Swampscott football team stages stirring comeback win over Revere

SWAMPSCOTT – For 22 minutes on Saturday at Blocksidge Field, the Swampscott football team simply had no way of shutting down Trae Weathers and Revere’s punishing rushing attack.The Patriots star racked up 219 yards and five touchdowns in the first half as Revere led 34-14 at halftime. And then the tide turned.Revere42Swampscott43 Swampscott took advantage of three Revere turnovers to get back in the game as quarterback Mike Walsh threw for 310 yards, rushed for 76 more and accounted for four touchdowns as the Big Blue stunningly rallied in the fourth quarter to win, 43-42, on a Phil Larkin 2-point conversion with 16 seconds left.”We told the kids at the half that we were going to find a way to win,” Swampscott coach Steve Dembowski said. “Thank God we are a spread team so there was time to come back.”There was absolutely no sign that the Big Blue (3-1) was going to have any answer for Weathers on Saturday. The senior tailback carried 32 times for 255 yards but he was stuffed in the second half and fumbled three times to give Swampscott life after trailing by as much as 22 in the first half.”We shot ourselves in the foot in the second half and that hurts,” Revere coach Lou Cicatelli said. “This game was very unlike us. We’ve been a team that’s closed in the fourth quarter this season.”Revere (3-1) led 42-28 heading to the fourth quarter and got a chance to put a dagger in Swampscott’s hopes when Drew Lauria picked off Walsh on the second play of the fourth.The Big Blue, though, caused Weathers to fumble two plays later and recovered inside the 20. Swampscott couldn’t capitalize and turned it over on downs only to get the ball back again when Revere fumbled again.Walsh and the Big Blue didn’t squander this chance as they needed only three plays to go 42 yards with 6:25 left. A 35-yard pass to Peter Yasi was followed by a Walsh keeper that cut the gap to seven with plenty of time left.”Revere, frankly, had humiliated us in the first half,” Dembowski said. “But we felt like if we played more guys that we’d wear them down later in the game.”Revere had a chance to ice the game on the next possession, methodically driving into Swampscott territory where they faced a fourth-and-one from the 28. Weathers got the call but was stopped cold at the line of scrimmage with 1:51 left.The Big Blue looked to cap the comeback quickly as passes to Larkin and Zach Beerman got the ball into Revere territory. A.J. Baker then caught a pass and fumbled but Revere couldn’t recover the ball to seal the game.The mistake proved costly as Walsh quickly hit Peter Yasi for 10 and Larkin for nine more on a screen. An 11-yard pass to Yasi was followed by an 11-yard gain by Richard Sullivan. Beermann then got open on a blown coverage for a 17-yard touchdown that cut the lead to one.Swampscott then lined up to go for the tie but snapped the ball to Larkin instead and he powered his way in for the winning points.”We figured that we should try and win it right there,” Dembowski said. “We didn’t want to give them a chance to get reenergized in overtime.”