NEWBURYPORT – The Newburyport Clippers (4-2, 5-3) qualified for the MIAA D4 football playoffs with a 42-14 win Friday over the Ipswich Tigers (1-5, 1-7). Newburyport coach Ben Smolski is preparing his 16th-seeded team to face the no. 1 seeded Duxbury Green Dragons (7-0) Friday night at Duxbury.
Newburyport High School football coach Ben Smolski
Kyle Gaudette’s write-up in Newburyport Daily News:
Sean Miles was unstoppable for the Newburyport football team Friday night.
After missing a couple of games earlier in the year due to injury, the junior quarterback was slowly reintegrated back into the offense the past couple of weeks. But Friday night, he was back in a big way. Miles completed 10-of-13 passes for 138 yards and four touchdowns, while also rushing for 101 yards and another score to lead the Clippers to a much-needed 42-14 win over Ipswich.
Miles found older brother Ryan Miles for a pair of touchdowns, and also hit Jack Hadden and Logan Jones on scoring plays. The QB then kept it himself for his fifth score of the day, and Jack Sullivan rushed in the final TD for the Clippers (5-3).
A tie game after the first quarter, Newburyport found the endzone twice in the second to take a 21-7 lead over the Tigers (1-7) into halftime. Defensively, Kane Brennan led the Clippers with 7 tackles and a sack, Hadden added 6 tackles to bring his season total up to a team-high 48 and both Jones and Chris Salvatore chipped in 4 tackles.
Newburyport was ranked No. 17 in Division 4 in the latest MIAA poll, and needed a win on Friday to keep its playoff hopes alive. The Clippers will now wait to see if they jumped up at least one spot to get into the field when the postseason brackets get released on Monday.
Football Tournament Brackets
