SALEM — Friday night, for the first time in the more than 100-year history of the Peabody-Salem football rivalry, the two schools met on the field to decide the Northeastern Conference Lynch Division title. And in dominant fashion, Peabody came away with the 33-0 win and the title at Captain John Bertram Athletic Field.
The star of the game was Peabody defensive back Abou Kaba, who intercepted two passes and returned one of them for a touchdown in the win. Quarterback Shea Lynch continued his record-setting season with two more touchdown passes, while Dylan Preira and Eli Batista each had a touchdown reception. Daniel Canela added a rushing touchdown in the victory.
The Tanners got off to a quick start in this one, with Alexander Silva breaking free for a 51-yard run on the opening drive to set Peabody up inside the 10-yard line. But a sack by Salem’s Jeandavis Cardenes on third down eventually forced a field goal, with Scalese hitting a 26-yarder to give the Tanners an early 3-0 lead.
Both teams traded possessions from there, with Salem turning the ball over on downs outside the Peabody 30 and then the Tanners fumbling away a ball to give it right back.
But then, Salem tried a trick play and it backfired. The halfback option pass was intercepted by Kaba, and he returned it 60 yards to set the Tanners up with great field position. A few plays later, Lynch found Preira in the back of the end zone to make it a 10-0 game.
After Michael Perez blocked a punt out of the back of the end zone for a Peabody safety to make it 12-0, the Tanners took the ball and scored right away when Lynch hooked up with Batista on a 59-yard hitch-and-go route to make it 19-0 midway through the third quarter.
Daniel Canela added a touchdown run of his own a few minutes later to stretch the lead to 26-0 Tanners.
Kaba rounded things out for the Tanners in the fourth quarter, intercepting his second pass of the game and taking it back 65 yards for a touchdown to make it 33-0.
Peabody wraps up the regular season at 4-4 and hopes to earn a top-16 seed to get into the upcoming Div. 2 state tournament. Ranked No. 17 in the latest iteration of the power rankings, the Tanners likely did enough to earn themselves a spot in the tournament.
Salem, which was slotted No. 28 in the latest Div. 4 rankings, wraps up the regular season at 4-4 and hopes to earn a top-16 seed to get into the upcoming state tournament.