AMESBURY — Johnny Mancini certainly isn’t new to the Amesbury football program.
The senior has earned his fair share of playing time over the past four years, and this fall is the starting nose tackle on defense while being a rotational offensive lineman if somebody needs a spell. But due to a wave of illness and injury unfortunately sweeping through the Amesbury locker room currently, it became pretty clear early on this week that Mancini would need to tackle a new role.
With senior co-captain Nolan Vient out, the Redhawks needed a center.
So up stepped Mancini.
“Hard work,” said Mancini when asked what this week of preparation was like. “I had to keep my head on a swivel, had to play hard to show that I could hold it down for (Vient) while he was out. I missed a couple snaps, but it comes with the territory. But overall I thought I did pretty good.”
All told, it was a pretty quite night for Mancini.
Which is always a good thing when you’re an offensive lineman.
With Mancini handling the snaps, Amesbury absolutely rolled visiting Hamilton-Wenham on Thursday night to the tune of a 32-0 drubbing. It was a needed recovery for the Redhawks (3-2) after last week’s loss up at Lynnfield, as offensively they scored on all but one possession with the starters in, while defensively they held the Generals (0-5) to just 62 total yards.
“Was really proud of how everybody stepped up today,” said Amesbury coach Colin McQueen. “That was a good team effort. We finally figured out how to play some defense, rally to the ball and make tackles. So really, really proud of how these guys played. There was great energy all night, and that was good because make no mistake, (Hamilton-Wenham) has a good back over there. They have some good athletes, so people shouldn’t sleep on them.”
From start to finish, it was a dominant effort.
After forcing a 3-and-out on defense to start the game, it took just four plays for Amesbury to find the endzone on a 6-yard touchdown run from Joe Puleo. Then following another 3-and-out, junior QB Justin Dube capped the Redhawks’ second drive when he found Ethan Kirby on a 13-yard TD. Connor Scialdone would add a 3-yard scoring run with two minutes left in the first half, and all along, successful conversion runs from DJ DiCarlo, Puleo and Connor Mazzaglia made it a 24-0 game at the break.
“Honestly it’s the system that (Amesbury) runs, they’re really good at it,” said Hamilton-Wenham coach Tim Freiermuth. “Colin does a really good job with it, and they’re always tough up front and physical.”
Which on Thursday night, started with Mancini.
He was flanked by Marcus Colon, Logan Bowser, Kalan Noseworthy and Stacy Peck Jr. on the offensive line, and tight ends Kirby, Ryan Baker and Ollie Peters did their jobs blocking as well. Amesbury rushed for 270 yards as a team, with the sophomore Puleo leading the way with 105 yards on 10 carries.
“(Mancini’s) just been an incredibly versatile kid for us on both sides of the ball,” said McQueen. “He backs up at every offensive line position, and he’s a guy that’s just been a great team player. He’s playing like a senior, that’s what it really comes down to. When guys get to their fourth year with us, it matters a lot more. They invest so much with us, and it shows up on Friday nights — or in this case Thursday night.”
To its credit, Hamilton-Wenham did show some life.
The Generals recovered an onside kick to open the second half, and a 12-yard gain from junior Caden Schrock (18-65) had them down to the Amesbury 30-yard-line. But the drive would stall out, and the Redhawks proceeded to go on a 13-play possession that ended with DiCarlo walking into the endzone from the 5 on the first play of the fourth quarter. He would then handle the conversion himself, making it a 32-0 game and initiating a running clock the rest of the way.
Defensively, Parker DeLong had an interception and a handful of tackles for Amesbury, both Peters and Collin Cate had sacks, and a handful of players — including Dube — came up with a tackle-for-loss. The setback to Lynnfield appears well in the rearview mirror, as the Redhawks will now gear up for next week’s big showdown against North Reading.
“Tonight was very important,” said Mancini. “You need to send a message to the league after losing a game like that. (Lynnfield) was a big game for us, we fought hard but we lost in the end. So we needed to send a message tonight. I’m very proud of this team.”
Amesbury 32, Hamilton-Wenham 0
Hamilton-Wenham (0-5): 0 0 0 0 — 0
Amesbury (3-2): 16 8 0 8 — 32
First Quarter
A — Joe Puleo 6 run (DJ DiCarlo run)
A — Ethan Kirby 13 pass from Justin Dube (Puleo run)
Second Quarter
A — Connor Scialdone 3 run (Connor Mazzaglia run)
Fourth Quarter
A — DiCarlo 5 run (DiCarlo run)
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: AMESBURY (38-270): Joe Puleo 10-105, DJ DiCarlo 12-74, Connor Mazzaglia 2-32, Justin Dube 4-31, Connor Scialdone 6-21, Sebastian Ayotte 1-3, Collin Cate 1-3, John Taber 2-1; HAMILTON-WENHAM (28-48): Caden Schrock 18-65, Billy Brown 1-7, Anthony Folger 3-1, Jack Cooke 6-(-25)
PASSING: A — Dube 1-3-1-0, 13; HW — Cooke 1-4-0-0, 14; Schrock 0-1-0-1, 0
RECEIVING: A — Ethan Kirby 1-13; HW — Griffin Hawkins 1-14