LYNN — The way the revised, statewide football playoff pairings are shaking out, Revere, at 6-2, could possibly be on the outside looking in.
Despite Friday night’s 21-6 win over Classical, coach Lou Cicatelli fears its record might not be enough, since weight of schedule has become the factor it is, and only 16 teams per division get in.
Revere is in Division 3 and is teetering on the bottom line of the top 16.
“We’re not going to know until Sunday (when the pairings come out),” said Cicatelli. “What hurts us is our league. It was down this year, so we don’t get as many points.”
Classical’s Brian Vaughan, whose Rams finished the regular season at 4-4, thinks his team will probably not make the cut in Division 1.
“I think we’d have had a tough time even if we won tonight,” he said.
As for Friday’s game, both coaches had reason to be happy.
“We won the game, and I thought we played well, especially in the first half,” Cicatelli said. “We had some people out due to sickness, but I thought our line gave us a big push to start the game.
“In the second half,” he said, “they tightened up defensively and played real well.”
The Rams, too, were affected by illness. They had to bring up some JV players to insert into the lineup, one of them being running back Matt Carrillo, who gained 45 yards on nine carries. That, along with quarterback Brian Vaughan’s 71 yards on 16 carries, gave the Rams a good rushing attack.
On the Revere side of the ball, big running back Mark Marchese ran for 106 yards on 23 carries and scored two of Revere’s three touchdowns.
Classical took the opening kick and marched down to the Revere 29 on seven plays before stalling. When Revere got the ball back, the Patriots took it to the house on eight plays — the last one being on a three-yard run by Marchese.
Classical lost a fumble on its next series, setting Revere up with a first down at the Rams 15. It took three plays, all of them run by Marchese, with the last of them being a four-yard touchdown run, and Revere was out to a quick 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.
But, as Vaughan said, “we didn’t quit all week in practice and we didn’t quit tonight.”
Classical began its next drive on its own 35, and 11 plays later, young Brian Vaughan ran it in from the 17; the big play of the drive was actually a 15-yard facemask penalty against Revere that would have had Classical stopped at midfield, facing a fourth down.
It stayed that way until the break, and both defenses stiffened in the second half. Brian Vaughan, who had run through Revere on quarterback keepers in the first half, was slowed down by the Patriots in the final 24 minutes.
“How did we solve him?” Cicatelli asked. “Easy. Our strategy is ‘Vaughan is running the ball. We keyed on him on every play.”
Quarterback Anwar Marbouh scored the final touchdown for Revere on a one-yard sneak.
Wilmer Rodriguez-Mejia kicked all three extra points for Revere.
