Beverly Pop Warner "C" Team       Player Story

Defense Gets Beverly Past  Peabody   Last Sunday morning was one of the biggest games for the  Beverly "C" team as they traveled to Peabody to face a rugged Tanner  squad. Beverly knew if they could pull off a victory they would be a  good playoff contender. Beverly got pumped up after the toss when the team  learned that they would receive the ball first. When the offense came on  the field after the opening kick, everybody was ready but the tough Peabody defense played hard forcing the offense to punt in four. A few minutes later a big play happened for Beverly. Late in the first quarter, on  a Peabody third down, the Tanners tried to run off tackle, but the ball carrier  took a hard hit hard at the line of scrimmage and the ball popped loose. J  Michael Nardella, Beverly's tough outside linebacker, dove for the ball but it  took a weird bounce where Beverly's defensive end Dylan Kline scooped it up and  headed for the end zone. Kline returned the fumble about fifty yards into Peabody's end zone for six points. Tight end Ben Lawler caught a nice pass from Jason Fullerton for the extra point and a 7-0 Beverly lead. Good defense on both sides of the ball ensured that the score stayed the same the  rest of the half. In the third quarter, both sides played well but again  neither team was able to put any points on the board. In the fourth quarter of the  game the intensity picked up and both teams made some big plays. With only  five minutes left in the game, Peabody had the ball around mid-field when they  completed a big pass that put them on Beverly's 10 yard line. Peabody  tried to pound the ball up the middle and off the tackles, but Beverly's tough  defense, which hasn't let up a point all year, came through and forced Peabody  to turn the ball over on downs. So, with two minutes left in the game, Beverly  had the ball on their own 5 yard line. After a hard run by Nardella to get  a first down, the Panthers had to kill just over a minute to secure the  win. After having been called for delay of game, Beverly was in a tough position. They had fourth down with 30 seconds left on their own 5 yard line. Head coach Mike Nardella decided to have his team punt it  away. Jared Kusiak took a good snap and punted the ball to Peabody's deep  man. The return man ran well, and returned the punt all the way back to  the Beverly 10 yard line. With 5 seconds left the Peabody offense had one chance to put the game into overtime. With a clean snap the Peabody quarterback dropped back to pass. Beverly pass rushers forced him to scramble out of the pocket, and on the run he threw to his intended receiver  about 7 yards away. The pass fell short, though, and the ball hit the  ground as Beverly walked away with a victory. Everybody agreed that the win  was a great team effort. The whole team appreciated the great play from  Beverly's "White Offense." Jeffery Joseph Jones  contributed much to Beverly's hard hitting defensive attack, making many  important tackles, just as he did last week. The win improved the Beverly  "C" squad's record to 3-1, and put them in a three way tie for first with  Peabody and Everett. Congratulations to Beverly in their big 7-0 win over  Peabody!                                     by                                 Dylan Kline