Saugus breaks through, blanks East Boston, 34–0, ahead of Thanksgiving clash with Peabody

By Dom Nicastro

For the first time in more than a month, the Saugus High football team walked off the field with smiles — and a victory — after a dominant 34–0 win over East Boston Friday night. The victory snapped a three-game scoreless drought and gave the Sachems a much-needed momentum boost as they prepare for their annual Thanksgiving matchup with Peabody.

It was the kind of complete performance Saugus had been chasing since mid-October. For weeks, head coach Steve Cummings had preached that the team was “inches away” — inches from turning big plays into six points, inches from sustaining drives, inches from seeing several close first halves finally tip in their favor. On Friday on the road to Eastie, those inches finally aligned.

  Saugus (now 2–8) wasted no time taking control. On the first drive of the night, quarterback Eli Fialho — who has shown steady mechanical growth all season — delivered a 43-yard strike to senior captain Jordan Rodriguez. On the next possession, he found Ryan Shea for a 39-yard score, a familiar pairing that has been one of the offense’s few reliable sparks this fall.

By the time sophomore Paxton Ferraro ripped off a 68-yard touchdown run to make it 20–0, it felt like the Sachems were releasing a month’s worth of frustration in a single quarter.

Ferraro’s score was emblematic of the growth Cummings has pointed to in recent weeks — a young player gaining confidence, running with purpose and giving the offense a legitimate home-run threat.

In the second quarter, senior captain Chris Mazin punched in a 27-yard touchdown run — the type of hard downhill burst Cummings has praised all season — and Saugus carried a 28–0 lead into halftime.

Shea’s second touchdown reception of the night, a 36-yard catch in the third quarter, capped the scoring and completed Saugus’ most productive offensive performance of the season.

  Just as important: the Sachems’ defense delivered its first shutout of the fall and the lowest point total since it gave up six in a win over Lynn Tech Sept. 27.

Earlier in the year, Cummings repeatedly pointed to his defense as the team’s backbone — noting the toughness of his edge play, the instincts of his secondary and the downhill physicality of middle linebacker Nathan Santos, for instance.

That identity resurfaced Friday. East Boston never found traction offensively, and Saugus consistently won at the point of attack — something the coaching staff has emphasized since August. The Jets (1–9) had been shut out in three straight games entering the matchup, but Saugus made sure that streak continued with disciplined pursuit, secure tackling and much cleaner gap assignments than in recent weeks.

  Now comes the annual Thanksgiving rivalry game — and for the first time in weeks, Saugus enters with momentum rather than frustration.

Next up is Peabody, a program that has historically been a tough Thanksgiving opponent for Saugus and a team that finally broke through last week after a brutal stretch. The Tanners (1–9) earned their first win of the season, 19–14 over Waltham in the Division 2 consolation round, snapping a nine-game losing streak in which few contests were close.

Like Saugus, Peabody’s offense has struggled for much of the year, though it did flash explosiveness in a 54–32 loss to Lynn English on Sept. 26. Both programs will arrive at Veterans Memorial Stadium hungry to finish their seasons on an upswing — something neither team has consistently achieved this fall.

This year, both teams share the same script: tough schedules, offensive inconsistencies, but a chance to define the ending on their own terms.

  Cummings has spent all season hammering home two themes: resilience and growth. Even in losses, he has pointed out emerging contributors like Ferraro and Isaiah Santiago, the defensive strides of Santos, and the leadership of captains Rodriguez, Shea, Mazin, and Kobe Jette.

And though this season has delivered more adversity than triumph, the Sachems now have one final opportunity to turn a late spark into a lasting memory. Kickoff for the Thanksgiving Day game at Peabody is set for Thursday, Nov. 27, at 10 a.m.