Miles brothers help Newburyport football open with huge win over Masconomet

Kyle Gaudette, The Daily News of Newburyport, Mass.
·2 min read

Sep. 12—The Newburyport football team made a loud opening statement Friday night.

Led by brothers Ryan and Sean Miles, the Clippers avenged their loss to Masconomet a year ago and got to celebrate a season-opening 28-20 victory over the Chieftians. Sean, a junior, was making his first start at quarterback and completed 13-of-25 passes for 213 yards and three touchdowns. And his top target was big brother Ryan, a senior co-captain, who hauled in 8 passes for 132 yards and two TDs.

Newburyport led 28-14 late in the fourth quarter before Masconomet scored with just over two minutes left to make it 28-20. The Chieftains only had one timeout left, however, so even though the Clippers went 3-and-out on their ensuing possession there was only 15 seconds left after they punted. The Clippers were in a deep prevent defense on a final play that lasted "about 35 seconds," according to Coach Ben Smolski, but after a handful of laterals that made things interesting, the Clippers finally made the tackle to end the game.

"It was really the kids competing hard out there," said Smolski. "From the start of the game, the message to them was to do your job and control the controllables, and they did just that. Offensively, they were able to execute and get the ball in the end zone four times, which is what you like to see. and defensively, they played great team defense and were good on their assignments."

Newburyport led 13-7 at halftime, and scored twice after the break to make it 28-14 heading into the fourth quarter.

Besides the Miles brothers, both Kane Brennan and Jack Sullivan were efficient running the ball, and wideout Iyobosa Osazuwa made some big catches. On the defensive side of the ball, Will Walsh, Peter Osazuwa and Jack Sherman were credited with good games, as was inside linebackers Chris Salvatore.

"It was good seeing Sean Miles in his first varsity start at QB," said Smolski. "He's worked really hard in the offseason. Both Kane Brennan and Jack Sullivan were good spending time at running back, and the offensive line really stepped up with a lot of new starters in the unit."

Newburyport has its home opener on Friday when it hosts Bedford at 6:30 p.m.