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NEWBURYPORT — In the chase for the Cape Ann League Small championship, the Newburyport Clippers kept their title hopes alive in a big way, putting up 26 first-half points on Georgetown before going on to win, 32-14. Now Newburyport must hope that Lynnfield beats Hamilton-Wenham today at 1 p.m. in Hamilton by scoring at least 15 points, which would then put the Clippers in first place in the Small via the three-way tie rule of points against in the games versus the two teams a team is tied with. Currently, Newburyport has allowed 21 points against Lynnfield and Hamilton-Wenham combined, Hamilton-Wenham gave up just seven points versus Newburyport in the first game of the year, and Lynnfield cannot win the tiebreaker because they gave up 24 points already to Newburyport. The Clippers made the Royals pay early and often on two key Georgetown fumbles. On just the third play of the game, Derek Depasquale took a pitch to the left side of the field, got injured on the play and did not return, but also fumbled the ball, allowing James Hundertmark to recover for Newburyport. Taking over on the Georgetown 43-yard line, the Clippers ran a halfback pass, as Ryan O’Connor handed the ball off to Connor Wile, who took two steps, stopped and hurled a pass downfield to the wide-open Brett Fontaine (2 receptions, 96 yards, 2 touchdowns). “We saw something on film and thought that was the best time to do it,” Newburyport coach Ed Gaudiano said. “It worked pretty well; can’t get any more open than that.” On the ensuing kickoff, Jonathan Wright’s kick went high but short, and again the Royals coughed up the ball to Newburyport. Tyler Martin then took the handoff on the next play 39 yards for the score, and the Clippers went up 14-0 when O’Connor connected with James Conway for the two-point conversion. Newburyport, however, was not finished in the quarter. Getting the ball back after a Royals punt, O’Connor (1-4-53-1-0) and company marched the ball 76 yards on just seven plays in a little under four minutes and struck again when the senior quarterback hit the wide-open Fontaine on a busted coverage on third-and-11 for a 53-yard touchdown completion, 20-0. “We worked on the option pass all week, and we thought we’d get them on the first play. And thank god it worked; it was wide open” said Fontaine, who along with many of his other Clipper teammates will be traveling to Hamilton-Wenham tomorrow to root for Lynnfield. “Then on the other one, I think they just missed a coverage, and I was sitting there wide open again. I must have been invisible or something.” O’Connor (3-51-1) added a 40-yard touchdown run of his own in the second quarter before he was pulled from the game early in the third quarter, and Tyler Cusack (6-73-1) capped the Clipper scoring with a 9-yard run in the third quarter. Georgetown battled back in the fourth quarter thanks to two nice scoring drives from junior quarterback Tyler Wade (14-22-143-0-0; 16-41-2), who completed nine of 14 throws for 107 yards as well as rushing for 24 yards and two touchdowns in the second half. “I think our guys played extremely tough today,” Georgetown coach Matt Bouchard said. “(Newburyport’s) a good football team; my hat’s off to them. They came out with the trick play right off the bat, caught us on our heels a little bit, and they kept the momentum the whole rest of the game; and we just couldn’t get things clicking in the first half. There’s a couple of momentum shifts right there that we can’t deal with, and versus a good team like that you’re just not going to have a chance if there’s that much of an uphill battle.” Showing poise in the face of adversity, Bouchard was quite pleased with how Wade played, leading his team to two scores in the fourth quarter. “Tyler, he’s one of those kids that no question is one of the big leaders on this team,” Bouchard said. “He controls the huddle, he manages the huddle very, very well, and I think at the end of the day what separates a good quarterback from a bad quarterback isn’t stats, it’s how they manage that huddle. And to have him come out in the second half and control the huddle and really manage the game, I think that’s really what I’m looking for at the quarterback position. Those big games and those tough adverse situations, I need a guy that’s going to be able to manage those situations, and today he proved he could do it, so that’s all good stuff.” Controlling the game with a great running attack that saw the Clippers amass 216 yards on the ground for the entire game, 175 of which came in the first half alone, Gaudiano was very pleased with how the team executed and controlled possession. “We just talked about taking care of business, and we did,” Gaudiano said. “We played with a good pace, we ran the ball well and to do that coming off a tough Triton game, we got a rhythm going, and we just stuck with it. “I’ve always said we’re a work in progress,” continued Gaudiano, speaking as to how the team has been able to plug in tail back after tail back despite suffering injuries all throughout the year with players like Martin, Cusack, Dean Cataldo and lately even O’Connor picking up the slack in the running game. “These guys come out, they work at things every day during the week to get better. I think that’s the main strength of the team, and I just think we feel comfortable getting guys into different spots. I think we’re different team than we were at the beginning of the year.”

Newburyport 32, Georgetown 14 at World War Memorial Stadium in Georgetown Georgetown    0    0    0    14    — 14 Newburyport    20    6    6    0    — 32 First Quarter N — Connor Wile 43-yard pass to Brett Fontaine (Jonathon Wright no good), 7:36 N — Tyler Martin 39-yard run (Ryan O’Connor to James Conway), 7:23 N — O’Connor 53-yard pass to Fontaine (no good), 1:42 Second Quarter N — O’Connor 40-yard run (no good), 5:21 Third Quarter N — Tyler Cusack 9-yard run (no good), 1:16 Fourth Quarter G — Tyler Wade 4-yard run (Wade good), 5:41 G — Wade 1-yard run (good), 1:16 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Passing: Newburyport — O’Connor 1-4-53-1-0, Wile 1-1-43-1; Georgetown — Wade 14-22-143-0-0. Rushing: Newburyport — Cusack 6-73-1, Martin 10-72-1, O’Connor 3-51-1, Dean Cataldo 5-17, James Hundertmark 1-1; Georgetown — Wade 16-41-2, Derek Depasquale 1-5, Max Mangano 6- (-7). Receiving: Newburyport — Fontaine 2-96-2; Georgetown — Niko Edwards 4-51, Mangano 3-27, Erik Augustine 4-26, Jared Lathrop 2-24, Michael Watson 1-15.

