Pelham fights off upset-minded Kearsarge

By James Healey
sports@eagletribune.com

October 18, 2008 01:48 am

—

PELHAM, N.H. - Even undefeated teams can have an off night. Fortunately for Pelham, it has Bruce Vieira.

The super senior scored three TDs and rushed for 210 yards in a 26-20 win over Kearsarge.

"We just didn't execute well tonight," coach Tom Babaian said. "We missed opportunities in the first and second half and we had to capitalize. We didn't tonight.

"Execution is the name of the game. Offense, defense, and even special teams. We screwed up."

Pelham scored 20 early points but didn't see the end zone again until late in the fourth quarter.

Vieira scored two of Pelham's three touchdowns in the first quarter to give the Pythons breathing room.

Kearsarge's touchdowns at 2:28 and 0:38 left in the fourth would have sent the game into overtime knotted at 20-20, if it weren't for Vieira's third touchdown of the night at 2:08 that gave Pelham a cushion.

"Vieira's last touchdown was huge play for us," said Babaian. "Otherwise, we would be dealing with overtime."

Pelham 26, Kearsarge 20

Kearsarge (4-3, 3-3 Division 5): 06014—20

Pelham (6-0, 5-0 Division 5):20006—26

First Quarter

P — Corey Peterson 2 run (kick failed), 10:55

P — Bruce Vieira 36 run (kick failed), 2:41

P — Vieira 56 run (Vieira rush), 0:16

Second Quarter

K — Donald Hodgdon 6 run (kick blocked), 0:38

Fourth Quarter

K — Thomas Prohl 2 pass from Jack Morgan (kick good), 2:18

P — Vieira 50 rush (pass failed), 2:08

K — Ryan Jenkins 5 pass from Morgan (kick good) 0:38

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING: P (26-229) — Vieira 19-210, Timothy Schaffer 3-7, Joshua Luciano 1-8, Cameron Robidoux 1-2, Peterson 1-2, Joseph DeAngelo 1-0; K (41-130) — Hodgdon 15-36, Cody Anderson 6-52, Morgan 3-(-2), Douglass Gregory 4-21, Parker Hansen 1-1, Jenkins 12-22

PASSING: P — Luciano 3-8-0 15 yards, DeAngelo 3-4-0 36 yards; K — Morgan 12-21-1 151 yards

RECEIVING: P — Luciano 1-25, DeAngelo 1-2, Vieira 5-20, Wayne Parisi 1-10; K — Hodgdon 6-60, Gregory 1-12, Matthew Carroll 1-11, Jenkins 3-66, Prohl 1-2