For Pete's sake: Kinchley commands the field in baseball and football

It's been quite a year for Peter Kinchley, and it's not over yet.

Kinchley helped lead the American Legion baseball team all the way to the state finals, before losing to Brockton in August. He took a couple of weeks off, and then it was time to suit up for football. As the starting quarterback, he played a leading role again, bringing the team to the Division 3 Super Bowl playoffs Tuesday against Arlington Catholic, the Catholic Central Large champ.

But first, Kinchley and his teammates want to set the record straight in the annual Thanksgiving Day contest at Marblehead, starting at 10 a.m.

"It has been a wild ride, and a lot of fun," Kinchley said. "It didn't really surprise me, because as a [football] team, we've been working hard all along. The program has had great results in the past, and this year we have the right kids, and we have gelled together. It's the deepest team we have had in a while. There are no superstars, because we know that the strength is the team and its depth."

Swampscott lost just once this year, and that was against Gloucester, the NEC North Division winners, by a slim touchdown, 21-14.

"We knew after that game that we could have played better, but we also knew we were getting there," Kinchley said. "We had our team goals lined up before the start of the season. We wanted to get better every week, get focused in non-conference games for the first conference game against Winthrop and make the playoffs.

"It's the type of team this year that you knew you didn't have to win the game yourself," he said. "Everybody picks each other up. There was no pressure on anybody, including myself."

Kinchley gives much of the credit to coach Steve Dembowski, who devises the schemes that produce wins.

"[Dembowski] is awesome. You can't ask anything more from him," Kinchley said. "We have confidence in his schemes that would lead us to wins. We all believe in him. There were changes made this year to take advantage of our team speed. The defense has been awesome. They all help out with helmets on the ball."

Growing into position

The Kinchleys - Peter and his parents, Jim and Rebecca, and older brother, Doug - live on Walker Road, but Doug is away attending Palm Beach Community College in Florida.

Football comes naturally to Kinchley, who started playing with Swampscott Pop Warner when he was 8, but he didn't play quarterback until his freshman year.

"I was a running back, but the high school coaches saw potential in me as a quarterback. They probably thought I could absorb schemes very well," Kinchley said.

And with a 4.0 grade point average and the distinct possibility that he just might be attending Middlebury College in Vermont, majoring in economics, while playing both football and baseball, they couldn't be that far off in the evaluation process.

"I want to continue to play both sports, because I like them both. Being a pitcher in baseball is like being a quarterback, because you're always in control of the game," said Kinchley.

<p style="text-indent: 0in"> "The Super Bowl is in the back of our minds, but right now we're thinking about Marblehead. We know anything can happen on Thanksgiving, and we want to make sure we come out of this game with everybody in one piece."

At 6-foot-1, 180-pounds, Kinchley commands a physical presence that opponents have to be wary of on the gridiron, not to mention the pitchers mound in baseball. He will miss playing Swampscott football after the Super Bowl experience next week.

"I love being a part of this community playing on the high school football team," he said. "I feel a connection with the history of this program; it's going to be weird getting together one last time with this team next week. But I know we'll appreciate what it was like to be a part of this program the last four years."

Kinchley has made his mark in Swampscott sports, especially this year. He still has much to achieve, and he will always be ready for that next challenge.