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WEST NEWBURY— Pentucket's 49-0 win over Ipswich Saturday had more to do with muscle than skill.

The Pentucket offensive line took it to Ipswich (5-5) to the tune of 333 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns. Junior running back Liam Sheehy broke tackle after tackle on his way for a 132-yard, 3-touchdown performance. After the Sachems (9-1) fumbled on their opening possession in the non-playoff game, the hosts got the ball back and drove 79 yards on seven plays, capped off by a Sheehy 6-yard touchdown run. Ipswich failed to get a first down on its next possession and Noah Malhi blocked the punt. Three plays later, Brennan McGuirk found the end zone from 10 yards out on a little misdirection play that was opened up by a nice fake from quarterback Finn Graham. And the Sachems were just getting started. It was 42-0 at the half "They're big, strong and physical. They just dominated us up front," said Ipswich coach Kevin Fessette. "When we get pushed back and the linebackers get pushed back, we weren't going to stop them. We weren't physical enough." Sheehy would get the next two scores on runs of 36 and 27 yards. Malhi got in on the scoring action. When the Tigers snapped the ball over quarterback Shane Grady's head, he came flying off the right edge, corralled the pigskin in one clean motion, and then raced 22 yards for the score. The visitors managed only 33 total rushing yards to go with just 17 passing yards in a long, long day in West Newbury. Senior Joe Raimondi was a force on the defensive line with three tackles for losses in the first half alone. Raimondi said, "It just comes with being aggressive, being fast off the ball and having your mind right. We practice really hard and it's been an 'all go' type of mentality. We are consistently aggressive every play and give it all we got. In doing so you're going to make plays." Pentucket, which was upset in the No. 1 vs. 8 game in its playoff opener, finishes the season Thanksgiving at 4-6 Triton at 10 a.m.

WEST NEWBURY — When Pentucket and Triton faced off early in the season, the Sachems won a defensive battle 13-10. But the Thanksgiving Day matchup was an entirely different story. The Cape Ann League rivals combined for 75 points in a game that was all but decided by halftime as Pentucket emerged with the 47-28 victory. The Vikings (4-7) came out of the gate strong, scoring a touchdown on their opening drive, but it was Pentucket's Liam Sheehy who stole the show in front of his home crowd. The junior running back rushed for 191 yards on the day highlighted by three first-half scores. "He's a tough runner and he works very hard," Sachems' 34th-year head coach Steve Hayden said after his 207th career win. "He's probably one of the hardest workers in practice and he just loves the game. All our kids played well and played tough." The hosts (10-1) won the coin toss and deferred to the second half, which gave Triton the first chance to get on the scoreboard. The Vikings did just that, putting together a nine-play, 80-yard drive, capped off by a Liam Spillane plunge from 4 yards out to give Triton its first and only lead of the game. After its opening score, however, Triton surrendered five consecutive touchdowns. "I don't think we fought in the first half," said Vikings coach Pat Sheehan. "We had some things going offensively but we didn't make enough of the plays we needed to make and defensively we didn't fight." Senior co-captain Kiernan Haley broke free for a 46-yard touchdown run on the fourth play of Pentucket's opening possession. Sheehy followed that up with a 58-yard touchdown scamper of his own, before quarterback Finn Graham found Haley for a 24-yard scoring strike. Sheehy added scores from 1- and 2-yards out, respectively, to put the Sachems up 34-14 at the break. Pentucket continued it's torrid scoring pace at the start of the third quarter, as senior running back Brennan McGuirk sprinted 52 yards into the end zone. The Sachems then finished their scoring when Graham tossed his second touchdown of the day, this time to senior Travis Bounsy from 6 yards out to make it 47-14 with three minutes left in the third quarter.

