BEVERLY — How do you account for a 56-point turnaround in your favor, all within a span of just six days?
According to Beverly High football captain Joe SantaMaria, the answer was quite simple.
"We just got back to playing Beverly High football," said SantaMaria, whose team bounced back from its first loss of 2008 to shut out the Revere Patriots, 21-0, Saturday at sunny Hurd Stadium.
"We were embarrassed at what happened down in Gloucester (a 35-0 loss to the host Fishermen last weekend), and focused all week in practice leading up to this game to make sure it didn't happen again. We wanted to do to Revere what Gloucester did to us — shut them out. And we were able to."
There were a myriad of reasons that Beverly (3-1) went from giving up 35 points and scoring none one game to surrendering zero and scoring three times — including twice in the critical fourth quarter — Saturday afternoon.
For starters, the Beverly defense continually pressured Revere quarterback Mike Duffy and his backfield mates, giving them little room to maneuver or make something happen. They did so while going up against a Patriots' offensive line that was bigger, but not as quick or agile.
"Everyone stepped up and did their jobs today," senior defensive tackle Jamie Wolkiewicz said. "We got a great push defensively and never stopped. We were very, very focused today."
The Panthers limited Revere to a mere 86 yards of total offense. They also capitalized on a pair of interceptions (by juniors Curtis Manuel and Nick Kozlowski), a stripped fumble (from Peter Kallas) and recovery (from SantaMaria); two sacks from Giani Dicesare and other great individual stops from players like Jason Bance, Ben Comeau, Theritchnide Roc ("Rock was everywhere for us," said Kozlowski), Ken Mahoney and Mark Connors.
"They carried us," Beverly head coach Dan Bauer said of his team's defense, which has given up just six points in its three victories this fall. "I'm very proud of the line play, for the way they worked so hard all week and made it happen during a short week of preparation."
Offensively, the Panthers turned it on in the fourth quarter, breaking open a tight 7-point game with two backbreaking scores. A tight end drag across the middle of the field turned into a 56-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Mark Hannable (5-for-7, 135 yards) to tight end Steve Dubois (3 catches, 81 yards).
Then, following Kozlowski's interception, the Panthers salted the game away when Dylan Terry slashed into the end zone from a yard out with less than three minutes to play.
Terry, playing in place of the injured Rashad Sims as Beverly's primary tailback, finished with 64 yards on 11 carries. Dicesare also had a fine day running the ball, picking up 32 yards on just three carries, while Manuel caught three passes for 60 yards.
