GLOUCESTER — There was no way the Gloucester High football team was going to get itself in the predicament it encountered last year.
A relentless offensive and defensive attack by the 5-0 Fishermen made sure that wouldn’t happen, as they whalloped Saugus, 61-15, Friday Night at Newell Stadium.
A year ago, the Fishermen also sprang out to a big lead when they visited Stackpole Field, only to have Saugus roar back and almost steal the game.
“We won by the skin of our teeth,” said Gloucester coach Tony Zerilli. “So the talk this week was to make sure that the only thing we had on our minds was beating Saugus and to not think about any other teams.”
That other team is 5-0 Marblehead, and the two teams meet next Friday (7) in Gloucester.
“We just talked about putting some points on the board early and seeing where it goes from there,” Zerilli said. “I think we came out strong, and made some nice plays on defense to get a jump on them.”
That’s for sure. The Fishermen intercepted passes on Saugus’ first three possessions to take a 22-0 lead before they ever had to mount a serious drive.
It started off well enough for Saugus as the Sachems (1-4) won the toss, elected to receive, and moved the ball to midfield. But Gloucester captain Marc Smith picked off Mason Nickolas, and Jan Pena Ortiz ripped off a 50-yard run, and followed that up with a 9-yard TD run and it was 7-0 just like that.
The same pattern occurred two more times. A second pick led to a 1-yard plunge by Pena Ortiz, with Smith hitting Jacob Enos on the conversion and it was 15-0. Smith got his second interception, and third by the time, and ran it back 53 yards for another score to make it 22-0.
The next time Gloucester got its hands on the ball, Smith ran a punt back 60 yards and it was 29-0.
Saugus finally got on the board on the last play of the first quarter. After Nickolas hit Christian Correia with a 43-yard pass to set the Sachems up with a first-and-goal from the nine. Marvens Jean took it nine yards to the house and it was 29-7.
The Fishermen scored once more before the half ended, with Ryan Argentino scoring from a yard out, and Gloucester went into the locker room with a 35-7 lead.
“At that point,” said Zerilli, “we just wanted to go out, stay strong, and get some of our younger kids in there. I think we even got some freshmen in.”
The third quarter zipped by, with quarterback James Nelson scoring the only touchdown on a 4-yard run to make the score 41-7, but Daylon Lark and Harrison Marshall scored two more in the fourth quarter to make it 55-7 before Eric Miniscalco took the kickoff after Marshall’s score 65 yards to the end zone, with Sean O’Rourke connecting with Gianni Giardullo for the 2-point conversion.
Evan Smith scored Gloucester’s final touchdown on a 36-yard run.
Saugus is home next Saturday (noon) against Winthrop.
