A year ago, the Classical football team had to put together a stunning victory over Thanksgiving rival English at Manning Field to salvage a 3-8 season.
What a difference a year makes.
Things have certainly changed at Classical — and for the better. The Rams come into their annual Thanksgiving battle against the Bulldogs at 8-2 on the season, rolling through the Northeastern Conference.
Now the goal for the Rams is to cap their turnaround season the same way they did last year — with a win over English. That’s much easier said than done as the Bulldogs are 9-1 this fall after a run to the Division 3 North final.
“English is very well-coached,” first-year Classical coach Brian Vaughan said. “Chris Carroll’s doing an outstanding job there. They have athletes, they’re physical up-front and they’re an outstanding football team.”
The Bulldogs carry an array of athletic and speedy weapons on an offensive unit that’s capable of scoring in bunches. The keys for Classical, Vaughan said, will be creating sustained drives on offense to keep English off the field, while playing strong defense as well.
“I think we have to play solid defense,” Vaughan said. “Even though we’re a fast paced offense I think we’ll look to eat a lot of clock in this game. Their offense has done some things this year and we’re going to look to limit their opportunities on the field.”
It certainly helps Classical’s cause that the Rams boast a potent offense of their own, led by quarterback Keith Ridley who has emerged as one of the top signal callers in the NEC as a junior this year. Running back Malcolm Best carries the bulk of Classical’s running plays and receiver Nashaun Butler is on the cusp of reaching 1,000 yards for the season.
“We’re still running a new offense for a lot of these guys,” Vaughan said. “Our guys are still learning. We’ve come a long way with where we’re at offensively. We’re still learning some of the concepts. Our goal was to get better every week and we’ve done that.”
Defensively, the Rams are led by a pair of ball-hawking safeties in Chase Buno and Ishmael Johnson, and defensive end Javien Delgado. The trio will look to neutralize English’s speed come Thursday morning.
“English has tons of speed,” Vaughan said. “We have to try to slow their speed down. It’s not going to be an easy task but hopefully we can do it.”
A Lynn native, Vaughan, who played running back at English before moving on to the collegiate field at Northeastern, understands the history and magnitude of the Classical-English rivalry. His Rams also understand what’s at stake on Thanksgiving, meaning pumping the players up to play hasn’t been a challenge.
“I played in it and coached in it, being an assistant at English,” Vaughan said. “Growing up this is something you look forward to. When it’s your time to play in this game, it’s one of those games where you go all out no matter what. It’s a special day for the city of Lynn and not much needs to be said to get guys fired up to play in this game.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 10 a.m. at Manning Field.
