Patriots Roll in Opener, Corral Mustangs, 26-0

The Revere High football team opened its 2012 season on a high note, coming home with a 26-0 triumph over Medford Saturday at Hormel Stadium.

The contest originally had been scheduled for Friday night under the lights at Harry Della Russo Stadium, but that evening’s downpours not only washed out the game for Friday night, but the teams decided to move the game westward down the Parkway to the beautiful new turf field at Medford’s home stadium given the muddy conditions at HDR.

But that proved to be no problem for the Patriots, and even may have been a blessing in disguise. “We knew we had more team speed than Medford,” said RHS head coach Lou Cicatelli. “So playing on a turf field proved to work to our advantage.”

Indeed, the Pats showed that they were not in the least bit phased by the switch from their home field as they marched 60 yards on their opening drive of the game, reaching paydirt when senior quarterback Joe Ritchie found Kyle Gotham in the end zone for a 10 yard TD pass.

“It was a very methodical drive and set the tone for the rest of the game,” noted Cicatelli. Although Jeff Simbert missed on the point after attempt, he got a chance to redeem himself when junior defensive back Tom Portrait, who turned in a monster game on both sides of the pigskin, picked off a Mustang aerial and took it home 40 yards, and with Simbert converting the PAT, Revere held a 13-0 advantage. Portrait picked off two Medford passes and rushed for 85 yards from his halfback slot.

Ritchie then demonstrated why he figures to be a truly multiple-threat offensive performer this season when the fleet senior (who also is a star sprinter on the RHS track teams) scampered 30 yards for six points before the half ended to increase the Patriot margin to 19-0.

The third frame saw the Patriots play what Cicatelli termed some “sloppy offense,” characterized by holding and illegal procedure calls, that negated big plays that could have broken the game wide open. (Revere had three touchdowns called back for infractions whistled by the refs.)

But with the Revere defense essentially stifling their Mustang opponents, the lull in offensive production was barely noticed. The Revere D, led by the aggressive play of linebackers Conlen Adinjah (nine tackles), Andy Restiano, and Caleb Silva, limited Medford to less than 100 total yards on the day. Medford got into the red zone on only one occasion, but the Patriot defense stopped the Mustang scoring threat and took the ball over on downs.

“The defense turned in a great effort and played well from start to finish,” said Cicatelli.

The Revere offense returned to its former prowess in the final frame, with Ritchie finding favorite receiver Gotham once again for a 25 yard pass into the endzone.

“Overall, it was about as good a start to the season as one could expect for the first game,” added the coach. “We have to iron out some of the problems we had with penalties, but that’s something we know we can work on and correct.”

The Patriots (hopefully!) will be able to play what now will be their home opener this Friday evening when they host Georgetown at Della Russo Stadium. Kick off time is 7:00.

RHS girls soccer opens with 2-0 win

The Revere High girls soccer team kicked off its 2012 season on the right foot with a 2-0 victory over former Greater Boston League rival Malden last Tuesday.

Senior Dayna Brown had the distinction of scoring the first goal of the 2012 campaign, assisted by sweeper Rachel Adreani. Senior forward Carolina Herrera-Diaz reached the back of the net in the second half for an insurance marker to seal the victory.

“We played well as a team,” said RHS head coach Natalie Lyons, who also noted the fine play of Paola Ortez and Taylor Fiore, in addition to the Lady Patriots who figured in the scoring. “It was a solid effort and a nice way to start the season.”

Senior Amy Rotger earned the shutout in the net and showed why she should rate as one of the top keepers in the Northeastern Conference.

The Lady Patriots will be led in 2012 by a trio of captains, Jackie Noel, Eliza Anderson, and Adreani. “This is a great group of girls,” said Lyons. “We’re really excited to get the season underway.”

Lyons and her crew will face a stiff test against always-tough Peabody in their NEC opener tomorrow (Thursday) and will host Lynn Classical Tuesday.

Boys soccer team ready for action

The Revere High boys soccer team swung into action yesterday (Tuesday) at Saugus to kick off its 2012 campaign.

The Patriots concluded their pre-season scrimmage schedule on Friday, trekking up to Rockport where they battled their opponent to a 1-1 tie.

“Overall we played well,” said RHS head coach Nik Tower. “But we need to find a way to generate more offense and score some goals.”

Tower and his team last year were led by freshman sensation Mohamed Kenaway and had been looking forward to having their leading goal scorer return for another season. However, a new national soccer rule, which is being implemented this year by the U.S. Soccer Federation, mandates that club soccer players at the academy level (the elite club teams) cannot play for their high schools. Kenaway plays for the Academy team of the Boston Bolts and thus is ineligible to play for the Patriots.

“I can understand the reasoning behind the rule from the national development perspective,” said Tower, “but it essentially means that the best high school players in America will not be able to play for their hometown high school teams.”

Still, Tower is upbeat about the coming season. “We have a lot of experienced players and a number of seniors who are new to our program, but who should be able to make an impact,” said Tower, who announced his captains for the 2102 season: Wilmer Cruz, Qais Ghulam, Steven Reyes-Pineda, and Ben Graciani.

“Unfortunately, we’ve been bitten by the injury bug, so we’re still putting the pieces together and it may take a few games for us to fully come together as a team,” concluded Tower. “But if we work hard, I think we have the potential to do something special this season.”

The Patriots will host Peabody tomorrow (Thursday) and play under the lights at Manning Field against Lynn Classical next Tuesday.

Golfers drop close match to Classical

The Revere High golf team played well, but came up in the short end of a 40-32 decision to Lynn Classical Monday at the latter’s home course at the Gannon Country Club.

All of the individual matches were tight affairs.  Jeff Kingston, playing at No. 5 for Coach Matt Nazzaro’s squad, defeated his Classical rival by a score of 5.5-3.5. Also emerging triumphant over his

Classical foe was Mark Maloney at No. 2, 5-4. John Cimmaruta, playing at No. 1, halved his match, 4.5-4.5, against his Classical counterpart. “Jeff, Mark, and John played very well for us,” noted Nazzaro.

Jason Siegal, playing at No. 6, fell by a slim 4-5 margin, as did Brett Deukmejian at No. 7.

T.J. MacDonald at No. 3, John Papasadora at No. 4, and Gennaro Cataldo at No. 8 all played well, but came up on the short end of 3-6 outcomes.

The Patriots were set to be back in action today, hosting Salem at Cedar Glen.

1 comment for “Patriots Roll in Opener, Corral Mustangs, 26-0

Leave a Reply

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

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.