Tag Archives: Ryan Archer

June 9, 2021 · 9:52 pm

Cael Kohan impressive in 7-2 Triton win over Newburyport

Cael Kohan (1) congratulated after victory

(Newburyport MA) “It was a good baseball game for six innings,” lamented Newburyport coach Mark Rowe afterwards.

Triton erupted for five runs in the seventh inning and claimed a, 7-2, win over the Clippers.

Senior Cael Kohan was the complete-game winner for the Vikings.

“Cael was awesome,” said Triton coach Ryan McCarthy post-game.

“In this (hot) weather, I kept checking with him and he just wanted to go back out there,” said Coach McCarthy. “He was gutsy out there.”

Cael scattered four hits and recorded nine strikeouts. He also drove in the go-ahead run in the game-turning seventh inning.

“We’ve been in a bit of a funk at the plate the last couple of games but the pitching we’ve faced has something to do with it,” said Coach Rowe. “Cael pitched a great game.”

Cael said that he felt, “really great after the game. I could go again.”

Triton (7-6) went up by two after 3 ½ innings. Brady Lindholm and Joe Abt had RBIs.

The Clippers (10-3) tied it in their half of the fourth inning on a Ryan Archer two-run single to rightfield.

“We were up by two,” said Coach McCarthy, “but Newburyport came back. They are a very good team.”

The fourth was the only inning that Cael struggled as he gave up three walks and hit a batter. “I fell apart in that one inning,” said Cael.

But after the Ryan Archer two-run single, Cael regained control. A couple of strikeouts minimized the damage in the fourth inning. He allowed only two baserunners over the final three innings.

Luke Stallard started for Newburyport and limited the Vikings to two runs over 5+ innings.

Jack Fehlner finished the sixth for Newburyport.

“In the seventh there was a leadoff walk and then Triton really started hitting the ball,” recalled Coach Rowe. “Jack is one of the best pitchers in the league and they just teed off on him. But those things happen. He’ll be back.”

A walk (Tim Carter), a sacrifice bunt (DJ Watson), and a wild pitch put pinchrunner Stone Butler on third with one out. Next was a walk (Brady Lindholm). Still no runs yet but three straight run-producing singles followed by Cael Kohan, Kyle Odoy, and Joe Abt.

Later, Ryan Lindholm had an RBI double.

“We wanted to put some pressure on them,” said Coach McCarthy. “We had some great at-bats in the last inning.”

Cael enjoyed the five-run lead going into the bottom of the seventh inning. “I was confident that my team would make plays behind me. I was just throwing strikes.”

Cael said, “My curveball was great. I was hitting my spots with the fastball.”

Junior Joe Abt led the Triton attack with three hits and two RBI.

Cael Kohan, Kyle Odoy, and Ryan Lindholm each had two hits for the Vikings.

Luke Stallard paced Newburyport with two hits. Ryan Archer had two RBI.

The two teams faced each other on opening day in May and the Clippers put a six-run inning together defeating Triton, 10-4.

The last ten times the two teams have faced each other they have each won five times.

The teams will meet again in the Spofford championship game on Saturday at Georgetown.

After two straight days of games being cancelled because of the heat, it was good to see games being played even with temperatures in the 80s.

Cael pitched an impressive game today, but his college future involves another sport, golf. He’ll be playing golf at Bryant University in the fall.

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

SS Brady Lindholm handled the last two outs

Connor Stick steals 2nd as SS Brady Lindholm reaches to tag

Luke Stallard went 5+ innings for Newburyport

Kyle Odoy slides in with a triple as Demitri Connor takes throw

Ryan McCarthy and Mark Rowe go over the rules pre-game

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Filed under Newburyport, Triton

Tagged as Cael Kohan, Joe Abt, Kyle Odoy, Luke Stallard, Ryan Archer, Ryan Lindholm

May 11, 2021 · 10:39 pm

Newburyport hitting key to 7-1 win vs Pentucket

Jake Buontempo (gold helmet) congratulated after 2-run homer in sixth inning

Sophomore Owen Tahnk won his first varsity start.

(Newburyport MA) “Our whole team swings the bat well,” said Newburyport coach Mark Rowe post-game.

That skill was certainly on display today with eleven hits recorded for the home team.

Eight different Clippers (2-0) had hits as they defeated Pentucket, 7-1, on Tuesday afternoon at Pettingell Field in Cape Ann League action.

