Opening Drive Score Enough In Generals Victory

The 2011 season has shown so far that the Hamilton-Wenham football team can move the ball up field. Another theme of the team has been its bend-but-not-break defense.

Those trends continued in the Generals fourth game of the season against visiting Amesbury at on Saturday afternoon.

The inside-outside, 1-2 punch of Elliot Burr and Trevor Lyons combined to rush for almost 300 yards. On the other side of the ball the Indians rushed for 170 yards and got inside the Hamilton-Wenham 10 yard line twice, and the 30 two more times.

But with those two tendencies working in your favor, the results often are positive. The Generals recorded a 7-0 victory to remain perfect at 4-0.

“Our defense bent but didn’t break. That shows it is savvy and has character,” said coach Andrew Morency. “(The game) wasn’t a Picasso but we’ll take it.”

Amesbury coach Thom Connors, whose team , felt his squad kept up with the Generals.

“I thought our guys played even with them,” he said. “These were evenly matched teams but we made mistakes and they were able to punch it in (once).”

With a 7-0 lead Hamilton-Wenham forced big turnovers by the Indians (2-2) to preserve the slim lead.

Amesbury moved the ball 57 yards to the H-W 6 yard line to open the second half but senior captain Shane Jenkins recovered a fumble to give the ball back to the offense.

Then in the fourth quarter Amesbury quarterback Matt Talbot (9 carries, 129 yards) began to find open holes. He had carries for 47 and 20 yards as his team moved from its own 6 yard line (thanks to a fumbled snap by Lyons recovered by Curran O’Connor) to the Generals 26. But when he dropped back to pass on a 4th-and-6 play he was picked off by Kevin Anthony, essentially preserving the win with 4:17 showing on the clock.

“Once (Amesbury) got into the Red Zone we tightened up and did what we had to do,” said Jenkins, an offensive lineman and linebacker. “We capitalized by forcing them into three turnovers.”

Lyons also had a first-half interception thanks to quarterback pressure by Wendt and Jenkins.

Hamilton-Wenham got the only points on the board five minutes into the game. On the opening drive of the game the Generals reeled off a 10-play, 65-yard drive culminated by a 15-yard jaunt by Burr (29 carries, 191 yards).

“All game the offensive line opened big holes,” said Burr, a senior captain.

The Generals were unable to build on the lead.

They marched down to the Amesbury 37 on its second drive but Lyons threw his first interception of the season when his pass went off the finger tips of receiver Luke Wendt and into the arms of Indians Ben Cullen.

Then in the third quarter the Generals moved to the Amesbury 7 but a fumbled snap gave the ball back to Amesbury.

Taylor Drinkwater followed his 4-½ sack with another strong defensive effort. Steve Turpin, a junior, chipped in with two TD-saving plays on the Indians final possession. He tackled Talbot on the 47-yard run to the H-W 45 and he had a pass break-up that could have gone for a score had the wide receiver caught the ball.

“We need to get better a finishing drives,” said Morency. “But overall I liked our defense and our running game.”

Lyons finished with 79 yards on 12 carries.