The football season couldn’t have gotten off to a better start in Lynn, where all five teams won their games last weekend.
That’s right. Five. KIPP Academy made its debut on the gridiron Thursday night and won, 28-0, over Atlantis Charter School of Fall River. Kymani Morrison, the quarterback, scored two of KIPP’s touchdowns on keepers.
The next night, all eyes were on Manning Field, where St. Mary’s and Classical took part in the first Friday night doubleheader. The Spartans dispatched Saugus, 54-21, with Calvin Johnson, who has switched from tailback to quarterback, dominating the game. In the nightcap, Classical gave first-year coach Brian Vaughan a great christening with a 39-0 win over Medford, in which the Rams dominated from stem to stern. The big gun was junior quarterback Keith Ridley.
While dual-blowouts were occurring at Manning, Tech was in Chelsea doing the same to the Red Devils, 34-0. It should be no surprise to any football followers that Steffan Gravely and Keoni Gaskin were the two stars in that game. Gravely and Gaskin (can we christen them the G-Whizzes?) were one of the more formidable one-two punches last season.
However, the coup de grace took place Saturday afternoon when English defeated Beverly, 26-20. Never mind that the Bulldogs had to hang on for dear life to stave off the Panthers, the fact is they won.
If ever there was a school, and a group of kids, that deserved a nice opening-day victory, it’s English. The Bulldogs went through a horrendous season (in terms of bad breaks, injuries, and heart-crushing losses) in 2016, and the game at Beverly pretty my typified the season.
English, led by quarterback Matt Severance, outplayed the Panthers badly in the first half, only to see Beverly come back to win the game in the fourth quarter. Over the course of that game, Beverly converted on some unbelievable third-and-longs to keep drives going, and coach Chris Carroll was truly dejected — perhaps even more so than that soul-draining Thanksgiving Day loss to Classical.
So to see these kids regroup and beat a quality program right out of the gate was huge. Remember, we’re talking about the defending Division 2 North champs here.
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Early returns are in, and it would appear that two of the best quarterbacks in the area reside in Lynn, and a third lives in Swampscott.
Ridley and Severance both dominated their games Friday night, while Colin Frary did the same in the Big Blue’s 44-0 thrashing of Greater Lawrence. Frary, who was one of the better passers in the league last season, got off on the right foot Saturday by throwing five touchdown passes.
It’s only Week 1, but if you see an early trend developing, there’s going to be some seriously wide-open offenses around here.
To which I say, “cool!”
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Speaking of Swampscott, when the Big Blue finally get to play at the new Blocksidge Field this Saturday, staring at them from the other side of the line will be Triton, last year’s Division 3 North champion and the team that knocked the Blue out of the state tournament.
Let’s just say Swampscott will be ready.
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In the movie “Major League,” manager Lou Brown once said about his team’s difficulties in defeating the New York Yankees, “someday, we’re gonna figure out a way to beat these guys.”
Lou Cicatelli might be saying the same thing. The Revere coach has been second to Gloucester’s first in their division of the Northeastern Conference for two years running, and and the Patriots debuted Friday night at home against the Fishermen.
The venue did not matter. Gloucester won, handily (39-8), and Revere’s frustration continued.
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Marblehead’s 16-9 win over Triton was befitting of two teams that won sectional titles last year. The Magicians were a Division 2A champions while Triton was the Division 3 winner.
For a while in the second half, attendees would have been excused for thinking they were at a baseball game. The score was 9-8, Triton, before Marblehead saved the day with a late-game score, more football-centric.
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Now that Blocksidge Field has had its grand opening, we can look to Danvers for one more celebration. St. John’s Prep will dedicate its new football field in honor of Fred Glatz, who began his tenure at the school 50 years ago this fall and coached through the 1983 season.
Glatz’s first team, in 1967, may have been his best — and could have been the best St. John’s team in the last half century. The Eagles blitzed through their schedule, went 9-0, with Harvard-bound Steve Harrison leading the way.
Even though they never played against each other, there was a fan rivalry — if that’s the right term — between Harrison and Swampscott’s Dick Jauron, who was a junior, and would end up at Yale.
Due to the strength of its schedule, The Prep was awarded the Class B championship (it was based on polls in 1967), with Swampscott second.
It took three more years, but the teams finally played each other in 1970, with The Prep winning on an improbable touchdown pass from Dave Handy to Swampscott’s Dana Hughes.
Glatz certainly deserves the honor. It’ll be Glatz Field at Cronin Stadium from here on out.
