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Haverhill falls to 0-2

Saturday, September, 21 By Jeff Hamrick

HAVERHILL – Not much went well for the Hillies Saturday afternoon, and their coach was the first to admit it.

With defense providing all of Haverhill’s points against Chelmsford, the Hillies dropped their second straight to start the season with a 21-9 loss to the Lions at Trinity Stadium.

“We had moments, but we’re just not a very good football team right now,” said Tim O’Connor, whose squad has been outscored by a combined 55-23 in its two outings. “We’re searching for an identity, and it starts from the top down, from me to all of the players.”

One week after putting up 240 yards of total offense against St. John’s Prep, which made a case as the best team in the state on Saturday against Central Catholic, the Hillies took a step back against a Chelmsford squad coming off a 15-point opening loss to Acton-Boxboro.

The Lions held Haverhill to 92 yards rushing on 27 attempts and 204 yards total offense while picking off three Hillie passes. The Haverhill offense twice moved inside the Chelmsford 43: once to the 37 after a completed double-reverse pass on the last play of the first half and again when they ran out of downs at the 3 with 3:57 left in the game.

“We have to correct a lot of things,” O’Connor said. “We’re banged up in the interior, but that’s not an excuse. We just didn’t come to play today. We didn’t come out of the locker room in my opinion ready. It was a complete team failure today, including myself. The only thing we can do is regroup Monday and try to right the ship.”

Chelmsford quarterback Brett Baker accounted for all three touchdowns as the Lions scored once in each of the first three quarters. Baker sneaked in from the 1 midway through the first before finding Dylan Brotherstone for a 6-yard scoring pass midway through the second and capped his day with an 11-yard run for a 21-0 lead with 3:07 left in the third quarter.

Shane McGonagle got the Hillies into the end zone, picking off a Baker pass and returning it 35 yards to pay dirt with 9:57 left in the game. Jakob Wimmer, an exchange student from Munich, Germany, remained perfect on extra points with his third kick of the season. Teyshon McGee also had an interception for Haverhill.

The Hillies added a safety with 14 seconds remaining when Elijah Moses tackled Chelmsford’s Mike Lupoli in the end zone when the Lion punter elected not to punt.

 “When it’s going good the tempo is up,” said Haverhill quarterback Brady Skafas. “The positivity is up. When we’re moving the ball down the field, it feels good, it feels smooth. We just have to keep that up more is all.

“When it’s going bad, we have to keep our heads up. We have to have each other’s back. We have to recognize what we did wrong, and try to fix it up for the next drive”

Chelmsford’s win was the first for rookie coach George Peterson.

“It’s always great to win regardless if I’m in the backyard playing with my kids,” he said. “Especially when you put the time and effort into it like these kids and this coaching staff have, to come out on top is always a great feeling … Hopefully, we can now start to build on that and replicate it every week.”

The Hillies hit the road Friday when they visit Westford Academy.