Sachems fall to Tanners on Thanksgiving

  With one more shot for that elusive victory in fall 2021, the Saugus Sachems came up considerably short in their annual Thanksgiving Day game against the Peabody Tanners at Peabody’s Coley Lee Field. Peabody pounced on the Sachems early and often on its way to a 41-6 win.

  The result marked the seventh consecutive Turkey Day victory for the 7-4 Tanners, who now lead the overall Thanksgiving Day series 47-28. The last time Saugus, which finished 0-11, tasted a triumph was in 2013.

  In order to pull off an upset coming in, Saugus needed to put forth its best effort of the season and also needed to avoid mistakes. But the host Tanners took advantage of Saugus’s inability to engineer much offensively, as they forced the Sachems to punt on their first two possessions of the contest.

  Meanwhile Peabody scored touchdowns on its first two possessions and collected a third score off an interception return for a touchdown. It was a 20-0 game after one quarter. The Tanners added 14 more points in the second quarter to basically forge an insurmountable 34-0 advantage at the half.

  For Saugus, the loss concluded a rough campaign in which it was outscored 304-51 and managed to reach double figures in points just once. Despite that, the Sachems were in a position to win on two occasions, but their struggle to put up points had a hand in leading to heartbreaking late-game losses at Salem and Greater Lawrence Tech. Those two defeats came by a combined seven points. Saugus held the lead in the final minutes of both games but couldn’t cash in.

  Head Coach Steve Cummings talked about a promising road ahead for his young team despite this year’s difficulties. “We had freshmen and sophomores all over the field today. A lot of these kids [were] playing their first Thanksgiving Day game, and we’ve got a couple of more [seasons] with those guys,” he told the press after the loss to Peabody. “The future is very bright for this program, but right now our focus is on our seniors, making sure that we are able to appreciate those guys and everything they did.”

  The Sachems will miss some of their top senior players – a group that includes running back and defender Mark MacEachern, receiver and defender Drew Gardiner, quarterback Sean O’Rourke, receiver and defender Ryan Mabee and linemen Mekhi Coburn, Jake Camuso, Rick Noel and Alejandro Ortiz.

  MacEachern’s three-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter helped the Sachems avoid the shutout on Thanksgiving. He also exploded for a 48-yard gain earlier in the contest. The touchdown was set up by a fumble recovery deep inside Tanners’ territory.

  But, in the end, Saugus committed too many errors to emerge triumphant against Peabody, as two interceptions and a botched snap on a punt all led to Tanner points. Peabody came into the game on a five-game win streak and played like a team high on confidence.