Tide Romps in Homecoming Game, 28-0

Before the homecoming game Coach DiBiaso wrote “2001 Thanksgiving” on the white board in the locker room. He asked some of his veteran coaches to talk about that day and what it meant to the Everett football program. For Coach DiBiaso, the day has never lost significance when it came to coaching his team up to play Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School.

“Thanksgiving of 2001 was the last time Cambridge beat us,” he told his team during his pregame speech. “They tore up pieces of our field to celebrate, they jumped into our stands with our fans.”

Coach Dibs then asked his team to make sure that the Thanksgiving game of 2001 was the last time Cambridge would ever beat them as they prepared to take on the Falcons for what could be the last time ever. Cambridge Rindge and Latin will be leaving the Greater Boston League for the Dual County League next season.

The brick wall that is the Everett defense upheld Coach DiBiaso’s request by shutting down the Falcons’ offense, leading No. 2 Everett (3-1) to a 28-0 victory over Cambridge (2-3) Saturday afternoon.

The defense shone in the scoreless 1st Quarter. With four minutes into the second Marquis Holman would rev up the offense; taking it up the middle for a touchdown. With a miss on the extra point attempt from Matheus Varella, Everett took a 6-point lead over the Falcons with 6:57 left on the clock.

It wasn’t long until the Tide made up for the missed kick. The defense forced a three and out after the kick off setting the stage for Raheem Wingard to drive his offense down the field on their next drive. Isaiah Davis picked up from where he left off in his debut at St. Johns Prep, scoring his 3rd touchdown for the Crimson Tide. Jonathan Freitas came in for a successful 2-pt conversion that put the Crimson Tide up 14-0 with 53.3 seconds left in the half.

Even with the two score lead over the Falcons, the Crimson Tide wanted some insurance points going into half time. A successful onside kick recovered by Ralph Dupervil put Everett at the Cambridge 35-yd line. With the clock winding down the offense struggled to get past the Falcons’ defensive line. It took the Tide the entire 53 seconds to eventually break through the Falcons defense, as Wingard drove into the endzone and sent the teams into half time with a 21-0 Everett lead.

It was a quiet 3rd Quarter on the field, but things got a bit tense on the Everett sideline. Two star players, Josh Palmer and Joe D’Onofrio, were taken out of the game with precautionary injuries. Both the trainer and Coach DiBiaso assured reporters that the injuries were not serious and that both players are expected back next week.

Early in the fourth quarter, Wingard continued to show off his talent in the ground game. The quarterback darted up the left for a 12-yd touchdown run to end the scoring for the day. With 42 rushing yards and an additional 81 passing, Wingard helped lead his team to a 28-0 victory over Cambridge in his final homecoming game.

Wingard felt “bittersweet” after the game. Not just because he had played in his final homecoming game, but that he thought his team could’ve played better.

“It’s tough knowing that the offense made some mistakes, but it’s good to get the win.  We have a lot of respect for these guys (Cambridge). They are a great team.”

Coach DiBiaso echoed the same feelings about his team’s execution after the game.

“The defense played good but offensively we need to iron out those mistakes,” Coach said.

Everett won’t have long to iron out the mistakes in practice as they face a short week to prepare for Medford (2-2). The two teams will face off Friday night at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium.

EHS Roundup:EHS volleyball team earns first win of season

The Everett High volleyball team, which has been building momentum over the past two weeks, burst into the win column this past week with a  3-0 victory shutout over Lowell last Monday. “It was a huge win for us, obviously,” said coach Mike Fineran. “We faced Lowell at the start of  the season and lost 0-3. That made the win that much sweeter for us.”

Everett was playing its second straight game without Laryssa Costa,  their defensive specialist. In her absence, Fineran shook up the line up, with immediate results. Senior captain Sabine Jacques moved to  middle, with senior Amanda Nabasaliza moving from the right side to outside hitter. Those moves bolstered the offense and shored up the defense as well.

“Those two were stars for us,” said Fineran. “Amanda  had one of her strongest games so far, getting eight kills total. But more importantly, she kept the pressure on the Lowell defenders. She’s a lefty, and she can hit the ball straight down, and hard.” As for Jacques, she made the most of the move, with four blocks and six kills.

Nabasaliza also had a good day serving. With Everett trailing 14-11 in the first game, Amanda rattled off seven points in a row to give the Lady Crimson Tide the lead, which they maintained en route to taking the set, 25-20.

Jacques was the difference-maker in sets two and three, with nine aces and 20 service points.  The senior captain had three aces in nine straight points to put Everett up early, 10-1, in game two, and turned a 13-13 tie into a 24-14 lead in the final set. “Sabine was awesome all game, in the front and behind the line,” lauded Fineran.

Junior middle Nicole Sylvester and senior hitter Jhulia Silva also contributed to the victory in a big way, with each having a number of key serves and kills. “It was a good team effort  all the way,” said Fineran. “We played the way I know we’re capable of playing. We dug a number of hard hits, we chased down deep balls, and we were tough at the net. It was fun to be a part of.”

