Revere steadied itself after tough start

After a rough start to the year, Revere (3-8) was able to celebrate the end of the football season with its second straight win in a 13-7 victory over Winthrop. Winthrop (5-6) had an opportunity to score in the final minute, but two incomplete passes on third and fourth downs allowed the Patriots to make a victorious escape from Miller Field on a cold and windy Thanksgiving Day.”We knew if we could drive the ball and eat the clock with the wind that we would be fine,” said Revere head coach Lou Cicatelli. “That was our game-plan coming in here.”Kaleb Silva (110 yards) and Tommy Portrait (106 yards) scored both of Revere’s touchdowns in the first half. Revere’s defense held Winthrop’s double-wing offense in check.Revere had a chance to get a first down to run out the clock late in the fourth quarter. The clock was under three minutes and Revere had fourth-and-short at its own 47 before a false start penalty pushed the ball back five yards. Due to the windy conditions, Cicatelli opted to go for the first down instead of sending his punter onto the field. Winthrop had a punt knocked down by the wind on the same side of the field in the third quarter. Portrait was stopped about two yards shy of the first down marker. With 2:37 left on the clock, Winthrop had plenty of time to drive for the winning score.”With the wind in our face, I wasn’t punting,” said Cicatelli.Corbett-Frank had a 15-yard run to set Winthrop up at the Revere 21-yard line. Revere held Winthrop to short runs on the first and second downs. A controversial non-holding call on a Revere defensive back gave Winthrop a fourth-and-eight. Vinny Sparacino’s fourth down pass towards the right sideline fell to the ground inside the 10-yard line.”We threw a pass that we thought might have been holding down the seam,” Winthrop head coach Sean Driscoll said. “On fourth-and-long, we ran a pretty good route that I thought might have been holding as well, but they played a great game.””I can’t say enough about my defense,” said Cicatelli. “With seven sophomores, it’s been a learning curve in the first three weeks.”Unlike in previous years, this was the second time these two longtime rivals met because of the new postseason format that allows teams to see their Thanksgiving rivals on multiple occasions. Winthrop had won the first game by a score of 30-13 on Sept. 27 in Revere. Winthrop now holds a 54-28-1 edge in the series.Winthrop played without its starting quarterback, Dylan Driscoll. Driscoll hurt Revere’s defense in the initial matchup with several rollout passes. This allowed Revere’s defense to stack the box to prevent big gains from Winthrop’s running backs.”Dylan is a great competitor, but he’s a little sore from the game before, said his father Coach Driscoll.Winthrop’s initial two drives on this day started in Revere territory, but two plays went for negative yards on a mishandled snap and a holding penalty. Revere was able to hold the Vikings off the scoreboard by stuffing Winthrop’s ground game on successive fourth downs.After Winthrop’s second series stalled, Kaleb Silva had a 75-yard touchdown run on the first play of Revere’s second drive with 2:53 left in the first quarter. Silva took the hand off and ran untouched along the left sideline past the Winthrop defense.Late in the second quarter, Revere recovered a fumble on a muffed hand off in the Winthrop backfield. Revere’s offense took over at the Vikings’ 33. They were able to pick up two first downs. On third-and-goal from the 14, Portrait took a pitch to the right. The Winthrop defense had Portrait stopped, but Portrait reversed field. He received a block and made a cut against a Winthrop defender before he crossed the goal line to give Revere a 13-0 lead.Winthrop cut its deficit in half on a 17-yard pass from Sparacino to Reise Turransky with 28 seconds left in the second quarter.In the second half, Revere’s long drives pinned Winthrop’s offense deep in their own territory. The Patriots were able to limit