Splish splash and a victory: Football Sachems snap three-game skid with win over Falmouth

By Dom Nicastro

Just about every element was not in the Saugus High School football team’s favor against Falmouth last week: a two-hour drive, a downpour during the game, some injuries. None of it mattered. Saugus persevered.

The Sachems beat Falmouth, 20-12, and it wasn’t as close as it seems. Saugus, which led, 20-0, in the fourth quarter, broke its three-game losing streak and improved to 4-3 with the victory.

Saugus is now ranked No. 25 in the MIAA power rankings for Division 5. They need to be in the top 16 after this week, the final regular-season game. There is one more game to go – against Winthrop Friday, Oct. 27, at home at 6:30 p.m. Saugus needs to win to at least have a chance to get into the postseason. The good news is four teams in front of Saugus have only two wins and must win their third game or face elimination. Another team, Pembroke, has one win and can’t make it.

With a win over Winthrop, Saugus at least has a fighting chance. But that will be easier said than done. The Vikings are coming off a come-from-behind 20-19 win over Salem, handing the Witches their first loss. Winthrop is 4-3 and ranked No. 9 in Division 6.

“That team’s got fight,” Saugus coach Steve Cummings said of Winthrop. “I know they were down 13-0 to Salem; they [came] back and [won]. Earlier this year, they were at Swampscott and fell down, 14-0, came back and won. Coach Cad [Jonathan Cadigan]; he’s one of the best coaches in the area. He does a great job with his kids buying into that system with that Wing-T, and that’s just who they are. It’s in their DNA, and then…they just stay in it. It’s almost like they are just waiting for you to make that mistake. And then they got guys that have home run potential.”

Saugus has guys like that, too, particularly Tommy DeSimone. He added two more touchdowns – a 1-yard run and a 38-yarder that gave Saugus a 13-0 lead over Falmouth last Saturday heading into the fourth quarter. He rushed for 185 yards and had another two TDs called back for penalties.

Saugus quarterback Jordan Rodriquez found Ameen Taboubi for a 19-yard touchdown pass.

“But we left some out there that we wish we could have executed a little bit better on the back end of some drives,” Cummings said. “But defensively we were solid all day. … We just kind of seemed to be in the right spot at the right time. The kids worked hard and put in a good week of practice, and it was the outcome that we wanted to get.”

Cummings cited the growth of sophomore quarterback Rodriguez. “Jordan was solid, just orchestrating and moving the ball down the field,” Cumming said. “He was making some good reads with the football. The ball was so waterlogged it had to weigh 15 pounds so it was like you were shot-putting down the field. So he was able to get a decent drive down the middle of the field. … I think for Jordan just being a quarterback and being a sophomore and being able to go into a difficult environment where, again, it’s a two-hour bus ride against a team that we know nothing about. We’ve never played them before. And just to be able to go out be nice and calm and composed, get us into situations where we could finish drives. For him to get his first win as a starting quarterback was good. He just does a little more and more each game. It’s impressive how quick he’s picking everything up.”

Box Score

Saugus 20, Falmouth 12

1st Quarter:

S – Tommy DeSimone 1 yd. run (Connor Bloom kick) 7-0

3rd Quarter:

S – Tommy DeSimone 38 yd. run (kick failed) 13-0

4th Quarter:

S – Jordan Rodriquez 19 yd. TD pass to Ameen Taboubi (Bloom kick) 20-0

F – Tre’Chaun Days 86 yd. kickoff return (rush failed) 20-6

F – Collin Govoni 12 yd. run (rush failed) 20-12