Friday night provided a great lesson on why high school sports are as unpredictable as they often are.
There was a doubleheader at Manning Field, and both games involved red-hot teams from Lynn that looked –on paper at least — to have a fairly easy time. Classical had Revere while English dealt with North Reading.
Classical put up 39 and 41 points in its first two wins over Medford and Malden, while Revere had taken it on the chin at the hands of Gloucester and Marblehead.
Now, losing games to the Fishermen and the Magicians kind of gives you a false sense of security if you’re the next team on the schedule. It shouldn’t, but it the feeling invariably seeps in. And it seeps in more if you’re the ones playing a team that been blasted twice than the other way around. After all, if you’re Revere, you have to be asking yourself, “well how much worse can the schedule get?”
So, the inevitable happened. Revere showed up at Manning Field Friday night ready to play and gave Classical all it could handle. A little more experience on offense and the Patriots could have won that game.
This isn’t to say Classical mailed it in. To suggest that would be an insult to anyone over there. But after such a spectacular first two weeks there was bound to be somewhat of a letdown.
It was really no surprise that the game turned into a defensive struggle either. Revere coach Lou Cicatelli said all along his defense would keep the Patriots in games, and that was certainly the case Friday. Classical’s defense is pretty good too, though. Through the first two weeks, the Rams had given up only seven points. They only gave up six Friday night.
A 12-6 Classical win in overtime, then, is pretty much what we should have expected. All the elements were there for a struggle.
As was the case in the nightcap, a 14-0 English win over North Reading. The Bulldogs experienced some breakdowns that they’d managed to avoid in wins over Beverly and Somerville. And the win really wasn’t secured until late in the fourth quarter when English punched its second touchdown in.
But here is one thing for both Brian Vaughan and Chris Carroll to consider: Last year, Classical would have lost that game against Revere. And last year, English would be 1-2 heading into this Saturday. It probably wouldn’t have held on in its Week 1 win over Beverly and might have succumbed to the pressure of having a sub-par night and lost to North Reading.
Instead, both teams are 3-0.
As is Lynn Tech, which also had to struggle mightily in beating Georgetown. Coach James Runner was more matter-of-fact about it though, saying championship-driven teams often have to have theses tests so they can overcome them and move on.
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St. Mary’s is going straight from the frying pan into the fire Friday night when the Spartans travel to Cardinal Spellman.
This has been the marquee regular-season game on both the Spartans’ and Cardinals’ schedules ever since Matt Durgin took over the coaching job and St. Mary’s began its rise to being one of the elite teams in the area.
This year should be no exception.
St. Mary’s has toned up with easy wins over Saugus, Marian/Keefe and Pope John. Nobody — least of all Durgin — expects Friday’s game to be anything approaching easy.
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Watching Everett play football is about the closest thing anyone’s going to get that approaches the feeling of being in Texas on a Friday night.
As the saying goes, the Crimson Tide do not rebuild. They reload.
Last year, the Tide was supposed to be having a down year. Except that it didn’t turn out to be so down. They won the Division 1 title easily with a victory over Xaverian at Manning Field last December.
Everett people said quite often last year, “wait’ll you see next year’s team.”
Well, this is next year.
Saturday, Everett scored three of the quickest touchdowns I have ever seen in a high school game. If you blinked, you missed them.
St. John’s managed to match one of them, but by the time the half ended, it was 36-7 Tide and all over but the shouting.
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There are a few “something’s gotta give” games this weekend. Swampscott is at Salem Thursday and Revere is at Peabody. Someone in the former game will come out with its first loss, and in the other game, someone will come out with its first win.
It’s the same situation Friday in Gloucester when Classical plays the Fishermen. Both teams are undefeated.
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A reminder: There is a healthy slate of game Thursday as schools work around Rosh Hashana, which begins Friday at sunset and goes until Saturday. So make sure you check your schedule so that you don’t miss your team’s game.