Meanwhile, the pitching of Owen Tahnk and Jack Fehlner held Pentucket to three hits. Only one of those hits came over the final five innings.

The Sachems (1-2) led early, 1-0, and could have had more. They had the bases loaded with one out in the third inning but came up empty.

“We’ve got to do a better job swinging the bat with runners in scoring position,” said Pentucket coach Kevin Murray.

Trevor Kamuda and Bryce Winter pitched for the Sachems.

Sophomore Owen Tahnk got the win for the Clippers going five innings in his first varsity start, giving up three hits, and striking out five.

“Owen was dominant early,” said Coach Rowe. “When he did get some baserunners (bases loaded in the 3^rd, second and third in the 5^th) he managed to find a way out of it. I’m incredibly proud of him.”

The Clippers struck twice with two outs; first in the fourth inning and then in the fifth.

In the 4^th, the runs came on a Luke Stallard double, an intentional walk to Jake Buontempo, and a bases-clearing double by Ryan Archer over the leftfielder’s head.

“The pitch was in my sweet spot, a little inside, a little low,” recalled Ryan Archer. “I just wanted to put it in play.

Those two runs gave Newburyport the lead, 2-1.

In the 5^th, Charlie Forrest was hit by a pitch and took second on a passed ball. Jack Fehlner’s double to left scored Charlie, and Tony Lucci’s next-batter double scored Jack.

Jack Fehlner had 2 hits, an RBI, and 2 innings of scoreless relief

The Clippers added three runs to their 4-1 margin in the sixth inning.

In that 6^th inning, Newburyport had four straight hits off reliever Bryce Winter.

The big shot was Jake Buontempo’s 2-run homer over the leftfield fence.

“It felt really good off the bat,” said Jake afterwards. “It was a fastball up and in. I caught it at the right time, and it just flew. It was my first home run in high school.”

Junior Quinn Fortuna drove home the seventh Newburyport run.

Coach Murray: “I thought we pitched well. We just didn’t swing the bats. We were better than what the score shows. We’re two weeks in with room to grow.”

Coach Rowe: “It was a good baseball game. I give the (Trevor) Kamuda kid a lot of credit. He was your typical crafty lefty. He threw strikes and he kept us off balance. We had hits at key opportunities.”

The defense was solid for both teams. Trevor Kamuda started a double play in the first inning. Shortstop Andrew Melone made a nice running catch in short left to end the Newburyport second.

The weather was good. It was breezy but the fielders didn’t let it bother them.

In the Newburyport win over Triton, the game ended on a running catch in foul territory. More of the same today, as 1B Charlie Forrest avoided the out-of-bounds line to catch the final out.

Ryan Archer: “We’re just two games in with a long way to go. We’ve got bigger goals than winning this game today.”

You know it’s not your day when you’re driving past the game and a foul ball catches your car on the roof as it did to some unlucky driver today.

Pettingell Field looked to be in terrific shape. I saw why afterwards when every member of the Newburyport team went to work on it to keep it that way.

(All of the pictures should enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

(Some of the pictures will end up on Instagram eventually.)

Two of the Cape Ann League’s best athletes

Ryan Archer drove in the first two Newburyport runs

Jake Buontempo and Luke Stallard scored on Ryan Archer’s double

3B Luke Stallard gets a forceout to end the Pentucket 3rd inning

Leftfielder Alex Pinkham chases a hit to the outfield

Alex Pinkham scores while catcher Nick White waits for the throw

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Filed under Newburyport, Pentucket

Tagged as Jack Fehlner, Jake Buontempo, Owen Tahnk, Ryan Archer, Will Roberts

May 6, 2021 · 11:20 pm

Newburyport hits and fields its way to a 10-4 win over Triton

Jax Budgell slides home safely during Newburyport’s six-run fourth inning

(Rowley MA) Newburyport made full use of the equipment they brought.

The Clippers collected twelve hits defeating Triton, 10-4, at Eiras Park in the season opener for both teams on a sunny Thursday afternoon.

And then there were the gloves.

Sometimes you’ll get one catch that earns a star in the scorebook. On this afternoon, all the Clippers outfielders (Ryan Archer, Jake Buontempo, Jax Budgell) had highlight moments.

“We have some great outfielders,” understated NHS starter Jack Fehlner afterwards.

