Football preview: St. Mary’s hopes that last three games end up like the first three

LYNN – The St. Mary’s football team started the season with a three-game winning streak and can end it the same way with a victory over Lynn Tech Thanksgiving Eve at Manning Field.The Spartans head into the game with a 6-4 record. They qualified for the playoffs, but lost in the first game to Whittier Tech, 22-14, in overtime.”It’s been a little up and down this year,” said St. Mary’s coach Matt Durgin, who is wrapping up his seventh year at St. Mary?s, and 18th year as a head coach, including stints at Lynn Classical and Malden Catholic.The Spartans won their first three games before losing the next three — including one to Cardinal Spellman in the final minute. They beat Arlington Catholic before losing to Whittier Tech in the first playoff game, and finished up their season with two wins.Six seniors will be playing their final game for the Spartans Wednesday including Connor Sakowich, who has been in the program since he was an eighth grader playing on the scout team. The 5-10, 185-pound running back has been a starter for the last three years and in the last game against East Boston, he eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards for the season.”He went from being an eighth grader trying to tackle Todd Collier (who is now a sophomore cornerback for Hobart College) to a guy who goes over 1,000 yards,” Durgin said. “He runs hard. He has good speed and toughness.”The Spartans? senior contingent includes Alex Maghsoudi, a fullback who saw time at linebacker and defensive back.”He’s someone we can use everywhere,” Durgin said. “He does a good job. He can play a lot of positions.”Senior John Gaeta started seeing time for the Spartans as a freshman linebacker and for the past three years has played fullback and linebacker. He was injured in the third game of the season, but came back two games ago against Brighton.”Defensively it hurt us not having John,” Durgin said. “It’s good to have him back with his leadership and experience and it’s good he could be back to end his high school career.”Durgin will lose the heart of his offensive line when Jack Leonard, Luc Zikianda and Brent Lozzi play their final games on Wednesday. The Spartans? six seniors have been around during a span that saw the St. Mary?s win a Super Bowl and make the playoffs three times.Several underclassmen have played key roles in the Spartans’ success this season – none bigger than sophomore Abraham Toe. At 5-feet-5, 140 pounds, Toe has been tough to stop, with 16 touchdowns and more than 1,000 yards rushing.”He’s a very good running back,” Durgin said. “He has good speed and he’s a lot stronger than he looks.”Durgin was quick to point out that neither Toe nor Sakowich could put up the numbers they did without an excellent offensive line. Durgin also cited the play of two-way tackle Liam Reddy, center/linebacker Brendan Donahue, quarterback/defensive back Antonio Felix and junior guard Fred Blaise.”Overall it’s been a good year,” During said. “This senior group was fun to coach all these years. It’s going to be sad to see them walk off after that last game.”This is Durgin’s seventh year coaching at St.