MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA — It was wet, it was cold, and it was windy … but the overall miserable conditions Thursday evening at Hyland Field seemed to cater exceptionally well to Amesbury’s run-heavy attack.
It may be boring to watch at times, but the Red Hawks’ old school offensive scheme is wildly effective. It’s an approach that led the squad to wins in each of their first seven games of the year — and it was more than enough to bring them home one final regular season victory over a worthy opponent in Manchester Essex on Senior Night.
The host Hornets struggled to get much of anything going in the opening half, yielding three unanswered touchdowns and subsequent two-point rushes to Amesbury on the other end as the visitors built a comfortable cushion going into the break. The Red Hawks kept their foot on the gas down the stretch, too, and Manchester failed to climb out of the lofty hole in what went down as a 40-0 defeat.
With the win, Amesbury (8-0) clinched the Cape Ann League Baker Division crown, and likely boosted their status in the Division 7 power rankings in the process. Manchester, meanwhile, saw its six-game win streak snapped as it’ll now await its draw in the tournament bracket, which will be officially released on Sunday.
“Good teams get better in weather, and (the conditions) certainly didn’t slow them down at all tonight,” said Hornets’ head coach Joe Grimes, his team now 6-2. “You have to hand it to them; they executed very well tonight. They didn’t have any fumbles, they didn’t have any real miscues at all and they were just chipping away getting three or four yards a pop which is exactly what they like to do.”
In what was an utterly dominant performance from start to finish, Amesbury finished with 371 yards of offense on 44 plays from scrimmage compared to just 82 yards for Manchester. The Red Hawks owned a significant edge in time of possession, simply wearing down the hosts from the jump.
Junior back Joe Puleo was the star of the night. He rushed for 128 yards on just 10 carries, scoring from 51 yards out late in the second before striking again with a dazzling 33-yard scamper to paydirt to open the third. He would punch in a third touchdown from two yards out midway through the third quarter to supplant the scoring for his team.
“Whatever he had for breakfast and lunch he’s gotta duplicate that every week. He was outstanding tonight,” said Red Hawks coach Colin McQueen. “He ran through tackles, ran with some power; he’s always had the speed to run away from some guys and tonight he even had some yards after a catch (for 53 yards, to be exact). Just an incredible effort and the kid was having fun out there.”
Before Puleo even really got going, Amesbury was off to an encouraging start.
The Red Hawks made a statement on the opening kickoff, catching the Hornets off guard with an onside kick to begin the drubbing. Evan Murphy jumped on the loose ball for the Red Hawks, and eight plays later Connor Scialdone was into the end zone from two yards out. He added the 2-point conversion rush as well, making it 8-0 in a hurry.
Manchester’s most promising drive came right after that, as they marched into the red zone with some nice running from senior quarterback Zach Hurd (52 rushing yards) and running back Conrad Garfield. But a penalty late in the drive set them back a bit, and they were unable to convert on a 4th-and-long, ultimately turning it over on downs.
After that opening drive, the Hornets got the ball just four more times, with all four drives resulting in punts. They managed just six first downs on the evening while Amesbury moved the chains 13 times with their methodical drives.
Joe Celia had the other touchdown for Amesbury, punching it in from seven yards out in the second quarter. The Red Hawks went a perfect 5-5 on 2-point conversion tries to boot.
“That onsides kick in the beginning, which was a great special teams play for them, I think that got us off cycle a little and I felt like we were playing a little left-handed after that,” admitted Grimes. “But they played good defense and good offense on a rainy weather day, and that’s why they’re champions of the league. The weather didn’t slow them down which is impressive.”
Despite the loss, Manchester still has plenty to fight for as they’ll likely garner a top eight seed in the D7 playoffs and be rewarded with another home game to kick things off next week.
“The best thing about tough games like that is that they’re over now and we get to move on,” added Grimes. “Being a Thursday game, we get an extra day of rest now to lick our wounds a little bit, watch the film, and then figure out who we’re playing on Sunday and start that process all over again.”
Amesbury 40, Manchester Essex 0
at Hyland Field, Manchester Essex Regional High School
Amesbury (8-0) 8 16 16 0 |40
Manchester Essex (6-2) 0 0 0 0 |0
Scoring summary
A — Connor Scialdone 2 run (Scialdone rush)
A — Joe Celia 7 run (Ben Wood rush)
A — Joe Puleo 51 run (Celia rush)
A — Puleo 33 run (Celia rush)
A — Puleo 2 run (Scialdone rush)
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: Amesbury — Joe Puleo 10-128, Joe Celia 9-43, John Taber 5-42, Ben Wood 3-23, Connor Scialdone 6-18, Justin Dube 4-5, Connor Forisso 1-12, Colin Cate 2-0; Manchester Essex — Zach Hurd 13-52, Charlie Thurlow 2-18, Conrad Garfield 6-16, Noah Cohen 1-0, Adam Macleod 1-(-4).
PASSING: Amesbury — Dube 4-4-100-0-0; Manchester Essex — Hurd 0-0-0-0-0.
RECEIVING: Amesbury — Puleo 1-53, Ollie Peters 2-25, Celia 1-22; Manchester Essex — None.
Sports Editor Nick Giannino may be contacted at 978-675-2712 or ngiannino@northofboston.com.