Newburyport picked up six runs in the fourth inning with two outs and Triton couldn’t completely recover.

The Vikings did recover enough to close to 6-4 with a run in the 4^th and three in the 5^th.

Newburyport starter Jack Fehlner ended both of Triton’s run-producing innings with called strikeouts to limit their comeback attempts.

Jax Budgell makes a diving catch to end the game

“Triton is a very good hitting team,” said Jack.

Ryan Archer scored twice for the Clippers

“When Triton was down by six, I told the team between innings that they won’t lay down,” said Coach Mark Rowe, “and they didn’t.”

Catcher Nick White, usually known for his defense behind the plate, was instead recognized (by me) for his hitting. And why not, he had three hits and four RBI.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a hitting game like this before,” explained Nick.

“With the rain recently, we’ve done a lot of hitting under the stadium and I think it paid off,” said Coach Rowe.

Senior Ryan Archer also had three hits that turned into three RBI.

“Newburyport is a good team,” said Triton coach Ryan McCarthy. “They have returning players and they’re aggressive at the plate.”

Triton managed seven hits with senior Brady Lindholm getting two hits for the Vikes.

Things did not go Triton’s way in Newburyport’s six-run fourth inning. The Vikings nearly had baserunner Charlie Forrest picked off. Later in the same inning, Newburyport loaded the bases with two outs and no runs in at this point. An infield grounder didn’t result in an inning-ending force-out and two runs scored. Four more Clippers runs would follow before Triton could stop the damage.

“It stung that they got six with two outs,” recalled Coach McCarthy.

The Vikings rallied back in the 4^th and 5^th. Cael Kohan’s bases-loaded single gave Triton its second run.

Kyle Odoy followed with a grounder to 3B Demetri Connor. Demetri tried for a force at home, but his throw was wide, and two Vikings crossed the plate.

“I thought Jack (Fehlner) pitched great,” said Coach Rowe. “We made some mistakes in the inning they scored three runs.”

Sophomore Owen Tahnk pitched the last two innings for Newburyport.

Owen’s pitching probably won’t be remembered very much because it was during his two innings that Newburyport’s outfield trio put on their show.

In each of the catches, the outfielder had to dive forward to get the ball………and it worked for all three of them.

Plenty of sun and plenty of spectators.

“It was great weather, and we had a chance to play the game we love,” said Coach McCarthy.

Nick White: “Any time you can put up double-digit runs you’ve had a good hitting night. I think that our two pitchers (Jack Fehlner, Owen Tahnk) will be among the best in the league.”

Besides getting twelve hits, the Clippers took eight walks. Triton had only one walk.

Not counting today’s game, the last eight times these teams had met they had each won four times.

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

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Filed under Newburyport, Triton

Tagged as Brady Lindholm, Jack Fehlner, Jake Buontempo, Jax Budgell, Nick White, Ryan Archer

October 17, 2020 · 5:19 pm

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.”

Newburyport seniors honored

Newburyport seniors were honored pre-game.

The Clippers are undefeated in their last seven meetings with the Royals. There have been three ties.

I will post this story on my blog (McClelland Miscellanea). I am also on Twitter (McClellandPeter) and Instagram (McClellandMiscellanea)

All the pictures will enlarge if you click on them.

Sean Lavell and Ronan Brown

Evan Philbrook and Spencer Colwell

John Donovan makes a save for NHS

Zach Rosa and Adam Sadler

Ryan Archer and Brady O’Donnell

Graham Smith and Aidan Maguire

Kyle Davies makes a leaping save

Ronan Brown and Cam Rooney

Kyle Davies saves in front of Brady O’Donnell

Aidan Maguire kicks. Chris Thoreson defends

loose ball

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Filed under Georgetown, Newburyport

Tagged as Brady O'Donnell, Coach Chris DiFranco, Coach Shawn Bleau, Max Gagnon, Owen Spence, Ryan Archer

September 16, 2019 · 10:32 pm

Manchester-Essex overcomes two-goal deficit to tie Newburyport 2-2

Kellen Furse in on GK Stefan Berlind

Josh McPherson over the sliding tackle of Ryan Archer

(Newburyport MA) Both teams are still undefeated in the Cape Ann League but there wasn’t a lot of celebrating after today’s game.

“I thought we had them,” said Newburyport coach Shawn Bleau afterwards. “We were up 2-0 and playing well.”

