Chelsea’s Stellato could see improvement in Sachems last year

SAUGUS – Last year, when current Chelsea mentor Mike Stellato was in his previous coaching job at Danvers, his Falcons played and defeated Saugus. Perhaps this wasn’t a surprise; Saugus had finished with one win in 2005 and would conclude 2006 with three victories. Stellato, though, saw some differences.”We beat them,” he said, but “you could see they had the players to be successful. The (Bret) Reid kid is a very good quarterback. I think he runs the offense very well.”The days of defeat in Saugus have given way to a seven-win season. That, and his team’s progression toward this result in each of his first three seasons, pleases Saugus coach Mike Broderick, whose team got win No. 7 on Thanksgiving against Chelsea, 49-14, at Stackpole Field.In his first year, Broderick said, “We had one win, and a couple kids left. In our second year, we had three wins (one of which was a precedent-breaking triumph over Peabody in the teams’ final Thanksgiving game). You hope, you want to enjoy this.”Broderick said that next season, he hopes the Sachems match or exceed this year’s success.Asked how his team improved toward a 7-win season, Broderick said, “We have a lot of seniors playing. They spent time in the weight room and were very disciplined. They were good football players all along.”Reid is one of the upperclassmen who led Saugus to success. The junior ran for two scores, a nine-yarder and a 43-yarder, against Chelsea.On his first touchdown on Thursday, he got a lift from senior Gilson Fernandes, who recovered a Cody Verge fumble on a Chelsea kick return. After senior Nick Ortega ran for one yard on first down at the Chelsea 10, Reid took it in to put his team up 42-0 with 6:16 left in the first half.Reid got his second score in the third quarter, after freshman Mike Gray came up with another Chelsea fumble. The drive began on the Chelsea 39, but a tackle by Verge led to a four-yard loss. Reid, however, sprinted 43 yards for a score, his team’s final points of the day.”They were bigger and definitely stronger than what we were,” Stellato said. “You could see the work they put in.”Stellato is familiar with steady improvements. He guided St. Mary’s from a struggling program to a postseason contender to a Super Bowl champion.Of the Sachems, he said, “We definitely got beaten by a better football team. They’re having a great year. They finished off with us today. That’s a good football team we went against today.”uAsked how it felt to be coaching his third team in three years (St. Mary’s in 2005, Danvers in 2006, Chelsea in 2007), Stellato said, “Football is football. It doesn’t matter to me. I enjoy coaching. I’m looking forward to success at Chelsea.”Stellato’s last regular-season game as Spartans’ coach had a Chelsea connection: The Spartans played Tech at Chelsea. Broderick said that Brendon Flaherty does not have a concussion; he was taken to a hospital for observation, and his coach received word that all tests were negative? James Sparks’ sprain was in his knee).