Tech’s Sverker is taking nothing for granted

If there’s one thing you can count on when it comes to Thanksgiving football, it’s the fact you can’t count on anything.St. Mary’s has only won one game this season and Tech, after winning only one game last year, is shooting for a 6-3 season. Despite the disparity in records, Tech coach Gary Sverker isn’t underestimating the Spartans.”It’s going to be a challenge,” Sverker said. “They’re a good football team. They’ve had a very, very, difficult schedule. They’ve had some young kids and they’re growing up. In the long run, they’ll be fine. They’re playing a lot of underclassmen and getting better every week.”Sverker is probably hoping the Spartans don’t pick tonight to reap the benefits of taking some knocks earlier in the season. The night-before-Thanksgiving matchup between the two Lynn teams has turned into a holiday tradition of sorts with St. Mary’s winning last year’s game.”I think having the night-before Thanksgiving game has evolved into a real special thing,” Sverker said. “It’s great to play and be a part of a Thanksgiving game.”Sverker said it’s also interesting to see who steps up.”You don’t know who will step up in these sort of games,” Sverker said. “It could be somebody who was a sleeper all season who’ll be the hero. Somebody usually comes out of the woodwork for one team or the other.”The Tigers head into the season finale hoping to snap a three-game losing streak that started with a loss to Greater Lawrence in game six and continued the last two weeks with losses to Shawsheen Tech and Whittier. The last few games, however, were in sharp contrast to the Tigers’ first five games.Tech opened the season with a 5-0 run and the Tigers did it in convincing style. They romped past Mystic Valley, 48-28, in the opener and then it was on to North Shore, where they won 36-8. The defense recorded a shutout in a 36-0 win over Minuteman and a week later, the Tigers topped Northeast, 24-6. Perhaps the biggest win of the season came against Greater Lowell, 28-21. Senior John Jones had his best game of the season, running for more than 200 yards.A loss the following week to Greater Lawrence put an end to the run and a 32-6 loss the next week to Shawsheen killed any hope of a league title or a trip to the post-season. Tech led 20-16 against Whittier, but things went downhill in the third quarter.”We turned it around a little bit this year,” Sverker said.Sverker has 15 seniors on this year’s team including Jose Rios, who along with Erickson Seang has been in the program since he was in the eighth grade. Rios has worn a couple of hats for the Tigers. In addition to playing quarterback, he punted, kicked off and played safety. Seang, a linebacker and running back, is president of the senior class.The offensive line has been impressive for the Tigers this year. Senior Richard Contreras is at right guard, freshman Josh Cheever stepped in at left tackle and juniors Lorenzo Rivera (center), Anthony Gallo (junior) and James Bazile (right tackle) round out the list.Running backs John Jones and Otis Green have been the mainstays in the backfield. Jones is closing in on 900 yards rushing (in eight games so far).Receiver/linebacker Moses Valentin has also come up big, scoring touchdowns on a punt return, two kickoff returns and an interception.Stefon Carter, Matt Lawless and Jake Canty have also gotten the job done as ends.Senior Elijah Good-Morris excels at corner and kickoff specialist Mario Bazile also punts sometimes and plays linebacker.