LYNNFIELD ― The Lynnfield football team got off to a disastrous start and was never able to recover Friday night, falling by a score of 27-7 to Pentucket on Senior Night in a Cape Ann League bout at Pioneer Stadium.
Prior to the game, the Pioneers honored their group of nine seniors ― Brian Ellis, Jack Phelps, Rupert Thomas, Spencer Riley, Nick Marcinowski, Gabe Schmitz, Mehki Peters, Michael O’Brien, and Donald Sylvester ― for their contributions to the program over the past four years.
Lynnfield quarterback David Tracy completed 10-of-17 passes for 65 yards with one touchdown and one interception in the loss, while Riley was the team’s leading rusher with 33 rushing yards. Charlie Cappachetti added a touchdown reception in the loss.
The Pioneers got off to a truly unfortunate start. After forcing a punt and getting pinned deep in its own zone, Lynnfield fumbled on a bad snap over Tracy’s head and Pentucket recovered the ball in the end zone to go up 7-0. Then, on the ensuing drive, the Pioneers fumbled again and Jackson Rich picked the ball up for Pentucket and raced 35 yards for another score to put Lynnfield in a 14-0 hole.
But the Pioneers settled down from there, and once they got the ball back they started an extended drive. Lynnfield took 10 plays to drive 70 yards, eventually finding the end zone when Tracy hit Cappachetti on a three-yard slant to make it a 14-7 game.
The score remained there until the five-minute mark of the third quarter, when Pentucket got a big play when quarterback Chase Dwight threw a 53-yard pass to get inside the Lynnfield five. One play later, he punched it in from four yards out to make it 20-7.
Pentucket added to its lead with about two minutes to play in the third when Dwight hit Che Condon on a 40-yard touchdown pass to make it 27-7.
Lynnfield tried to play catch-up from there, with Tracy throwing some deep passes down the field on the next few drives. It eventually came back to bite them, as Pentucket came up with a big interception at the end of the third to squash any Pioneer momentum.
The Pioneers continued to try and push the pace in the fourth quarter, but one final fumble with five minutes to play effectively sealed the win for Pentucket.
Lynnfield (2-3) plays on the road at Amesbury Friday (6:30).