SWAMPSCOTT — Zack Palmer’s days aren’t short ones.
He rides a bus from Boston to Swampscott High at 6 a.m., hits the practice field after school and returns home around 9 p.m.
His commitment to the Swampscott football team isn’t an easy one but it’s paying dividends. Palmer and the Big Blue are bound for Saturday’s Division 5 Super Bowl at Gillette Stadium.
“We’re all excited,” said Palmer, a senior. “The whole season was just a grind. We’re all happy that we finally made it. Our coaches promised us that we’d make the Super Bowl if we all stuck to our game plans and stuck together as a team. We lost the state semifinal last year and we avenged that loss with the win over Holliston this year. We’re all excited.”
Well-rounded teams always place a premium on special teams and Swampscott’s no different. Palmer has made his mark on special teams this season with three kickoffs returned for touchdowns and two punts returned for touchdowns.
“Sometimes I like to look at who’s running at me and scan the field,” Palmer said. “I know where the ball is and I scan the field. When I have the ball in my hands, my teammates make their blocks, I find a hole and I run through it hard. We work on that a lot in practice and that helps me during games. We run plenty of kick returns during practice so we can see how things feel.”
Palmer’s come a long way on special teams.
“One day I asked him, ‘How come you don’t catch those balls in the air?,'” Swampscott coach Bob Serino said. “He answered, ‘Coach how would you feel if you had 10 guys coming at you? I’d want to take a peek at them.’ He hits that seam and he’s gone.”
A 3-way player, Palmer also gives Swampscott boosts on offense at receiver and defense in the secondary. He’s recorded 484 receiving yards with nine touchdown catches this season, with 47 tackles, 12 pass breakups and three interceptions.
“He doesn’t come off the field,” Serino said. “He plays offense, defense and he’s on all the specials. He played corner last year and it was his first year playing corner for us. All of a sudden he became a shutdown corner. We get him the ball behind the line of scrimmage and he makes plays. He can run the go routes. We also started putting him in the backfield as a second runner as well.”
Palmer points to his offseason workout regimen as an important part of his success.
“I’m always trying to improve,” said Palmer, who also runs indoor and outdoor track. “During the offseason, I’d go to the field and work out. I put in a lot of work by myself and I’m seeing that pay dividends now. I’m really grateful for that. Last year people recognized me as just a special teams specialist. This year I’ve become much more well rounded on offense, defense and special teams.”
Swampscott feels confident about its standing across all phases. Offensively, the Big Blue have no shortage of weapons in a balanced attack.
“I’d say our offense is the best on the North Shore,” Palmer said. “Graham’s (Inzana) a great quarterback. Our receivers are great athletes. Dylan’s (January) a great runner. It takes the pressure off each player knowing you have a great player next to you. If I can’t make a big play, I know the guys next to me can. I’m just grateful to have those guys next to me.”
Defensively, Swampscott takes pride in its ability to give opponents headaches. The Big Blue have allowed just 38 points in four postseason games.
“We do everything at 100 percent in practice,” Palmer said. “We were pretty young last year. I was new to things last year. I found myself behind the ball. We returned almost our entire defense this year. We watch and study a lot of film. That shows us what our opponents are doing. We have one another’s backs on defense and that gives us a lot of confidence.”
With a few days of practice ahead of them before Saturday’s (1:30 p.m.) game against West sectional champion Amherst, the Big Blue are keeping themselves upbeat and focused.
“We’ve been live all season but now that we’re at Gillette, everyone’s practicing harder,” Palmer said. “The pressure’s off us. We made a lot of mental mistakes in the past. We know we have it in our hands. We just have to finish it. We know it’s in front of us. Gillette Stadium’s just another field. Same size, same length. We’ll be ready.”
