Coach Chris DiFranco | McClelland Miscellanea

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October 8, 2021 · 10:43 pm

Clippers now 12-0 after 3-0 win over Royals

Georgetown GK Kyle Davies under attack from Henry Acton (6) and Max Gagnon (10)

(Newburyport MA) All Georgetown wanted to do was keep the game close on the scoreboard.

So they packed in the defense around goalie Kyle Davies.

The undefeated Clippers (12-0) were still able to win, 3-0, but their high-powered offense was slowed down a bit.

“We were just trying to keep it close,” said Georgetown coach Chris DiFranco afterwards. “I thought our guys did a good job at that.”

The Royals (3-8) gained some satisfaction defensively, but in doing so, they surrendered on the offensive end.

About thirteen minutes into the game, a weak roller reached Newburyport goalkeeper Owen Tahnk. That was the ONLY time he touched the ball the entire game.

Down the other end, Georgetown goalkeeper Kyle Davies was busy.

“It was crazy back there,” said Kyle postgame. “They had a ton of shots on net (20?), but I had my defense in front of me keeping me alive.”

Jameson Brooks and Henry Acton scored in the first half while Caelan Twitchell added a goal in the second half.

“Georgetown had a defensive plan for us, and it frustrated us for a bit,” said Coach Shawn Bleau of Newburyport afterwards. “They made it difficult for us after the first two goals.”

“They dropped a lot of guys back and were well organized,” added Coach Bleau. “They always had 2-3 players around our top players.”

“We did well possessing the ball,” recalled Clippers senior Jack Fehlner. “They didn’t seem to want to go on attack. They would boot it out. We would settle it and pass it around some more.”

“The score doesn’t show how well we played,” added Jack.

The Clippers moved closer to the school’s record for goals scored in a season. The record is currently forty-five. By adding three goals today they have now reached forty-four.

“We had some great goals today,” said Coach Bleau.

“We work in practice on getting the ball to the end line and then cutting it back,” said Coach Bleau. “That’s what happened on the first goal. Great timing and the shot (by Jameson Brooks) went inside the side post.”

“The shot was unstoppable,” said Royals GK Kyle Davies. “He got it at the top of the box and turned and shot. It went in the bottom corner.”

Jameson’s goal happened four minutes into the game.

Thirteen minutes later (23:21) it was Henry Acton’s turn to score. Instead of a pass to get closer to the goal, a back pass set Henry up further away from the goal. Henry had time to really get his foot into a shot.

“It was a complete bomb from twenty-five yards,” said Coach Bleau. “He couldn’t have gotten a much better hit.”

“It was just a rip to the top corner,” recalled Kyle Davies. “I couldn’t do anything about it.”

Coach DiFranco said that he, “hadn’t seen a shot like that all year.”

The Royals persisted with the defensive strategy in the second half.

“Their goalie was good,” said Jack Fehlner. “He’s big and he came out and caught a lot of our crosses.”

Although the outcome was settled, the Clippers wanted at least another goal.

“We pressed and pressed at the end to try and get one more goal on account of the ranking stuff,” said Coach Bleau.

With 7:50 remaining, Caelan Twitchell ruined Georgetown’s second-half shutout.

“It was off a side volley which is a pretty impressive shot,” recalled Coach Bleau.

“He made a good move,” said Kyle Davies. “It was a good turn-and-shoot.”

It has now been eight years since Georgetown had a win versus Newburyport.

The Royals have now lost four straight games. They have wins over Triton, Cristo Rey, and Hamilton-Wenham.

The twelve wins to open the season are the best in NHS history.

The Clippers have nine shutouts in their twelve wins. I did see NHS goalie Owen Tahnk make some saves in practice!

Newburyport is 49-14-17 since the start of the 2017 season.

I asked Coach Bleau what makes the 2021 team so good. “We have a lot of kids who came up through our youth system. They’ve been together for a while. We’ve got depth. We’re playing a lot of guys, so we don’t have any injuries.”

