Winthrop coach Driscoll reflects on difficult week

Sometimes sports can be the best medicine.Whether it was baseball after 9/11 or the New Orleans Saints helping bring back the morale to a city that was devastated by the ravages of Hurricane Katrina, sports were there to help bring a little light to a dark period in America.For the Winthrop football team and head coach Sean Driscoll, that will be the case on Friday night (7) at Miller Field when the Vikings play host to Swampscott in a Northeastern Conference/South contest.Last Saturday, Driscoll’s team suffered a heartbreaking loss to Saugus, but the coach suffered an even deeper loss with the death of his father, John.”My father was a great high school football fan. He liked the game,” Driscoll said. “I kind of said to myself that it was ironic that he died during football season.”But life goes on, and so does football, something that Driscoll is very happy to be able to return to.”It’s good to get back. I’m comfortable here and it’s nice to get my mind on other things,” Driscoll said. “It’s been emotional and the kids are drained. But my assistant coaches really stepped up. It’s been tough to get through.”For the Vikings, they return to the field against a Swampscott team that poses a tremendous challenge.The Big Blue’s spread offense, triggered by quarterback Peter Kinchley, makes you defend not only the length of the field but all 53 yards across the field.”They do some things that will always give teams problems. They are well coached and run that offense well,” Driscoll said. “It’s going to take our best game to beat them.”Fortunately for Winthrop, it has already run into a team that uses the spread formation on a regular basis in Lynn English. On that day at Manning Field, the Vikings overcame an 18-17 fourth quarter deficit to take a 32-18 win.”English and Classical were big wins for us and we’re hoping for the same result,” Driscoll said. “(Swampscott) tries to line up and uses their athletes to the best of their abilities.”Kinchley isn’t the only weapon that Swampscott possesses. Running backs Kyle Shonio and Ilya Levin have helped provide balance in the spread attack while wide receivers Steve Moran, Trevor Wheeler and company provide tough tests for the Viking secondary.”They are just solid all across the board on offense, defense and in special teams,” Driscoll said.Last week in their 14-7 loss to Saugus, the Vikings didn’t have an offensive touchdown. That marked eight straight quarters without finding pay dirt when you go back to their 3-0 win over Salem two weeks ago, something that Driscoll knows can’t happen against Swampscott for Winthrop to be successful.”Missed chances hurt us last week and we’ve been working on that all week,” Driscoll said. “Hopefully that’s been taken care of.”