Patriots chart a better course

By Pete Legasey

For the Journal

Badly needing to wash away the taste of last week’s unsightly loss to Medford High, the Revere High Patriots took a step forward on Friday with a hard-fought effort against Danvers. However, the Pats still have yet to rediscover the form that brought them a victory in Week 1 and are now 1-2 after a 25-12 loss to the Falcons.

“We played much better,” granted head coach Lou Cicatelli. “We were in the football game the whole way. This is a young team and it’s a work in progress. We want to get better week-by-week.”

The game got off to an encouraging start for Revere. With their opening drive, the Patriots moved the ball 70 yards from their own 10-yard line to the Danvers 20. They were unable to turn the long march into points on the scoreboard, but they maintained possession for a full six minutes. Later in the first quarter, the Pats capitalized on a drive when Trey Weathers broke free for a 60-yard touchdown run up the left sideline to put Revere ahead, 6-0.

The Patriots defense was also strong in the first quarter, stymieing the Falcons for three-and-outs on two of their possessions. Danvers found their offensive groove in the second quarter, however, scoring a pair of touchdowns to take a 13-6 lead into halftime.

Danvers grabbed momentum in a big way on their first possession of the third quarter, when the Falcons fooled the Revere defense on a reverse pass play that wound up as a 60-yard gain that brought them to the five-yard line. Two plays later, the Falcons punched the ball into the end zone to put Revere in a 19-6 hole.

With the game slipping out of their reach, the Patriots made one final charge in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Paul Norton, who had his strongest passing performance of the young season, connected with Soheal Arachiche on a 40-yard bomb into the end zone to make it 19-12. Unfortunately for Revere, the Falcons extinguished any thoughts of a dramatic rally by scoring a touchdown late in the quarter to seal the win.

For the game, Norton was 10-of-17 for over one hundred passing yards. And as usual, the Patriots got a solid outing from Weathers, who rushed for a 160 yards. Drew Lauria also had his best offensive performance of the season with 60 receiving yards. Will Weathers and Chris Adriani led the defensive effort by forcing a series of turnovers in the first half.

The Patriots, who were stopped twice on fourth-and-short plays in the red zone, will need to find a way to convert each lengthy drive into points if they are to get back into the win column this week. Revere will play at home on Friday night against Swampscott High, which is 2-1 and has only lost to undefeated Gloucester.

“A loss is still a loss,” said Cicatelli. “We’re never happy about a loss. We need to do a better job and play better for four quarters. We need to capitalize when we’re supposed to.”