FILE PHOTO.
Steffan Gravely and the Lynn Tech Tigers will look for a win at Northeast on Saturday morning.
By Steve Krause
There are games that are important for the purposes of tournament pairings and league standings. And then there are games that are just important, period.
Saturday’s Lynn Tech-Northeast Regional football game (10 a.m. at Northeast) would qualify as the latter. First, the two teams are natural rivals, and in the old days, they always squared off the Saturday before Thanksgiving when they had the spotlight all to themselves as the rest of the schools were preparing for Turkey Day games.
Second, each team has been touched by tragedy in recent memory. Ed Reppucci of the Golden Knights died in an auto accident on the same night after he threw the winning touchdown pass in a game. And on Thanksgiving night in 1987, Tech’s Rick Drislane, who, less than a week earlier, ran for more than 200 yards in his team’s victory over Northeast, was killed when the car in which he was riding crashed on Chatham Street.
At the conclusion of Saturday’s game, coaches Don Heres of Northeast and James Runner from Tech address the players about the importance of being responsible off the field, and talk about the importance of making the right choices.
“We all circle up and give a game ball,” said Runner. “And at our respective banquets, the player who win the awards in their honor will get plaques.”
As it happens, the game is also important on the field as this is the final week of regular-season play in Massachusetts high school football.
A win could leave the Tigers at either No. 4 or No. 5 in Division 4 going into next weekend’s playoffs. The Tigers could get in even with a loss, provided both Lowell Catholic and Manchester-Essex also lose their games.
“We’d rather win, and control our own destiny,” said Runner.
Tech has been on a roll since starting the season at 1-3, beating Minuteman two weeks ago and defeating Greater Lowell, 40-14 last Friday night to even their record. The backfield tandem of Steffan Gravely and Keoni Gaskins rushed for 181 and 147 yards respectively.
The Golden Knights are 4-2 and are coming off a 42-8 win over Whittier.
Tonight’s games (all of which begin at 7 p.m.) are Beverly at Classical, English at Marblehead, St. Mary’s at Austin Prep, Peabody at Danvers, Salem at Revere, Saugus at Gloucester, Cardinal Spellman at Bishop Fenwick, Swampscott at Winthrop (at E. Boston), and St. John’s at Bridgewater-Raynham.
Lynnfield is at Hamilton-Wenham Saturday (1 p.m.).
Salem at Revere
At DellaRusso Stadium, the game is vital for both teams. Revere, thanks to successive wins over Saugus and Swampscott (especially the Big Blue) is tied with Woburn for the eighth and final spot in Division 1A. Both Salem and Melrose, Woburn’s opponent this weekend, are Division 2A teams. The only difference is that Melrose is one game better at 4-2 than Salem’s 3-3, which would give the Tanners more points if both teams win.
Revere has shown a lot of improvement since September, culminating in the Patriots win last weekend, in overtime, at Blocksidge Field in Swampscott. In that game, Oscar Lopez scored three touchdowns and ran for 84 yards.
Last week, Salem fell at home to Gloucester, 48-28, and the Witches slipped all the way to No. 10 in Division 2A.
Swampscott at Winthrop
At East Boston Stadium, the Big Blue, despite two straight losses, are still in the hunt for a Division 3 playoff spot at No. 5. Winthrop won its game over Saugus last Saturday, and sit at No. 9 in Division 3A, almost two full points behind No. 8 Hamilton-Wenham (which plays Lynnfield Saturday).
Against Revere last Saturday, quarterback Colin Frary threw for two touchdowns and ran for another in the Big Blue’s overtime loss to Revere. Isaiah Bascon had matched Revere’s overtime score with a touchdown of his own, but the pass that would have provided the equalizer was batted down in the end zone.
The Vikings’ Chris Zuffante hit Jaidon Brown with two touchdown passes in their win over Saugus.
St. Mary’s at Austin Prep
At Austin Prep, the question is whether anyone can slow the Spartans down from hereon out as they seek to stay undefeated. In terms of points allowed, Cardinal Spellman came closest last week of any team St. Mary’s has played, and the score in that game was 36-7.