WEST NEWBURY — Pentucket stormed back from a 21-point halftime deficit to pull off an impressive 28-27 consolation round victory over Lynnfield. The Sachems gambled and made a 2-point conversion late but still had to survive a 25-yard field goal which was narrowly wide left on the final play of the game. Senior running back Kiernan Haley ran for 135 yards and junior quarterback Finn Graham tossed two touchdown passes for the 8-1 Sachems. “We knew we only had a few games left in the season, so we decided to dig deep,” said Haley. “It may not have been a playoff game, but it still feels really good and the atmosphere today was like a playoff game.” Jake McHugh threw two TD passes in the first half and Drew McCarthy (16 carries for 177 yards on the day) scored on a 41-yard run for the Pioneers (6-3). Pentucket registered just 48 yards of total offense in the first two quarters. The second half was a completely different story. Junior Robert Porter took the second-half kickoff to the Lynnfield 36-yard line. Haley, Liam Sheehy and Brennan McGuirk rushed six consecutive times before a 9-yard Graham touchdown pass to Travis Bounsy. After a three and out by Lynnfield, Pentucket drove 52 yards on eight plays capped off by Graham’s 19-yard TD strike to Sheehy. Pentucket shut down the Pioneer passing attack and got the ball back. Sheehy cashed in on a 9-yard TD run. The 2-point conversion failed and Pentucket trailed 21-20 with 5:55 left. McCarthy answered with a 29-yard run but Lynnfield botched the PAT. Haley broke free for a 60-yard run on the first play of the drive before Sheehy punched it in from 1-yard out for his third score of the day. All Pentucket had to do was kick the extra point and the game would be tied, but coach Steve Hayden wanted the win. Graham found a wide-open Haley in the corner of the end zone to give the hosts their first lead of the game. “We knew they could come down the field again so we went for it,” Hayden said. With 3:28 remaining, Lynnfield had one more chance and drove deep into Pentucket territory. But Joe Raimondi came up huge with a tackle on third down to force a 25-yard field goal attempt. The kick sailed wide left as time expired. The Sachems will host Ipswich (5-4) next weekend. Pentucket 28, Lynnfield 27 Lynnfield (6-3):     6     14     0     7 – 27 Pentucket (8-1):     0     0     14     14 – 28 SCORING First Quarter L — Kyle Hawes 23 pass from Jake McHugh (kick failed) Second Quarter L — Drew McCarthy 41 run (McHugh 2-point conversion run) L — Louis Ellis 6 pass from McHugh (Dan Bronshvayg kick) Third Quarter P — Travis Bounsy 9 pass from Finn Graham (Stevie Johanson kick) P — Liam Sheehy 19 pass from Graham (Johanson kick) Fourth Quarter P — Sheehy 9 run (2-point conversion failed) L — McCarthy 29 run (kick failed) P — Sheehy 1 run (Graham pass to Kiernan Haley 2-point conversion) INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING: Pentucket — Kiernan Haley 15-134, Liam Sheehy 13-69, Brennan McGuirk 3-19, Finn Graham 1-10; Lynnfield — Drew McCarthy 16-177, Jake McHugh 12-31, Nick Kinnon 1-4 PASSING: Pentucket — Graham 5-8-49, 0 intercept; Lynnfield — Jake McHugh 15-23-158, 0 intercept RECEIVING: Pentucket — Travis Bounsy 2-24, Liam Sheehy 2-23, Kiernan Haley 1-2; Lynnfield — Kyle Hawes 6-68, Ricky Johnson 3-46, Drew McCarthy 3-29, Louis Ellis 2-24, Dan Bronshvayg 2-10, CJ Finn 1-7

