Football Pats show promise but fall to Whittier Tech in season opener

By Dom Nicastro

It was a classic case of highs and lows for the Revere High School football team in its season opener. The bad: Revere fell to Whittier Tech, 44-28, at Harry Della Russo Stadium on Friday night, Sept. 26, the first of six consecutive home games to start the season. The Patriots allowed 44 points, committed costly turnovers and lost a third-quarter lead.

The good: Revere may have one of the best trios of skilled players in the Greater Boston League. Quarterback Danny Hou was on fire with three touchdown passes, 150 yards passing and 120 yards rushing. Running backs Geo Woodard (two touchdown receptions) and Yousef Benhamou (one touchdown catch, one touchdown run, 70 yards rushing, 100 yards receiving) also delivered strong performances. More good news: Revere has a bye week, giving it two weeks to recover from the loss before it faces Masconomet at home on Friday, Sept. 20 at 5 p.m. in another non-leaguer.

“We played a decent game in the first half, but we made a lot of mistakes – even in that first half,” said Revere coach Lou Cicatelli. “Danny was basically Superman in this game. He did everything, and that’s why we were ahead at halftime – thanks to Danny, Geo and Yousef. Danny was running all over the place and throwing jump passes and bullets to the end zone.”

In his debut season as the full-time starting quarterback, Hou proved he can make plays out of any situation. Scrambling in and out of the pocket, finding every seam in the defense, he was electric.

Hou’s 33-yard touchdown pass to Benhamou in the first quarter set the tone. Benhamou made a tremendous catch near the pylon in the end zone, and that clutch play came on fourth down. Revere took an 8-6 lead after Woodard converted the two-point conversion.

Hou continued his impressive play in the second quarter. Scrambling to avoid Whittier defenders, he rolled to his right, faced a wall of defenders and then jumped to throw a 42-yard touchdown pass to Woodard.

Who does that? Apparently both Kansas City Chiefs’ three-time Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes and now, Revere’s Danny Hou. Benhamou’s successful two-point conversion run gave Revere a 16-14 lead.

Revere grabbed the lead again, 22-20, in the third quarter on Benhamou’s 12-yard touchdown run. Unfortunately, that was their final lead of the night. Whittier capitalized on turnovers and scored 24 unanswered points in the second half to secure the win. Hou connected with Woodard for a 37-yard touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter for Revere’s final score, but the damage was already done.

“We need help on defense, I’m not going to lie,” Cicatelli admitted. “We probably have two kids who played defense last year. So, it’s mostly new guys. We definitely didn’t tackle as well as we should have. But I will say, Whittier is not a team you want to face in week one. I scheduled them, though, and they wore us down. By the second half, we were done. They just pounded the ball.”

Revere did recover an onside kick in the second quarter, with Arthur Nazareth executing a perfect, bouncing kick that Woodard recovered.

Despite the loss, Cicatelli believes his team has potential. However, they need to clean up key areas like bad snaps, tackling and penalties. “If we can straighten these things out – and we will – we’ll be OK,” Cicatelli said.