Pinkerton football scores late to beat Exeter, save season
Brian O’Reilly was moments away from using up all of his timeouts.
EXETER – Brian O’Reilly was moments away from using up all of his timeouts.
But with his Pinkerton Academy football team down five points in the fourth quarter to Exeter, and the Astros season on the verge of coming to an end with a loss, and with the Blue Hawks bleeding the clocking, something unlikely happened.
Exeter fumbled and Pinkerton’s James Tulley recovered at the Astros’ 39-yard line with 2:56 left to play. Eight plays later, Nico Buccieri dove into the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown with 33 seconds left to give Pinkerton a 13-12 win over Exeter in a Division I game.
The likely gives Pinkerton (7-2) the No. 1 seed in the D1 South/East cluster, as the Astros should be the South Conference champions. The NHIAA will release official pairings for all three divisions of football early next week.
“That was a good gutcheck for our kids,” O’Reilly said. “For that defense to come up with a fumble, you don’t expect to do that to Exeter. They are a ball-control team, they’ve been doing it for years, and we knew he was going to keep it on the ground.
“I don’t know how that ball came out, but to get us that ball and then move right down the field, it showed me something. It makes me feel good about this team.”
Pinkerton moved the ball on that final drive on the legs of Buccieri and Brett Datillo, and with quarterback Ryan Albrecht throwing to Tulley. The duo combined for three completions – all of which went for first downs, including an 8-yard pickup on fourth-and-2 at the Exeter 14-yard line.
“I thought he was our best chance on fourth-and-2,” O’Reilly said. “I didn’t think running the ball would do much. If we had missed that, I would have been OK with that call.”
Albrecht finished the night going 10 of 15 for 109 yards and an interception through the air, with Tulley catching six passes for 73 yards. Datillo rushed for 78 yards while Buccieri and Mike Curley each had a touchdown run.
Exeter (7-2), which won the East Conference and should be the No. 2 seed in the cluster, got a big night from quarterback Kyle Ball. The junior was 6 of 8 for 108 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for 33 yards and a touchdown.
Ball hit Mason Wallace for a 6-yard score on Exeter’s second drive, but the extra point hit off the left upright, and the Blue Hawks led 6-0 with 1:51 left in the first quarter.
Pinkerton answered with a 17-play, 88-yard drive that took up over nine minutes. The Astros converted a second-and-15, two third downs and a fourth-and-1 on the drive before Curley found the end zone from 2 yards out to make it 7-6 Pinkerton.
It didn’t take Exeter long to retake the lead, going 65 yards in nine plays and using up a little more than three minutes. On the drive, Ball hit Hunter Long with a pass over the middle for a 37-yard gain, five plays later, Ball kept up the middle for a 2-yard scoring run.
But the Blue Hawks went for two and Jackson Allen couldn’t get in the end zone, making it 12-7 with 41.3 left before halftime.
Pinkerton opened the second half by getting down to the Exeter 17-yard line, which included successfully executing a fake punt on fourth-and-6. But on third down, Albrecht was picked off by Long and Exeter took over at its 13.
The Blue Hawks moved into Pinkerton territory on a 47-yard pass from Ball to Wallace on third-and-7, but the drive stalled and Exeter turned the ball over on downs at the Astros’ 36. Pinkerton was forced to punt and pinned Exeter at its own 5, but the Blue Hawks were able to move out to midfield.
But on first down from the Pinkerton 40-yard line, Exeter fumbled and the Astros pounced on the ball.
“I saw a great attack by my linemen and linebackers, and once I saw that ball loose, there was no way anyone else was getting it,” Tulley said of the play. “Pinkerton needed that ball.”
And now the Astros, who haven’t missed the playoffs since 2002, are in the postseason.