GEORGETOWN — In a game of big plays, North Reading saved its best for the end.

Spearheaded by the resilient leadership of quarterback/defensive back Nick Rosano, the Hornets shook off a sloppy field and an early Georgetown lead to score twice in the fourth quarter and prevail, 14-7, for its first win of the season.

GEORGETOWN — In a game of big plays, North Reading saved its best for the end.

Spearheaded by the resilient leadership of quarterback/defensive back Nick Rosano, the Hornets shook off a sloppy field and an early Georgetown lead to score twice in the fourth quarter and prevail, 14-7, for its first win of the season.

GEORGETOWN — Georgetown coach Matt Bouchard expressed plenty of pride after the contest.

“I am really proud of how we played today,” said Bouchard. “We had fight and we played with passion.”

IPSWICH — Hard to believe, but the Ipswich team that snapped a 31-game losing streak just last Thanksgiving can realistically consider itself a playoff contender one season later.

Moving to 4-3 with a dominating 41-14 victory over Georgetown last night at Jack Welch Stadium, the Tigers are Cape Ann League Small contenders.

READING — Still recovering from a high ankle sprain, junior quarterback Tyler Wade did it all for Georgetown in its first victory of the season yesterday, 25-14 over Bishop Fenwick. Wade opened the scoring with a 9-yard run in the second quarter, threw a 90-yard scoring strike to Derek DePasquale in the third quarter and booted impressive field goals of 40 and 39 yards in the fourth quarter to clinch the win. “Those (field goals) weren’t flukes,” said Georgetown coach Matt Bouchard. “I’ve seen him make them from 45 yards out.” Overall, Wade rushed for a team-leading 67 yards and completed 6 of 13 passes for 178 yards. DePasquale caught three of those passes for 135 yards and also rushed for 61 yards on just eight attempts. Mike Bjork led the defensive charge with three sacks for minus-40 yards and also had another tackle for a loss while Eric Gesauldi was involved in eight tackles and had a sack. DePasquale and Jared Lathrop both had interceptions. “The biggest thing was that our seniors had a meeting Monday and called out some guys who hadn’t been doing as much as they could have,” said Bouchard. “After that, we had a great week of practice — the best we’ve had in a long time — and it paid dividends.

wGeorgetown 25, Bishop Fenwick 14 Georgetown (1-5):    0 12 7 6 — 25 Bishop Fenwick (2-4):    0  0 6 8 — 14 Second Quarter  G — Tyler Wade 9 run (kick failed)  G — Derek DePasquale 2 run (kick failed) Third Quarter  G — DePasquale 90 pass from Wade (Wade kick)  BF — T. Lipka 66 pass from Brett Kidik (kick failed) Fourth Quarter  G — Wade 40 FG  G — Wade 39 FG  BF — Bill Klemczuk 28 pass from Kidik (Kidik rush) INDIVIDUAL LEADERS RUSHING: G — Derek DePasquale 8-61, Tyler Wade 20-67, Max Mangano 5-5 PASSING: G — Wade 6-13-1, 178 RECEIVING: G — DePasquale 3-135, Mangano 2-16, Luke Prescott 1-27

GEORGETOWN – An impressive opening play and a successful game-ending drive highlighted an otherwise disappointing day for Georgetown, in yesterday’s 31-8 setback to Amesbury.
Sandwiched in between a game-opening 55-yard pass and a game-ending 75-yard drive were 33-net yards of offense, three turnovers and 275 yards yielded by the Royal defense.
“The name of the game is turnovers and those were costly,” said Georgetown head coach Mark Bouchard. “You can’t do that against anyone and we are not strong enough to overcome that, offensively or defensively.  We gave them great field position in the first half.”
Amesbury (2-3) took advantage of Georgetown’s first turnover to set up at the Royal 44, midway through the first quarter. Five plays later, the Indians had the opening score on an Ian McLaughlin 8-yard run.
In the second quarter, another turnover at the Royal 23-yard-line allowed Amesbury to cash in on a four-play drive that accounted for six of its 17 second quarter points.
“Our effort was there today but we need 11 guys to execute at the same time,” said Bouchard.  We had the plays, the opportunities were there — we just have to go out and execute.”
Amesbury used over seven minutes of the clock in the third quarter to piece together a 12-play drive that upped its lead to 31-0.
Georgetown (0-4) put its best offensive performance together in the final minutes of the game and averted a shutout when Max Mangano scored from three yards out to cap a nine-play drive. Mangano got the call seven times during the drive and gained 64 yards in the process.
Quarterback Tyler Wade completed 6 of 12 for 88 yards and Mangano’s 81 yards led the running game.
Georgetown hosts Bishop Fenwick on Saturday (2 p.m.).

BILLERICA —  Georgetown couldn't keep pace with a strong Shawsheen Tech club and dropped a 35-7 decision yesterday.

But not all was lost for the Royals, who got a standout game from backup quarterback Luke Prescott.

LYNNFIELD — Georgetown fell behind early and could not recover in a 35-0 loss to Lynnfield. Quarterback Gino Cohee connected on two touchdown passes to Rick Berardino as the Pioneers scored 21 second-quarter points. Georgetown (0-2) plays at Shawsheen next Saturday (1:30 p.m.).

LYNN — Trying to rebound from a one-win season last year, Georgetown ran into the wrong opponent in its season opener.

Host St. Mary’s needed only 11 plays from scrimmage to open a 30-point lead before cruising to a 42-7 victory last night over the Royals at Manning Bowl.