St. Mary’s wants to end season on a high note

The St. Mary’s High football team will be looking to end what has been a disappointing season on a high note when it plays Lynn Tech in the traditional night-before-Thanksgiving football game.The Spartans head into the game with a 1-9 record, while Tech, after going 5-0 to start the season, is looking to end a three-game skid and go out on a high note. St. Mary’s coach Jeff Smith knows his team will be in for a battle.”I think it’s going to be a real tough game,” Smith said. “Tech’s playing really good football right now. They’re a good team and a talented team. We’ll have to prepare very hard for them if we’re gong to be successful Wednesday night.”The Spartans picked up their only win against Mystic Valley. There were, however, a couple of games in the mix that could have gone their way.”We’ve experienced a tough season as far as wins and losses go,” Smith said. “But for the most part, we have a pretty young team. We’re looking to return a lot of kids.”The three senior captains, Kwesi Foster, Anthony Campagnone and Dan O’Connell, have been bright spots for the Spartans. Foster, a running back and defensive back, has been a real workhorse. The two-year starter leads the team with more than 800 yards rushing.”He’s carried the load for us offensively,” Smith said.O’Connell has anchored both the offensive and defensive lines and Campagnone, a fullback/tight end, has been the team’s defensive leader.”He’s the guy we look to to make the plays on defense,” Smith said. “He had a lot of games where he led the team in tackles and he had a lot of big hits. A lot of younger guys have gravitated to him.”Most teams can look back over the season and pinpoint a game that got away, or one where the momentum started to go their way, but time ran out. St. Mary’s is no different.A look into the “heartbreaker” file and the game that comes to mind is Watertown. The Spartans had the lead with 1:30 left and ended up losing by five points.”That was a heartbreaker,” Smith said.Then there are the missed opportunities. Smith pointed to a 12-6 loss to Archbishop Williams and a 29-8 loss to Arlington Catholic. Against Williams, Smith said his team had the ball in the red zone three times and couldn’t punch it in. The same thing happened against Arlington Catholic.In a 33-22 loss to Fenwick, the Spartans had a rocky first half, but started to heat up in the second half before time ran out. St. Mary’s, after losing its first two games of the season to Classical and Saugus, got off to a slow start against Weston, but started to pick up the pace in the second half.”We had a bad first, but in the second half things started to click,” Smith said.The Spartans, like most teams, also had to contend with some injuries including losing starting offensive and defensive tackle Derek Riley in the second week of the season. The 6-5, 280-pounder tore up his knee.”We’d get a guy back and lose someone else,” Smith said, adding, however, that the biggest factors in the season were probably inexperience and a lack of depth in some positions.On the plus side of the ledger was the players’ attitude, Smith said.”I think our attitude as far as never giving up, showing determination and mental toughness, is something we can build on,” Smith said.”The guys have worked hard.”