Tanners Get it Done in Gloucester [VIDEO]

Oh how the tide has turned along the rocky Gloucester coast.

Was it was just a year ago that a powerhouse Fishermen squad dropped 42 points on a shell shocked Peabody club on this very same field? Friday night at an uncharacteristically balmy Newell Stadium, Peabody returned the favor in an impressive 41-26 win.

Peabody senior Nat Gaye rushed for a career high 233 yards and three TDs on 20 carries to lead the Tanners to the rousing win. Peabody improves to 3-0, while Gloucester drops to 0-4.

An emotional Peabody coach Scott Wlasuk could not put his finger on the last time a Peabody team had prevailed against mighty Gloucester only to note that it hadn’t happened in his lifetime.

“You probably have to go back 51 years anyway because I’m 50 years old,” said the coach with a chuckle. “It was just a great effort by our guys. I was confident that we could score, but to put up 41 points on the board is pretty amazing.”

“Amazing” is probably just one of a slew of adjectives that you could use for Peabody’s scintillating tailback, Gaye, on this evening.

After sitting out the first quarter, Gaye entered the game with 9:16 to play in the second quarter and with Peabody holding a 13-7 lead thanks to a three-yard plunge by QB Jason Hiou (7 rushes, 32 yards, 2 TDs) and an electric 65-yard kickoff return by Jarad Spriggs.

In an instant, the senior quickly made up for lost time taking his first carry 25 yards down the Peabody sidelines, only to see it come back on a holding penalty. Not to worry. Peabody would wisely go back to the very same play, which netted another 19 yards. Gaye never looked back from there.

He would carry the rock on seven of the eight plays in the drive and barrel in from three yards out for his first TD of the evening to close out the drive and stake Peabody to a 19-7 lead after Sean Wlasuk’s PAT split the uprights. A 70-yard jaunt by Gaye, again up the Peabody sidelines, would set up Peabody’s final score of the half as made a terrific effort on a naked bootleg and just tucked the ball inside the far pylon from four yards out to make it 27-14 at the break.

The prolific back would go on to add a 64-yard scoring jaunt right up the gut on Peabody’s first possession of the second half and then added a 14-yard score around right end to cap off his epic night.

“He’s one of those unique players who is a game-changer,” said Wlasuk of Gaye, who had rushed for a then career high 203 yards two weeks ago against Danvers. “He gets hit and he just keeps going. He took some real whacks out there and he just kept going. I can’t say enough about him.”

Behind center, Hiou (7-for-11, 80 yards) had another strong night passing and was able to  on a couple of key third downs to keep drive going. The Peabody secondary gave up a lot of yards (162) and two scores in the passing game, but Peabody’s defense against the run was solid behind hard-hitting middle linebacker D.J. Henrick (nine tackles and a sack), who had another monster game.

Peabody faces its toughest test to date next when it hosts Super Bowl Champion Beverly (2-1 heading into Saturday’s game with Winthrop) in a Thursday afternoon matchup (3 p.m.)

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