The Clippers took a 2-0 lead with 16:37 left in the second half. They had taken more shots and certainly had been set up with more corner kicks.

But the Hornets (4-1-1) can score and in a span of just over a minute had the two goals back.

“Newburyport scored that second goal and it would have been easy for us to put out heads down, but we didn’t,” recalled ME coach Robbie Bilsbury. “It was great that we were able to battle back.”

Will Acquaviva after scoring the Clippers 2nd goal

Freshman Will Acquaviva had a goal and an assist for Newburyport (2-0-3) while sophomore Naderson Curtis did the same for Manchester-Essex.

Yes, Will is Sam’s brother. Sam moved from soccer and became a tremendous long-distance runner for the Clippers. He’s now a freshman at MIT.

“We knew about Will in youth soccer,” said Coach Bleau. “I coached Sam before he turned to cross country. Luckily, for us, Will likes soccer a little more than running.”

Ryan Archer dribbles in traffic

The Clippers, led by super-active Ryan Archer, were relentless in harassing ME in their own end in the first half. “We knew that we could pressure them carrying out from the back,” said Coach Bleau. “Ryan Archer did a great job.”

Newburyport also had Max Gagnon shadowing Hornets playmaker Kellen Furse.

The Clippers took a 1-0 lead with about nine minutes left in the first half. Junior Owen Spence collected the goal off a tremendous feed from Will Acquaviva.

“We’ve been working on bringing the ball to the end line and cutting it back across,” said Coach Bleau. “Will came in on the left and sent the ball across to Owen Spence on the right. Owen wasted no time in getting off a shot. It was nice to see them execute something we’ve been working on in practice.”

Ryan Archer shoots at GK Ben Goutal

Junior Ryan Archer set up the Clippers second goal. “It was Ryan hustling his butt off,” added Coach Bleau. “He got off a shot and their keeper made a terrific save.” But there was a rebound and Will Acquaviva was there to cash it in.

The goal happened at 16:37 and you did sense at the time that it was more likely that Newburyport would score the next goal.

Why? They now had a two-goal lead, it was hot, they were playing at home……..but it didn’t matter.

“Newburyport asserted themselves early,” said Coach Bilsbury. “They were tough on every 50/50 ball, won headers, slide tackled, hustled, and outworked us. We wanted to impose our possession style on them because they were closing us down. We picked up our scrappiness in the second half. Getting that first goal was crucial.”

The first ME score was not only timely but it came quickly after the Newburyport score…….just under ninety seconds later (15:12).

“Striker Naderson Curtis found a little pocket of space and fed a pass through to Kellen Furse near the goalie,” said Coach Bilsbury. “Kellen was able to poke the pass by the NHS goalie (Stefan Berlind).”

Graham Smith (2) slides across the goal line trying to keep a shot out

Kellen and Stefan arrived at the ball at the same time and the resulting collision sent the ball toward the goal. Defenders Cameron McDermott and Graham Smith did everything they could to keep the ball from crossing the goal-line. Graham slide across the goal mouth but the shot had crossed the line.

Just over a minute later (14:01) the Hornets stunned the home team with another goal.

“It was a corner kick,” recalled Coach Bilsbury. “There was pressure on the goalie, and he may have mishandled it, but we’ll take it. Getting the equalizer was huge for us.”

Incoming corner kick that turned into a goal

The ME pressure was supplied by a jumping Thomas Birkeland who effected a clear look at the CK and by Eli Cox who was very close to GK Stefan Berlind.

“We had breakdowns in the back on both of their goals,” said Coach Bleau. “Our keeper needs to talk up a little bit more. It’s something we can fix. Missing a play can happen but not being vocal back there shouldn’t.”

Coach Bleau: “We’ve had a couple of ties. It’s tough. It’s bad on our stomachs. Hopefully our guys can pick up on that and turns ties into wins in the future.”

One area the Clippers will have to get better on is corner kicks. They had plenty of them and just couldn’t get the ball and bodies near the ME goalie Ben Goutal and create scoring chances.

Beautiful weather in a terrific stadium to play soccer and to watch soccer.

