SWAMPSCOTT — Hat tricks aren’t really a part of the game of football. But if they were, the fans at rain soaked Blocksidge Field Thursday night would’ve been even more soaked.
Swampscott senior captain Will Bush gave the crowd reason to toss their headgear by scoring three straight touchdowns — and four in all — to lead the Big Blue to a 33-0 victory over visiting Salem.
It was the second straight week with a gridiron ‘hat trick’ for Bush, who rushed for 124 yards on 23 carries and totaled 163 yards from scrimmage Thursday night.
“Will runs hard, and the thing is he’s with the offensive line all the time,” said Big Blue head coach Peter Bush, the proud father of Will whose team improved to 6-2 and clinched the Northeastern Conference Lynch title with the victory. “He’s always asking good questions about where the blocking angles are, how a certain play is going to hit and how to run it.”
Salem (3-5) played much better than the final score indicated. It was a 0-0 ballgame deep into the second quarter when Swampscott put three touchdowns on the board in a matter of 5:42. The first was a short Bush run, the lead swelled on a reverse pitch to speed demon Noah Bascon, and things really took a turn when a bad snap on a late Witches punt gave the Big Blue the ball inside the 10-yard line with 51 seconds left in the half.
Five plays later (the referees erroneously counted the downs after a penalty), Bush plowed in to make it 20-0 at the break.
“The biggest thing is that you can’t give a team like Swampscott short fields,” Salem head coach Matt Bouchard said, noting three of the five Swampscott scoring drives started in plus territory.
The Big Blue came out of the break and drove the length of the field, capped by Bush for a 27-0 lead.
“Anytime you can get that last score going into the half, plus get the ball to start is a huge swing,” Peter Bush said. “The last four minutes of one half and the first four of the next are so important in tight games like this.”
Oscar Fernandez had two interceptions on defense for the Witches and Kendal Murga came up with two tackles for loss while also catching four passes for 32 yards. Quarterback Jake Lister threw for 70 yards, but was intercepted himself twice as Swampscott’s Ty Bush and Jack Duffy picked off the pigskin.
“We weren’t as consistent as we’d like to be on offense, but we did move the ball some and flip some fields,” said Bouchard, whose team battled hard defensively the entire night.
Quarterback John von Barta threw for 117 yards for the Big Blue with Doyle Delano (5 catches, 55 yards) being his lead target. Delano also had a key sack in the third quarter when Salem drove into the Swampscott territory. Luke Michigan also played great at middle linebacker, along with Will Bush, as the Big Blue front seven limited Salem to 55 rushing yards.
Bound for the state playoffs for the ninth consecutive season, Swampscott will learn its Division 5 first round opponent on Sunday afternoon.
Swampscott 33, Salem 0
at Blocksidge Field, Swampscott
Salem (3-5);0;0;0;0;00 Swampscott (6-2);0;20;7;6;33
Scoring summary
SWP — Will Bush 16 run (Will Rowe kick)
SWP — Noah Bascon 3 run (Rowe kick)
SWP — Bush 1 run (kick blocked)
SWP — Bush 6 run (Rowe kick)
SWP — Bush 19 run (kick blocked)
Individual Statistics RUSHING: Salem — Jake Lister 6-23, Elvis Espinal 11-22, Kendal Murga 4-10; Swampscott — Will Bush 23-124, Will Ficken 2-14, Noah Bascon 1-3, John von Barta 4-3 .
PASSING: Salem — Lister 8-25-70-0-2; Swampscott — von Barta 14-19-117-0-2.
RECEIVING: Salem — Oscar Fernandez 2-35, Murga 4-32, Alvin Laurent 1-3, Espinal 1-0 ; Swampscott — Doyle Delano 5-55, Bush 4-39, Bascon 3-14, Chase Groothuis 1-7, Jack Duffy 1-2.