BYFIELD — More often than not, football games are won in the trenches.
That was certainly the case Friday night.
The Amesbury Redhawks strung together several long drives as part of their 176-yards on the ground, which was more than enough to defeat Triton Regional, 22-6, in a Cape Ann League clash played before a jammed packed crowd.
Amesbury took a commanding 14-0 lead into the halftime break, and after getting a little scare by the Vikings to start the third, the Redhawks closed things out with a final touchdown in the fourth for the win and to improve to 2-0 on the young season.
“We knew it was going to be a physical battle and our guys answered the bell in that way,” said Amesbury head coach Colin McQueen. “I’m proud of their physicality and their effort, and their unflinching in times when things got a little bit hairy.”
The game was scoreless after the first quarter before Joe Celia caught a 35-yard pass from Justin Dube coming on the third scrimmage play of the second quarter. The two-point rush attempt failed.
Triton (1-1) responded and moved the ball down to the Amesbury 10, but on fourth-and-nine, the drive ended when Celia intercepted a pass in the end zone.
With 2:01 remaining in the half, Amesbury marched right down the field, stringing together a 7-play, 80-yard scoring drive which featured a 45-yard run by Dube, before Celia capped it off with a three-yard TD run coming on second-and-goal with 15 seconds remaining.
Celia then caught the conversion pass from Dube for the 14-0 score at the break.
“That end of the first half drive which got us (eight) big points was so huge, especially since we were under a minute,” said McQueen. “We have some pretty dynamic athletes who make plays happen. You saw Justin (Dube) do it a couple of times. He’s fun to coach and he makes you look good when what you call isn’t there.”
Triton opened the third quarter with a very impressive 14-play, 60-yard drive with Carl Lucy taking 11 of those carries for 34 yards, including a 1-yard dart up the gut for the score. The rush failed and the Vikings trailed 14-6 with 2:41 left in the third.
Amesbury put the nail in the coffin on the ensuing drive, going 58 yards on eight running plays. Dube scored the insurance touchdown, first scrambling to his left, before completely reversing direction to the opposite side to avoid being tackled which enabled him to run in the 14-yard score with 11:06 remaining in the game. Connor Scialdone added the conversion rush.
That drive, as well as the first two, were led by the offensive line group of Ethan Kirby, Ollie Peters, Gino DiLorenzo, Braden Delisle, Stacy Peck, Dylan Palen and Evan Murphy.
“I’m just really, really proud of what all these guys did. It was a tenacious battle. We have a bye next week so we’ll look at ourselves and get us where we need to be and get ready for Pentucket,” said McQueen.
Triton showed a lot of grit and fight in this contest, but just came up a bit short.
“They (Amesbury) know what they’re doing,” said Triton first-year head coach Ed Melanson. “They are a very good team and they are physical. We’re a new offense and defense, and we’re young. There are definitely some positives that we can take from this. It was a hard fought game and the results are what they are. We have some work to do, but we’ll get there.”
Lucy led all rushers with 87 yards.
Amesbury 22, Triton 6
First Quarter
No Scoring
Second Quarter
A: Joe Celia 35 pass from Justin Dube (rush failed)
A: Celia 2 run (Celia pass from Dube)
Third Quarter
T: Carl Lucy 1 run (rush failed)
Fourth Quarter
A: Dube 14 run (Connor Scialdone rush)
Individual Statistics
Passing: A, Justin Dube 1 for 1, 35 yards; T, Sam Harding 2 for 7, 67 yards, 2 INTs; Jake Conroy 1 for 1, 1 yard.
Rushing: A, Joe Celia 10-59; Justin Dube 4-52; Joe Puleo 5-31; Connor Scialdone 5-36; John Taber 3-11; Ollie Peters 1-5; Ben Wood 2-2; T, Carl Lucy 27-83; Everett Romano 3-8; Jake Conroy 4-5; #37 1-2.
Receiving: A, Joe Celia 1-35; T, Jake Conroy 2-67;