Sep. 18—PEABODY — If the Peabody High football team’s defense was butter, then Masconomet senior captain Mat Nadworny was the hot knife.
Rushing for 167 yards and a pair of touchdowns, Nadworny set the tone as the Chieftains dominated the line of scrimmage in a 35-24 upset victory over the Tanners Friday night at Coley Lee Field.
Masconomet (2-0) rolled up nearly 500 yards of total offense with both Nadworny and his younger brother, sophomore Sam, rushing for over 100 yards. The visitors jumped out to a 28-6 second quarter lead and held off a late comeback bid by QB Shea Lynch and the Tanners (1-1).
“We executed really well and I have to give props to the line because they blocked really well,” said Mat Nadworny, who capped a 99-yard drive with his second touchdown of the game with 6:24 remaining to put the game out of reach.
The loss snapped Peabody’s six-game win streak that dated back to Week 1 of this spring’s Fall 2 season and included a 14-10 win over Masconomet that was surely on the Chieftains’ minds during a crisp week of practice leading up Friday’s victory.
“Last year’s seniors were some of my best friends and it was hard to take them losing on our home field,” senior linebacker Jake Kalapinsky said. “We wanted to get that ‘W’ back for Masco pride.”
Running behind center Danny Gangi, guards Hayden Canada Hunt and Ben Goodwin and tackles Adam Kostas and Albin LaVita, Masco had no trouble winning the race the perimeter. They scored on short fields, with the first TD coming thanks to a blocked punt, and long drives: a 97-yard scoring drive came in the second quarter and they were pinned at the 1-yard line leading 28-17 with 9:07 to play.
Thanks to QB Matt Richardson (128 yards passing, 69 yards rushing) finding Owen Barrett for a 59-yard gain, the Chieftains didn’t allow the poor field position to hurt them.
“Peabody beat us last year and they hadn’t lost since,” Masco head coach Gavin Monagle said. “That was something we let the kids know about this week.”
Masco’s superior line forced Peabody to abandon the run; the Tanners rushed only three times in the game and zero after halftime. Lynch dropped back to pass almost 50 times, completing 27-of-43 for 288 yards and a score. Most of his throws were quick hitters thanks to Masco’s defensive ends Tyler McMahon and Corin Canada Hunt bearing down on him.
“(Lynch) is unbelievable … even better than I thought, so we wanted to run the ball to keep his offense off the field,” Mongale said. “Our two defense ends were excellent. They played as good as you can in high school football.”
Two kick returns for touchdowns kept the Tanners in the game. Eli Batista took one back 89-yards to make it a 7-6 game in the first quarter and Colin Ridley returned the opening kick of the second half 85 yards to make it 28-14.
After Raf Casaino helped Peabody get a defensive stop, Lynch directed a drive that stalled out and produced Dom Scalese’s 27-yard field goal and a 28-17 score. Peabody’s defense got another stop, but the ensuing drive ended with a third down sack by Kalapinsky and the Tanners never got within one score.
“It was a frustrating game in that we were hurt both by the points we allowed and the ones we left on the table,” Peabody head coach Mark Bettencourt said. “Defensively, our edge players got sucked in and we got gashed. We have to keep outside leverage.”
Among the bright spots for Peabody was junior Sam Merrill, who filled in at center against a nose guard who outweighed him by 70 pounds. He also played middle linebacker in the second half.
“If we can get more kids to play with his fire,” Bettencourt said, “we’re going to be in great shape.”
Senior Jovante Dailey caught five passes for 47 yards, Danny Barrett hauled in seven for 87 with a fourth quarter score and Batista caught five for 70.
Masconomet got a key interception on a bobbled pass from senior Jack Mitchell to kill a potential Peabody scoring drive late in the second quarter.
The Chieftains averaged 9.1 yards per rush with 14 rushes going for at least 10 yards. Richardson hit McMahon for a 36-yard TD and also broke free up the weakside sideline for 23-yard score during Masco’s breakaway 21-0 run in the second quarter.
——
Masconomet 35, Peabody 24
at Coley Lee Field, Peabody
Masconomet (1-1);7;21;0;7;35
Peabody (1-1);6;0;11;7;24
Scoring summary
M- Sam Nadworny 7 run (Toal Lodewick kick)
P- Eli Batista 89 kick return (kick blocked)
M- Mat Nadworny 5 run (Lodewick kick)
M- Tyler McMahon 36 pass from Matt Richardson (Lodewick kick)
M- Richardson 23 run (Lodewick kick)
P- Colin Ridley 85 kick return (Batista pass from Shea Lynch)
P- Dom Scalese 27 FG
M — M. Nadworny 4 run (Lodewick kick)
P- Danny Barrett 11 pass from Lynch (Scalese kick)
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Masconomet — Mat Nadworny 20-167, Sam Nadworny 11-116, Matt Richardson 6-69, Will Shannon 3-14 ; Peabody — Jordan Tompkins 2-3, Mike Perez 1-0, Shea Lynch 6-(-16).
PASSING: Masconomet — Richardson 5-11-128-1-0, Will Mitchell 0-1-0-0-0 ; Peabody — Lynch 27-43-288-1-1.
Receiving: Masconomet — Owen Barrett 2-67, Tyler McMahon 1-36, S. Nadworny 1-24, M. Nadworny 1-1 ; Peabody — Danny Barrett 7-82, Eli Batista 5-70, Jovante Dailey 5-47, Nick Dresser 2-27, Daviel Canela 2-26, Dylan Preira 2-23, Colin Ridley 3-8, Tompkins 1-2.