Nadworny, Masconomet pull away from Salem

Apr. 10—BOXFORD — To get back to its winning ways, the Masconomet Regional football team knew it had to get back to basics.

It may have taken a little longer than they'd have liked, but junior Mat Nadworny helped his team establish a punishing inside run game in the second half as the Chieftains pulled away from upset-minded Salem, 35-14, Friday night at Walt Roberts Field.

In his second game of the year, Nadworny ran for 117 yards and two second half scores. He also blocked a punt, recovered in the end zone by teammate Will Magnifico for the first score of the night, as the Chieftains evened their record at 2-2.

"Having Mat back is a shot in the arm. Linemen love blocking for a kid like that," said Chieftains head coach Gavin Monagle, whose team also welcomed back captain Teddy Fellows at guard after a three-week illness absence. "Certainly Teddy helped a lot. That kind of establishes the interior running game in there."

Though Salem lost its fifth straight contest, the Witches admirably matched up with Masco's beefier physical front. They limited the Chieftains to 60 yards from scrimmage in the first half, and the blocked punt was the only score on the board until the final minute of the first half.

"The kids came off the bus ready to play," said Salem head coach Matt Bouchard. "Our level of toughness wasn't where we wanted it the last couple weeks. Today we were physical from the first whistle to the final whistle."

Sophomore quarterback Matt Richardson hit freshman Sam Nadworny with a 6-yard slant to give the Chieftains some breathing room (14-0) before halftime. Mat, the elder Nadworny took over after the break, scoring on the opening drive and then dashing in from 28 yards out later in the third to help the Chieftains double their edge.

The victory was a nice way to celebrate Senior Night for Masconomet, which got a score from senior Nick Ciampa in the fourth and saw captain James Berry play a solid two-way game. Senior Trent Bunker recovered a fumble for the hosts (as did junior Remy Moll), and junior Richie Guarino had an interception. Senior Nick Cantalupo also gave Masco a nice lift in the run game with 31 yards on five jaunts.

"It was a really good night for our seniors. We got all of them in there and they played well," Monagle said. "The younger kids did, too. It was a good game all-around."

Jariel Del Valle recovered a Masco fumble and scored Salem's first TD on a 16-yard strike from freshman Corey Grimes. The Witches did a nice job spreading out Masco's big, physical defensive front with Grimes and Michael Ready combining for 123 passing yards. Most of them went to Del Valle (four catches, 44 yards) and Jayzel Pina (five catches, 38 yards).

"I'd say 75 or 80 percent of the plays we ran tonight had options. Both Michael and Corey did a phenomenal job reading the box and making good decisions," Bouchard said.

Salem captain Connor McRae ran for 55 yards and totaled 71 from scrimmage. Alex Paulino had a stout game defensively for the Witches, while tackles-for-loss went to Alexis Rodriguez, Pina and McRae.

"It's not the score we want, but it is a game that could flip the script for us," said Bouchard. "We saw as the game progresses and our confidence grew, we played a lot better."

Salem's final score came on a 28-yard deep strike from Grimes to senior Luis Paulino, who took it in stride and found the end zone.

Jake Pappalardo had a sack for the Chieftains and junior Toal Lodewick made all five of his extra points.

Masconomet 35, Salem 14

Walt Roberts Field, Boxford

Salem (0-5) 0 0 0 14 — 14

Masconomet (2-2) 7 7 14 7 — 35

M — William Magnifico blocked punt recovered in end zone (Toal Lodewick kick)

M — Sam Nadworny 6 pass from Matt Richardson (Lodewick kick)

M — Mat Nadworny 3 run (Lodewick kick)

M — Nadworny 28 run (Lodewick kick)

S — Jariel Del Valle 16 pass from Corey Grimes (Del Valle pass from Grimes)

M — Nick Ciampa 1 run (Lodewick kick)

S — Luis Paulino 28 pass from Grimes (pass failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATS

RUSHING: Salem — Connor McRae 12-55, Michael Ready 6-18, Corey Grimes 6-4, Alex Paulino 2-(-2) ; Masconomet — Mat Nadworny 11-117, Nick Cantalupo 5-31, Matt Richardson 3-20, Nick Ciampa 5-19, Sam Nadworny 4-14, Drew Howard 1-6, Luigi Nazzolo 1-0.

PASSING: Salem — Grimes 8-19-78-2-0, Ready 6-13-45-0-1; Masconomet — Richardson 4-8-38-0-0.

RECEIVING: Salem — Del Valle 4-44, Jeandavis Cardenas 5-38, Luis Paulino 1-28, McRae 2-16, Jayzel Pina 2-10 ; Masconomet — Owen Barrett 1-17, S. Nadworny 2-7, M. Nadworny 1-4.