Let’s hope one touchdown didn’t equal one plate of food. That wouldn’t have ended too well.
Another Thanksgiving football slate has come and gone, featuring rain-soaked victories and, for many, some final goodbyes.
Lynn English, KIPP, St. Mary’s, Marblehead, Lynnfield, Winthrop, Peabody, and St. John’s Prep were Thursday’s winners. The others weren’t so lucky.
Sure, team efforts are what do the trick, but individual standouts were all over the place. Let’s begin in (somewhat) chronological order.
Up against Lynn Tech, let’s just say KIPP gunslinger Elai Machado stole the early game at Manning Field. The super sophomore tossed three touchdown passes. One was a 34-yarder to Jonathan Jimenez, who also hauled in Machado’s next strike, and Aavian Pena polished off the aerial attack with a 36-yard score.
Overall, Machado was 12-of-16 for 186 yards to go with 37 more on the ground.
“I just wanted to make them know who I am,” he said.
Then, Marblehead hit a home run at Fenway Park, led by quarterback Finn Gallup, who threw two 48-yard touchdown strikes to Brady Selvais and Crew Monaco.
It’s all about the big play, am I right?
Back at Manning Field for the bottom half of Wednesday’s double-header, and Dimitri Koutsouflakis was a man on a mission. The running back, who transferred from Winthrop High earlier this year, rushed for nearly 200 yards (188) to go with three touchdowns.
He was trucking and plowing Fenwick tacklers from beginning to end. Ever-so-humble Koutsouflakis dished out the credit after his dominant performance.
“We’ve got quick, shifty, gritty linemen and two big running backs (Rowan Merryman) who bull you over, so it’s really hard to stop that,” he said.
Onto Thursday, when English rolled over Classical behind a near-perfect performance from quarterback Jaiden Rosario. He was 17-for-20 with 226 yards and three touchdown passes – calm and collected for all four quarters.
“No one wants to end this game with a loss or throwing a couple of picks, so it was just good to have some fun, throw a bunch of passes, a bunch of touchdowns,” he said.
His head coach, Tyllor McDonald, who knows a thing or two about slinging touchdowns, put it best.
“He took over,” he said.
Between Peabody and Saugus, the Tanners ate up the Sachems with a dominant performance. Jayce Jean-Pierre was the Turkey Day difference-maker, scoring offensive and defensive touchdowns. He caught a 7-yard pass from quarterback Luke Maglione, then returned an interception 67 yards to the house.
Consider the Sachems stumped.
St. John’s Prep took down Xaverian with relative ease, but needed quarterback Deacon Robillard to rescue the morning.
“He is such a great kid,” said coach Brian St. Pierre of his backup quarterback to Chris Vargas this season. “We knew he was going to play at some point today – it was just a matter of when.”
In North Reading, visiting Lynnfield played the role of the villain. The Pioneers won by just seven points (43-36) and needed every play they got from Jared Bernabei. He took over with a whopping 176 yards that came from just 20 carries.
Let’s not forget Spencer D’Augusta, either, who wasn’t too shabby with 112 yards rushing.
Last but certainly not least, Winthrop was led by Matt Noonan in its 25-0 blanking of the Revere Patriots. The quarterback kept one up the middle to open the scoring, then added another touchdown with his legs in the second half.
Ballgame at Miller Field.
Many Thanksgiving meals were devoured on Thursday, but for these guys, things might’ve tasted just a bit sweeter.
See you next year.
