By Mike Alongi
SAUGUS — Behind junior Vincent Gaskins’ four-touchdown performance, the Salem football team trounced Saugus, 39-20, at Stackpole Field Friday night.
Gaskins put up 223 total yards (129 rushing, 94 receiving) to go along with his four touchdowns, but after the game he was all about his teammates.
“It just feels amazing to make all my teammates happy and help get the win,” Gaskins said. “I love this feeling, and I just have to thank all my teammates, my coaches, my (offensive) line and everyone.”
Salem quarterback Jared Lubas ran the show on offense, completing 9-of-13 passes for 183 yards and three touchdowns.
“I think whenever we do anything, we just pull full effort into it,” Lubas said of the offensive execution. “Coach (Matt) Bouchard and all the coaches are always killing us to give it everything we have, and this week we worked hard, built trust and just went after it.”
For much of the first quarter, the game looked like it might be a defensive battle. The teams traded three-and-outs to open the game, but then Salem was able to start getting into a rhythm. The Witches took over on their own 32 yard-line and went on an eight-play, 68-yard drive that was highlighted by a big 28-yard run by Jeffrey Rodriguez to get Salem into the red zone. After three runs and a false start penalty, Salem faced a fourth-and-three from the 15-yard line. Lubas took the snap, rolled out right and fired a pass to Xavier Cole in the corner of the end zone for the score.
It was then the Salem defense’s turn to make some noise, as the Witches held Saugus to another three-and-out to give their offense the ball back. Once the Witches had the ball, on their own 47-yard line, it only took one play to get into the end zone. Lubas dropped straight back and hit Gaskins on a slant route, and Gaskins took it 53 yards to the house to give Salem a two-score lead at 13-0.
On the ensuing drive for Saugus, the Sachems pounded out an 18-play drive that took them 63 yards down to the one-yard line. With first-and-goal from the one, the Sachems tried to punch it in. Two tries with quarterback Mike Mabee Jr., two tries from running back Dante McGrane, and zero points as the Witches stood strong on the goal line to force the turnover on downs.
The Saugus defense forced a three-and-out to give the Sachems the ball back with great field position. It only took a couple of short runs before Mabee Jr. hit Max Hunt for an 11-yard touchdown pass to get the Sachems on the board, 13-6.
But Salem never let the momentum get too far away. The Witches only needed four plays to score again on the ensuing drive, capped by a 54-yard touchdown run by Gaskins, to go up 19-6.
Saugus scored once more before the half on a three-yard touchdown run from Mabee Jr. to put the score at 19-12 going into halftime.
Saugus opened the second half with a long, grind-it-out type of scoring drive that went 75 yards and took almost six and a half minutes off the clock, capped off by a one-yard touchdown run from McGrane. With the score 19-18 Salem, Saugus decided to go for two and it paid off. Quarterback James Moise, in for an injured Mabee Jr., faked a pitch to McGrane, rolled out right and hit Christian Correia in the back corner of the end zone to give the Sachems a 20-19 lead.
They held that lead for eight seconds.
On the ensuing kickoff, Rodriguez took the ball from his own 20 and ran for an 80-yard return touchdown for Salem. Gaskins converted the two-point conversion to put the Witches up 27-20.
“I think one of the big things is that a coach isn’t going to change that attitude, that’s the players,” Bouchard said of his team’s ability to regain momentum. “Leaders need to step up on the field, get their minds right, and they did that.”
The Witches forced Moise to throw an interception on the ensuing drive, effectively killing all Sachem momentum. The Witches were able to add two more scores, both from Gaskins, to walk away with the victory.