Lynnfield 7-26-18

JULY 26, 2018
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Sports
New football staff gets feet wet at 7v7
By Anne Marie Tobin
DANVERS — If you love high
school football, then St. John’s Prep was
the place to be Saturday for the annual
Northeast 7v7 East Regional football
championship.
The tournament, formerly known
as the Swampscott/Lynnfield 7 on 7
Shootout attracted 40 teams, which not
only battled each other, but battled one
downpour after another.
By the time the rain stopped late in
the afternoon Buckingham, Browne
and Nichols was the last team standing,
having beaten Milton in the championship
game.
The three regional Northeast 7v7 tournaments
are a football junkie’s dream
with passing ruling the day. Forty teams
competed in Saturday’s day-long competition,
which features eight 40-yard
long fields. All games are 24 minutes
of running time. Games are played simultaneously
with eight brackets of five
teams each competing to be one of the
two teams from each bracket to move on
to the elimination round.
Among the local teams were St. John’s
Prep, Lynnfield High, Bishop Fenwick
High, which had hosted the tournament
the last five years, and Peabody, a firsttime
participant.
“We are changing our offense and are
going to throw the ball more this year
than we have in the last five years combined,
so that’s why we decided to participate,”
said Peabody head coach Mark
Bettencourt. “That’s why we brought
Gino Fedora over from Lynnfield. Who
knows better than he does how to run
that offense.”
While Peabody failed to win a game,
Fedora said the day was a success.
“Absolutely we were pleased even
though we came out a little flat,” said
Fedora. “Especially considering the fact
that it takes three years to implement
a brand new spread and we only have
three weeks to do it. We didn’t score a
touchdown in our first two games and
pulled them aside and challenged them
to figure it out and they did, they scored
three in each of the last two games, so
that was a good showing.
“Already I can feel the buzz as it has
been a great summer. Now we need to
find our identity and come together.”
Four of five Tanner captains (Tyler
Norman, Abe Kaba, Chriss Glass, Jake
Souza) competed in the East Regional.
“We usually run the ball, but we got a
lot of good looks passing the ball today,”
said Souza. “I think we went too deep
early, but once we figured out we needed
short passes we had success. The goal is
to be 50-50 or 60-40 pass to run this year
and we have some good new players
and transfers, like quarterback Matt
Jandrisevits, so we are learning a lot and
working together as a real team.”
Bishop Fenwick was the only local
team to advance to the Sweet 16. The
Crusaders held on to beat Andover in
game four, 21-20, to finish pool play 2-2
and won their spot in a tie-breaker. They
defeated Pope John 22-12 in the round
PHOTO | KERRIANNE ALLAIN
Clayton Marengi runs into the end zone during the 7v7 exhibition last weekend at St. John’s Prep
of 16 but were eliminated in the quarterfinals
by eventual champion BB&N,
22-15. Fenwick’s three captains (captain
Tom MacDonald could not participate)
said the future of Fenwick football is
bright.
“We had a bad year last year but this
year’s team has grit and heart,” Derek
DelVecchio said. “Today we didn’t take
any crap from anyone and that’s why I
love this group. This tournament is always
awesome, a great team builder.”
For captain Keegan O’Connor, a St.
John’s Prep transfer, the tournament had
a homecoming flavor.
“I live in Andover so it was great to
beat them and also it felt a little like home
being back here at the Prep,” O’Connor
said. “Today we got some great play
from our young players so that was good
to see. Players like Stefano Fabbiano,
who is only a sophomore, showed some
good stuff on both sides of the ball, so
I believe we are improving every day.”
Key to the Crusaders’ campaign to
get back into the postseason playoffs is
quarterback Cory Bright. Bright has battled
injuries the past two seasons.
“I think the only season I have had that
I was injury free was freshman year, but
I’m healthy and 100 percent, so I definitely
like our chances and today will
help us come together as a team and
bring Fenwick football back to where it
belongs,” Bright said.
Lynnfield is in its first year under
new coach Pat Lamusta, who succeeded
10-year head man Neal Weidman
after Weidman’s retirement. While the
Pioneers finished pool play 1-3 and did
not move on, Lamusta liked what he
saw, especially against BB&N, which
went on to win the whole thing.
“I told the team I saw a lot of good
stuff today and it was nice to see progress
as the games went on,” Lamusta
said. “By the fourth game, you could see
PHOTO | KRISTINE MARENGI
Hunter Allain stops an opposing player during the 7v7 competition at St.
John’s Prep.
the team was really gellin’ and the intensity
level was right up there against some
tough competition, like BB&N (won) by
BB&N 21-20) in that last game. They
have at least two kids going Division
1 but we really held own. I can see so
much improvement from the Endicott
7v7 and they are much more cohesive as
a group.”
Senior Brett Cohee and junior Clayton
Marengi alternated at quarterback. With
Lynnfield’s all-time leader in touchdown
passes, Matt Mortellite, off to St. Lawrence,
the Pioneers’ quarterback position is up for
grabs.
“All I can say now is that there are are
potential battles for positions all over the
field,” Lamusta said. “It’s going to be
very competitive.”
Mortellite spent his summer as a volunteer
assistant to Fedora in Peabody
and was directing the Tanners’ offense
Saturday.
“They did some pretty good things
and are starting to pick up the new offense,”
Mortellite said. “We didn’t win
any games, but little by little you can
see improvement with every game, so
I think Peabody should be ready to go
from the very start of the season.”