Moving the Chains
Matt Williams
Just over a month into the high school football season, there are a lot of players dominating the local gridirons on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons exactly as we expected them to when training camps broke in August.
Headline players like Chris Splinter and Evan Bunker of Masconomet, Eric Burgos of Danvers, Matt Barbuzzi of Swampscott, David St. Pierre of North Shore Tech and Hayes Richardson of Marblehead are filling up our scoresheets and leaderboards to no one's surprise.
But what about the rest?
Every year there are pleasant surprises dotting our football landscape. Here's a look at a few of the young men who have burst on the scene early in the 2009 season:
Alex Crecco, Bishop Fenwick RB
This Ipswich native checks in third in the area in rushing yards (552) and has already found the end zone six times in his first year wearing the Brown and Gold. Crecco is averaging a healthy 6.1 yards per carry and has helped solidify a Fenwick offense that had plenty of questions coming into the season.
Thanks in part to a rigorous off-season conditioning program, Crecco has shown an enviable blend of speed and power and with 91 carries he's been durable, too. It was Crecco's late TD that lifted Fenwick to a victory over Salem — amazingly, Crecco's first taste of winning in his high school career after enduring back-to-back winless campaigns at Ipswich High.
Crecco was a bit of an unknown coming into the season, having played behind a very good back in Jimmy Cadogan during his days in Tiger orange. Not anymore, though; the secret is out on Crecco's hunger and skill, and he's quickly becoming the guy Crusader opponents are concerned about stopping.
Evan Comeau, Marblehead WR/LB
The Magicians' captain sometimes wears glasses and looks unassuming when he takes the hill as an ace pitcher in the spring. Like Clark Kent, though, when the spectacles come off and the football helmet goes on, Comeau becomes a beast.
Look no further than the North Shore Sports Blog (http://blogs.salemnews.com/nssports) or YouTube for evidence of Comeau's receiving prowess. There's a web sensation of a video showing him laying a vicious hit on a Pentucket player after the catch before racing to the end zone — showing he's the rare receiver that actually makes defenders think twice before coming over the middle.
With four TDs so far, Comeau's been a great possession option for his QB, Richardson. He's been even more valuable as a linebacker for a Magician defense that's allowed only 24 points through their first five games.
As a junior, Comeau helped bring Marblehead's baseball team to the postseason for the first time in six years. If the Magician footballers can also end their long playoff drought, Comeau will have a huge hand in it.
Jordan Smith, North Shore Tech WR
Soft hands, a huge frame and the know-how to use them both to dominate opposing secondaries are what make Smith the area's leading pass catcher. He has nearly double the yardage of his closest competitor and more than twice as many TDs.
A hound on the basketball court for the Bulldogs (Smith had at least five triple-doubles last year), Smith is 6-foot-5, 248 pounds and knows how to use his body to get positioning on defenders the same way the NFL tight ends (and former college hoops stars) Tony Gonzalez and Antonio Gates do.
St. Pierre, North Shore's ace quarterback, was already lighting up the scoreboard before Smith really found his stride in Week 3. The duo gives the Tech a legitimate shot at the Commonwealth Small title, and with nine TDs already Smith could make a run at the area receiving TDs record of 17 set by Jason Blydell of Swampscott in 2003.
Chris Coady, St. John's Prep QB
It's not happenstance that the Eagles' two wins have seen Coady's best performances in terms of running the football. This senior won the Prep's starting quarterback job in training camp and has literally run with it — he has more rushing yards than any signal caller in the area with 303 yards and 4 TDs.
Coady has only attempted 35 passes this year and threw his first TD pass of the season last week in Maryland against Mount St. Joseph's. St. John's has played some stingy and sack-happy defenses in Everett and Brockton, but Coady is still averaging over four yards per carry.
His ability to gain yards on the ground creates a three-headed monster for St. John's that includes George Sessoms (466 yards) and Tyler Coppola (109) and gives the Prep a different look from the vertical pocket-passers they've had lately
George Alexandrou, Masconomet LB
The Chieftains captain flew under the radar a bit because he missed portions of last season with an injury and because he doesn't score points, instead doing the dirty work at the line of scrimmage and anchoring Masco's line at center.
