After falling to Revere, Tide football bounces back to beat St. John’s of Shrewsbury on the road

Everett returns home to take on the Lincoln-Sudbury Warriors tonight beginning at 6 p.m.

By Joe McConnell

It’s never easy to be one of those high school football teams in the power rankings era to play in non-playoff games. But instead of wallowing in its plight, the Everett High School football team (4-5) has approached this part of the schedule with a renewed sense of pride to complete the season on a positive note. With that in mind, they traveled to the central part of the state last Friday night to beat host St. John’s of Shrewsbury in the Week 9 game, 14-3.

Second-year Everett coach Justin Flores agrees with the concept. “We expect the guys on this team to play hard no matter who the opponents are or what the circumstances are,” he said.

But there’s never been a doubt about the Tide’s enthusiasm, as Flores’ staff tries to balance winning in the present tense with continuing to build a long-term successful program. “We have been playing almost double-digit freshmen and sophomores since Game 1 of this year,” the coach said.

Flores singled out the special teams in the win over the St. John’s Pioneers. “They were big for us in this game, along with the defense. Special teams flipped the field, and we also had some big returns, which set us up for good drives. We also recovered a huge fumble on a punt return.”

The coach added that Joao Barreiros (13 carries, 149 yards, 1 touchdown) stood out on offense, as the team’s leading rusher, while Yariel Ortiz was the defensive star of the St. John’s game after coming up with another big interception. Ortiz also had multiple big returns on special teams to go along with three receptions on offense for 11 yards, according to Flores.

Among his big runs on offense, Barreiros scampered practically the length of the field (94 yards) for a touchdown in the first quarter. Carlos Rodrigues Silva scored the game-winning touchdown on a two-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Manny Santiago (13 carries, 43 yards) and quarterback Jeremiah Clark (2 completions, 9 yards, 1 interception) also figured into the offense against St. John’s.

The Tide is home tonight (Nov. 15) at Everett Memorial Stadium to play host to Lincoln-Sudbury in the Week 10 game, starting at 6 p.m. On offense, the Warriors run a spread offense, and pack the box on defense to stop the opposition’s running game. They took on Haverhill last Friday night at home in their Week 9 game, and defeated the Hillies in a high scoring affair, 42-30.