The Newburyport High School football team's seniors avoided becoming the first graduating class since 1952 to go their entire high school careers without posting a Thanksgiving Day victory over Amesbury yesterday.
Newburyport cruised to a 33-0 victory over Amesbury at World War Memorial Stadium in the 87th meeting between the schools. The Clippers' win snapped Amesbury's three-game Thanksgiving Day winning streak. Newburyport leads the all-time series, 45-36-6.
"Finally beating Amesbury means everything," said Newburyport captain Kyle LeBlanc. "That's why we've been playing for the last four years. It's so important. All week, we've been hearing that, 30 years from now, we'll run into someone from Amesbury, and we'll be able to talk about Thanksgiving of 2009."
The Clippers (6-5) avoided many of the miscues that plagued them during their three-game Thanksgiving Day losing streak. In each of the past three seasons, Amesbury (4-6) scored first by returning a turnover for a defensive touchdown. This season, LeBlanc put the Clippers on the board first with a 75-yard interception return for a touchdown with 3:25 remaining in the first quarter.
"Once you get behind in this game, it's really tough to come from behind," Amesbury coach Thom Connors said.
Newburyport finishes with a winning record for the third consecutive season. The Clippers battled for Cape Ann League Small titles until the final day of the regular season in 2007 and 2008; however, each loss clinched a title for the Indians. Last year's Amesbury squad went on to win the EMass. Division 3A Super Bowl. Although this year's Newburyport victory did not clinch a CAL Small title (Lynnfield had already clinched entering yesterday's game), the Clipper seniors can take solace in the fact that the trophy awarded to the Thanksgiving Day victor — the J. Walter Chase Trophy — will sit in the Newburyport High display case when they graduate.
"I'm happy for those guys," Newburyport coach Ed Gaudiano said. "They led by example all year long, and that's all you can ask of a senior class. We stuck together all season."