That said, Alexandrou is one of the stoutest run stuffing 'backers we've seen. He's a guy with a motor that seldom slows, much less stops.
Every good football team has headline players, but behind them is always an emotional turbine like Alexandrou. Take away a hiccup against an excellent Reading team and the Chieftain defense allows only 7.5 points per game, thanks largely to Alexandrou's play in the middle.
Best of the Rest
Here's a few more players who've been pleasant surprises early in 2009: John McInnis, Danvers; Justin Provencher, Peabody; A.J. Baker, Swampscott; Joe Wioncek, Beverly.
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Say this for Peabody High coach Scott Wlasuk: His games are worth sticking around for.
Now in his second season, Wlasuk has coached 16 games and in nine of those the winning points have been scored in the second half.
In fact, four of Wlasuk's six wins have been come-from-behind thrillers won in the fourth quarter.
All six of his victories have featured winning second half drives, the most recent an overtime victory over Winthrop that saw Peabody rally from 10 points down with six minutes left.
"This turned our season around 180 degrees," said Tanner Mark "All Day" D'Addario, who spun into the end zone with the winning TD in overtime.
The Tanners also got some good news about co-captain Mike DiFrancisco, who has missed three weeks with a wrist injury. Originally thought lost for the year, doctors now hope the center and nose guard will be back for November.
Nick Vargas has filled in admirably at center, a tough spot in the single wing because of the various direct snaps it requires to the quarterback, running back or fullback.
"The snaps are tough and also since we run single wing, defenses have at least six guys on the line. There's someone smashing the center every play and he can't protect himself," Wlasuk said. "It takes a lot of timing and poise."
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Bishop Fenwick's multiplicity on offense should cause some problems for defenses in the Catholic Central League before it's all said and done. Saturday against Swampscott, the Crusaders (2-3) showed a Wing-T set, an I-set, and ran some plays out of a shotgun spread formation.
"I told coach (Dave) Woods I thought they did a good job with that stuff," said Big Blue coach Steve Dembowski. "We had to call timeout a couple of times because they trapped us."
The Crusaders had success running the ball out of all three sets. The differences help them keep defenses off balance and maximize the skillset of quarterback Chris Renzulli, who's valuable on the run, and especially in the option game with back Alex Crecco.
"The nice thing is we don't need to make substitutions to do that, either. Our kids are versatile," said Woods. "We're still trying to find out what type of team we are (on offense), but we've had some strong points. It's nice to have the ability to go to both."
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Speaking of Fenwick, there are bragging rights in the Bulger family on the line when the Crusaders host Georgetown tonight. Jake Bulger, a two-way starter for Fenwick, is cousins with Royals co-captain Andrew Bulger, a receiver and linebacker.
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We'll be the first to throw it out there: Does North Shore Tech quarterback David St. Pierre have a shot at Swampscott legend Kyle Beatrice's state touchdown passing record of 39 in a season?
The Bulldog signal caller has tossed 16 scoring strikes in five games — an average of 3.2 per game that shakes out to 35 TDs over an 11-game season. If, however, North Shore Tech (3-2) reaches the MIAA playoffs or earns a berth in the state vocational bowl, St. Pierre would have an even better shot at it.
In the Masconomet record book, Chris Splinter checks in with 33 career rushing TDs, 16 off the pace set by Tim Gale's 49. That number will be tough to beat, as will Gale's 4,011 career rushing yards. Evan Bunker has 2,021 and its reasonable to think he'll pass Myles Walsh (2,717) for second all-time in Chieftain lore.
Splinter's next TD will tie him for second place all-time with Walsh (34 TDs).
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Moving the Chains, a column on high school football, runs every Friday during the fall in The Salem News. Contact Matt Williams at MWilliams@salemnews.com or 978-338-2669.
