WINTHROP — The Danvers football team was in danger of letting a win slip away last night at Miller Field.

But, just like it had done all night, the Falcon defense came up with the play to keep Winthrop an arm's length away.

Senior linebacker Dan Skinner stepped in front of Viking Frank Ambrosino for an interception that killed Winthrop's only scoring chance of the second half, and Danvers added a late touchdown to pull away for a 16-3 victory.

Pinned at its own 1-yard line, Winthrop punter Will Milano voluntarily stepped out of the back of the end zone, taking the safety that gave Danvers a 9-3 lead. Milano's free kick from the 20-yard line was then misplayed by Danvers, setting the Vikings up at the Falcon 33.

Three plays later, Skinner made the play that saved the day.

"Taking the safety was the best thing to do because we needed a touchdown anyway," Winthrop coach Sean Driscoll said. "The punt worked out when we got the turnover, but you just can't turn the ball over on crucial plays during crucial parts of the game."

Winthrop, which played without tailback Nick McCarthy who may be done for the year with a broken hand, leaned heavily on Milano, its signal caller.

Milano, who needs only four more touchdown passes to become Winthrop's all-time leader, was completely shut down by the Danvers defense in the second half. After completing 5-of-12 passes for 74 yards before intermission, Milano was limited to one completion on 11 attempts and three interceptions after the break.

"He can really play; he tore us apart last year," Danvers coach John Sullivan said of Milano. "Our defense really played tough. We held them to three points and a goal-line stand in the first half. We had talked about it at halftime, if we had to come out of here 7-3 we were going to."

Danvers took a 7-0 lead in the second quarter on a Clinton Lutz 29-yard run and a Greg Ladd extra point with a shade over three minutes left in the half.

Winthrop (3-6) came through with its best drive of the night late in the half, marching 67 yards to the Danvers 5-yard line. A Viking penalty and an incompletion forced Robert Deeb to kick a 27-yard field goal at the end of the half.

Danvers got two interceptions from Steve Hennessey and Skinner's pick led to John McInnis' 15-yard touchdown run that put the game out of reach late in the fourth quarter.

Danvers, which improved to 5-4, got a solid day from Lutz, who has taken over as the workhorse back since Eric Burgos was knocked out for the year due to injury. Lutz pounded through Winthrop's defense for 140 yards on 22 carries.

"Clinton is working well for us, and he's developed throughout the year," Sullivan said. "Now it's his time. He really carried the freight for us."