Boys soccer team ties Medford, 2-2

An indication of how much the Everett High boys soccer team has improved since the start of the season came last Friday in the Crimson Tide’s 2-2 tie with Medford, a team to whom Everett fell by a 3-0 shutout in the first game of the year.

“We’ve come a long way,” said first year EHS head coach Oswaldo Constanza. “Medford beat us pretty handily when we first played them, but we held the upper hand throughout the game this time around.”

Senior Kevin Mendoza gave Everett a quick-as-a-flash 1-0 lead in the opening minute when he received a nice crossing pass at the top of the box from senior Marlon Maghahaes and delivered a perfect strike to beat the Medford keeper. Freshman Alese Rodrigues made it 2-0 in favor of the Crimson Tide 10 minutes later when he volleyed home a centering pass in the middle of the box from the left wing by junior captain Edgar Escobar.  “Edgar made a nice pass and Alese one-timed it perfectly,” noted Constanza.

Medford sliced the margin to 2-1 before the intermission, but Everett continued to have good chances in the second half and controlled the play. However, the Tide’s inability to add an insurance goal would prove to haunt them when Medford notched the equalizer on a corner kick, one of their few offensive opportunities in the half.

Constanza implemented a new alignment for his team for the Medford contest and it clearly paid off. “We’ve been using a 4-4-2 alignment throughout the season, but we’ve been preparing to switch to a 4-5-1 and we finally put it into effect,” said the coach “The team was in favor of it and it worked well for us.”

Earlier in the week the Crimson Tide dropped contests of 1-0 to Somerville and 2-0 to Malden.  “Somerville is undefeated and the top-ranked team in the state,” said Constanza. “We played very well against them and we had a number of opportunities, with Edgar (Escobar) and Alese (Rodriguez) almost connecting a few times.”

The Crimson Tide will host Chelsea tonight (Wednesday) at 7:00 at the Stadium and will travel to Methuen Friday.

EHS cross country team running faster

Although the Everett High cross country team did not prevail in its meet last Wednesday against Somerville at Torbert Macdonald Park, EHS head coach Brendan Hahesy was pleased with his team’s performance on a hot (85 degrees) day over the 2.76 mile course along the banks of the Mystic River.

“We lost the race, but had strong performances across the board,” said Hahesy.  “The team continues to show improvement each week as a result of all the hard work they have done over the course of the season. Senior Alex Burgos continued to lead the way for us, while juniors Gabe Cazeau and Fritz Jonathas turned in their best races of the season.”

The places and times for the Crimson Tide runners were as follows: Alex Burgos, 6th in 18:09; Gabe Cazeau, 8th in 18:49; Fritz  Jonathas, 9th in 18:55; Kerry Dor, 10th in 19:01; Mike Traill, 11th in 19:02; Taun Vo, 12th in 19:25; Jason Vo, 13th in 19:49; Alex Andre, 15th in 20:53; and Denny Lee, 16th  in 21:14.

The Crimson Tide runners also competed in the Homecoming Hustle 5K as part of this past weekend’s homecoming festivities.  Alex Burgos was the top EHS finisher in third place in 19:12.  He was followed by Traill in fifth in 19:49; Tuan Vo in sixth in 19:56; Dor in ninth in  20:28; Jonathas  in 10th in 20:32; Cazeau in 13th in 20:44; Jason Vo in 14th in 20:51; Lee in  23rd in 22:43; and Andre in 29th in 23:12.

Girls soccer falls to Malden, 3-1

The Everett High girls soccer team dropped a pair of contests to Greater Boston League rivals this past week. In a 3-1 loss to Malden, freshman Angori Rana scored the Everett goal, assisted by junior Kimberly Calaj. “It was a well-played game by both teams,” said EHS head coach DeAnn Larrabee. “We were aggressive, moving to the ball, and communicating well. It was a back and forth game with both teams having their chances. Unfortunately for us, Malden took better advantage of theirs.”

However, Everett did not fare as well in a subsequent 8-0 loss to a strong Medford squad. “Medford is a very good team,” noted Larrabee of the Lady Mustangs, who sit in first place in the GBL. “We played hard and remained positive to the end. I’m confident we’ll be a better team for it despite the final score.”

Larrabee and her crew were set to face Cambridge yesterday (Tuesday) and host Pope John tomorrow evening at 7:00 at the Stadium. The Lady Crimson Tide, who now are 3-8 on the season, then will hit the road to Lynn English Saturday afternoon and to Randolph Monday morning on the holiday.

PCSS boys and girls soccer starting strong

Both the boys and girls varsity soccer teams are off to a great beginning to their seasons.  The boys’ team has started off with three wins and has scored 17 goals.  The team has been led by junior midfielder Jon Le, who has scored 9 goals and assisted on another.  The girls’ team has had similar success starting with a 2-2 tie and then winning their next two games handily by a combined score of 13 to 1.  The Panther’s two leading scorers are their freshman duo of Taina Lucien (7 goals) and Sabrina Khafif (5 goals).  The Panthers game schedules can be found on www.maxpreps.com.

In a related note, former Panther standout and Everett native Pedro Calegari made the Salem State University men’s soccer team. Pedro was a three year captain, team MVP, and league MVP in 2011. PCSS would like to congratulate Pedro on his accomplishment!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *