We’re just two weeks away from the start of the 2025 high school football season, so it’s time for our third installment of “Gridiron Memories” this summer.
Just like the two previous articles, we’ll once again be going through all six of our local schools, and picking a game from some time over the past two decades to relive. Which, yes, still includes Georgetown, even though the school’s football program unfortunately hasn’t had the numbers to field a complete team over the past two years.
So, let’s take a walk.
AMESBURY: Week 6, 2021
Final Score
: Amesbury 30, North Reading 28
Game Highlights: Every year during the 2020s, without fail, Amesbury and North Reading have given local football fans absolute classics on the gridiron. And it all started in the middle of the 2021 season, when one-loss Amesbury (4-1) welcomed in the undefeated, powerhouse Hornets (5-0) — who had legitimate Super Bowl aspirations — to Landry Memorial Stadium. What followed was a back-and-forth heavyweight bout, that saw Henry O’Neill haul in a 33-yard touchdown pass from QB Drew MacDonald on a 4th-and-3 with four minutes left for the game-winning score. Andrew Baker recovered a fumble in the end zone on the 2-point conversion to put the then-Indians up 30-22, and after North Reading scored with 2:16 left, it was Aaron Beruti — in his first ever varsity game — batting down the tying conversion pass. Some gutsy runs by O’Neill (19-120) would pick up the necessary first downs, and Amesbury was able to bleed out the clock to earn the huge win. Also for the winners offensively, Luke Arsenault plowed his way in for a 1-yard score, and Nick Marden had both a 3-yard scoring run and caught a 59-yard TD pass from MacDonald. Then not to be overlooked, James Gray got crushed, but still held on to the onside kick with two minutes left that allowed O’Neill to salt the game away.
Fun Fact: Despite this loss, North Reading was able to earn the No. 1 seed in the 2021 MIAA Division 5 playoffs. The Hornets would beat a Chase Dwight-led Pentucket team in the semifinals, before falling to Swampscott in the Super Bowl, 14-7. A tough end, but the Hornets would earn their revenge the following year by making it back to Gillette Stadium and beating Shawsheen Tech in the Div. 5 Super Bowl, 44-28.
GEORGETOWN: Week 7, 2008
Final Score
: Georgetown 39, Hamilton-Wenham 6
Game Highlights: This was one of the many games over a legendary career that helped to define the greatness of Joe Esposito. The dual-threat QB rushed for over 1,000 yards during both his junior and senior seasons, so coming into this one, Hamilton-Wenham sold out to stop the run. … No problem. All Esposito did during this particular Saturday afternoon was finish with a career-high 272 yards through the air, completing 13-of-23 passes with two touchdowns. He also rushed for TDs of 1 and 2 yards, kicked a 19-yard field goal and made four extra points. But perhaps the biggest story coming out of this game was the slender 5-foot-9, 130-pound Jaymie Spears making his first start at receiver, and hauling in six passes for 156 yards and a TD. The Royals lost a receiver to injury during practice earlier in the week, so Spears — normally the backup QB — stepped in and shined given the opportunity. Also the star point guard for the basketball team, the speedster Spears both caught a 31-yard TD pass from Esposito, and broke away for a 50-yard sprint to the endzone to make it 39-0 late in the fourth quarter. Anthony Conte hauled in four passes for 73 yards and a TD for the Royals, and both Andrew Buglar (2-26) and Michael Ruh (1-17) had receptions as well.
Fun Fact: Besides rushing for over 1,000 yards as both a junior and senior, Joe Esposito finished his Georgetown career with 3,838 passing yards and 35 passing touchdowns, while scoring 340 total points. The playmaking cornerback was also named to the 2000s All-Decade Defensive Team by our sister newspaper, The Eagle-Tribune, back in 2010. Quite the honor, as The Eagle-Tribune covers the Division 1 Merrimack Valley as well as strong southern New Hampshire teams such as Andover, North Andover, Central Catholic, Haverhill, Methuen, Salem (N.H.) and Pinkerton Academy.
GOVERNOR’S ACADEMY: Week 6, 2023
Final Score: Governor’s Academy 38, Thayer Academy 21
Game Highlights: A hometown kid was front and center during this win for Governor’s Academy in Newbury’s own Hunter Kingsbury. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound receiver/cornerback was an absolute menace, returning a kickoff 78 yards for a touchdown to make it 29-6 at halftime, then reaching the endzone again on a pick-6 in the third quarter. It was the second interception of the day for Kingsbury, who would finish the season with 259 yards and four TDs on 14 catches. Raynham native Dawson Dubose opened the game with two rushing TDs, and would finish with 95 yards on just 10 carries. Then to round out the scoring for the Govs, it was Corey Aubuchon hauling in a 10-yard TD pass from starting QB Nicholas Berglund, then a 38-yard TD pass from backup Connor Hennessey.
