Everett Crimson Tide Beats Xaverian, 21-19, in Overtime

In a matchup of two of the highest-ranked high school football teams in Massachusetts,  Everett High defeated Xaverian, 21-19, in overtime Friday night at the Hawk Bowl in Westwood.

After Xaverian struck first in overtime with a touchdown to take a 19-13 lead, Ish Zamor carried the ball to the Hawks’ 3-yard line. Cam Mohamed, operating out of the wildcat, empty formation, rushed for the touchdown. On the two-pointer, head coach Rob DiLoreto called Mohamed’s number again, and the speedy running back took a similar route to paydirt for the game-winning two-point conversion.

DiLoreto said the blocking on Everett’s three running plays in overtime was outstanding. David Macharia did an excellent job as the pulling guard on Mohamed’s successive rushes. Also drawing praise from DiLoreto were right guard Jayden Biggi, right tackle Hector Guevara, tight end Marcus Scott, center Nick Raymond, left tackle Joe Murillo, and wingback Richie Molloy.

“They created a nice down-block wall and we led the guard through,” said DiLoreto. “And Cam made two great cutbacks.”

Also excelling with a huge play in overtime was Jaylen Murphy, who made the key tackle on Xaverian’s running back to deny the Hawks the two-point conversion.

“That was a huge stop by Jaylen,” said DiLoreto. “He made a tremendous play to disrupt his blocking and tackle their running back. It allowed us to win it in overtime, as opposed to tying it.”

Zamor was brilliant on both sides of the ball. He caught a 59-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Karmarri Ellerbee in the first half and had a key interception deep in Everett territory in the second half

“Ish is the epitome of a student-athlete and a leader,” said DiLoreto. “He made a minimum of a half-dozen huge plays in the game in all three phases, offense, defense, and special teams.”

Ellerbee, who was impressive in his first start at quarterback, also connected with Moses Seide for a 79-yard touchdown in the second half. After making the catch, Seide fumbled the football, but scooped it up and raced the rest of the way to the end zone for the touchdown. Moses is the younger brother of former Everett standout Isaac Seide.

“Our quarterback (Ellerbee) showed a lot of poise and made some big throws for us,” said DiLoreto.

Xaverian put two drives together and rallied for 10 points in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 13-13.

“But our kids responded well in overtime, stayed true to themselves, and executed one more play than Xaverian and that was enough to win,” said DiLoreto. “This was a good Week 1 program win, and it was a fun night of football.”

Everett hosts Somerville Friday at 6 p.m. at Everett Veterans Memorial Stadium.

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