Heading into Saturday, the question on everyone's mind was how the Newburyport Clippers (4-2) would respond after their epic comeback-for-the-ages win from the week before. Their opponent, the Ipswich Tigers(1-4), experienced similar emotions last week against Amesbury, winning a thriller in quadruple overtime.
No stirring comebacks were needed as Newburyport answered the question with a dominant 34-14 win over the Tigers.
The Clippers were led by junior quarterback Connor Wile, who threw for a total 257 yards and three touchdowns. Senior Brett Fontaine was the recipient of all three and finished with seven catches, all totaling a whopping 169 yards. Senior Tyler Martin was a bull, rushing for 110 yards and two touchdowns, 80 of those yards coming in the first half. A focused Newburyport defense didn't help the Tigers any either.
Things didn't start well for the Clippers.
On their first play from scrimmage, the Ipswich defense blitzed Wile, sacking him and causing a fumble. Tiger linebacker senior Peyton Primack was Johnny on the spot, picking up the ball and running 15 yards into the end zone. Brenden Gallagher's extra point kick was good and the boys from Ipswich found themselves up 7-0 just 12 seconds into the contest.
Newburyport didn't flinch and answered in swift fashion. On the sixth play of their next drive, the ball was direct snapped to Tyler Martin. The rugged running back had no problem escaping a couple of Tiger tackles en route to a 47-yard gallop to pay dirt. Brandon Trego added the extra point and the game was tied, 7-7.
Three minutes later, Newburyport took the lead when Wile hit Brett Fontaine on a wide out at their own 35. Fontaine shook off a Tiger defender and sprinted 65 yards for the score. The kick failed, but the Clippers sailed ahead 13-7.
The Ipswich defense came up big again in the second quarter. On a first and goal play, Tiger defensive back Nate Glaster perfectly anticipated a Wile throw, stepped in front of the open receiver and took it 93 yards to the house. Gallagher's kick was successful and Ipswich went back in front, 14-13.
An Ipswich pass interference penalty, their fourth of the half, gave Newburyport new life on their next set of downs, and three plays later, the Clippers capitalized on a Tyler Martin six-yard rumble, his second score of the game. The extra point failed, but the Clippers were back on top 19-14.
Newburyport took over on downs at their own 22 with just under two minutes left in the half. Wile, wasting no time, guided the offense down the field, completing four straight passes for 78 yards, and capping it off with an eight-yard touchdown strike to Brett Fontaine. Wile followed that up by connecting with James Conway for the two-point conversion. Newburyport went into half time comfortably, leading 27-14.
Newburyport finished their scoring in the third quarter with a nifty 13-yard touchdown pass from Wile to Fontaine, who showed off his athletic prowess by leaping up over a defender and snatching the ball. Trego's kick was perfect and the Clippers finalized the score at 34-14.
Newburyport's defense was equally outstanding.
"We talked about, first of all, doing it on defense, which we did," Newburyport coach Ed Gaudiano said. "We gave them 14 points on offensive mistakes. We were real concerned with them being able to play ball control and keep the ball away from us."
The Clippers only allowed Ipswich one first down the entire first half, that coming off a fake punt.
The Clipper defense was even more devastating in the second half, forcing a couple of fumbles, two sacks and eventually knocking freshman Tiger quarterback Nick Andreas out of the game.
"I think we're in a good spot," Gaudiano said. "I mean, if you look at it, we kind of settled guys down into where we want them to play and what we're doing offensively and defensively. Hopefully, we'll be able to take the second half of the season and play well."
Coach Ted Flaherty is equally optimistic about the rest of his season.
"What's going to be good about this is we're going to look at it and learn from this and see how we have to continue to play aggressively," Flaherty said. "I think if we can play the way we did against Amesbury against all these teams, then we could be tough to beat. We need to do a much better job at tackling, playing better defense.
"That's our formula of grinding out the clock and keeping the other offense off the field, that's going to be our signature and hopefully that will work in our small division."
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