The Masconomet Chieftains dominated host Newburyport in the 2025 football season opener Friday night, rolling to a 41-7 victory.
Right from the opening kickoff, it was apparent who was the more physical and talented team.
“We are a very capable offensive team. We have a lot of weapons and an offensive line that is only going to get better,” said second-year head coach Pat Sheehan. “(Friday night) was a really good start, and if we continue to climb, we’ll be a difficult offense to stop.”
After senior captain receiver and Bentley commit Cal Weidman had a 48-yard catch-and-run to set the Chieftains up in goal-to-go, it didn’t take long for them to find the end zone. Jack Fabiano, the 2024 Salem News Offensive Player of the Year who is headed to play football at Williams next year, punched in his team’s first touchdown from two yards out in the opening two minutes.
Fabiano picked up right where he left off last season, scoring on each of the next two drives as well — from 14 yards and eight yards out. He took 12 carries for 96 yards and was out of the game by halftime.
Fabiano’s running mate, senior running back Alex Cantalupo, then followed his big senior linemen, Cam “Booch” Bucchierre and Colby football commit Evan Velardo, into a huge hole and turned on the burners, taking it 64 yards to the end zone in the third quarter.
“Fabiano and Cantalupo make our lives so much easier,” said the 6-foot-5 Bucchierre. “When you have a great running back who, even when the play gets blown up, can still go get 5-to-10 yards, it’s just huge.”
As good as Fabiano and Cantalupo were, the offensive line played a big role in their success as Chieftain dominance was asserted in the trenches.
“In the first half, we had many great blocks, but I do think as a unit we need to be more violent. Going into Billerica next week, where they have a notoriously good line, we must be focused on getting our assignments down with more violence and fixing the minor issues,” said Bucchierre.
Masco’s player of the game was quarterback Drew “Gus” Gustafson. The signal-caller was firing on all cylinders, delivering beautiful throws all over the field. He completed 13-of-15 passes for a career-high 272 yards and two touchdown passes.
“Gus has been playing confident football at quarterback since game seven of last year and is just improving,” said Sheehan. “We are seeing just the beginning of Gus in a spread offense, where you have weapons and a lot falls on the quarterback to get his guys the ball. He played a great game.”
Gustafson’s favorite targets were Weidman and senior receiver Liam Ginley. Weidman had a 28-yard touchdown catch-and-run, and with 25 seconds left in the half, he caught his second on a 12-yard toe-tap fade. Weidman finished with six catches for 154 yards and two touchdowns while only playing offense in the first half.
Ginley’s performance was stellar as well, as he made some tough catches and hauled in a beautiful deep ball. Ginley finished with five catches for 103 yards.
“Cal and Liam did a great job getting open, the line did their job in the run game as well as in pass protection, and Fabiano did a great job running the ball,” said Gustafson.
Masco was excellent on the defensive side of the ball, pitching a shutout through the first 33 minutes. The defensive front was getting in and applying pressure, but unfortunately got hit hard with injuries as the game went on. Senior linebacker Connor Mitchell and senior safety Ryan Richardson laid big hits all over the field.
“I was very happy with us flying around, bringing lots of hats to the ball, and our physicality, but the defense is a piece of our program that needs to improve drastically, and we have a lot of cleaning up to do. Our eyes were off very often, but we made up for it with athletic and relentless play,” said Sheehan.
One standout player for Masco who may put the North Shore on notice this year is star senior kicker Nicco Cefalo. Cefalo has an amazing boot, hitting a 36-yard field goal in Masco’s scrimmage against Bedford a week prior. Against Newburyport, Cefalo was five for six on PATs and kicked two touchbacks.
In an upset that shocked Massachusetts last year, Masco now looks ahead to Billerica next Friday, knowing history never repeats itself — but it often rhymes. The Chieftains go into Billerica for a 7:00 p.m. kickoff, looking to improve to 2-0.
Masconomet 41, Newburyport 7
Masconomet (1-0): 21 13 7 0 — 41
Newburyport (0-1): 0 0 7 0 — 7
First Quarter
M — Jack Fabiano 2 run (Nicco Cefalo kick), 10:09
M — Fabiano 14 run (Cefalo kick), 7:58
M — Fabiano 8 run (Cefalo kick), :58
Second Quarter
M — Cal Weidman 28 pass from Drew Gustafson (kick failed), 5:25
M — Weidman 13 pass from Gustafson (Cefalo kick), :25
Third Quarter
N — Paul Suozzo 5 run (Nick Garbarino kick), 3:07
M — Alexander Cantalupo 66 run (Cefalo kick), 2:39
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: MASCONOMET (27-251): Jack Fabiano 12-96, Alexander Cantalupo 3-77, Tyler Durgan 6-40, Ryan Richardson 2-17, Jack Engel 3-11, Liam Ginley 1-10; NEWBURYPORT (): Jack Miller 13-61, Paul Suozzo 7-17, Cormac Morrissey 1-8, Wyatt Fischer 1-2, Augustine Freunlich 1-0, Owen Mongeau 1-(-1)
PASSING: M — Drew Gustafson 13-15-2-0, 272; N — Jack Miller 8-17-0-0, 157
RECEIVING: M — Cal Weidman 6-154, Ginley 5-103, Fabiano 1-8, Richardson 1-7; N — Matt Page 1-65, Henry Thurston 3-37, Braydon Fowler 1-34, Ben Buchmayr 1-20, Reid Tummala 2-1