Generals Mix It Up In 18-6 Win Over Newburyport

For the second straight week, Hamilton-Wenham’s opponent took its first drive straight down the field and scored a touchdown.

And for the second straight week, the Generals opponent was shut out the rest of the game.

Last week the offense consisted mostly of the hard inside running of senior captain Elliot Burr and quick outside sprints by junior quarterback Trevor Lyons. But on Friday night in Newburyport, the offense was spread out among Burr, Lyons and Matt Putur on the ground and Lyons finding Pete Duval, Burr, Putur, Cody Cohan and Christian Ecker through the air.

The result was an 18-6 victory in sloppy conditions. The win pushed Hamilton-Wenham to 3-0; the Clippers fell to 2-1.

“We have a good 1-2, inside/outside punch (with Burr and Lyons) but we knew they would try to slow us down,” said Morency. “With the foul weather we had to go with our strength (at the time).”

With a 12-6 halftime lead, the second half saw the Generals make big play after big play to not only maintain the advantage but score a back-breaking TD with 1:49 left in the game.

Newburyport drove to the Hamilton-Wenham 31 on the opening drive of the second half but Putur broke up a Connor Wile (8 for 15, 92 yards) pass in the end zone on fourth down. Ryan Foringer had a big sack in the drive.

On the other two Newburyport drives in the third quarter, Drinkwater recovered a fumble on a punt and Burr thwarted a fake punt attempt when the snap went to the short man, who lost two yards.

“We just tried to buckle down (after the first touchdown) and keep them on their side of the field,” said Foringer, a senior linebacker. “We worked all week (to slow their passing game).”

The Clippers attempted another fourth down play the next time they got the ball but Kevin Anthony stopped Martin in his tracks on a 4th-and-3 play.

Then the biggest defense stop came when Wile scrambled a little more than 7 yards on a  4th-and-8 play, only to come up a few inches short.

“We played hard but continually shot ourselves in the foot,” said Newburyport coach Ed Gaudiano. “Penalties in the first half and execution errors in the second half stopped us from doing anything.”

Hamilton-Wenham kept the home team on its toes one last time on its final drive. Lyons, who only had 13 yards up that point, reeled off a 40-yard run with a little less than three minutes left in the game. Then, on a 4-and-8 lay from the Newburyport 23 he found a streaking Duval down the right sideline for a scoring strike.

The Generals scored on consecutive drives after allowing Newburyport to take a 6-0 lead.

Lyons hit Ecker and Duval (3 receptions, 33 yards) and Burr in the 12-play drive. Lyons went 5 yards for the score.

The defense got the ball back in a 3-and-out for the Clippers. Putur had a pass break-up on second down and Taylor Drinkwater got in the backfield for a one-yard loss for Tyler Martin.

HW started at its 47 and capped the 10-play drive, which included a 2-yard gain for Burr on 4th-and-2, withn a 1-yard dive for Burr.

“We came out flat but we then settled down and took it to them,” said Putur, a senior.