BESTED BY BEDFORD
Top seeded Pentucket falls to Buccaneers in D4 North opener


WEST NEWBURY—Regular season win-loss records don't mean much when it comes to high school playoff football.
Undefeated Pentucket earned the top overall seed in the Division 4 North tournament but it was No. 8 Bedford who rolled 21-6 Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinals.
Bedford (5-4) quarterback Thomas Greaney had the only score of the first half with a 1-yard touchdown run, and when the visitors forced the Sachems to turn the ball over on the first drive of the second half, head coach Jack Belcher felt it was time for his team to take control.
On 1st and 10 from their own 48, the Buccaneers dialed up a double pass, and Matthew Timperio hit a wide open Cameron Shelmire for a 52-yard score to put the visitors ahead 14-0.
"We thought we'd have that at some point in the game and we could take a shot. It was kind of a good spot to try something like that," said Belcher, a star center at BC during the Doug Flutie era. "If we go from 7-0 to 14-0, we might put a little thought in their head that we're an eight seed, but we're in the game. I think they knew that."
It looked like the Sachems (7-1) were going to get right back into the game when senior Travis Bounsy took the ensuing kickoff 87 yards for what appeared to be a touchdown. But Pentucket was flagged for holding.
Things went from bad to worse for Pentucket in the fourth quarter as Bedford was able to block a Pentucket punt, and Daniel Greaney returned it 42 yards for the touchdown.
With its Wing-T offense, Pentucket isn't built to play from behind.
After the game, Sachem head coach Steve Hayden talked about getting burned on the trick play.
"That hurt. That's part of the game, though," said Hayden. "The kids were coming up trying to make a play, and they took advantage of our aggressiveness on that. They were skilled enough to pull it off."
Belcher said, "We weren't doing anything fancy. They've been a Wing-T team for 34 years I believe and the Wing-T is a tough, tough thing to defend. And they have tough kids. We exchanged video and we watched how they came off the ball the last few games. You key what you have to key is a textbook way to stop the Wing-T."
Pentucket finally broke through in the fourth quarter as Kiernan Haley scored on a 2-yard run with four minutes left.
"They were tough. They had a good defensive scheme and they're tough physical kids," said Hayden.
"I'm excited to play in the next game. We're not here to play just eight games, we're here to play our schedule. It didn't work out the way we wanted, but not everything in life works out the way you want it. Hey, you get knocked down, get up dust ourselves off and let's get ready for the next game."
Pentucket's opponent for next week is still to be determined.

Bedford 21, Pentucket 6
at Pentucket, West Newbury
Pentucket (7-1): 0 0 0 6-6
Bedford (5-3): 0 7 7 7-21
SCORING
B-Thomas Greaney 1 run (Panayiotis Kapanides kick)
B-Cameron Shelmire 52 pass from Matthew Timperio (Kapanides kick)
B-Daniel Greaney 42 punt block return (Kapanides kick)
P-Kiernan Haley 2 run (kick failed)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Pentucket— Liam Sheehy 14-77, Brennan McGuirk 5-40, Kiernan Haley 9-35, Joe Raimondi 1-3, Finn Graham 1-(-1); Bedford— Brandon Baez 22-101, Thomas Greaney 5-26, Matthew Timperio 1-6, Tristan Hart 1-4, Chauncey Williams 1-(-2).
PASSING: Pentucket— Graham 6-15-42-0-0; Bedford— Timperio 2-2-54-1-0, Greaney 3-7-50-0-0
RECEIVING: Pentucket— McGuirk 4-29, Travis Bounsy 1-9, Sheehy 1-4; Bedford— Cameron Shelmire 3-88, Hart 1-14, Benjamin Stacey 1-2.

