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MANCHESTER — The final score (Georgetown 26, Manchester Essex 14) doesn’t tell the whole story of the Thanksgiving showdown at Hyland Field.

With just over two minutes left in regulation, the hosts trailed 20-14 and were on the Royals’ 15-yard line. Craig Carter threw to a receiver for what looked to be a tying score. But the ball hit off the receiver’s hands and helmet and bounced right into the hands of 5-10, 138-pound Georgetown defensive back Liam Lydon.

TYNGSBORO — Robert DiMento scored on a fourth-quarter safety and Cooper Martens took the ensuing kickoff back 70 yards for a score as Georgetown beat Greater Lowell 9-8.

The Royals improved to 2-6 while the Gryphons fell to 1-8.

AMESBURY – The Amesbury football team finally put it all together last night, dominating Georgetown from the opening whistle to pick up the team’s first win of the year by a score of 40-6.

IPSWICH — It was right back to square one for Georgetown, just days after picking up one of the team’s biggest wins in recent memory.

Ipswich ran all over the Royals in the lopsided 41-14 victory, with running back Charlie Gillis leading the way with 180 yards rushing and two touchdowns Thursday night. Georgetown had only eight yards of total offense at halftime, and other than a spurt at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the team was never able to get anything going.

HAVERHILL – It wasn't a day to remember for the Georgetown seniors, who lost to Hamilton-Wenham 35-0 on Senior Day this past Saturday, but head coach Justin Spurr expressed confidence in the program's future despite the rough stretch his team has endured.

LYNNFIELD - Unbeaten Lynnfield took a 21-0 first-quarter lead and cruised to a 42-0 win over Georgetown in their debut under the lights on their new turf field

  HAVERHILL – It was a long time coming for Georgetown, which beat Manchester Essex 14-13 in a thrilling fourth quarter comeback to claim the program’s first win of the season and its first conference victory since Thanksgiving of 2010.   Down 13-6 with three minutes to play, quarterback Cooper Martens and the Georgetown offense drove the length of the field. After Nick DePasquale came up just short of the pylon on a diving rush to the outside, Martens pushed his way in to pull the Royals within one with 10 seconds to play.   Faced with a decision of playing for the tie with an extra point, or going for two and the win, first-year coach Justin Spurr decided to lay his cards on the table and go for the win right there.   “You don’t get many chances like that,” Spurr said. “We felt like the kids were hungry and ready to do it. We knew that they had it burning inside.”   Despite a false start penalty that pushed the Royals back five yards, Georgetown wouldn’t be denied. Martens fired a short pass over the middle to tight end Nick Calvani, who caught the pass to give Georgetown the lead and the win.   An elated Spurr said after the game, “They’ve been through a lot of hard years. And it’s not about me or the coaching staff, I’m here for the kids and they deserve this win. It’s their win.”   Coming into the game, Georgetown had struggled mightily in its first two matchups, losing by four touchdowns to both Cathedral and Greater Lowell. Manchester Essex hadn’t fared much better.   That changed in the second quarter, when Manchester Essex running back Chris Carr found the end zone twice to give his team the lead. The junior tailback opened the scoring with a goal line touchdown run on fourth down early in the second quarter, and then he repeated the fourth down feat from seven yards out on the next possession after the Royals fumbled away the ensuing kickoff.   “It takes a lot out of us on defense when at halftime it’s 31-17 in plays,” Spurr said.   DePasquale cut the lead to 13-6 when he got to the edge on a sweep and scored from 13 yards out.   The Royals made the biggest defensive stand of the game when they halted a Manchester-Essex drive that would have iced the game.   The Royals, who went 2-9 last year, came up with a fourth down stop in their own territory with three minutes to play. The front seven hung tough against Carr, who ran for over 100 yards on the day, and got the stop to set up the game’s dramatic finish.  

Greater Lawrence rolled out to a 30-0 halftime lead on its way to a 36-9 victory over Georgetown.

HAVERHILL — After arriving to Haverhill Stadium only about 10 minutes before the scheduled game time, Cathedral High of Boston went through an abbreviated warm-up and received the opening kickoff. it didn’t matter, though. The Panthers and Georgetown played to a 6-6 tie in the first half before the visitors turned it on for a 31-6 win. Both teams struggled to snap the ball on their opening possession. Cathedral went three-and-out after a snap over quarterback Jermal Brevard-Jackson’s head lost 19 yards. Georgetown gave the ball back on the very next play on a fumble during the transfer from center to quarterback. The Royals fumbled away each of their first two possessions. After falling behind 6-0 early, new Royals head coach Justin Spurr got tricky in the second quarter. Running back Cooper Martens took a handoff to the outside and found a receiver all alone in the end zone. The 23-yard halfback pass to Robert Dimento made it 6-6, but the two-point conversion failed after a penalty pushed the Royals back five yards. The Georgetown defense stayed strong in the first half after surrendering a touchdown on Cathedral’s second drive. “We played really well on defense for most of the game,” Spurr said. “Defense was definitely a strong point for us.” But Georgetown could not sustain its strong defense in the last 22 minutes. After Justice Turner took the Royals’ third fumble for six points to make it 12-6 early in the second half, Brevard-Jackson took control. The senior captain connected on a pair of touchdown passes and ran for a third. Georgetown did show some life on offense down the stretch, but could not get in the end zone. Martens, who shared the quarterback duty with sophomore Jimmy Sherman, completed the Royals’ longest play of the day, a 40-yard pass to Nick DePasquale, who had a stellar all-around game. Georgetown is at Greater Lawrence Tech on Saturday at 1 p.m.