REVERE— What a start for the Revere football team.
In a true team effort, the Patriots have seen multiple players step up when their numbers have been called. Quarterback Calvin Boudreau runs a well-oiled machine on offense. Running back Joe Llanos moves the chains week in and week out. Receivers Jonathan Murphy and Lucas Barbosa create openings in the passing game. John Tran and Jaryd Benson stop the run on defense. Kicker Rayan Riazi splits the uprights from anywhere he’s asked.
The list goes on and on.
Tuesday was about coach Lou Cicatelli, who was named New England Patriots Coach of the Week. NFL Hall of Famer Andre Tippett visited the team to present Cicatelli with his award at Roland A. Merullo Field House.
“This is my first time getting this award,” Cicatelli said. “It’s a hard award to get. There are a lot of other coaches who are having great years. It’s about the kids. The team has gotten great press and that’s because the kids have done a great job representing Revere football.”
Tippett spoke to the players and homed homed in on his own high school football experiences. “Andre’s a great guy,” Tippett said. “I’ve met him a couple times before. He talked to the kids about making sure they’re doing all the right things in school, the community and football. He talked about how important his high school coach was. There wasn’t one eye in the room that wasn’t looking at him. He’s a really nice person.”
Cicatelli was quick to credit his assistant coaches.
“This happened because of the kids and the assistant coaches,” Cicatelli said. “I’ve always said that the assistant coaches are what drive Revere football. I owe them a ton and I’m very proud.”
A former Revere Patriot himself, Cicatelli graduated from Revere High in 1982. He played two years of varsity football for Silvio Cella.
“I learned family values from Coach Cella,” Cicatelli said. “If you can build relationships with the kids and they can build relationships with each other, it goes a long way.”
Cicatelli has guided Revere to a 3-0 start. The team defeated Gloucester (38-8) in its opening game, Peabody (24-0) the following Friday and Classical (43-26) last week.
“I’m not surprised, to be honest,” Cicatelli said. “We were a good football team last year and we were hit with an injury bug. We lost a lot of key starters and still found a way to make the state tournament, and win a game. We came close to the goal. We felt we could’ve made more noise if we were healthy last year. We’re a good football team. If we can stay healthy, I think we can make a difference this year.”
But there’s still plenty of work to be done.
“The big key right now is to stay focused,” Cicatelli said. “We have to stay as injury-free as possible. We have to keep working hard in practice. We’ve had pretty good practices for the most part. We have to stay together and believe in one another. We’re more of a family with these kids because we spend four months with them. The togetherness, building relationships, plays a big factor and it helps in your success.”
This week, the Patriots shift their attention to preparing for Saugus. They’ll travel to Stackpole Field to take on the Sachems Saturday afternoon (2:30).
“Saugus is a good football team,” Cicatelli said. “We have to go in there and play our game. My biggest concern is that it’s our first away game. It’s a Saturday game, it’s on grass. There are a few differences for the kids but they’ve been focused. Hopefully it falls our way.”
