The writing was on the wall for a difficult Pentucket football season.
On Sept. 6, the Sachems dropped their opener to North Reading — their first loss to the Hornets in 11 years. The Hornets clinched the 8-6 victory with a touchdown and two-point conversion with 4:33 left in the first half.
Something needed to change for this Pentucket team to live up to the school's proud football tradition. What changed? The Sachems stopped allowing their opponents to score points.
The Sachems (4-1) haven't allowed a point in four games since that North Reading score — a span of 84 minutes and 33 seconds of game time and 41 days on the calendar. The Sachems have outscored opponents, 98-0, in that stretch, posting shutouts against Greater Lowell, Hamilton-Wenham, Newburyport and Ipswich.
The Sachems will host Amesbury (4-1) tomorrow afternoon (1 p.m.). The Indians (4-1) are coming off a 15-14 loss to Georgetown — a game they led 14-0 midway through the third quarter.
The Sachems will be hard pressed to prolong their shutout streak as the Indians come in averaging 31.2 points per game. The Sachems, having allowed eight points all season, rank as the top defense on the North Shore.
"We weren't expecting anything from our defense after that first loss," Pentucket coach Steve Hayden said. "We were trying to improve basic tackling skills and reading keys. We're trying to get better every week."
Pentucket's strength on defense starts at the line of scrimmage. The front four of Justin O'Donnell, Matt Fiore, Dylan Chase and Dan Johanson has not allowed a 100-yard rusher yet this season. Amesbury coach Thom Connors believes Pentucket's defensive front makes the entire defense better.
"They win the line of scrimmage on the defensive side of the ball," Connors said. "The outside and inside linebackers make quite a bit of tackles because the linemen occupy blockers. Everyone can swarm to the ball because of their front four."
Fiore, a returning All-Cape Ann League defensive tackle, said his linemates take pride in winning their individual battles. However, maintaining the shutout streak is low on the list of priorities, he said.
"I'd like to think we can shut down every team," Fiore said. "It's not realistic to shut every team down the rest of the way. We've played a few teams we were supposed to beat, and we'll play some really good teams down the stretch."
Amesbury would appear to fit the bill as one of the good teams Pentucket will face. The Indians offense had been virtually unstoppable until the final 17 minutes of last week's game against Georgetown. Leading 14-0 with seven minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Royals held the Indians scoreless the rest of the way, stealing a CAL Small victory.
"We're 4-1 with one loss by a point," Connors said. "Georgetown was a better team that day, but we made some big mistakes. We needed a score right before halftime and we fell short. On defense we hadn't given up a big play all year, and we did in the second half. I'm anxious to see how we'll bounce back from a loss. That's where our focus has been."
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