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

Kellen Furse jarred the ball loose from GK Stefan Berlind and a goal resulted

Hornets celebrate a goal

Clippers celebrate a goal

Emerson Khale and Ryan Archer

Harry Costello and Marcos Pasquale

Henry Acton (15) and Jake Edwards (17)

Jamie Brooks

John Fehlner throw-in

Max Gagnon (14) shadows Kellen Furse (10)

Naderson Curtis readies a corner kick

Owen Spence (11) gets a shot past GK Ben Goutal

Thomas Birkeland (4) and Henry Acton (15) vie for the ball

Thomas Birkeland

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Filed under Manchester-Essex, Newburyport

Tagged as Kellen Furse, Naderson Curtis, Owen Spence, Ryan Archer, Will Acquaviva

April 13, 2019 · 10:02 pm

Casey McLaren and Tyler Koglin lead Newburyport by Masco 2-1

Casey McLaren congratulated by teammates Tommy Murphy and Nick White

2B Tyler Koglin

(Newburyport MA) Casey McLaren didn’t even see the play.

The tying run on third. One out in the final inning.

Masco’s Matt Aldrich flaired a blooper to right with trouble written all over it.

“I headed for home,” recalled Casey afterward, “to back up a throw.”

But then Casey heard cheering. “It took me a few seconds to realize that we’d gotten an out.”

Newburyport second baseman Tyler Koglin caused the cheers by racing back into right and making a remarkable over-the-shoulder catch to keep Andrew Gotts from scoring from third.

Tyler then handled the final grounder and the home team (Newburyport) had a 2-1 win over Masconomet on a summer-like Saturday afternoon in Cape Ann League action.

“That play the second baseman made in the last inning saved the game for them,” said Chieftains coach TJ Baril. “That’s a real tough catch for a second baseman to make.”

Mark Rowe and TJ Baril

Newburyport coach Mark Rowe was equally enthusiastic about Tyler’s catch: “As far as making a big play in a special situation, his catch would rank near the top of the list in all the years I’ve been coaching.”

And then there was the pitching!

Senior Casey McLaren had a no-hitter going into the seventh and finished with a one-hitter.

Easy to overlook was Masco’s pitching but it was also solid. Freshman Erik Sibbach yielded only four singles in 3 innings while sophomore Aaron Zenus followed and held Newburyport hitless during his three innings of work.

Ryan Archer had an RBI single

“It was your classic pitcher’s duel,” said Coach Baril.

The Clippers (2-1) put three of their four hits together in the second inning and produced two runs out of it.

Parker McLaren singled to short center and went to second on a passed ball with no outs. Tommy Murphy followed with an infield hit moving Parker to third and then took second on an infield out.

A wild pitch brought Parker home and advanced Tommy to third. Ryan Archer’s bloop single to center scored Tommy with the eventual game winner.

Casey McLaren

Casey McLaren was overpowering. He retired the first eleven Masco batters before walking Pat Costigan in the 4^th. The Tufts commit had eight strikeouts.

An error (Tyler Koglin) gave Masco a baserunner with two out in the 5^th but Casey ended the inning striking out Ethan Cote.

The seventh inning was the big test for the Clippers. Casey walked leadoff batter Pat Costigan on four pitches. Andrew Gotts then lined Masco’s first hit to center.

“When Casey works ahead in the count, good things happen, “said Coach Rowe. “In the seventh he fell behind the first batter, walked him, and then anything could have happened.”

Last year the Chieftains slugged twenty-two homers. Almost all of those HR’s graduated. Therefore, this year Masco is developing other ways to score runs. One of those ways is to be aggressive on the bases. In their opening win (6-2) over Lynn Classical the Chieftains had five steals.

Seventh inning action with the tying run on third

Today in the 7^th with two on and no outs, the Chieftains successfully executed a double steal. Next thing you knew, a wild pitch led to Masco’s first run and moved the other runner to third with no outs. Suddenly the outcome wasn’t so certain.

But then Casey surrounded Tyler’s terrific catch with two infield grounders and the Clippers had their second win of the young season.

“It was a great Cape Ann League game,” said Coach Rowe. “Two pretty good teams that should be in it in the end.”

Casey said that he was aware that he hadn’t given up any hits. “I started thinking about it in the fifth inning. Last year I had several one-hitters so I wanted to finally get a no-hitter, but it will have to wait. Getting the win was more important. Both of my pitches were working well. My curve ball was big against the top of their order.”

The weather was very pleasant and brought out a good crowd.

