Notebook

By Dave Doyle, Globe Staff, 12/2/2001

Reheating tasty holiday leftovers

By now, everyone has heard about St. John Prep's sensational Thanksgiving Day finish. Lonnie Hill caught a 54-yard Hail Mary in triple coverage thrown by quarterback Dan Ross for a 20-14 win over Xaverian that sealed the Catholic Conference title and a trip to the Division 1 playoffs for the Prep.

That game will be the standard by which all high school football games will be judged for a long time. But Thanksgiving football provides a lifetime of memories for all involved, and here's a sampling of some of the other North Shore gridiron highlights from a memorable day:

Swampscott junior Kyle Beatrice finished off a record-setting season with five touchdown passes in a 39-6 win over Marblehead. The 16-year-old finished with 34 TD passes, two ahead of the record set by Westwood's Greg Warren in 1988. Swampscott finished the season at 7-4.

Defending Division 6 champion Georgetown has made its reputation on its stingy defense, and the Royals came through again by scoring all their points off turnovers in a 27-6 win over Manchester/ Rockport in a game that determined the Commonwealth Small championship and a playoff berth.

Gloucester ran its win streak to 23 and won its 100th game in the past 11 seasons by erupting for 225 yards on three second-half rushing touchdowns in a 27-7 win over Danvers. Tyler Testaverde ran for a career-high 185 yards and a score in the win.

Haverhill's defense shut down a strong Lowell team to take a 14-0 win and force a three-way tie atop the Merrimack Valley Conference with Lowell and Central Catholic. The real highlight came after the game, though, as the Hillies then won a coin flip and advanced to the Division 2 playoffs.

Pentucket Regional took its third consecutive Cape Ann League championship and capped an undefeated regular season (11-0) with a 31-20 win over Triton. Mike Bianchi ran for 107 yards and two touchdowns to pace the Sachems.

Peabody extended its Thanksgiving winning streak over Saugus to 13 with a 41-14 victory. The Tanners held Saugus to one first down over the first three quarters and just 44 yards overall.

Here and there

The 17th annual Benedetto basketball jamboree, featuring some of the best boys' teams on the North Shore, will be held at Lynn English High School next Friday. The evening will open with Lynn Tech vs. Danvers at 5:30 p.m., followed by Beverly-Wakefield at 6:10, Marblehead-Bishop Fenwick at 6:50, Saugus-St. John's Prep at 7:25, Swampscott-Charlestown at 8:00, Lynn Classical-Peabody at 8:40, St. Mary's-Salem at 9:20, and Lynn English vs. Everett at 10. For more information, call Ron Bennett at 781-595-6728.

Congratulations to the North Shore-based Mass Chiefs baseball team, which recently won the Class AAAA over-40 Roy Hobbs World Series in Fort Myers, Fla. The Chiefs went 8-0 over a seven-day span to claim the top spot. Among the standouts for the Chiefs, in their third year of existence, were pitchers Bard Marques of Gloucester and Steve Kooshikitis of Peabody.

Kudos also to the Beverly Pop Warner B football team, which made it all the way to the New England championships before falling to Seymour, Conn., in the finals on Friday. Beverly won the Class C NE championship last season.

Got an item for the notebook? Call 781-826-1077 or send an e-mail to ddoyle@globe.com.

This story ran on page 11 of the Boston Globe's North Weekly section on 12/2/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.