Lady Patriots Flag Football Team Ready to Play Winthrop Saturday at Della Russo Stadium

The game is now called Flag Football and the Revere High team is ready to keep its winning streak alive versus Winthrop High.

Revere will play Winthrop in the annual fundraising football game on Saturday, Nov. 23 at noon at Harry Della Russo Stadium.

Dean Papagiorgakis, second-year head coach, has guided Revere to shutout victories the past two years.

Forty-three RHS seniors, many of whom are multi-sport athletes, have been attending practices in preparation for the game. The quarterbacks are Melanie Duarte and Brianna Popp.

One of the players expected to generate  offense is halfback Katie O’Donnell, the league MVP in field hockey who led the Patriots to an historic season in which they qualified for the MIAA Tournament.

Soccer All-Stars Luana Barbosa and Sofia Gouriny will also add firepower to the Revere contingent.

Papagiorgakis, who played football and ran track at Boston Latin School, is assisted on the coaching staff by calculus teacher extraordinaire Erin Cronin, Devin Bower, who played football at Endicott, former AD Bob Lospennato, long-time coach Dave Colella, and Becky Coots.

“We’re confident that we’ll play a good game,” said Papagiorgakis.

A former running back at Boston Latin, Papagiorgakis said the Patriots will look to take advantage of Katie O’Donnell’s speed and athletic skills in the backfield. She could be the Joe Llanos of flag football for Revere on Saturday.

A New England Patriots fan, O’Donnell said she will be taking the football field for the first time in her career.

“I’m excited to try football – I’ve watched it my whole life,” said O’Donnell, who also competes in basketball and softball. “We have really good quarterbacks who have made a great transition from their sports. Coach Dean is a really good coach and he’s worked so hard to help us understand the game really quickly the past few weeks.”

The Revere defense will be tested by Winthrop quarterback Olivia Driscoll, daughter of St. Mary’s High School football coach Sean Driscoll, and running back Soneida Dahlquist, a track standout for the Vikings.

But the prediction is that Coach Papagiorgakis and the Revere seniors will continue the phenomenal football fall (autumn) in the city and defeat the Winthrop Vikings, setting the stage for the boys to do the same on Thanksgiving morning.