LYNN — A year ago, Jalen Echevarria was on the fence about joining the football team at St. Mary’s. He had already carved out an impressive resume for himself as a basketball player and wasn’t sold on taking up a second sport.
Echevarria, with encouragement from his basketball coach (who’s also his uncle), joined the football team and the rest was history. Thursday night at Manning Field he capped his high school football career with South MVP honors in the 58th Agganis All-Star football game.
“It’s amazing,” Echevarria said. “I started my football career and I ended it here. Everybody, my friends, my family, came out to support me.
“All the credit goes to (St. Mary’s basketball) coach (Dave) Brown,” Echevarria said. “I wouldn’t be in this position if it wasn’t for him. I wasn’t going to play senior year. Coach Brown talked to me and he said, ‘you only get this moment once.’ I played my heart out throughout the season. I realized this was my last football game so I had to play my best.”
Earlier in the week, Echevarria brought home South MVP honors with an 18-point performance in the 15th Agganis All-Star boys basketball game at English’s Paul F. Cavanagh Field House. He’s the first student-athlete to earn two MVP awards during Agganis Week.
“I never thought I’d do that to be honest,” Echevarria said. “The Agganis Week is a great experience all around. I’m going to Endicott next year. It’s great to leave Lynn on a great note.”
Echevarria dedicated Thursday’s performance to childhood friend Nashaun Butler. A wide receiver at Classical, Butler was also slated to play for the South all-star team but he injured his hamstring during practice and sat the Agganis game out.
“I had my best friend, Nashaun, right beside me and he couldn’t play,” Echevarria said. “I really played my best for him because I know he loves football and I know he wanted to be out there. I played me heart out for him because he couldn’t be out there.”
Echevarria and the South found themselves in a 13-0 deficit at the end of the first quarter. The North’s Brendan Treacy scored the game’s first touchdown on a 9-yard carry and connected with Max Freedman (North MVP) for a 31-yard touchdown strike. Connor Lynch caught an 18-yard touchdown pass to bring the South within a score, down 13-6, at halftime. Luis Guridys added to the North’s lead with a 1-yard plunge in the third quarter.
That’s when Echevarria turned on the jets. After St. Mary’s teammate Conor Donohue reeled the South back in with a 28-yard touchdown catch, Echevarria caught the 2-point conversion. That made it a 20-14 game with 5:02 left on the clock.
And he wasn’t done yet. With 1:35 to play, Echevarria intercepted a North pass at the North’s 30-yard line to give the South all-stars one last shot. They fell short in the final seconds but Echevarria was proud of the effort.
“We were all together during practice,” Echevarria said. “It showed (Thursday). We were the underdogs and we sure brought it to them. We all fought until the end. It was 13-0 at first and we never stopped playing. We only lost by a touchdown and we left our hearts out on the field.”
Echevarria now shifts his focus toward preparing for his freshman basketball season at Endicott. He signed his letter of intent to join the Gulls in April.
“I’ll take a week off to get some rest,” he said, “but sometime next week I’ll probably start getting ready.”
