Crimson Tide football closes out season with home loss against Lincoln-Sudbury

Five Everett players chosen as 2024 GBL all-stars for their “impactful” play on the gridiron 

By Joe McConnell

Without any Thanksgiving Day game scheduled for this year, the Everett High School football team (4-6), unfortunately, closed out the 2024 season last Friday night at home against Lincoln-Sudbury in a non-playoff game. The Warriors ended up winning the finale, 38-13.

Senior running back Manny Santiago (12 carries, 126 yards, 2 TDs; 1 catch, 7 yards) scored both Crimson Tide touchdowns on runs of 4 and 69 yards to complete his high school football career on a memorable note.

Sam Lacombe (1 carry, 5 yards), Yariel Ortiz (5 carries, 19 yards; 2 catches, 21 yards), Armani Negron (1 catch, 21 yards), Carlos Rodrigues (2 carries, 10 yards; 1 catch, 12 yards) and Philip Pimenta (1 catch, 1 yard) also factored into the offense against the Warriors.

Second-year head coach Justin Flores was not happy with the team’s lack of execution on special teams, and also the turnover differential that led directly to Lincoln-Sudbury scores. It was basically a microcosm of a season that started out with so much promise.

Flores then expressed his overall displeasure with the entire season by saying succinctly: “(This) season was a huge disappointment from the first game to the last (game). (We committed) too many of the same mistakes in critical situations, which led to a lot of the same scores (by the opposition). (Going forward), we need to be able to take away the importance of special teams and the basic fundamentals of tackling and blocking in order to win more games.”

Those who were playing their final game last week for the Tide as seniors were Alex Linhares, Carlos Silva Rodrigues, Chris Vernet, Christopher Ruiz, Diego Ayala, Elijah Lassiter, Fabrice Michaud, Jose Portillo, Kawan Medeiros, Kevin Diaz, Lucas Brito, Mark Sylvain, Marvin Desruisseaux, Yariel Ortiz, Zayne Fragelus and Santiago.

Five Everett players made the Greater Boston League (GBL) all-star team this year, and they were nominated by Flores, because of “their impact” to the team in each game. Flores’ 2024 Fab Five on the all-star team includes quarterback and defensive back Carlos Rodrigues, wide receiver and defensive back Yariel Ortiz, offensive and defensive lineman Marvin Desruisseaux, defensive back and all-around athlete Joao Barreiros and Santiago.

A Thanksgiving Day game might be returning to Everett?

Flores would love to see Everett have a Thanksgiving Day game once again, but he says, “it’s extremely hard to find a game on Thanksgiving, but (my) plan is to have a game again, and hopefully it will also be a multiyear agreement (with that school).”