WEST NEWBURY — Pentucket steamrolled Coyle-Cassidy High 47-7 Saturday to remain perfect through seven games. The Sachems owned the entire game but the beginning of the second quarter belonged to Travis Bounsy. The senior receiver and corner back scored three times in the first four minutes of the quarter as Pentucket (7-0) put up 34 points before halftime. Liam Sheehy scored on a 37-yard touchdown run on the team’s opening drive. Then, on the first play of the second quarter, junior signal-caller Finn Graham found Bounsy, who made a dazzling, one-handed grab before going into the end zone for a 37-yard touchdown reception. Bounsy, who didn’t play football last season, has been a serious threat in the passing game. He entered the game averaging over 22 yards per reception and now has five touchdown catches this season. “First thing I tried to do was beat the guy off the line. And then I just threw my hand up and it landed in my hand and I pulled it in,” said Bounsy of his first score. “It was a surreal moment.” In a 24-point hole, Coyle-Cassidy opted for a little trickery with the halfback pass. Bounsy read it all the way, jumping the route for the interception, which he returned 56 yards to paydirt. The Warriors (1-6) failed to move the chains on their next drive and after a failed fake punt attempt, the Sachems went back to the hot hand. On the first play of the drive, Graham found Bounsy on the right sideline. The senior, who had battled an ankle injury during the week, made the catch before eluding a tackle on the sideline and then cutting back to the left to beat everyone to the end zone. Later in the quarter, Kiernan Haley busted a 23-yard touchdown run to make it a whopping 27 points for Pentucket in the second quarter alone. Pentucket got the ball to start the third and it was Brennan McGuirk’s turn to get in on the scoring. He took a hand off and galloped his way for a 71-yard touchdown. From there, the Sachems pulled their starting skill players as neither Sheehy (71 yards on 7 carries) nor Haley (68 yards on four carries) touched the ball in the second half. McGuirk led all rushers with 101 yards on 5 carries. The Sachems’ next opponent is yet to be determined as they await the release of the playoff pairings.

Pentucket 47, Coyle-Cassidy 7 Coyle-Cassidy (1-6): 0 0 0 7-7 Pentucket (7-0): 7 27 13 0-47 FIRST QUARTER P-Liam Sheehy 37 run (Stevie Johanson kick) SECOND QUARTER P- Travis Bounsy 37 pass from Finn Graham (Johanson kick) P- Bounsy 56 interception return (Johanson kick) P- Bounsy 40 pass from Graham (Johanson kick) THIRD QUARTER P-Kiernan Haley 23 run (kick failed) P- Brennan McGuirk 71 run (kick failed) P- Brandon Wilbur 32 run (Johanson kick) FOURTH QUARTER C- Sam Trojano 5 run (Chris Sotelo kick) INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING: Pentucket- Brennan McGuirk 5-101, Liam Sheehy 7-71, Kiernan Haley 4-68, Robert Porter 2-44, Brandon Wilbur 2-37, Josh Devereaux 3-18, Finn Graham 1-9, Noah Malhi 1-2; Coyle-Cassidy- Brian Rosa10-48, Peter Murphy 9-28, Shawn Carter 2-23, Jacob Cabral 3-10, Connor Rodriguez 6-3. PASSING: Pentucket- Finn Graham 3-3-79-2-0; Coyle-Cassidy-Tristan Blaisdell 3-11-62-0-1, Murphy 0-1-0-0-1, Trojano 0-1-0-0-1. RECEIVING: Pentucket- Travis Bounsy 2-77, Sheehy 1-2; Coyle-Cassidy- Rodriguez 1-26, Anthony Flores 1-19, Hunter Jones 1-17.

BOXFORD - Pentucket made the plays they had to and withstood a tough Masconomet running attack to hang on for the 21-13 win to stay unbeaten. The difference in the game was a blocked punt by Noah Malhi that gave the Sachems the ball at the Masco 1-yard line midway through the second quarter. On the very next play Liam Sheehy punched it in to give Pentucket the lead. Stevie Johanson booted the first of his three PAT's for a 7-0 advantage. "That blocked punt by Malhi was a big momentum change," said Pentucket coach Steve Hayden. "As things turned out we only beat them by one touchdown. So we really needed a play like that." Masconomet running back Scott Foden came up big on the ensuing drive, returning the kick 47 yards to the Sachems 41-yard line, and four plays later broke away from tacklers for a 34-yard touchdown run to tie the game. The Sachems' punishing running game led by Kiernan Haley, Sheehy, and Brennan McGuirk gave them a 14-7 lead right after Foden's first touchdown run. Travis Bounsy had a long return, and a face mask penalty against the Chieftains moved the ball to the Masco 30-yard liine. On the next play Haley went all the way for the score, and at the half Pentucket led, 14-7. Pentucket added another touchdown on the opening drive of the third quarter when Haley went in from four yards out. Masconomet answered with no time left in the third quarter when Pentucket's punt was partially blocked, giving the Chieftains possession at the Sachems' 28. Foden got the call four times in a row, capping the drive with a 3-yard run, but the PAT failed. Pentucket is now 5-0 and will host Coyle-Cassidy next Saturday at 1 p.m.

