THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – Friday, December 6, 2019 Page 15 Close fourth-down stop helps sink Sachems on Turkey Day By Greg Phipps L ooking to end their 2019 season with three straight wins, the Saugus Sachems found themselves in a 7-7 deadlock through three quarters in their annual Thanksgiving Day game against the Peabody Tanners at Stackpole Field. Unfortunately, it was the visiting Peabody that came up with the big play in the final period, and Saugus suffered a tough 21-7 defeat. The Sachems have now lost six straight to Peabody on Turkey Day. The last Saugus victory came in 2013. The Sachems also won in 2012. This year’s contest was probably the closest in recent memory. Both teams entered the battle with identical 3-7 records, and Saugus was sporting a modest two-game win streak. The game-deciding moment came in the fourth quarter when Peabody quarterback Alex DeNisco connected with receiver Colby Therrien on a 31-yard scoring pass. The extra point kick was successful, and Peabody held a 14-7 lead it would not relinquish. Just before Peabody’s goahead touchdown, the Sachems had driven to the Tanners’ 15-yard line only to be stopped on a close fourthdown play. Quarterback Christian Correia, who was named Saugus’s Heisman MVP this season, tried to run for the ASKS | from page 13 breaking the law, they’re breaking the law. Q: So, you never really felt intimidated by it? A: No. I never felt intimidated. And I was never told by a town official to do it their way. I did it my way. I stood my ground, that tied the game at seven apiece in the opening period. Martinez also kicked the extra point. The next two quarters remained a stalemate until Peabody broke through in the fourth. Peabody tacked on an inThe Sachem varsity football captains take the field for the coin toss with Peabody on T-Day. Shown from left to right are seniors Christian Correia, Bruno Auzec, Marvens Jean and Zack Kesbia. (Advocate Photos by Mike Kearney) marker but came up just short. That turned out to be the key turning point of the game. “It’s a game of inches. If we make six more inches on any of those downs we’re still driving,” Saugus head coach Steve Cummings told the press afterward. “Part of me was thinking of a field goal, but with this weather [powerful winds] it’s a tough spot to put a kid in. Our guys fought hard; we just came up a little short.” Javier Martinez was responsible for the Saugus points. He hauled in a tipped pass and raced 23 yards for the lone Sachems touchdown and that’s it. Q: In the course of your career, did you have any unexpected duties? A: I got into bioterrorism, too. Bioterrorism was after 9-11. You had to worry about it because they were talking about agents in the air, so I took training for bioterrorism. Another unexpected thing – Talented two-way player, senior Sachem captain Christian Correia looks downfield while a teammate does the blocking. I remember that somebody ordered a dog from Tennessee. When the dog showed up in a crate in the morning, when they opened up the door, the dog started ripping the whole front room couch apart and the tables apart. And then they called me, and they wanted the dog out of there. Q: What kind of dog was it? A: It was a mixed breed, a mixed type of shepherd or hound. It’s just another case of people in the weirdest situations where things pop up. You never know what you are going to get on your phone calls. You really don’t. Q: Tell me about one of the most violent episodes you had to deal with as a dog officer? A: Well, it was on Easter morning and I was with my kids in the house, and all of a sudden, I got called up by the Police Department for three dogs in a house: Two of them were dead and one was still alive. I went to the house and the owner was there. It was his own dogs. They were fighting over a piece of food; it was food aggression and they ended up getting into a battle. The owner was actually bitten in the process, too, and two dogs surance touchdown and PAT kick in the final seconds to account for the final score. But the game was closer than the final tally indicated. Cummings was proud of the effort from his team, the senior players in particular, despite a less-than-satisfying 3-8 finish. The departing seniors are Correia, Brendan McCabe, Zack Kesbia, Marvens Jean, Bruno Auzec, Justin Fajardo and Jaryd Coffill. “I wish I had them for another year, all of them,” Cummings said. “That’s my only regret – that I only got those kids for one year. I’m sure their four years didn’t go the way they wanted [enduring several head coach changes over that time], but you’d never see it in the way they carried themselves. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.” Correia connected on five of 10 passes for 85 yards and a TD in the Thanksgiving loss. Martinez caught four balls for 78 yards, and Sal Franco had one reception for seven yards. Jean carried 14 times for 68 yards in his final game as a Sachem, and Correia produced 45 yards on 12 attempts. were dead, and the other one wound up being euthanized, which was put upon the owner to do so. And he did so. Q: What kind of dogs were they? A: They were pit bull and bullmastiff type of dogs. They were the type of dogs that were used for weight-pulling, which is illegal. They build them up and build them up and try to teach them for use in heavyweight contests. They were teaching to be violent, if not anything else. That was a toughie, especially Easter morning. It’s supposed to be a nice pleasurable morning in church, and then you run into something like that. Q: Share with me one of your hairiest experiences as far as having to retrieve a dog that was in a place where he wasn’t ASKS | SEE PAGE 20
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