PEABODY— The Masconomet and Peabody football teams entered this one with 3-1 records, but Friday night at Coley Lee Field was all Chieftains, who defeated the Tanners, 29-7.

It was the ground game that did the trick for Masconomet, with Jack Fabiano (184 yards rushing) scoring three first-half touchdowns.

Toward the end of the first half, Peabody’s Jayce Jean-Pierre delivered with a timely interception. Other than that, however, rhythm was hard to find.

“We can’t take two steps forward and one step back – that was the story of today’s game,” said Peabody coach Mark Bettencourt. “We look great one play and then we have a 3-yard loss. We have to give Masconomet credit. They made some big plays, they had their backs against the wall, and they stepped up and made plays. We had trouble doing that, especially in the first half.”

The second half was better from the hosts, but not at first. Masconomet’s Ben Richardson scored a 20-yard rushing touchdown to put the visitors ahead, 29-0, in a shocking turn of events.

At last, the Peabody offense looked like itself with Luke Maglione finding Corey Dooley for a 29-yard touchdown pass.

Jean-Pierre snagged his second interception alongside a 56-yard return, but Peabody couldn’t capitalize on its ensuing drive. The clock ran out on a comeback attempt.

“We are having trouble coming out of the gate. Our first-quarter play has not been very good… I hate to say it, but it seemed like everything we were doing in practice, we didn’t do in the game,” Bettencourt said. “The second half, we played better.”

Prior to the game, Peabody honored student-athlete Freddy Espinal, a junior at the high school who died Sunday, Sept. 22 due to a medical emergency suffered during a wrestling practice.

Peabody visits Marblehead Friday, Oct. 18 with kickoff set for 7 p.m.

Owen Finn is a student at Endicott College studying journalism