WINTHROP — When you start the season 6-0, you know you’re good, but to overcome some adversity along the way, that’s when you know you’re very good.
Thursday night in enemy territory, the Peabody football team (6-0) showed its desire to be great. The Tanners overcame a slow start against a ridgid Winthrop team (3-3) to win, 24-7.
Winthrop got out to an early 7-0 lead, courtesy of a 97-yard run from Robert Rich on third-and-long.
Peabody coach Mark Bettencourt acknowledged the first-half struggles as Peabody failed to score in the first quarter alongside a handful of punts.
“I think it was a tale of two halves for us. Offensively, we weren’t clicking. They were blitzing different gaps… we were confused,” he said. “We missed a lot of guys who came in untouched. We were having terrible success on first down. We made some adjustments and were able to fix those things and started to move the ball much better in the second half.”
In the second quarter, Winthrop, with its tricky offense, saw quarterback Matthew Noonan throw a 72-yard pass to Nick Cappuccio. It looked like he was endzone-bound, but Eli Batista didn’t give up on the play, chasing him down at the 2-yard line.
The following play led to Peabody forcing a fumble to prevent Winthrop doubling its lead.
“The fact that he ran down that play doesn’t surprise me,” Bettencourt said. “He has no quit in him. Our team follows his lead.”
“He’s (Batista) the heart and soul of our team. Offensively, defensively, and on special teams, he’s an electric player,” Bettencourt said. “He’s been doing it for four years [and] people seem to have just recognized it. It hasn’t been a secret. He’s a great player who wants the ball in big situations.”
Peabody took over and marched down the field, leading to an 8-yard touchdown pass from Luke Maglione to Dorlyn Morel (7-7). The ball was initially tipped, which made Morel need to adjust his body with less than a minute remaining in the half.
In the second half, the Tanners’ defense took it up a notch, forcing back-to-back turnovers before a Dominic Scalese field goal connected for Peabody (10-7).
In the fourth quarter, with less than nine minutes remaining, the Tanners were moving the ball downfield before Winthrop forced a fourth-and-9 on its own 18-yard line.
Peabody decided to go for it. The result: Maglione finding Jayce Jean-Pierre in the corner of the endzone for a 17-7 lead.
When asked about the decision to go for it, Bettencourt admitted it wasn’t his idea.
“There was a little conversation on that play. I was going to kick the field goal because with Dom, it’s usually automatic points on the board,” Bettencourt said. “But the coaches and I spoke, and Steve Lomasney was adamant that it doesn’t matter if we make the field goal because a touchdown would win the game. I think this is the first time I listened to Steve in 11 years, but I’m glad I did because we scored a touchdown on a nice play.”
Peabody didn’t look back, eventually scoring its third touchdown on a 50-yard pass from Maglione to Batista to seal the 24-7 win.
The Tanners’ next game is next Friday, Oct. 20 when they host Gloucester at 7 p.m.
