Swampscott simply Super: Big Blue win first state football title in 35 years

FOXBOROUGH – The Swampscott football team came to Gillette Stadium Saturday hoping to do away with 35 years of misery since the last time the team won a Super Bowl championship.Well, with one 40-minute performance at the home of the three time NFL champions, Swampscott finally gave the town something to celebrate.Despite only running 39 plays in the game, Swampscott still accumulated 284 yards of offense and used a defense that stoned Medfield until the game was well in hand to take a 22-6 win in the Division 3 Super Bowl game.”To bring this group of kids here and finish the job, this one is special,” Swampscott coach Steve Dembowski said. “Our defense played well like they have the whole season.The win gave Swampscott a 12-1 record, the only loss coming to Division 2A champion Gloucester, (a 41-0 winner over Hingham) and ended a string of four straight losses for the program in the title game. The win also was especially sweet for Dembowski, who was an assistant on two of those teams and head coach on the last two in 2002 and 2003.”I’ve spent 19 years chasing this and have been close so many times,” Dembowski said. “It’s been a pursuit since I was a player and to do it with these kids is special.”Things didn’t start good for the Big Blue as Medfield surprised everyone in the stadium by recovering an onside kick at the Swampscott 48 to start the game. But the Big Blue defense stiffened, forcing a three and out.Swampscott began its first possession at its 22 with 8:32 left in the first. Ilya Levin (11 carries, 73 yards) went for 12 yards on the first play and added 10 more two plays later to put the ball on the Warrior 49.Quarterback Peter Kinchley, who needed to throw only 10 times in the game, then dropped back and threw a strike to slot receiver Justin Mitchell on a slant for a 49 yard touchdown and an 8-0 lead following a Levin rush just 3:03 into the game.Medfield (10-3) failed to gain a first down on its next possession and kicked the ball back to Swampscott with 5:37 left in the first.The Warrior defense then forced Swampscott into a punting situation, where the Big Blue dipped into its bag of tricks. Justin Mitchell took the snap and ran to the right, where he found a seam and gained 13 yards to keep the drive going.But as soon as Swampscott gained the momentum, they nearly gave it away as a pair of false start penalties on Brian Palangi set up a second-and-18 on the Swampscott 39. But completions to Steve Moran for three yards and a 14 yarder to Jordan Kelly were followed by a three yard sneak from Kinchley that picked up the first down as the first quarter wound down.A 15-yard laser beam from Kinchley to Wheeler on the second play of the second quarter gave Swampscott a first-and-goal at the nine. Kinchley did the rest as he went around right end for the score and a 15-0 lead with 9:08 left in the half.Medfield desperately needed something good to happen on offense and following Kinchley’s touchdown, the Warriors finally began to assert themselves despite the loss of Drew Donnelly, who injured his wrist making a tackle in the first quarter.Jake Kramer, Harry Bodozian and Marc Hostovsky began to find creases in the Swampscott defense as Medfield slowly moved from its 29 into Big Blue territory. A fourth-and-one conversion from Peter Gumas kept the drive going but he couldn’t do it a second time as the line stopped him on fourth-and-two from the 29.Swampscott’s defense, however, wouldn’t get much of a break as Bodozian intercepted Kinchley on the very next play at the Swampscott 45. The Warriors then resumed their ground attack and moved to the Swampscott 11 with a minute remaining.But the Big Blue defense refused to budge, stuffing Medfield again as Ryan Squires hauled down Gumas at the three with one second left in the half.”We were a little sleepy in the first half but to go in with a 15-0 lead showed the determination of the kids,” Dembowski said. “That was huge.”Medfield got the ball to start the second half, hopin