Defense stands tall as Swampscott takes down Beverly

Apr. 17—SWAMPSCOTT — Nelson Beauchamp. Angelo Ciciotti. Joe Mignone. Thomas Frisoli. Yorlan Herrera.

Like most defensive linemen, these five players who man the trenches for Swampscott go mostly unnoticed. But their play was a major reason why the Big Blue slugged out a 22-6 win over Beverly in the rain Saturday morning at Blocksidge Field.

Twice the Panthers got inside the Swampscott 3-yard line in the second half, and twice the Big Blue turned them away from the end zone. Ciciotti came up with a 2-yard tackle-for-loss on 4th-and-goal on the first such instance, and a 3-yard loss on third down of the ensuing sequence led to Xaviah Bascon's interception in his own end zone.

"To be honest, the defensive line stepped it up and the rest of us followed," said Swampscott strong safety Dylan Dubiel, who tipped the pass that Bascon eventually picked off. "Joey Mignone was terrific at defensive tackle stopping the run game, and Angelo and Frisoli at the ends, plus Nelson and Yorlan, those guys were all huge the entire game."

Under the guidance of defensive coordinator Peter Bush, the Big Blue have allowed just 12 points in their three games (having lost 3 other scheduled contests to COVI-19 protocols). On Saturday, they surrendered an 83-yard touchdown run on a cutback play by Beverly speedster Jaichaun Jones in the second quarter, but otherwise were able to limit the visitors offensively.

"The bottom line is that Coach Bush has those guys ready to go every single week," said head coach Bob Serino, who proudly stated he had between 15-18 players recently make the school's Honor Roll. "The whole defensive line stood up; Dubiel was outstanding, we got Jake Papa (i.e., Papazoglou) back at linebacker and even put (quarterback) Cam O'Brien in at linebacker at crunch time."

O'Brien was also effective with his arm, throwing for 165 yards and a pair of touchdown passes. Both came on screen plays that the Big Blue turned into big gainers.

After Jones' long touchdown run cut Beverly's deficit to 7-6, Swampscott grabbed the momentum back just two plays later. Running back Xaviah Bascon took a screen on the right side, found himself hemmed in by the Panther defense, reversed course to the left and, getting a terrific downfield block from wideout Andrew Augustin (back for the first time in 2021 from injury), sped 60 yards into the end zone.

Then, after recovering a Beverly fumble to open the third quarter, O'Brien found Elijah Burns in the flat and watched as the sophomore weaved his way into the end zone for a 20-6 advantage.

The Orange-and-Black did have its chances to get back in the ballgame, including a downfield drive that ate up almost eight minutes off the clock, but each time were turned away from ultimately finding paydirt.

"Ordinarily we would've kicked it there, but the way things were going we felt we needed to score (touchdowns) but weren't able to," surmised Beverly head coach Andrew Morency, his team now 2-4. "It just didn't pan out."

Quarterback Danny Morency, the coach's nephew, was limited with a shoulder injury, said the coach, and threw only one pass on the day (a 7-yard completion to Jones). Fellow senior Anthony Pasquarosa took over just before halftime and threw for 83 yards on 11 attempts, with four of those completions going to Morency for 81 yards.

Taking advantage of a 4-yard shanked punt, Swampscott scored first on O'Brien's 3-yard run off a read option. Jones (163 yards rushing) then broke free to get Beverly on the board; he also had an interception, as did captain Jonas Pavia.

Bascon had 54 yards rushing on 13 carries for Swampscott while Augustin caught three passes for 47 yards in his return. Burns added two grabs for 49 yards as offensive coordinator Robert Serino took what the Panther defense was giving his squad.

It'll be rivalry week for both schools in their Fall 2 finales next weekend, with Swampscott set to host Northeastern Conference North champion Marblehead Friday and Beverly hosting winless Salem Saturday afternoon (1).

"That'll be my favorite game of the season," said Dubiel, a Big Blue junior. "It's really personal for me and my teammates after we lost last time (22-16 in 2019). We'll be ready to go Friday and hopefully get that win."

"The bottom line right now is it's all about our seniors and our rivalry game," Morency added of his team's upcoming tussle with Salem, a rivalry that dates back to 1891. "We'll be trying to represent our program and our city the best that we can."

Swampscott 22, Beverly 6

at Blocksidge Field, Swampscott

Beverly (2-4) 0 6 0 0 — 6

Swampscott (3-0) 0 14 6 2 — 22

S-Cam O'Brien 3 run (Thomas Frisoli kick)

B-Jaichaun Jones 83 run (kick failed)

S-Xaviah Bascon 60 pass from O'Brien (Frisoli kick)

S-Elijah Burns 37 pass from O'Brien (kick failed)

S-Safety, Jake Papazoglou tackled Anthony Pasquarosa in end zone

INDIVIDUAL STATS

RUSHING: Beverly — Jaichaun Jones 18-163, Joey Loreti 9-14, Grant Eastin 3-11, Anthony Pasquarosa 2-9, Andre Sullivan 1-4, Danny Morency 3-(-4); Swampscott — Xaviah Bascon 13-54, Cam O'Brien 7-33.

PASSING: Beverly — Morency 1-1-7-0-0; Pasquarosa 6-11-83-0-1; Swampscott — O'Brien 8-18-165-2-2.

RECEIVING: Beverly — Morency 4-81, Jones 1-7, Ryan Martell 1-4, Loreti 1-(-2); Swampscott — Bascon 2-57, Elijah Burns 2-49, Andrew Augustin 3-47, Nakanee Davis 1-12.