Page 12 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, OCTObEr 25, 2024 ~ SHS Sachems Sports roundup ~ By Dom Nicastro SAUGUS GIRLS SOCCER TIES PEABODY, EYES STRONG FINISH IN FINAL GAMES The Saugus High School girls soccer team, ranked No. 8 in the latest MIAA Division 3 power rankings, played to a hard-fought 1-1 tie against Division 1 rival Peabody, bringing their record to 11-1-3 with just three games left in the regular season. The Sachems got a goal from Madison Botta but couldn’t hold onto their lead. With upcoming matches against St. Mary’s, Wakefield and Somerville, Saugus coach April Martinez remains focused on finishing strong to secure a top seed for the playoffs. Martinez reflected on the Peabody game, acknowledging both the rivalry and the disappointment of letting the lead slip away. “Just like the other two games that we tied, where we scored early and we just slowly let the teams back in,” Martinez said. “Peabody has always been a rivalry... They muscled us. They took us out of the game mentally, which is, I think, what their game plan was, and it worked.” Despite the tie, Martinez knows her team can build from this experience. “We talked about it today for quite a while,” Martinez said on Tuesday. “What happened? Why did that happen? How can we move on from this?” Saugus was led once again by its standout players, with Madison Botta scoring the lone goal, assisted by Shay Sewell. Botta now has 26 goals and 14 assists on the season, continuing her stellar play as one of the top scorers in the state. Shawn Sewell, who has 17 goals and seven assists, and Shay Sewell, with 11 goals and 11 assists, also remain central to Saugus’ offense, consistently creating opportunities for their team. Martinez praised the trio, saying, “You can’t mark all three. You can mark one of them, but having the three kind of working together...you can’t compete with all three of them.” With a challenging schedule ahead, Martinez emphasized the importance of staying focused, especially as they head into Thursday’s rematch with St. Mary’s. “We beat them the first time. We’re playing them on their senior night, so emotions are going to be high. They want to come back and beat us,” Martinez noted. “Now is the time. You’ve got to give 110%, you can’t leave anything on the table.” Looking forward, Martinez remains optimistic about Saugus’ playoff chances. “My goal for the team was we lost to Masco and to not lose a game after that, right? So we haven’t. We’ve tied three games that we should have won, but we didn’t lose,” she said. “Now’s the time to really step up and show that you are that team.” SAUGUS GOLF ENDS SEASON ON HIGH NOTE Saugus’ Hunter Arsenault was named a Northeastern Conference golfing all-star. Artie O’Leary and Arsenault represented Saugus in the NEC Open competing against the top two from every team in the conference last Thursday. “I saw a bunch of great development throughout the season with athletes becoming better at different facets of their game,” Saugus coach Dan Bertrand said. “I saw great dedication from the team competing strong the entire season. I saw great leadership from the older athletes on the team setting good examples and good habits. I’m looking forward to seeing how everyone’s game develops over the next year and looking forward to competing next year.” SAUGUS BOYS SOCCER HOPING FOR PUSH DOWN STRETCH Saugus last week tied Northeast Metro Tech, 1-1. Captain Abraham Costa scored the only goal. Northeast tied it up with less than four minutes to go with a questionable penalty kick. Two days later, Saugus beat Pioneer Charter School of Science, 3-1. Captain Isaac Cesco scored with an assist from Jhony Castillo Avila, and Captain Xavier Martinez scored an exciting header from a perfect corner kick. He then scored again later to wrap up the game with an assist from Carlos Miranda. Saugus is 6-8-3 with one game to go. It will have to make the playoffs via the rankings system by finishing in the top 32. Football Sachems fall to Gloucester as defensive struggles continue By Dom Nicastro T he Saugus High School football team suffered its fourth straight loss on Friday night, Oct. 18, falling 32-12 to Gloucester at home. Despite some promising offensive drives and two touchdowns from Ryan Shea, the Sachems were unable to contain Gloucester’s run game, dropping their record to 1-5 on the season. Gloucester’s star running back Joseph Allen had his way with the Saugus defense, rushing for 293 yards on 18 carries and scoring three touchdowns. Allen broke free for two long touchdown runs of over 70 yards, exploiting gaps in the Sachems’ defense. “They hit us on the edge a little bit,” said Saugus coach Steve Cummings. “Number 21 [Allen] had two really long runs, and when you break those big plays, it’s going to help your cause on the stat sheet. He’s a good back, and they blocked things up really well. We were just a little bit slow on a couple of reads, and they exploited some gaps early.” The Sachems moved the ball well on offense but struggled to finish drives. Outside of their scores, three times Saugus advanced into the Gloucester red zone, but the Sachems failed to convert any of those chances into points. The team’s two scores came from senior Ryan Shea, who had a 10-yard touchdown run on a jet sweep and a 25-yard touchdown catch from freshman quarterback Eli Fialho. “We moved the ball well at times, but when you get into the red zone and take a sack, you’re suddenly second-and-18 from the 25-yard line, and that’s tough to recover from,” Cummings said. “We’ve got to make sure those drives end in points, not with fourth-down turnovers.” The Sachems punted only once in the game, highlighting their ability to move the ball between the 20s. However, mistakes in critical moments, including sacks and penalties, derailed key drives. “We’re young in certain spots, and we’re learning from it,” Cummings added. “But we’re getting better. The ball moved, and we had chances, but we’ve just got to get a little tighter on certain aspects of the game and try to build and get better for Friday.” On the defensive side, Saugus struggled to stop Gloucester’s Wing-T offense. The Sachems gave up multiple big plays, with Allen leading the charge for the Fishermen. Cummings acknowledged the difficulty of defending against such a unique offensive scheme. “Wing-T is hard to stop when you don’t run it yourself,” Cummings said. “It’s the speed and crispness of how they run it. We struggled with Winthrop, too, who also runs a Wing-T, so that’s something we’ve got to keep working on.” Looking ahead, Saugus faces a tough challenge Friday night, Oct. 25, when they travel to face Swampscott (4-2), which currently sits in first place in the Northeastern Conference. “Swampscott is on pace to win our league,” Cummings said. “They’ve already beaten Winthrop and Gloucester, so we know it’s going to be tough. They run more of a spread offense, which presents its own challenges. Their screen game is second to none, and they’ve got really good athletes on the perimeter. We’ll need to tighten up some aspects of our Sachems QB Jordan Rodrigues handed the ball off to running back Pablo DeJesus in recent action against Winthrop. (Advocate file photo) game and be ready for the challenge.” The game against Swampscott will kick off at 7 p.m. on the road, with Saugus hoping to snap their losing streak before closing out the regular season at Chelsea the following week.
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