‘D’ drives Big Blue
Top-seeded Swampscott is rolling through the Division 5 North playoffs like a tidal wave following a dominant 34-0 victory over fourthranked Pentucket yesterday in the North semifinal at Blocksidge Field. The Big Blue (8-1) defense swung momentum right away by causing a Pentucket (4-5) fumble on the first offensive play to set up the hosts in Sachems territory.
Moments later, Graham Inzana found Jonathan Oriakhi down the left sideline for a 23-yard touchdown. Swampscott forced a three-and-out on the next Pentucket possession, leading to a 32-yard touchdown reception by sophomore Andrew Augustin and a 14-0 lead with 1:05 to go in the first quarter. “We wanted to put points up as quick as we could,” said Big Blue coach Bob Serino. “Just get the ball in our playmakers hands . . . .
We catch the ball with any of our receivers and our running backs and they’re going to make plays.” In the second quarter, Swampscott drove 65 yards on 12 plays, capped by a 1-yard touchdown run by Isaac Andre (13 carries, 58 yards). The Swampscott defense was a huge factor in getting out to an early lead, allowing just 44 yards to the Pentucket offense in the first half. Swampscott tacked on two more touchdowns in the second half on a 55 yard connection from Inzana to Oriakhi (six catches, 161 yards), and a 3-yard rush by Andre to finish a nine-play, 72-yard drive.
Inzana completed 16-of-26 passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns. “Graham is a student of the game,” Serino said. “He studies film hard, he understands his progression reads and his run reads, he works incredibly hard off the field and it shows on the field.” Billy Whelan threw for two scores and ran for a third as Hamilton-Wenham (7-2) held off Northeast, 2820, in a Div. 6 North semifinal. Jimmy Polito ran for one score and Trevor MacDonald threw a TD pass to Nathan Froio as Hull (2-7) did all its scoring in the third quarter en route to a 12-6 win over South Shore in a non-qualifier . . . .
Marc Murphy threw a pair of touchdown passes to Jay Wladkowski as Norwood (2-7) defeated Oliver Ames, 28-12. Amarion Robinson threw for one score and Thomas Le ran for the other as Quincy (2-7) defeated Durfee, 14-0. . . . Ahmik Watterson had 16 carries for 175 yards and two touchdowns as Brockton (4-4) defeated Taunton, 34-3. Cam James caught a touchdown pass and rushed for a score to lead Ipswich (7-2) over Austin Prep, 34-18.
Girls soccer
Audrey Lavey scored twice, while Larissa Williams and Sarah Lavalle added the other markers as No. 1 Newton South (15-1-2) defeated 16th-seeded Brockton, 4-0, in a Div. 1 South first-round contest . . . . Brooke Cavino and Rosalie Daryanani scored as No. 4 Bridgewater-Raynham (15-3-1) blanked No. 13 Oliver Ames, 2-0. Caroline Gray and Olivia Smith each scored twice as No. 14 Dover-Sherborn ousted No. 4 Tri-County, 5-0, in a Div. 3 North first-round contest.
Field hockey
Victoria Norchi scored twice as No. 4 Natick (13-2-2) handled No. 13 Beverly, 4-0, in Div. 1 North. Lexo Schmalz netted the game-winner in double overtime as No. 8 Needham (15-4) edged No. 9 Westwood, 2-1, in Div. 1 South . . . . Jeff Yang had a goal and an assist as No. 5 Plymouth North (16-3) defeated 12th-seeded Braintree, 2-0.