LYNN — The Revere football team hasn’t seen game action since Thanksgiving Day 2019, but the Patriots didn’t look that way on Friday night. Behind a strong, balanced attack, Revere came away with a 18-0 victory over Greater Boston League foe Lynn Classical on the road at Manning Field in the season opener for both teams.
“It feels great to come back and play, especially when you can come to Manning Field and get a tough win on the road,” said Revere coach Lou Cicatelli. “We’re just so grateful to be out here, and it feels great to kick off the new season with a win.”
Quarterback Calvin Boudreau led the offensive attack for Revere, completing 12-of-18 passes for 176 yards and one touchdown. Billy Byrne-Ginepra rushed for 30 yards and one touchdown, while Adetayo Atitebi led the rushing attack with 89 yards. Dillon Day had four receptions for 46 yards and one touchdown.
“We ran some really cool run-pass options and also ran the ball well, and then defensively we were solid,” said Cicatelli. “There’s obviously plenty for us to work on and we were sloppy in places, but overall it was a good start.”
For Classical, running backs Marquese Avery and Nico Galeazzi were held to just 34 yards and 25 yards, respectively. Quarterback Edgar Ramirez completed 4-of-7 passes for 28 yards.
“It was great to be back, but unfortunately the game didn’t go the way we wanted,” said Classical coach Brian Vaughan. “We have a young team and we haven’t had any scrimmages, so that will lead to some mistakes. We saw some good things out there, but overall we just didn’t get the job done.”
The Revere defense is actually what got the Patriots on the board first, with a sack in the end zone for a safety at the end of the first quarter to take a 2-0 lead.
After getting the ball right back on the free kick, Revere marched down the field on an 11-play, 64-yard drive to find the end zone for the first time. The drive was capped off with a 16-yard touchdown pass from Boudreau to Day, and after a 2-point conversion the Patriots took a 10-0 lead with just under six minutes left in the half.
That score held until halftime, but Revere came out and kept right on moving when it received the opening kickoff in the third quarter. The Patriots put together another long drive, moving 61 yards in eight plays and scoring on a 15-yard touchdown run from Byrne-Ginepra. After Boudreau hit Mark Galvez for the t2-point conversion, Revere held a 18-0 lead.
Classical had a couple of chances to score down the stretch, but mistakes held the Rams back and off the scoreboard.
Revere (1-0) hosts Lynn English Friday (6) in its home opener at Harry Della Russo Stadium.
“Now that we’ve gotten a game under our belt, we’ll be able to go back to practice and really drill down on some things to prepare for next week,” said Cicatelli.
Classical (0-1) travels to Medford Friday evening (6).
“We played a lot of guys for the first time at the varsity level and got a good look at them, and that’s big in a season like this,” said Vaughan. “We’ll be back to the drawing board on Monday and try to come out and get a win at Medford.”
