Item Football 2009: Revere hopes to reverse last year’s close defeats

The Revere football team may have posted a 3-8 record last season, but the Patriots were a thorn in the side to several of the Northeastern Conference’s top teams.And this year coach Lou Cicatelli hopes that his team can be the on the right side of those games.”We are a young team but boy are we athletic,” Cicatelli said. “It’s a great bunch of kids and a lot of the juniors are stepping up as leaders. And that’s going to help us.”Staying with the trend that has become a part of many teams’ playbooks, the Patriots will incorporate some of the spread offense into their attack along with their standard Wing-T attack.”It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to do that,” Cicatelli said. “And it’s only going to help us by being able to do this. Everybody’s got some type of spread in their playbook now ? it’s just the way of football right now.”One of the main reasons for Cicatelli’s optimism in the ability of Revere to use the passing attack is the progression of junior quarterback Paul Norton.”I have been very impressed with the way he throws the football,” Cicatelli said.Trae Weathers and Scooby Mageza will be the primary ball carriers for Revere. Both players saw plenty of carries last year when starter Paul DiPlatzi was lost to injury for over half the season.Senior captain Will Weathers will anchor the offensive line and linebacking cores for Revere. Seniors Chris Adreani (linebacker/end) and Joe Fabiano (defensive end/tight end) should also help the cause.”Will is a great leader,” Cicatelli said. “He is a tough kid and definitely a player to keep an eye on.”Revere has over 50 kids in the program this season, including 28 freshmen. But Cicatelli is not one to take great stock in size of number.”I’m not big on the numbers anymore. I think it’s a little overrated but it is still nice to have a little bit of depth,” Cicatelli said.The Patriots will look to improve on offense, where they scored only 12.7 points per game last season.”If we can score 21 a game, I think we’re going to win some football games. I really believe that,” Cicatelli said. “We als have to find a way to win those close games that we lost last year.”The Patriots open their season tomorrow against Northeast Regional and will play Medford next week in a non-conference game before entering into Northeastern Conference play.”We’re not playing Beverly and that’s kind of disappointing,” Cicatelli said. “But we’re optimistic. The kids have been working their tails off.”