Reprinted From October 9, 2009 Salem News Danvers
tardy in answering the bell against Lynnfield DANVERS — The Danvers High football team answered a wakeup call against Lynnfield here last night. Unfortunately for the Falcons, they were already late for the appointment. After getting dominated for three quarters, specifically by Lynnfield quarterback Gino Cohee (24 carries, 192 yards), Danvers scored with just over a minute remaining and got the ball back for a final stab at it before a Nicholas Roberts interception capped a well-deserved 14-6 win for the visiting Pioneers. "We made it exciting at the end," said Danvers coach John Sullivan, whose team dropped to 3-2 with the non-conference loss. "I just wish we'd made it exciting at the beginning. You have to play a complete game — and we didn't do it." Still, the Falcons came ridiculously close to stealing this one — or at least getting it to overtime. Down 14-0 and seemingly going nowhere in the middle of the fourth period, the Falcons finally showed some life on offense, constructing an eight-play, 54-yard drive that ended with senior Clinton Lutz crossing the goal line from the 1-yard line to make it 14-6 with just 1:07 remaining. Everyone in the ballpark on this damp, murky night knew what was next: an onside kick. The maneuver failed and all Lynnfield had to do was kill the clock in boring fashion. For some reason, the Pioneers went outside on a running play and George Hennessey was separated from the ball, which popped right into the arms of Danvers' Dan Skinner, who nearly escaped down the sideline for a touchdown. "He was almost the hero, right?" Sullivan said of Skinner. "If that one (Lynnfield) kid doesn't get him by the legs, Dan probably scores on that play." Still, Danvers had possession in Lynnfield territory and 57 seconds remaining, which is all it could ask for on a night when it was outplayed. However, Danvers quarterback Greg Ladd (10-for-24 for 96 yards, 2 INTs) and his receivers couldn't make it happen, and Lynnfield's Roberts allowed his team to exhale with his fourth down pickoff. "That was pretty scary," Lynnfield (4-1) coach Neal Weidman said of the final couple of minutes. "We've had that happen to us before (referring to the late fumble that Skinner picked off in midair)." This was the kind of game that had to drive Sullivan and his staff crazy because as much as Lynnfield owned the first three quarters, Danvers made such a spirited comeback in the final minutes that it was hard to stay angry at the Falcons. "Our kids never did quit," said Sullivan. "But we had to start forcing the issue. We had to create turnovers (Danvers finished with three fumble recoveries) and that's how we got back in the game." For the longest time, however, the Danvers defense couldn't cope with Cohee, who piled up 184 yards (on 15 carries) in the first half alone. It looked like simple stuff, but Cohee was remarkably effective with the quarterback draw. "We didn't come out to play and we didn't defend in the first half," said Sullivan. Roberts scored Lynnfield's first touchdown in the opening quarter, catching a 19-yard pass from Chris Grassi. Cohee broke a 68-yard scoring run in the second period, making it 14-0. Danvers punted five times in the first half and couldn't sustain
a running attack for much of the game. Eric Burgos was held
to 53 yards on 18 attempts and Lutz finished with 33 yards
on 12 attempts. |