Abraham Toe shook off an ankle injury from the week before to score three touchdowns for the Spartans. His backfield running mate, Calvin Johnson, scored two. They also both went over 100 yards rushing, Toe with 130 and Johnson with 117.
Austin Prep is 2-4, and fell last week to Archbishop Williams, 30-6.
English at Marblehead
At Piper Field, the Magicians also seek to stay undefeated while the Bulldogs will try for their second win of the season.
Last week, Marblehead came to Manning Field and defeated Lynn Classical, 34-6. Quarterback Drew Gally ran for two touchdowns and passed for two more.
Three weeks ago, English seemed to be on the verge of figuring it out after the Bulldogs had gone into halftime against then-undefeated Beverly with a 14-0 lead. Since then, it’s been a downhill ride. English ended up losing that game, 24-14, and was blanked, 26-0, the following week before losing last week to Peabody, 41-8. Sophomore Matt Severance’s 10-yard run was English’s only score.
Beverly at Classical
At Manning Field, the Rams are almost carbon copies of their crosstown rivals. They were blanked by Peabody two weeks ago, 28-0 (their second straight shutout) before losing last week at Manning Field, 34-6, to Marblehead. Quarterback Matt Lauria’s 8-yard run accounted for Classical’s only score.
The Rams are not catching Beverly at the best time. The Panthers are trying to right themselves from a 2-game losing streak. They fell to Marblehead two weeks ago to get knocked off the undefeated bus, and then lost a slugfest to Danvers, 34-28. In that game, quarterback Kevin Morency connected on two late-game passes to make it a game after the Falcons had sprinted out to a 35-14 lead.
Saugus at Gloucester
At Newell Stadium, since losing in Week 2 to Beverly, the Fishermen are on fire. Conversely, Saugus is still snake-bitten at 0-6.
Last Saturday, at home against Winthrop, the Sachems’ Marvens Moise and Kyle Lennan scored touchdowns, and Chris McGrane added a field goal as they took a 16-14 lead into the fourth quarter. However, Winthrop’s Chris Zuffante hooked up with Jaidon Brown for the game-winning touchdown in a 22-16 win.
Gloucester was at Bertram Field in Salem last Friday night, and came away with a 48-28 win over the Witches.
Christian Sanfilippo ran for three touchdowns for Gloucester.
Spellman at Fenwick
At Donaldson Field, the Crusaders are in the third spot in Division 3, and it’ll take some doing to knock off Triton for the top spot if the Vikings keep winning. Between the two of them lies Watertown.
Fenwick has recovered nicely from its first loss regular-season loss in three years three weeks ago. The Crusaders defeated Austin Prep two weeks ago, and then clubbed Arlington Catholic last Friday night. Isaiah Cashwell-Doe scored three touchdowns and ran for 202 yards in that game.
St. John’s at Bridgewater Raynham
At B-R, the Eagles were foundering a month ago at 1-2, having lost back-to-back games to Central Catholic and Everett.
However, three straight Catholic Conference wins — the last one a 35-17 spanking of previously-unbeaten BC High, has propelled The Prep to the No. 4 spot — as of today — in Division 1. Should things remain the same, the Eagles would host Everett next weekend.
Mike Yarin threw for two touchdowns last weekend and passed for two more for The Prep.
Bridgewater-Raynham is 4-2 and is ranked No. 6 in Division 1A South.
Peabody at Danvers
At Dr. Deering Stadium, last week, the Falcons won a 35-28 slugfest over Beverly, with Dean Borders and Matt Andreas accounting for all five touchdowns. The Tanners defeated English, 41-8, with Jake Doherty scoring four touchdowns.
At 3-3, Peabody is ranked fourth in Division 1A.
Lynnfield at Ham-Wenham
At Hamilton-Wenham, the Pioneers were off last week while the Generals, 3-3, lost last week to previously-winless Amesbury — something that rattled a lot of cages in Division 3A, where Lynnfield resides.
Despite being idle, the Pioneers, 3-3, are No. 6 in 3A, more than a full point ahead of No. 7 Ipswich.