Friday night didn’t exactly go the way the Peabody and Bishop Fenwick football teams had hoped for.
Looking to avenge week one’s 21-0 loss in Melrose, the Tanners again fell short on the road, losing 42-7 to Winchester. Quarterback Luke Maglione scored the lone Peabody touchdown on a quarterback sneak from the 1-yard line.
Fenwick lost a back-and-forth battle at Marblehead, 26-20. Trailing 26-13 late in the fourth quarter, Tyler Connolly gave Fenwick new life with a 55-yard rushing touchdown, but that was as close as the Crusaders came.
Despite opening with back-to-back losses, Peabody coach Mark Bettencourt said there were some positive takeaways.
“We only had three first downs against Melrose, so our offense was a great improvement,” Bettencourt said. “It’s going to be a process. It’s not happening overnight. We got into enemy territory on our first few possessions but couldn’t convert and we were decimated by penalties.”
Bettencourt said Cory Dooley, Max Silvia, Yadiel Vallanueva and Maglione “have done a good job trying to get our offense going. Luke threw well and was more composed and accurate. Matt Dresser, kicker Jake Marcotullio, Drake Dixon also played well and Mark Mendonca and Dooley are our most consistent players so far.”
Despite dropping to 0-2 , Bettencourt saw a few rays of light.
“Brian Collins Dixon did well defensively and Jayden Betts had a good second half,” Bettencourt said. “Freshman right tackle Zaiden Nazaire is showing great improvement and sophomore center Mark Bettencourt had a more consistent game. They’ve both done very well.”
Peabody returns to the friendly confines of Coley Lee Field on Friday night, where the Tanners will take on Swampscott. Bettencourt said he knows Big Blue will be a challenge.
“They are well coached and disciplined but, for us, it’s not about the opponent, we are making too many mistakes on our end.”
While Bettencourt is happy to be at home in week three, Fenwick counterpart Dave Woods hopes the Crusaders can pick up the win Friday at Bishop Stang.
“Bishop Stang always gives us a hard time, especially when we go there,” Woods said. “They run an option-type offense and are well coached so we have to be disciplined. We are absolutely doing some good things. Marblehead is a very good team and we knew that.”
One player doing some of the good things mentioned by Woods is sophomore quarterback Andrew Kiricoples. In his first varsity start, he went 18-for-24 for 251 yards with one touchdown, a 32-yard completion to James Dube. Odin Garron (7-yard rush) also scored for Fenwick.
“Andrew had a phenomenal game,” Woods said. “He led us on a beautiful drive downfield on our last score to give us a shot at the end.”
Woods said Dube also had a “great” game and Tristan Giles “caught a couple of nice passes and Dylan Patturelli had a pretty good game like he always does in the middle at linebacker. He had a great hit to cause the fumble at their 5-yard line and Luis Levenishti fell on it.”
Fenwick led 13-10 at the half, but the Magicians owned the second half, scoring 16 straight points. Connolly’s score narrowed the deficit to six to give the Crusaders some life, only to come up short on the ensuing onside kick.
“We were up at half, but we weren’t quite in game shape and that showed in the second half,” Woods said. “We also had an 80-yard return for a touchdown nullified by a penalty. We also had a few breakdowns in blocking on the punt that they returned for a touchdown. The blocking just wasn’t there. The first game of the year is always tough, but we will correct our mistakes and be fine.”
