RallyNorth.net

The host Generals have a chance to tie up their all-time Thanksgiving series with Ipswich. The visiting Tigers hold a 17-16 edge on the holiday series, which began in 1975.

AMESBURY — The Amesbury football team wasn't ready to put on its Newburyport hat just yet following its fourth straight victory last evening.

The Indians (8-1) scored touchdowns on five of its six offensive possessions in a 35-13 victory over Hamilton-Wenham at Landry Stadium. The Indians improved to 3-1 in the Cape Ann League Small with the lone loss coming to Georgetown Oct. 11. The Royals (7-0, 4-0) and Newburyport (4-5, 4-0) are the lone teams in the CAL Small without a league loss. Those teams face off next Friday evening at World War Memorial Stadium. For the Indians to win the league, they will need Newburyport to beat Georgetown, and then they will need to beat Newburyport on Thanksgiving Day.

"I'm just worried about North Reading next week," Amesbury coach Thom Connors said in reference to his team's Thanksgiving tune-up with North Reading (4-4, 1-2) next Saturday. "We can only worry about the things we can control. I've been saying that for weeks. We'll let the cards fall where they may, and we'll play the hand we're dealt. That's all we can do."

The Indians captured the CAL Small title last fall with a Thanksgiving Day defeat of Newburyport. Amesbury middle linebacker Steve Serwon is not yet concerned with playing for similar stakes in a few weeks.

"We're not thinking about Newburyport, because we can't control what they do," Serwon said. "We don't even think about that. We just do what we do."

Last evening, Amesbury's running game was the key in its near-perfect offensive execution. Senior tailback Kevin Johnston had 15 carries for 111 yards and two touchdowns. Senior quarterback Jared Flannigan added eight carries for 53 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Jesse Burrell brought the power running game, logging 10 carries for 57 yards.

Hamilton-Wenham also had success running the ball, abandoning the spread offense the team had executed in the previous three games. K.C. Collier had 11 carries for 82 yards and a touchdown. He had seven carries for 53 and a one-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, before he left the game for the entire second quarter with a leg injury.

Stephen Dangora added 20 carries for 83 yards and a touchdown for Hamilton. His second-quarter touchdown narrowed Amesbury's lead to 14-13 with 2:17 remaining in the second quarter.

Amesbury responded with a seven-play, 55-yard scoring drive that only took 1:05. Flannigan finished off the drive with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Johnston, who also had two 2-point conversions on the evening.

"That touchdown before the half was huge," Connors said. "We didn't play poorly in the first half. They came in with a game-plan to smash right at us. We had to counter their toughness, and we did, but it wasn't an easy victory by any means. They played as well as they could play. Our offense needed to score as much as it did just to counter their toughness."

GEORGETOWN — A fan looked on in disbelief after another big play by Georgetown sophomore Jaymie Spears.

“He’s a football player?” she asked. “He’s so tiny!”

HAMILTON — Judging strictly by its record, one would assume that Newburyport High is just another mediocre 3-5 football team playing out the string this season.

But nothing could be further from the truth. The Clippers look every bit like championship-caliber material in the Cape Ann League Small and stated their case in emphatic fashion here Saturday with a 28-14 thumping of Hamilton-Wenham.

NORTH READING — In what Hamilton-Wenham coach Andrew Morency called "a game of two halves," North Reading fell on the short end of a physical 15-7 Cape Ann League battle.

"They really had control of the game in the first half, but I thought we took over in the second half," said Morency, whose club improved to 4-2.

NORTH ANDOVER — When Zac Iovanella is missing, so is the North Andover offense.

Without Iovanella, the Knights had trouble putting together a sustained drive, with three of their seven drives ending with turnovers in a 21-0 loss to Hamilton-Wenham at Joe Walsh Stadium.

BEVERLY - Pentucket offensive lineman Justin O'Donnell hustled over to congratulate teammate Dan Johanson after the game. "(Johanson) is still going even though he's exhausted," O'Donnell said with a chuckle of his excited teammate. "You could tell he was getting tired. But he just fought through it and kept going."