Swampscott seeking a repeat performance

When you send out a season prospectus that cites your lone weakness as “unproven depth at most positions,” chances are you think you’re going to have a pretty good year.The Swampscott High football team has good reason to be optimistic. Twelve starters return from last season’s 12-1 team, which finished a historic year by beating Medfield, 22-6, at Foxboro Stadium in the Div. 3 Super Bowl to win the school’s first Eastern Mass. football championship in 25 years.Still, the goals remain the same for the Big Blue – get better each week and let the results take care of themselves.”We haven’t even talked about last year,” said Swampscott coach Steve Dembowski, entering his 10th season with a record of 68-35. “We think with 15 kids who contributed last year that we have a solid team, but we have good senior leadership that keeps us focused on improving day-by-day.”Swampscott’s spread offense will be led this season by quarterback Chris Cameron, a senior tri-captain who backed up Peter Kinchley in 2007. Cameron will have three experienced receivers at his disposal, senior tri-captain Steve Moran, who caught 18 passes including four for touchdowns, senior Jon Poth and senior Trevor Wheeler, a returning NEC South All-Star.The Big Blue primarily uses the pass to set up the run, but when the offense is working the rushing attack can pick up important chunks of yardage. Seniors Ilya Levin and tri-captain Shawn Hubauer, along with junior junior Kyle Shonio, figure to split the carries for Swampscott.Senior John Rosenthal returns at center as the only starter on the offensive line, but the Big Blue have some returning letterman – seniors Charlie Baker, Ryan Mihovan and Charlie Gambale, and juniors Buddy Nestor and Chris Fagone – who will be looking to win full-time roles up front.Seven starters return to a defense that allowed 11.4 points per game last season. Hubauer started all 13 games at linebacker last season and was second on the team in tackles. Poth and Levin also started at linebacker last year, while Gambale and senior Harry Stone also return with some experience at linebacker.Cameron played strong safety and led the team in tackles in the Super Bowl, while Shonio and Moran are returning starters at cornerback in a secondary that has added some depth.On the defensive line, senior end Michael DiPippo returns for his third year, while Baker and Mihovan saw some action last season.Special teams may be Swampscott’s biggest question mark. Junior Matt Barbuzzi, who connected on 2-of-4 field goal attempts last year, is set as the place-kicker, and Moran, Shonio and Wheeler all have experience as kick returners, but the Big Blue need to find a long-snapper and a punter. Cameron will take over as the holder.Dembowski reports the Big Blue “did pretty well” in their first scrimmage against Methuen, a team from the rugged Merrimack Valley Conference. The scrimmage schedule finished against Foxboro and Medford.The regular season starts on Sept. 13 with a non-league game against Middlesex League foe Winchester, which Swampscott beat in a thrilling game last year that was decided in the last two seconds. The game will be played a Woburn High’s brand new Connolly Stadium, which Winchester is using as a temporary home while the bleachers at Winchester’s Knowlton Stadium undergo repairs.The Northeastern Conference slate begins at home on Sept. 20 against Revere, and the Big Blue begins its quest for a repeat South division championship on Oct. 25, at Blocksidge Field, against Winthrop.For Swampscott fans who believe in historical trends, the Big Blue has made repeat showings in the post-season in both 1996-97 and 2003-04, so if the pattern holds Swampscott will be playing football after Thanksgiving against this year.”Our goals are the same from year-to-year. We’d obviously like to win the NEC South and get into a position where we can play in the post-season,” Dembowski said. “There’s really not a lot of pressure because this is a different team f