LYNN — Saturday’s twi-night doubleheader at Manning Field ran full on into a fierce thunderstorm that swept through Massachusetts.
And while that didn’t directly affect the actual Salem-KIPP Academy nightcap, it did force the game to be almost two hours late in starting.
In the end, it was the Witches coming out with the win, 21-14, over the Panthers. The Panthers fell behind early, and caught up in the second half. But early in the fourth quarter, Salem went ahead, 21-14, and KIPP couldn’t get the equalizer.
“We made a lot of mistakes on both offense and defense,” said KIPP head coach Jim Rabbitt, “You can’t make the type of mistakes we made and expect to beat a team like Salem.
“Salem is a good team for us to play,” he said. “They got us this year. Hopefully we get them next year.”
The heavy air and soggy conditions undoubtedly kept the scoring down in the first half, as Salem scored the only points on Elvis Espinal’s electrifying 50-yard run, with Fionn Coughlin providing the PAT. Early in the third quarter, the Witches went up 13-0 on Jake Lister’s 5-yard run.
KIPP stormed back to take a 14-13 lead by the time the quarter ended, getting six points on Aavian Pena’s 4-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Elai Machado, and then a 59-yard strike to Joan Ortiz from Machado.
“That was a nice play,” said Rabbitt. “Elai threaded the ball to him, and Ortiz made a nice play on it.” Machado’s rush put the Panther up by one.
However, Espinal’s 2-yard run, with Peterson hauling in the conversion pass from Lister, put Salem ahead to stay.
Espinal had a big day rushing for Salem, with 175 yards on 25 carries.
For KIPP, Ortiz had two catches for 68 yards.
KIPP faces St. Mary’s on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
