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PEABODY -- The Peabody football program has been on the downswing for the past few seasons, but the Tanners showed some signs of hope against Salem last night at Coley Lee Field.

Peabody dominated play for the majority of the contest, but squandered an opportunity to push across the game-winning points late in the fourth quarter, and Salem's Melikke Van Alstyne scored his second touchdown of the game in overtime to lift the Witches to a 20-14 win.

Salem High football coach Scott Connolly may have trouble convincing his players, but when he was playing for the Witches, the Salem-Peabody game was just as big as the Salem-Beverly Thanksgiving Day rivalry.

SALEM | If Salem High football coach Scott Connolly could control the weather, he might order rain every time the Witches take the field for the rest of the season.

Playing in deteriorating conditions at Bertram Field last night, Salem played one of its sharper two-way games and also got a school record 43-yard field goal from senior Dan Reddy in an invigorating 17-13 Northeastern Conference win over Lynn English. Salem boosted its record to 4-3 overall.

What was your first Salem varsity football game like?
My sophomore year at Lynn Classical was the first time I carried the ball. I was on kickoffs all year. I ran a trap out of halfback and picked up a few yards. Absolutely, I was nervous. I didn't want to mess up. I didn't want a letdown because a sophomore was in there. We won the game. My brother Eric was an outside linebacker on that team.

SALEM -- Melikke Van Alstyne wasn't at 100 percent, but that didn't stop Salem High's football star from saving the game for his Witches. The 6-0, 175 pound junior made a leaping interception at his own 10-yard line with 56 seconds remaining to stop Revere's last-ditch effort as the Witches dropped the Patriots, 14-12, last night at Bertram Field.

SALEM | The worst part, said Scott Connolly, was having to go into the locker room after the game and face his team.

"I don't know what I can say to make them feel any better. They played their hearts out | but didn't get the end result they wanted," said Salem High's head football coach, watching his players walk off the field dejectedly after a Winthrop field goal on the final play of the game sent his Witches to a 3-0 loss at Bertram Field last night.

The Salem-Winthrop football game tonight at Bertram Field has generated more than just mild interest at the Salem Five Cents Savings Bank branch on at 424 Essex St., in Salem. It so happens that the mothers of two impact running backs in tonight's contest between the host Witches and the visiting Vikings work together at the bank.

SWAMPSCOTT -- The Swampscott High football team is quickly establishing itself as one of the top second half teams on the North Shore. No opponent has scored on the Big Blue after halftime and that trend held Saturday afternoon as quarterback Peter Kinchley accounted for three second half touchdowns to lead his team past Salem, 21-6, at Blocksidge Field.

MARBLEHEAD | If it's a key game, then you want Sam Perlow around.

The hero of last Thanksgiving's upset win over Swampscott, the 230-pound junior captain responded in dramatic fashion for the Magicians again last night. Perlow returned a fumble 80 yards to key another upset, a 26-7 triumph over heavily favored Salem at Piper Field.

One weekend, 83 carries and a mind-boggling 907 yards rushing.

No, it's not what you probably think one college running back tearing up the hapless Notre Dame or Michigan defenses last week.

Rather, it was the combined rushing totals of four of the North Shore's elite running backs on the opening weekend of the high school football season.