SAUGUS — Thanksgiving football games love to pin rivals together, and Thursday morning’s matchup at Christie Serino Jr. Memorial Athletic Complex was no different. Peabody walked away with a 33-7 win over Saugus to make its Thanksgiving dinner just a bit sweeter.
The Tanners found the scoreboard first, thanks to a Luke Maglione shovel pass to Anthony Silva, who ran one in from 2 yards out. Peabody struck again with 9:32 remaining in the first half when Maglione found Jayce Jean-Pierre on a screen pass. Jean-Pierre took it to the house for a 7-yard score to make it 13-0 after the PAT.
Saugus wouldn’t go down without a fight, however, as freshman quarterback Eli Fialho found junior receiver Ryan Shea around midfield for a 28-yard completion to spark some life into the Sachems.
“He’s one of those guys where I tell the quarterback, ‘He’s never covered,’” said Saugus coach Steve Cummings. “Even if he has players around him, we’re confident he’ll go up and make the play. It’s unfair sometimes, because we expect him to always make the play, but he’s an incredible athlete. He didn’t get much time last year because we had other guys in his position, but we’re looking forward to what he can bring his senior year.”
A few plays later, Saugus had the ball on Peabody’s 9-yard line and called a run to the right for Shea. When Shea got the ball, he quickly paused and reversed field. From there, he picked up a crucial block from Jordan Rodriguez and scored on a 9-yard burst.
The Sachems – now with momentum – forced a turnover on downs and got the ball back at midfield with 2:29 remaining in the half. But the momentum was short-lived, with Peabody’s Tyler Rappold picking off Fialho and taking it to the house for a 60-yard touchdown.
“He’s been dinged up this season. He hurt his thumb, he was wearing a cast, and for a cornerback and wide receiver, that’s pretty hard to do,” said Peabody coach Mark Bettencourt. “He had a great game today.”
Cummings, in all honesty, thought that sequence was critical.
“In the second quarter, we got the ball back with a one-score game and we just floated the ball. Their guy makes a great play and makes the pick and is able to take it all the way back,” he said. “That kind of changed the game. In weather conditions like today, it was tough.”
Peabody’s defense wasn’t done there as the Tanners got another pick-six. This one came from Jean-Pierre, who took it 67 yards to make it 33-7.
Bettencourt, who has more than 20 seniors on his team, said he’s going to miss them. Some of them have been in the program since they were ball boys at 6 years old.
“It’s very emotional, when you have kids like Jimmy (Festa) who you’ve known since they were 6 or 7 years old,” Bettencourt said. “He’s been at our practices for 10 or 12 years.”
Saugus graduates star running back Cody Munafo, who has the utmost respect from his head coach.
“Pound for pound, I don’t think you’re going to find anyone tougher,” Cummings said. “He gives it everything he has. You’d like for them to go out on a better note, but these seniors laid it all out there today.”
