WINTHROP — The Revere football team simply wouldn’t be denied its Thanksgiving glory this year, taking down rival Winthrop, 46-31, at Miller Field Thursday morning.
With the win in the 91st meeting between the two rivals, Revere — which has won four straight against Winthrop — improves its record to 31-57-3 in the all-time series.
“It’s always a battle with Winthrop, and that was the case for the entire first half,” said Revere coach Lou Cicatelli. “Both teams played tough out there, but in the end our team speed is what got us over the edge on both offense and defense and allowed us to get the win.”
Running back Joe Llanos had a massive day on the ground for Revere, rushing for an astounding 389 yards and six touchdowns. Lucas Barbosa added a touchdown run.
Bobby Hubert led the way for Winthrop, rushing for 132 yards and two touchdowns and also adding a touchdown pass. Tyler Rockefeller also rushed for a touchdown.
“This game came down to who was going to get a stop defensively, and Revere was able to do it when we put the ball on the ground,” said Winthrop coach Jonathan Cadigan. “We had some moments early on when if we had converted things might’ve been different, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”
The Patriots took the opening kickoff and got right to work. Llanos did the bulk of the work on the six-play, 80-yard drive, including a big 31-yard run on the very first play from scrimmage. Llanos capped off the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run to take the early lead, and after a Rayan Riazi PAT the Patriots led 7-0.
Winthrop responded with an extended drive of its own, but that drive eventually stalled out after Hubert threw an interception to Marco Cerbone. But the Vikings weren’t deterred, forcing a three-and-out on defense and getting the ball right back to start the second quarter.
Hubert redeemed himself on the ensuing drive, leading Winthrop down the field and capping it off with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Perullo to cut the deficit to 7-6.
But Revere came right back at the Vikings, putting together an 11-play drive that was once again finished off by Llanos with a 1-yard touchdown plunge to make it 13-6.
Winthrop got the ball back with just over two minutes left in the half and struck right away. After a 7-yard run by Rockefeller on the first play, Hubert took a keeper and burst through the line for a 73-yard touchdown run to make it a one-point game again at 13-12 Revere.
But Winthrop scored too quickly.
Revere took over with 1:22 remaining and moved down the field, mixing runs and passes to get down to the Winthrop 29-yard-line. Llanos did the rest from there, breaking off a 29-yard touchdown run to give the Patriots a 19-12 lead going into the break.
Winthrop opened the second half with the ball and took advantage, running a 13-play drive that took up nearly eight minutes of game time. Hubert was the bellcow on the drive, rushing the ball seven times and completing a pass to set up the score. Rockefeller capped the drive with an 8-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 19-19.
Then Revere turned it on.
Barbosa scored on a 6-yard touchdown run to make it 26-19, then the Patriots forced and recovered a fumble to steal back all of the momentum. Three plays after the recovery, Llanos found a hole and raced 73 yards for a score to make it 33-19.
Llanos added touchdown runs of 34 and 51 yards in the final five minutes to round out Revere’s scoring. Winthrop found some life when Hubert rushed one in from five yards out and Osorio took a kickoff back 101 yards for a touchdown, but it was too little too late for the Vikings.
Winthrop (4-7) has a solid core returning in 2020, including Hubert, Rockefeller and Bryan Conceicao.
“I feel for the seniors because they’ve fought really hard to get to this point after a tough first couple of years and it would’ve been nice to send them off with a win,” said Cadigan. “But we’ve got a lot of guys coming back, so we’ll be ready to go next year.”
As for Revere (10-1), Cicatelli believes the Patriots, who clinched the NEC South crown with the win, will be right back in the mix next season.
“We’re losing some great guys, but we also have a lot of really good players coming back,” said Cicatelli. “Will we be as good as we were this year? Who knows? But I do know we’re going to work hard every day to get back and compete for another Super Bowl.”