Revere rises up to knock the Tide out of the football playoffs

Everett heads to St. John’s of Shrewsbury tonight to begin the non-playoff schedule, hoping to complete the season on a winning note  

By Joe McConnell

It was not the way it was supposed to be.

The Everett High School football team (3-5) had everything going for it after trouncing Lynn Classical two weeks ago, 48-0. It followed a very disappointing 35-21 loss to host Brockton, where the Crimson Tide failed to protect a 21-7 lead in the second half.

But going into the final regular season game before the start of the playoffs, the Everett boys were still in control of their own destiny. They were the 16^th seed in the Division 1 power rankings, and all they had to do was beat Greater Boston League rival Revere at home last Friday night. But instead, the visiting Patriots (4-4, 23^rd seed in Division 3) roared into Everett Memorial Stadium, and proceeded to dispatch the Tide, 42-18. With the loss, Everett went from the 16^th seed to 19^th overall, and subsequently are on the outside looking in for the second straight year as the playoffs get underway tonight, Nov. 8. The Tide will now begin a three-game consolation schedule against host St. John’s of Shrewsbury (2-6) tonight (Nov. 8), starting at 6 p.m.

But Everett coach Justin Flores actually issued a warning in his assessment of the Patriots prior to last week’s game. “Revere is one of the top GBL teams, and even though they didn’t start the season fast, they have since come on in the last couple of weeks,” the second-year Everett coach said.

Flores then summed up last week’s game rather succinctly. “The first two kickoffs led directly to 16 points (by Revere),” he said.

Despite the loss, Flores did single out the contributions of Manny Santiago, who rushed for 112 yards on 12 carries, while scoring one of the three Everett touchdowns in the game. He also caught one pass for 15 yards.

Joao Barreiros (1 reception for 13 yards; three carries for 37 yards and 1 touchdown), Yariel Ortiz (1 carry for 21 yards; three receptions for 24 yards), Carlos Rodrigues (1 reception for 10 yards; 8 carries for 35 yards and 1 touchdown; 4 completed passes for 41 yards) and Jeremiah Clark (6 carries for 12 yards; two receptions for 21 yards) also factored into Everett’s offensive statistics against Revere.

But other than that, Flores further elaborated on the game by saying, “there’s really nothing to be happy about.”

Flores, however, is moving on to hopefully complete the season on a winning note in order to get ready for 2025. “It won’t be a problem (to get ready for the next game),” the Everett coach said.

Everett is now onto St. John’s of Shrewsbury (tonight, Nov. 8, in Shrewsbury at 6 p.m.), and Flores and his coaching staff have already scouted the Central Massachusetts school. “(St. John’s) plays a true spread offense, and will look to stack the box on defense,” Flores said. “They like to jam the wide receivers on the perimeter to throw their timing off, which makes it harder for the quarterback to complete passes.”

For the second straight year, the Tide has not made the postseason, but Flores said it’s an entirely different scenario this fall. In 2023, they lost just one regular season game, but the power rankings kept them from participating in the playoffs. But regarding this year, Flores simply said, “we weren’t good enough, according to our record.”