RallyNorth.net

WEST NEWBURY — Things went so well for Pentucket yesterday that one of its eight scoring possessions required less than a second — seven-tenths to be exact — to find success.

But it was an afternoon of successful results for the Sachems who routed visiting Arlington Catholic 53-0 before a small, but satisfied crowd.

"It's the second to last game for the seniors, so definitely we were motivated," said Andrew Noyes, who scored a pair of touchdowns while leading a balanced yard-eating ground attack with 114 yards. "All we have left is Thanksgiving (at home against Triton), so naturally we're motivated.

"Some of us aren't going to play football ever again. Everyone says you don't know how fast it's going to go by. It turns out it goes by reaL fast."

It was the Pentucket offense that played fast yesterday. After a three-and-out first possession, the Sachems (5-5) scored each of the next seven times they had the ball. Bouncing back from a shutout loss last week, Pentucket finished with 330 yards on 32 carries and 396 total yards on 40 plays.

"It's hard to tell who's going to come to play," longtime Pentucket coach Steve Hayden said. "I think our guys worked hard and played hard during the week. We got back to some basics, which is good,"

In addition to Noyes, Jeff Porter ran for a score and caught another from Pat Freirmuth, who also ran for two. Chris Muello capped the scoring with a 70-yard blast with 7:23 left.

The defense also set up their offensive mates in great field position:

— A Liam Sheehy fumble recovery set up the first of two Jeff Porter touchdowns and got Pentucket on the board.

— A Noah Malhi fumble recovery set up a four-play drive that ended with a Jack Richard 6-yard run and a 20-0 lead.

— A Porter interception at the goal line shut down AC's best scoring chance and led to the Freirmuth-to-Porter scoring pass.

— A 27-yard Freirmuth interception return set up the Sachems at the AC 1-yard line (hence the sub-second possession).

— A Ben Thornton fumble recovery set up Noyes' final scoring run for a 46-0 lead with 5:27 left in the third.

One week after giving up 413 yards rushing in a 21-0 loss to North Reading, the Sachems shut down the Cougar attack. After 30 carries, AC finished with negative-11 yards, which included 54 yards lost on six sacks. Pentucket's front line of Thornton, (who added a sack), Sean McGrath (in on two sacks) and Joe Raimondi helped stuff 14 of the rushing attempts for zero yards or fewer.

"We knew they were going to be more of a threat through the air, so we've been working on a lot of coverages this past week. We did what we had to do. We had our toughest week of practice all year, and that probably made the difference."

  Sophomore Matt McCarthy scored 5 TDs as North Reading rolled over Arlington Catholic, 54-6, in a non-qualifier. Four of his TDs came in the first half.