LYNN — As the Peabody Tanners stepped onto Manning Field for Friday night’s game against Lynn Classical, there were special stickers attached to each of their helmets.
The name “Espinal” was with them on every play, after Peabody High junior Freddy Espinal died Sunday due to a medical emergency suffered during a wrestling practice.
Playing for more than itself, Peabody (3-1) raced to a 35-14 win against Classical (1-3).
“It was a very difficult week,” said Peabody coach Mark Bettencourt, in his 12th season. “Next week is also going to be difficult. We have his wake on Monday and funeral on Tuesday. Those are going to be another two difficult days, but the kids have come together nicely and we’ve got the stickers on our helmets – and what it represents.”
Bettencourt added his roster is full of “kids who grew up with him.
“We have kids who have played football with him since first grade,” he said. “He went to the Welch, went to the Higgins, came to the high school, and now he’s gone. I give my guys a lot of credit for being mentally tough enough to come out and play tonight.”
Mentally tough, indeed, especially because the Rams shot out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
In a case of déjà vu from how last week’s game against Medford ended, Classical ran the same play on its opening drive. Quarterback Ryan Buth floated one to Jabin Pierre, who raced 92 yards down the left sideline to the promised land.
Minutes later, Buth spotted Charles Washington – this time, down the right sideline. Washington took it 79 yards to the house after a defensive breakdown from Peabody.
“The plan going in was to throw the ball a little bit,” said Classical coach Brian Vaughan. “Ryan is getting better every week and we were excited for him. He put us in a position to be successful.”
Classical had just three first downs in the opening quarter, but 200 yards of offense to go with them.
“I thought we played well,” Vaughan said. “We knew they were going to be playing with a lot of emotion. I challenged our guys to match that and I thought we did early.”
For Bettencourt and company, big plays have been a theme as of late.
“It’s scary when those things happen. It happened to us against Winchester in the fourth quarter; it happened to us against Swampscott when that game went backwards quickly with two quick kick returns,” he said. “If we’re going to be competitive, especially in Division 2, we’ve got to clean that stuff up.”
A turning point, however, was when Buth went down in the second quarter and missed the rest of the action.
“I think once we lost Ryan and it cut our playbook in half, it changed the outcome of the game,” Vaughan said. “I can’t get mad at the effort because everyone was playing hard. We just need to execute better in big moments.”
The second quarter was all Peabody, which took a 15-14 lead into halftime. Quarterback Luke Maglione (4 total touchdowns) spotted Dorlyn Morel for a 23-yard touchdown on fourth down. From there, Maglione took one himself for an 18-yard score that fooled the defense on an option play.
When asked about his message after the 14-0 hole, Bettencourt said he was quick to the point.
“Just weather the storm – it was two big plays. It wasn’t like they drove down and scored on us,” he said. “It happens. It’s two plays. Don’t let them affect us like they did last week.”
They didn’t. In the second half, Maglione threw a 28-yard touchdown to Jayce Jean-Pierre before running back Caio Santos (110 yards rushing) scored from 2 yards out to make it 29-14 in the third.
The fourth quarter saw Maglione put the cherry on top with a 45-yard burst to paydirt (35-14).
“I thought Luke played very well today,” Bettencourt said. “He ran the ball well, threw the ball well, and made good decisions.”
Beyond the quarterback, Bettencourt credited a handful of his players.
“Caio ran the ball well. After the fumble (in the first quarter on Peabody’s first offensive play), I thought Anthony Silva came back and ran the ball well. I thought Aneudy Medrano had a great day defensively, laying some big-time hits on defense while coming up and supporting the run,” Bettencourt said. “And Kyle Marron, our center. I think on both sides of the ball, he was phenomenal. To be honest, he would probably be my Player of the Game, and that’s something that probably no one else sees sitting in the stands.”
Classical highlights included Tyren Hoeun causing a fumble in the first quarter and Gianni McKay breaking up a pass in the second.
But in the end, this one belonged to the team in blue.
“It was the way we were able to bounce back from adversity,” Bettencourt said on what was different from last week’s loss to Swampscott. “This game, it happened right off the bat in the first quarter, but we were able to gather ourselves, stay focused, and get the job done.”
