NEWBURYPORT — After a night of excellence, Colin Fuller still somehow saved his best play for last.
No, that play didn’t come from the 200 yards he had already thrown for.
It didn’t come from the “joystick” jukes that had helped him rush for 175 yards and five touchdowns in a performance for the ages.
It came from being a QB, and being a leader.
Leading Pentucket, 42-34, with just over two minutes left in the game, Newburyport faced a 4th-and-7 from the Panther 33-yard-line, and had a decision to make. Obviously, as you could tell from the score, playing defense was optional at James T. Stehlin Field on Friday night. So do you punt it back to an offense you haven’t been able to stop all game, or try and end things with a first down?
After a timeout, the decision came easy.
Newburyport sent the offense back on the field, asking for just one more play to be made. Fuller took the snap, hung in the pocket with pressure bearing down off the edge, and feathered a pass across the middle as he was being hit. The ball perfectly floated over the outstretched hand of a Pentucket linebacker, and landed right in the chest of Tyler Chorebanian just as a safety arrived from the back to make the tackle. But not before a gain of 23 yards down to the 10, and a first down for the Clippers.
Ballgame.
With Pentucket out of timeouts, Fuller simply took two knees out of victory formation to burn the clock, as Newburyport survived an epic “River Rival” shootout to earn a 42-34 victory.
“We trust our guys to be able to convert,” said Fuller. “The play was four verts (verticals), with Sam (Craig) going up the seam and Tyler coming across. I was just watching that safety shade over to Craig, so I knew coming back to Tyler that he would make the play.”
Stand in the pocket. Face the heat. Deliver the pass. Win the game.
That’s why it was Fuller’s best play of the night.
And, wow, what a game to add to the “River Rival” lore of Newburyport vs. Pentucket.
“That’s what Newburyport-Pentucket games are suppose to be,” said Newburyport coach Ben Smolski (NHS ’02). “I go back to my senior year, it was 10-8, five seconds left, and we lost to them on a 37-yard field goal. Then there was the 3-2 game in an ‘Ice Bowl’ that we lost. They’re just always one-score games, and tonight was back to the River Rival between us.
“It was fun to be apart of.”
If you like watching prolific offenses, you got quite the show on Friday night.
In truth, there was only one stop on defense all game.
Newburyport (2-3) received the opening kickoff, and methodically drove down and scored on Fuller’s first rushing touchdown of the night from 2-yards out. Steven Harper capped Pentucket’s opening drive with a 20-yard touchdown run on the last play of the first quarter, then the QB found Aaron Ketschke on the conversion to put his team up 8-6.
But when either team punched, the counter was just around the corner.
Troy Varoudakis ripped off a 23-yard touchdown run for the Clippers, but it took just two plays for Harper to connect with Ketschke on a 49-yard post route to paydirt. Fuller scampered home for a 29-yard TD with just over three minutes remaining in the half, but with 14 seconds left, the Panthers (1-4) watched Nick Carrion leap up and just rip the ball away from a Newburyport defender for a 14-yard score.
So when the dust settled on a wild opening 24 minutes, it was a 20-20 game.
“We were proud of our guys’ effort,” said Pentucket co coach Dan Leary. “(Newburyport) made a couple more big plays down the stretch, they made a couple of big plays to convert on fourth downs, and we weren’t able to make them punt. We made some big plays ourselves, but when you’re not able to make a team punt, you’re not going to win many games. Especially against a team like Newburyport.”
Then to open the second half, arguably the wildest moment of the night took place: Newburyport forced a 3-and-out and a punt.
The Clippers would convert the rare defensive moment into a Fuller 2-yard TD, only to see the Panthers need just four plays to take a 27-26 lead on a Carrion 4-yard rush, followed by a Harper PAT. Of course, it was Fuller responding by juking his way into the endzone for a 17-yard score, but, again, just two plays later it was Carrion climbing the ladder to haul in a 34-yard TD over a defender’s helmet to make it 34-34 with 10 minutes left.
That, however, would be Pentucket’s final play on offense.
Donning his Superman cape yet again, Fuller would rip off his fifth touchdown of the night when he broke loose for a 38-yard scamper with 4:10 left, then hit Craig on the conversion to make it 42-34. The Clipper defense was gearing up to try and make one more stand, but Pentucket would fumble the ensuing kickoff, and a recovery by Chorebanian gave the home team the ball back.
After three plays and a penalty backed the Clippers up, it came down to that 4th-and-7.
“I would say that we were pretty much all-in on going for it,” said Smolski. “Either you convert that and the game’s over, or you punt and give them a shot. And with the way (Pentucket’s) offense was playing, I didn’t want to give them the opportunity. So going for it made sense.”
Fuller made sure it did.
The final line for the senior captain reads as such: 13-of-17 passing for 208 yards, along with 16 rushes (which includes two kneel downs) for 175 yards and 5 TDs. Craig was once again his main target, hauling in six passes for 126 yards and a crucial 2-point conversion.
“That was awesome,” smiled Fuller. “That was probably the most fun game I’ve ever been apart of, looking back on it. We’re definitely competing more every game. We’ve worked really hard, and I think we’re going in the right direction.”
Added Smolski on his star QB: “He’s a warrior. He’s a great football player, but as a human being he is just the epitome of what a captain is on and off the field. It shows in the way that he carries himself out there. He’s just a hell of a kid.”
Now winners of two straight, Newburyport will look to keep it rolling when it hosts a red-hot Lynnfield team on Friday.
Meanwhile, Pentucket is averaging a solid 26.6 points per game this fall, but hasn’t been able to put it together on defense. Harper completed 10-of-11 passes for 188 yards and three TDs on Friday night, with Ketschke (4-99-1) and Carrion (4-73-2) once again being his top targets. The Panthers will try and pick up a win when they travel to Essex Tech on Friday.
Newburyport 42, Pentucket 34
Pentucket (1-4): 8 12 7 7 — 34
Newburyport (2-3): 6 14 6 16 — 42
First Quarter
N — Colin Fuller 2 run (kick wide), 5:33
P — Steven Harper 20 run (Aaron Ketschke pass from Harper), :00
Second Quarter
N — Troy Varoudakis 23 run (Eli Sirota kick), 7:19
P — Ketschke 49 pass from Harper (pass failed), 5:41
N — Fuller 29 run (Sirota kick), 3:22
P — Nick Carrion 14 pass from Harper (kick blocked), :08
Third Quarter
N — Fuller 2 run (kick wide), 5:57
P — Carrion 4 run (Harper kick), 3:13
Fourth Quarter
N — Fuller 17 run (Fuller run), 11:02
P — Carrion 34 pass from Harper (Harper kick), 9:54
N — Fuller 38 run (Sam Craig pass from Fuller), 4:10
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: NEWBURYPORT (31-258): Colin Fuller 16-175, Troy Varoudakis 11-63, Paul Suozzo 4-20; PENTUCKET (20-100): Steven Harper 11-58, Jackson Miller 4-17, Aaron Ketschke 1-13, Nick Carrion 3-9, Max Cloutier 1-3
PASSING: N — Fuller 13-17-0-0, 208; P — Harper 10-11-3-0, 188
RECEIVING: N — Sam Craig 6-126, Tyler Chorebanian 4-57, Eli Sirota 2-20, Suozzo 1-5; P — Ketschke 4-99, Carrion 4-73, Miller 2-16