RHS Sports Roundup

Hopes are High for RHS Football Team

The Revere High football team has been preparing arduously for the 2019 campaign over the past two weeks in anticipation of their season-opener.

“We’ve been having a great pre-season,” said veteran RHS head coach Lou Cicatelli. “The team has been working hard and has a great attitude.”

The Patriots showed flashes of potential brilliance to come in their annual pre-season scrimmage with Hamilton-Wenham Saturday morning on the turf at Harry Della Russo Stadium.

The RHS first team stayed on the field for 20 downs, controlling the play on both sides of the ball. Senior Joe Llannos, who transferred from Attleboro High last year, but who suffered a broken leg mid-way through the season, rushed for close to 100 yards on just five carries and scored a touchdown.

“Joe is back and he’s going to be a real force for us,” said Cicatelli.

Junior quarterback Calvin Boudrow, who also missed a big chunk of 2018 with a shoulder injury, was impressive throwing the ball. One of Calvin’s favorite  targets was junior wide receiver Dillan Day.

“Dillan has great hands and is a tremendous athlete,” Cicatelli said of Day, who also is known for his exploits on the basketball court for the Patriots. “He’s a tough kid who really goes for the ball.”

Junior Mark Galvez also turned in an impressive performance as a running back/slot back, and grabbed a 40-yard pass against the Generals.

On the defensive side of the ball, linebacker Billy Ginepra was a powerful presence for Revere, roaming all over the field in pursuit of General ballcarriers.

Revere also will feature a big weapon this season with the foot of junior Rayan Riazi, who has been named a pre-season All-Scholastic as a place-kicker.

“Rayan proved the difference for us last year in some close games,” noted Cicatelli. “He has been kicking field goals consistently from 40-50 yards out during the pre-season.”

The 2019 Patriots will be led by a quintet of senior captains: two-way lineman Jaryd Benson; senior defensive end/tight end Mazer Ali, who is returning from a broken leg suffered mid-2018; running back/safety Zach Furlong, who played a key role in Revere’s fine 2018 season; defensive back/X-back Jonathan Murphy, who took over the quarterbacking chores last season when Boudrow was injured; and speedy running back/linebacker Lucas Barbosa, who is returning from a hamstring injury.

Cicatelli’s squad enjoyed unprecedented success last year, continuing an upward trend for the RHS program that has been building for the previous four seasons.

After an 0-2 start, the Patriots finished at 7-4, including the program’s first-ever triumph in the post-season, a victory over North Reading in the sectional quarterfinals.

Patriot fans also no doubt will recall their team’s 18-6 triumph over archrival Winthrop on Thanksgiving Day at a frigid HDR, a triumph that marked the third straight win, and four of the past five, on Turkey Day for Cicatelli’s crew, a feat accomplished only twice before by Revere in the schools’ long series .

Revere never has defeated Winthrop four years in a row — but that goal still is three months away and there is a lot of football to play between now and then.

Unlike all of the other RHS athletic teams, which have reunited with their former long-time rivals, Everett, Somerville, Malden, and Medford, to create a newly-reorganized Greater Boston League, the football program will remain in the Northeastern Conference for the next two seasons before rejoining with the GBL for the 2021 schedule.

Revere will play in the middle-tier division of the NEC comprised of Salem, Lynn Classical, Gloucester, Peabody, and Marblehead.

The Patriots have a rigorous week of work and scrimmages ahead. They were set to travel to Danvers yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) and will host Northeast Regional Friday morning at HDR. They will travel to Malden Saturday for a 1/2 game.

The Patriots then will have two weeks off to prepare for their season-opener under the lights on Friday evening, Sept. 13, when they will host defending Super Bowl champ and perennial grid powerhouse Gloucester.

Peabody will come to HDR the following Friday, September 20, and Lynn Classical on Sept. 27.

RHS Golf to Host Tournament on Friday

The Revere High School golf program will be hosting its fourth annual Golf Tournament at Hillview Golf Course in North Reading this Friday, Aug. 30.

The tournament proceeds are allocated toward providing more equitable access to the game of golf for the youth of Revere. The tournament begins with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. and will be followed by a luncheon after the golf.

Contact RHS golf coach Brandon Pezzuto at 781-630-0648 for information about the tournament.

RHS Sports Set to Swing into High Gear

With their pre-season work almost complete, the Revere High sports teams are set to open their 2019 seasons in the coming week.

For Patriot fans and many of the parents of the athletes, it will be a case of, “What’s old is new again,” as the Revere athletic program will be reuniting with its former comrade schools from the Greater Boston League to re-form the GBL.

Revere left the GBL in the 2005 season for the Northeastern Conference. The GBL then folded into the NEC three years ago, but those schools — Everett, Medford, Malden, and Somerville — basically were ejected from the NEC and Revere decided to go back to its roots with the GBL, a league in which Revere had competed for about 50 years prior to 2005.

The boys soccer team kicks off the 2019 fall season hosting Beverly on Tuesday, September 3. The boys will entertain Boston Latin on Friday, September 6, under the lights at Harry Della Russo Stadium.

The Lady Patriot soccer team will travel to Everett on September 11 for its season-opener,

The RHS field hockey team will host non-league foe Haverhill (which once was a member of the GBL in the 1970s) on Wednesday, September 4, and will trek to Lowell on the next day, September 5.

The volleyball team make the short trip to Saugus on September 9 for its season-opener, while the RHS golfers will host Everett at Cedar Glen on that same day.

The RHS cross country teams will entertain Everett at Belle Isle on September 18 in the first dual meet of the season.