After a bye week, Crimson Tide football gets ready to take on host Brockton Saturday afternoon

Everett remains the 12^th seed in the Division 1 power rankings for the second week in a row

By Joe McConnell

Nothing has really changed since the Everett High School football team (2-3) went on its bye week after beating non-league Taunton rather decisively at Everett Memorial Stadium on Oct. 4, 35-15.

In the Oct. 8 Division 1 power rankings, the Crimson Tide moved up to 12, and after the latest rankings came out on Oct. 15, they remain there heading into their non-league game at Brockton tomorrow afternoon (Oct. 19), starting at 1 p.m.

However, both Taunton (2-3) and Brockton (1-4) moved down in the rankings in just one week. In the Oct. 8 MIAA (Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association) release, they were respectively 13^th and 15^th but this week’s Oct. 15 rankings revealed that they are now 18^th and 19^th.

The Everett boys are now ahead of Westford Academy (3-2), Attleboro (3-2), Andover (4-1) and Wachusett Regional (3-2) to round out the Top 16 Division 1 teams. The playoffs that begin on Nov. 8 only include the Top 16 clubs in each division.

The Boxers lost to non-league Andover last Saturday in Brockton by the narrowest of margins, 24-21. It was a hard-fought game, and Everett coach Justin Flores expects tomorrow’s battle to be nothing less than that.

After the Taunton game on Oct. 4, Flores felt really good with the way his team has progressed to date. He said: “We put a game together where all sides of the ball played (as one). We had zero turnovers and a big takeaway in the second half of the game, and we were (also) more fundamentally sound with our tackling and blocking.”

Following the bye week and leading into tomorrow’s game against the host Boxers, the second-year coach added on to those comments, basically saying there’s always room for improvement.

“We practiced all last week on our fundamentals and on Brockton,” he said.

After scouting Brockton, Flores says they run a spread offense, and when they go under center, they are in a I-formation looking to run the ball. On defense, Brockton employs a 4-2-5 formation, and they love chasing the ball all over the field.

The Everett coach then elaborated more on Brockton’s modus operandi, and how it tries to separate itself from its opponents. “(Brockton does) a good job (causing) chaos and turnovers. They are big and physical, and also very fast. People shouldn’t look at their record as an indicator for how good they are, because they have lost multiple games by three points or less,” added Flores.