Coach DiFranco was very optimistic about the future for Newburyport this season. “They have a good chance at a state championship. It’s a special year for them.”

Senior Jack Fehlner has been a terrific athlete for NHS in soccer, basketball, and baseball. I asked him about next year: “I haven’t really decided. I probably won’t play soccer at the next level. It could well be baseball.”

New England weather! A nice warm morning and afternoon turned into a cold, windy evening.

(All pictures above and below will enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Will Acquaviva on the attack for Newburyport

Brady O’Donnell (2 goals/2 assists) in Clippers 5-0 shutout vs Georgetown

Brady O’Donnell (2 goals/2 assists) and Carson Purcell

Max Gagnon and Cam Rooney

(Newburyport MA) The weather changed but the Newburyport Clippers didn’t.

On a cloudy/rainy/sunny Saturday morning, the home team was consistently persistent and earned a 5-0 win over Georgetown.

“We have depth,” said NHS coach Shawn Bleau afterwards. “We can run eighteen players out there and not have much of a drop off.”

Pacing the Clippers (3-0-2) was junior Brady O’Donnell with two goals and two assists.

“Super exciting to win this one,” said Brady who had a hat trick against Amesbury last week. “Georgetown is always tough.”

Some NHS starters sat out 4th quarter

Newburyport was up by three at halftime and added two more in the third quarter. Many of the Clippers’ starters sat out the entire final period.

“Give Newburyport credit,” said Georgetown coach Chris DiFranco post-game. “They really dominated the play.”

The Royals (1-2-2) were missing their top two goalies (Luke van Galen & Riley Soucy) because of injuries.

Freshman Jake Gilstein started as a result. Sophomore Kyle Davies took over in the second half.

The Clippers poured into the Royals half of the field from the get-go. A direct kick by Trevor Ward turned into a rebound in front that senior Owen Spence cashed with an assist to Owen McNeil. Just over two minutes had gone by.

Ryan Archer (goal and assist)

Less than two minutes into the 2^nd quarter, another direct kick from the left (Ryan Archer) caromed loose on the right side and Brady O’Donnell hit the open spot.

Just over a minute later Max Gagnon boosted the NHS advantage to three. Max was in the middle with plenty of players in the way of an open, low shot on net. Instead of trying to shoot through the players, Max lofted a shot over them. It worked. Max caught the GHS goalie out from the net and his shot went just under the crossbar.

The Clippers, in five games, have only been scored on once and that was off a penalty kick. That 3-0 halftime lead was going to hard to come back against for the Royals.

“We’ve got to find our scoring,” explained Coach DiFranco. “We had chances today but didn’t finish.”

The Clippers, however, weren’t done finishing. They added two more goals in the third quarter.

Brady O’Donnell came in from the right, after a pass from Ronan Brown, with a defender (Cole Zadina) to his left. Brady was able to get off a low shot that went through the legs of GK Kyle Davies at 9:45.

Three + minutes later the “prettiest” goal of the day was scored. Brady O’Donnell had possession on the right side and was able to send a pass across the front. Ryan Archer, with perfect timing, redirected the pass past Kyle Davies.

Ryan Archer converts a crossing pass

“We’ve been working on crossing the ball on the ground, since we can’t head it,” explained Coach Bleau. “We’ve had similar chances this season, but this was the first one that ended in a goal.”

“It was an awesome pass (by Brady O’Donnell),” said Ryan Archer afterwards.

Coach Bleau rested numerous starters for the final quarter.

Coach DiFranco: “There’s no blame on the fill-in goalies today. They’re young and we didn’t help them very much.”

Ryan Archer: “The game (this year) is very different. You have to play a whole different style because there’s no heading.”

Coach DiFranco: “The season is so short (ten games) that every game really counts.”

Ryan Archer: “I am hoping at the end that there is a Cape Ann League tournament going and we get a championship here.”