Part of the crowd at Pettingell Field

Coach Rowe: “Casey was outstanding. He pitched some pretty good ones at the end of last season. It’s hard for me to rank them however in this one he was as in command as he has been in a long time.”

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

Final out

Andrew Gotts had Masco’s first and only hit

Caught in a rundown

Erik Sibbach

Parker McLaren scores on a wild pitch in the second inning

Pat Costigan

Pat Costigan scores in the seventh

Ryan Archer steals second

Trouble in the field

Tyler Koglin about to throw to first

Shortstop Will Hunter and Tommy Greene

Shortstop Will Hunter fields a grounder

Tommy Murphy

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Filed under Marianapolis, Masconomet, Newburyport

Tagged as Casey McLaren, Coach Mark Rowe, Coach TJ Baril, Erik Sibbach, Pat Costigan, Ryan Archer, Tyler Koglin

January 5, 2018 · 11:48 pm

Newburyport explodes in the 4th quarter and defeats Lynnfield 68-55

George Coryell (16 pts) guarded by freshman Jack Ford

Ryan Archer (17 pts) in the lane with Billy Arseneault

(Newburyport MA) This game was close into the final quarter, and I thought it would go down to the wire.

Newburyport didn’t let that last-shot thing happen, however, as they exploded in the fourth quarter with thirty-one points and defeated Lynnfield, 68-55 on Friday night in Cape Ann League action.

This game was tied seven times with the final tie (45-45) with 5 ½ minutes left. After that the combination of Ryan Archer long range and George Coryell drives did in the Pioneers.

Ryan’s two 3-pointers and George’s four layups were the major pieces in a 16-6 run for the home team that sealed this one for the Clippers.

“They figured out our weakness (defending on ball) and they took advantage of it,” said Lynnfield coach Scott MacKenzie afterwards.

George Coryell got to the basket four straight times to key the Clippers separation run. I mentioned George to Newburyport coach Dave Clay and all he said was, “Wow!”

Casey McLaren (22 pts) had seventeen in the first half

George took the ball to the basket throughout the game but in the final quarter there was no help from other Pioneers’ defenders. Why? “They paired George Coryell with Casey McLaren on the wing, so we couldn’t offer help,” said Coach MacKenzie, “It was a smart play.”

Anyone playing Newburyport (6-1) knows the trouble 6-5 Casey McLaren can cause. And the junior caused plenty of that in the first half with seventeen points. “Casey kept us in the game in the first half,” said Coach Clay.

Casey has the size to shoot over players and the driving skills to thwart perimeter overplays. What I didn’t see was him posting the undersized Pioneers in close to the basket.

Casey finished with twenty-two points. Teammates Ryan Archer (17) and George Coryell (16) reached double figures.

Billy Arseneault (16 pts) defended by George Coryell

I saw Lynnfield twice last year and was quickly dazzled by #11 (Billy Arseneault). “Billy is a phenomenal plaer,” said Coach Clay. “We did our best to contain him but he’s going to have points.”

Billy ended up with sixteen points. The senior was the Player-of-the-Year in the CAL Kinney Division last season.

Billy not only shoots well but he is also a terrific dribbler and passer. He isn’t Kyrie Irving, but he sure looked like the Celtic guard on some of the plays he made against Newburyport.

Zach Shone led the Pioneers with twenty points. He led Lynnfield in chasing down offensive rebounds.

“They had extra chances,” said Coach Clay, “but it wasn’t due to a lack of effort on our part. We need to work on rebounding in practice.”

Zach Shone (20 pts) and Billy Arseneault

The Pioneers graduated nine seniors off last season’s 18-5 team. “We’re trying to find our bench,” said Coach MacKenzie. “We are really only playing five kids and we got tired at the end of this game.”

Coach Clay has great respect for Scott MacKenzie: “I think Lynnfield has the best coach in the league.”

This is Coach Clay’s first year coaching at the school he teaches at. “I am still trying to get to know the team.”

Newburyport went from a 5-point third quarter to a 31-point fourth quarter.

Lynnfield (4-2) certainly didn’t help themselves at the foul line missing twelve of twenty-eight attempts. It is always a challenge shooting free throws with the Nbpt student section under the basket. Matt Mortellite missed four straight facing the hostile crowd in the second quarter.

It was the first time I have seen Newburyport cheerleaders at a basketball game.

(All of the pictures will enlarge considerably if you click on them.)