WEST NEWBURY — With the ball hurdling at him on a line, and a pair of defenders closing in fast, Kiernan Haley could have let the ball bounce, or called a fair catch.

Instead, the Pentucket senior fearlessly caught the ball, shook the defenders, and 65 yards later the Sachems were on the way to making a statement.

WEST NEWBURY — Attention to all Cape Ann League football teams: do not start slowly against Pentucket. Newburyport was sluggish early Saturday and the Sachems (4-0) made the Clippers pay, scoring on their first four possessions en route to a 27-14 victory. “We had a good start and then we kind of limped into it in the end, but (Newburyport) came out tough at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half,” Pentucket coach Steve Hayden said. Senior Travis Bounsy took the opening kickoff 78 yards to the end zone and the rout was on. “The kick return was very, very big. (Bounsy’s) a first-year player. We’re glad Travis came out,” said Hayden, after his 201st career wins. Brennan McGuirk then rushed in a touchdown from nine yards out. Sophomore quarterback Finn Graham (2 for 2, 52 yards) placed a perfect throw just out of the reach of the defender and Bounsy beat everyone down the right sideline for the score. Junior Liam Sheehy (14 carries, 82 yards) wrapped up the Sachem scoring with a 12-yard run. Sheehy and Bounsy also intercepted passes. Noah Malhi, who may be the most feared edge rusher in the Cape Ann League, had his second straight game with three sacks and a number of quarterback pressures. James Lussier, Ben Thornton and Joe Raimondi finished with a sack each for the winners. Pentucket and North Reading, who are both 4-0, will meet in West Newbury Saturday at 1 p.m.

WEST NEWBURY — Though his team made him sweat it out towards the end, Pentucket coach Steve Hayden made history with his 200th win Saturday.
Pentucket held on to beat archrival Triton 13-10, overcoming two fourth quarter fumbles to deny Triton the opportunity of a last gasp scoring drive. Senior defensive end Noah Malhi came up huge on the last defensive possession, sacking Triton quarterback Lewi L'Heureux and then hurrying him twice more in quick succession to force the decisive turnover on downs and ensure the historic victory.
"We were thinking about it the whole game," Malhi said of the 200-win milestone after the game. "Before the game we just talked about how we have to win this one for coach Hayden, and it would be the best to win it against Triton."
The win upped the 34th-year head coach's record at the school to 200-152-2. Hayden is the 49th coach in state history to reach 200 wins.
Hayden, for his part, downplayed the accomplishment, saying it would mean nothing if nobody had said anything. He added that the credit really belongs to the players and coaches who have been a part of the program over the years.
"Its an accomplishment for all the kids we've had, from the kids that went 1-9 to the kids that won Super Bowls," Hayden said. "All those kids, all those former coaches, all those ADs, it's a village that got us here."
Tom Flaherty, Hayden's predecessor and a member of the Mass High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame, said he couldn't be happier for him.
"It's a very big deal, and it's such a credit to Steve," Flaherty said. "He's the perfect coach, he works very hard and he loves the kids, and they know it."
Pentucket led the game from wire to wire, taking a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on a 25-yard touchdown run by senior Kiernan Haley. Triton made it 7-3 before halftime on a 26-yard field goal kicker Jess Greaney, but on the first drive of the third quarter, the Sachems drove 57 yards in nine plays to extend their lead, capping things off with a 19-yard touchdown run by junior Liam Sheehy.
Things nearly unraveled in the fourth, however, as Pentucket lost two fumbles on consecutive possessions. The second resulted in a 21-yard touchdown pass from L'Heureux to junior Liam Spillane to make it 13-10, and after a three-and-out by the Pentucket offense, Triton had an opportunity to take the lead before Malhi and the defense got the big stop.
Pentucket improves to 3-0 and hosts Newburyport next Saturday at 2 p.m.