Special To The Independent
One of legendary college football ABC-TV play-by-play broadcaster Keith Jackson’s most memorable lines was, “He’s only a sophomore.”
What made it sound so special was how Jackson used his Southern accent to draw out the syllables as in, “He’s only a soph – a – more.”
Everett running back Jaden Clerveaux is only a sophomore but he’s a very, very good one. Clerveaux had the best game of his rising career, rushing for 101 yards and three touchdowns as Everett edged central Massachusetts powerhouse St. John’s of Shrewsbury, 32-27, Friday in Shrewsbury.
Clerveaux rushed for the winning 15-yard touchdown with 2:13 left in the game to cap off a wild fourth-quarter. Tyrese Baptiste set up the touchdown with a 64-yard kickoff return.
Junior quarterback Duke Doherty enhanced his standing as one of the best signal callers in the state, completing 22-of-31 passes for 317 yards. He had a 65-yard touchdown pass to Clarence Jules.
Doherty also had another huge day in the rushing department with 16 carries for 92 yards. That’s more than 400 total yards for Doherty.
Junior wide receiver Tyrese Baptiste had eight receptions for 107 yards. Eli Auguste had four catches for 51 yards while Josh Nieves had four catches for 25 yards.
“It was a complete, good team-victory,” said Everett head coach Theluxon Pierre. “Special teams made key plays when we wanted them. The offense capitalized on the opportunities and the defense played with energy and made key stops.”
Pierre said the fourth quarter was an exciting one with three lead changes. “Our defense made the stops and then the running game took over for us.”
The coach cited key contributions from Jaden Clerveaux and Sammy Lamothe in the ground game and Clarence Jules, who caught the ball very well out of the backfield.
Clerveaux’s emergence in to an exceptional running back is not unexpected in the Everett camp.
“Jaden worked very hard in the offseason and at some point I knew he was going to explode,” said Pierre. “I’m just happy it was that day [Friday].”
Tide Notebook
Brockton comes to Everett for the annual Homecoming game on Saturday. Brockton, which is the largest high school in Massachusetts with close to 4,300 students, can best be described as the “Everett of the 1970s.” The Boxers were the No. 1 football program in Massachusetts for a few years before Everett soared to the top, a perch it has now held for more than three decades.
With victories over Xaverian and St. John’s, Everett is ranked No. 5 in the Herald’s Sweet 16 and No. 7 in the Boston Globe’s Top 20.
Catholic Memorial, led by former Everett coach John DiBiaso, is No. 1 in the polls. By the way, congratulations to Coach DiBiaso for the 316th victory of his career, tying former Brockton Coach Armond Colombo’s mark. Mr. Colombo’s son, Peter, is the current Brockton head coach.
Senior Abraham Betancourth had two PATs in the win over St. John’s and is making excellent progress as the Tide’s placekicker.
Everett High Homecoming Day and the clash of the two winningest football programs in Massachusetts – Everett has 811 wins in its history while Brockton is second with 799 victories – should draw a massive crowd to Everett Memorial Stadium on Saturday.