Fun Fact: Kingsbury is now a rising-junior on the Bryant University baseball team. He played for the Vermont Lake Monsters in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League this summer, and across 53 total games hit .306 (60-for-196) with 28 RBI, 8 doubles, 4 triples and 2 home runs.
NEWBURYPORT: Week 3, 2019
Final Score: Newburyport 16, Ipswich 15
Game Highlights: In an overall up-and-down season for Newburyport (5-6), this game was certainly a big highlight. On an Ipswich fourth down at midfield with just over a minute left, nose tackle Walker Bartkiewicz burst through the line to force an errant throw, and defensive backs Lucas Stallard and Jason Tamayoshi knocked down the pass to clinch the win. It was a dominant day on defense for the Clippers, who saw Nicolas Colella come up with a 3-yard sack to force that game-ending fourth down, and junior corner Trevor Ward have a lockdown performance. Then offensively, all of the game’s points were put up in the first half — and for the Clippers, they came from Bartkiewicz. He opened the day with a 1-yard plunge into the end zone, kicked a 21-yard field goal, then hauled in a 28-yard TD from QB Charlie Cahalane to make it 16-15 at halftime. Cahalane would finish the game 4-of-9 passing for 144 yards, with Ward making two of those catches for 89 yards.
Fun Fact: After this victory, Newburyport would unfortunately go on a tough five-game losing skid. But thanks to the leadership of captains Trevor Foley, Cahalane, Ward and Bartkiewicz, the Clippers were able to hold tough and end their season with three straight wins over Weston (31-6), Somerville (39-14) and Thanksgiving archrival Amesbury (34-20).
PENTUCKET: Week 9, 2015Final Score:
Pentucket 28, Lynnfield 27
Game Highlights: You could tell right away that something was off with Pentucket in this one. Which, thinking about it quickly, made perfect sense. Just a week prior, the then-Sachems entered the Division 4 North playoffs as the undefeated No. 1 seed, but suffered a stunning loss to No. 8 Bedford, 21-6, in the first round. So a week later, when Pentucket welcomed in CAL rival Lynnfield for an unexpected non-playoff game, it wasn’t all that shocking when the hosts fell behind 20-0 at halftime and only had 48 total yards of offense. But thanks to the leadership of Daily News All-Decade First Team right tackle Ben Thornton, Pentucket finally pulled itself off the mat. Then-junior Robert Porter returned the second half kickoff to the Lynnfield 36-yard-line, and seven plays later, QB Finn Graham hit Travis Bounsy for a 9-yard score. Graham would then find Liam Sheehy on a 19-yard TD strike, and Sheehy would add scoring runs of 9 and 1 yards in the fourth quarter. Kiernan Haley hauled in a 2-point conversion on the second Sheehy rushing TD with 3:30 left to put Pentucket up 28-27, and the Pioneers would miss a potential game-winning 25-yard field goal at the buzzer.
Fun Fact: Despite the heartbreak of being upset by Bedford in the first round of the Division 4 North playoffs, Pentucket would rebound with wins over Lynnfield (28-27), Ipswich (49-0) and Thanksgiving rival Triton (47-28) to end the 2015 season with a 10-1 record. Thornton led an offensive line that helped Pentucket rush for the most yards in the area that year, then went on to have a successful four-year rowing career at Worcester Polytechnic Institute where he studied biomedical engineering.
TRITON: Week 6, 2014
Final Score
: Triton 42, North Reading 19.
Game Highlights: Looking back when it was all said and done, this was a Triton defense that featured two Daily News All-Decade selections in Luke Boyle at safety and Jimmy Ford at defensive tackle. Led by those two former greats, the defense certainly showed up on this particular night in stifling the Hornets on the road. Dual-threat Vikings QB Justin Cashman — an All-Decade First Team selection on offesne — certainly had himself a night as well, opening the game with touchdown runs of 2 and 5 yards. The senior would then hit Jack Germinara on a 10-yard TD strike to put the Vikings up 21-7 at halftime, before finding Boyle on a 7-yard score, then breaking away for a 64-yard sprint to the endzone in the third quarter. The Hornets would cut it to 35-19 early in the fourth, but Boyle would clinch it with a 9-yard TD midway through the quarter. Cashman would finish the game with 135 rushing yards on 13 carries, and 115 passing yards while completing 9 of his 15 attempts.
Fun Fact: Triton would finish with a 7-4 record during the 2014 season and make it to the then-Division 4 North semifinals. Led by it’s two All-Decade selections in Boyle and Ford, the Vikings would only surrender 16.4 points per game on defense. Boyle was also a New England wrestling champion, who finished with 199 career wins on the mat before going on to serve in the Air Force. Meanwhile, Cashman was also named our 2015 Daily News Baseball MVP, and would go on to play Division I at the University of Hartford.