SWAMPSCOTT — It was an offensive explosion for the No. 4 Swampscott football team in the Division 5 North quarterfinal Saturday night at Blocksidge Field. Quarterback Graham Inzana took advantage of all his weapons, throwing five first-half touchdowns in the Big Blue’s 55-6 rout of No. 5 Weston.
But more importantly for Swampscott head coach Bobby Serino and his staff, the Big Blue stuck to the game plan and didn’t take off a single play from start to finish.
“That’s the bottom line, even when were up by 30, 35, 40 don’t take a play off because that’s the time you’re going to get hurt,” Serino said. “These guys run every single play in practice, special teams, defense, offense and their individual drills at full caliber. They’re familiar with it.”
That extra effort, especially in the blocking game, was what got Serino excited as the Swampscott offense ripped off big play after big play.
“I was running down the sideline one time because our downfield blocking was absolutely unbelievable,” Serino said. “That’s something that we worked on. When you see a play and they’re just watching and spectating they get yelled at in film. (Saturday) they made some touchdown blocks down field. Our guards and our skill guys made some unbelievable blocks.
“Jake Papazoglou made a touchdown block down field. Probably 30 yards downfield and it was probably the best block of the season.”
The passing game got off to a fast start on the Big Blue’s first drive. Inzana connected with Zack Palmer (two catches, 98 yards, two touchdowns) on a 21-yard touchdown pass to put Swampscott ahead 7-0 (Thomas Frisoli PAT).
That was just the beginning of an explosive start for Swampscott. Dylan January found the endzone on a 1-yard run and Andrew Augustin (two catches, 34 yards, two touchdowns) hauled in a touchdown pass to give Swampscott a 21-0 lead by the second quarter.
Weston returned a Swampscott fumble 32 yards for a touchdown to get on the board but the Big Blue didn’t skip a beat from there. Izana hit Palmer on a shovel pass for a 77-yard touchdown and Augustin hauled in a 21-yard touchdown to stretch the Swampscott lead to 35-6.
Swampscott got back on the board before the half when Inzana threw his fifth touchdown pass to Caden Dubiel on a 2-yard score to give the Big Blue a 41-6 lead.
With a comfortable lead, Cam O’Brien stepped in for Inzana at quarterback for a majority of the second half and the Big Blue offense kept firing on all cylinders. O’Brien threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Arturo Vasquez and Xaviah Bascon tacked on a 26-yard touchdown run to cap off the 55-6 win.
“It was a long week of practice and as soon as the kids take a play off our staff is all over them,” Serino said. “We demand every rep in practice to be 100 percent. We tell them that the day that you don’t do it 100 percent is the time you get hurt and you end your career.”
Now the Big Blue shift their focus to No. 1 Pentucket in the semifinal.
“We got our guys out (Saturday), kept everyone healthy and now we move on to Pentucket,” Serino said. “We’ll match up with them. Run game, spread game, defense, special teams, we’re going to be ready.”
Swampscott travels to Pentucket Saturday (1).
