Tide football drops second straight game to a Catholic Conference foe to even record at two

But Everett looks to get back into the win column Friday night against the host Taunton Tigers 

By Joe McConnell

After starting the season with two straight wins, the Everett High School football team (2-2) had to go up against two Catholic Conference schools. Host Xaverian bested them first to the tune of 49-14, and then the Tide returned home to face BC High (1-2) at Everett Veterans Memorial Stadium last Thursday night (Sept. 25), and the Eaglets were able to leave town with a 28-7 victory.

The Dorchester parochial school needed this win to stay in contention for the playoffs. The latest Division 1 power rankings, as of Sept. 30, has BC High in 13^th place, while the Crimson Tide dropped from 19 to 24. There are 33 teams in this division statewide, and those who finish in the Top 16 move on to the playoffs. With that said, there’s still time for the Tide to right the ship, and Coach Rob DiLoreto hopes that they learned something from these two losses.

DiLoreto knew that it wasn’t going to be easy. “We faced two very well-coached, highly talented teams in Xaverian and BC High,” he said, “but hopefully this high level of competition leads us to raising our level of coaching and player performance, as we enter the second half of the regular season.”

Everett has three regular season games left on the schedule. They will head to Taunton to take on the host Tigers Friday night (Oct. 3) at 7 p.m., and then are off for three weeks, before facing Lynn English at the Stadium on Homecoming Day (Saturday, Oct. 25, 1:30 p.m.). Host Revere wraps up the Everett schedule on Halloween (Oct. 31) at Revere’s Harry Della Russo Stadium on Friday night, Oct. 31, at 6 p.m. The playoff pairings will be announced that weekend, and three consecutive weeks of postseason games will follow, but for those teams who don’t make it, they will play a series of consolation games. DiLoreto obviously hopes the latter doesn’t involve his squad.

The Everett coach does pay attention to the power rankings but also understands to get there his team has to take it one game at a time. “We need to focus on controlling what we can control, which is improving every day,” he said, “and hopefully that will lead to victories.”

Looking back at the BC High game, it was definitely more competitive than the final score would indicate, especially throughout the first half. Everett trailed by just seven at halftime, 14-7.

The Eaglets scored the first touchdown of the game in the second quarter, but junior quarterback Tyler Freni got it back later in the period, while using his legs quite often on option plays. Freni capped off the scoring drive on a one-yard keeper to the endzone. There was still 6:45 left on the first half clock, and the visitors were able to regain the lead just before halftime. They expanded the lead in the second half, scoring one touchdown in each quarter to seal the deal on their first win of the year.

Freni paced the Everett offensive attack with 61 rushing yards on 16 carries, while also scoring the team’s lone touchdown. Jamauri Dulin ran the ball five times for 62 yards.

DiLoreto is confident that his club will bounce back nicely from these two losses. “I’m very pleased with our team,” he said. “Our kids are working hard every day, and everyone is giving their very best this season. I believe in this team 100% (to get back into the win column).”

The Everett boys can once again begin that turnaround Friday night against host Taunton. DiLoreto said of Taunton: “Taunton has a very, very good team this year. They are big, physical and fast at all positions, and as a result we are preparing extremely hard to play our very best game of the season against them.”