Still kicking: Port boys have one game to decide fate

By John Shimer, The Daily News of Newburyport, Mass.

Nov. 3--NEWBURYPORT -- To fittingly quote Dr. Frankenstein in the spirit of this past weekend's Halloween, "It's alive." Barely.

After escaping with two late and timely goals over Amesbury on Friday night and scoring a goal in the opening 20 minutes of their game with Methuen yesterday when Yazid Eideh's cross found Mike Falite for the only tally of the day for either side, the Clipper boys team has a date with a red hot North Andover tonight to determine their postseason fate. Only a win will suffice, as Newburyport's current record of 7-8-2 does not meet the .500 winning percentage barrier.

Additionally, the Clippers do not qualify for the Sullivan Rule, where if a school that plays 70 percent or more of its schedule against schools in a higher division, said school shall need only to play .500 or better in games in its own division to qualify for the state tournament. Although the Clipper boys were switched to Division 3 this year and play many teams from Division 1 and 2 in the CAL Large, all of the teams Newburyport plays in the Small are in Division 3 as well, and thus the Clipper schedule does not meet the 70 percent threshold.

"It gave us the right to try to get in (to the state tournament) in the last game of the season, which is nice," said Newburyport coach Shawn Bleau, whose team had been mired in a 0-8-2 slump until its win over Amesbury Friday. "North Andover is one of the best teams in the league, but we're going to go at them tomorrow night."

"We're going to have to mark up their big players (Gareth Dudney the CAL Large player of the year and Ross Marchand) in the midfield, especially No. 7 because he's kind of their big player and an incredible player," said Steve Bajko, who was back after serving his second yellow card suspension of the season. "We're going to have to score first and come out with double the intensity that we've had all season."

Hit hard with a rash of injuries over the course of the year, Bleau said the Clippers' depth got exposed at times, but he still did not expect the kind of fallout the team experienced over its recent losing streak.

"(Yesterday) was the first time in a couple of weeks we've had our full team going," said Bleau, whose team out-hustled, was more physical than, and simply out-scrapped Methuen in desperation mode to stay alive at least for one more day. "I expected to have ups and downs (this season), but I didn't expect to be as down as much as we were.

"But that kind of happens; soccer is a funny game. All of a sudden a bounce doesn't happen there, a bounce doesn't happen there, and I've been coaching long enough to see that happen way too often. Now things are bouncing our way a little. Hopefully, it's not too late for it to kind of keep going that way."

In addition to getting players back from injury, Bleau said it has taken the gritty efforts of players like Jim Riley and the enhanced leadership Justin Krusemark to get back on track.

"Jim had a really tough game on Friday night," Bleau said. "He had two assists and he's hurt, and he really gutted a game when we needed it. Those are the type of tough kids we have on our team.

"Justin has really stepped up in the back and really been a leader for us. He's been a difference for us not just in his play, but in his communication out there, and being vocal has stepped up our whole defensive play."

Cape Ann League Boys All-Stars

Cape ann league girls all-stars

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