LYNN — Last year’s matchup between the St. Mary’s and Swampscott football programs ended with a one-point win for the Spartans.
But Friday night’s season-opener was a little different, as senior-heavy St. Mary’s took down a young Swampscott squad, 28-0, at Manning Field.
“That’s a good football program. They’re on the young side and we’re on the senior side, so that helped us out a lot,” said St. Mary’s coach Sean Driscoll. “It’s a good start, but at the same time, we’ve got to regroup and see where we’re at.”
Despite the lopsided loss, Swampscott coach Peter Bush, in year three, kept his head held high.
“We’ve got a lot of kids who . . . this is their first varsity experience, and at times, it showed a little bit,” he said. “It comes down to blocking and tackling. I think we did it well at times, but it wasn’t consistent enough.”
Something that was consistent: the hard, tough – sometimes loud – ground game of St. Mary’s Rowan Merryman, who collected 122 yards rushing to go with a two-point conversion score.
He crossed the 100-yard mark by halftime.
“Rowan’s matured over the years and he runs hard. He’s a professional in the sense that he does everything you ask him to do,” Driscoll said. “You could ask him to punt, kick, play guard – he’s going to do it. We’re very fortunate to have him in our school.”
Merryman had it going from beginning to end, but he wasn’t the only one. The Spartans opened the scoring when Yaniel Belliard floated a deep pass to Michael Sherman for a 36-yard touchdown (6-0).
Belliard injured his shoulder in the first quarter and exited the game.
“He threw that touchdown pass with one shoulder, essentially, and not knowing. He’s a competitor, but he just couldn’t go,” Driscoll said. “The saddest part about the whole thing is that the kid worked his tail off for three years . . . in the classroom, out of the classroom, in the weight room – anything you ask him to do. It looks like he’s got a shoulder issue. We don’t know what it is.”
Late in the second quarter, Lynn Classical transfer Tyren Hoeun (73 yards rushing) found the promised land – standing up after contact – to put St. Mary’s ahead, 14-0.
Then, the turning point.
A two-score game with less than 30 seconds remaining in the first half, St. Mary’s Hagen Parent anticipated a short throw and intercepted the ball before taking it 43 yards to the house (21-0).
“A huge swing in the game for us, “Driscoll said.
The highlight of the second half was when St. Mary’s Jimmy Jennings – who had a first-half touchdown called back by a flag – found his revenge and bolted 50 yards to the end zone (28-0).
Jake Peterson, Denzel Ancrum, and Jack Hurley collected sacks for the Spartans.
“And the guys up front did a good job,” Driscoll said. “I thought we maintained both sides of the line of scrimmage, for the most part.”
Swampscott’s Will Bush rushed for 81 yards, while Will Rowe snagged an end-zone interception for the Big Blue.
St. Mary’s takes on familiar foe KIPP Academy next Friday at 4:30 p.m. Later that night, Swampscott hosts Lynn English at 7 p.m.
“We’ll look at the film and go from there,” Bush said. “I told the guys – it’s one game. We’ll learn from it, and they work tremendously hard.”
