SAUGUS — The Revere football team played its first road game of the season Saturday but the Patriots felt right at home at Stackpole field.
Revere’s offense rolled along as usual, and the defense added a pair of scores to lift the Patriots to a 40-13 win over Saugus.
“I always say it, there’s no easy game in the Northeastern Conference,” Revere coach Lou Cicatelli said. “Saugus is a good football team they play hard. My biggest concern was a Saturday game on grass. We asked the defense to really step it up this week because we put a little extra time in. They did. We had two turnover scores. The defense showed up.”
The offense showed up early too, with Jonathan Murphy (five carries, 80 yards, two touchdowns) helping Revere get off to a fast start. Murphy took a sweep on the first play from scrimmage 43 yards for a Revere touchdown and on the Patriots’ next drive scored on another run from 23 yards out to build an early 13-0 lead.
Marvens Jean (61 yards receiving, 52 yards rushing) got the Sachems right back into things on the ensuing kickoff with an 80-yard touchdown return to cut the Revere lead to 13-7.
But Revere continued its hot start with Joe Llanos capping off an 80-yard Patriots drive with a 2-yard touchdown run to get the Patriots back up by two scores at 20-7.
The last two minutes of the first half were a nightmare for the Sachems. A nice run from quarterback Christian Correia looked to set up Saugus with a first-and-goal but a holding penalty negated the play. Saugus couldn’t recover and Llanos picked off a Correia pass on the next play, returning it 80 yards for a touchdown.
Things worsened when a penalty on the ensuing kickoff pinned Saugus back at its own goal line. The Sachems fumbled back into their own endzone and Calvin Boudreau jumped on the ball for another touchdown to put Revere ahead 34-7 before the break. The pair of turnovers killed any momentum Saugus could’ve created.
“That drive we really had a couple chances to score and make it a 20-14 game,” Saugus coach Steve Cummings said. “We ended up going into half 34-7 like that. That’s what happens when you lose your focus for a second in this game.
“We have to do a better job protecting our quarterback,” Cummings said. “We struggled all game. We were in a position to make this a better ball game, but that 100 seconds before the half really changed the momentum of the game. (Trailing) 34-7 and 20-14 are a big difference and it didn’t take that long for it to happen.”
Revere piled it on in the second half with another interception helping set up an 8-yard touchdown run for Llanos that stretched the Patriots lead to 40-7.
“I’m a defensive guy,” Cicatelli said. “Defense sets the tone. It always does. But the way our offense is playing, we know that if we can give up less than 20 or 21 points a game we’re going to win football games. We’re that confident.”
Jean got the Sachems back on the board in the fourth quarter with a 3-yard touchdown run but the Patriots easily held on for the 40-13 win.
The Sachems (0-4) are still looking for their first win of the year and travel to Salem Friday (7). The Patriots (4-0) have another tough NEC matchup on the road at English Saturday (1).
“Right now the focus is to stay healthy,” Cicatelli said. “If we can do that, keep coming to practices and work harder, the schedule gets tougher now. We have English and then Marblehead. Those are two tough games. We’re going to find out what we’re really made of.”