Last Friday night, the Masconomet Chieftains entered Revere for their first game away from the rowdy confines of Masconomet and massacred the Patriots, 31-6.
From the opening kickoff, Masco punched Revere in the mouth with their rushing attack, powering the ball into the endzone on their opening drive from junior running back Jack Fabiano’s 11-yard touchdown run.
Masco’s offensive line was dominant upfront creating nice holes for Fabiano, leaving him untouched for at least five yards on most plays.
Every one of the Masco linemen stepped up and stayed consistent throughout the game. Senior offensive lineman Jackson MaGee, Kaden Mason, and Michael McNamee as well as junior lineman captain Nino Stefanelli and junior lineman Evan Velardo were all elite and crucial in this game for the Chieftains.
“I was talking to the guys pregame and made it clear that the key thing was aggression, we needed to come off the line, set the tone early, and just play Masco football. When we did those things, Revere couldn’t really hang with us,” said Stefanelli.
“We had Mike McNamee step up big time tonight. Cam Bucchierre will be out for a few weeks so Mike went in and made a statement tonight. He had great blocks, pulling and down-blocking and the whole line knew their assignments and executed them.”
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
The star of this game and the Boston Herald player of the week was Fabiano.
The Fabiano Express looked absolutely unstoppable all night, taking 25 carries for 222 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 3 two-point conversions.
Fabiano was responsible for Masco’s first 24 points of the game and almost all their yards in the first half.
“All I saw was open holes all night and for the first 5 yards, I wasn’t getting touched. That’s all it was tonight,” said Fabiano.
He scored one touchdown in each of the first three quarters and finished them off with a wildcat two-point conversion. Fabiano is a player that every team and high school football fan will know by the end of this season.
“Our offensive line played really really well tonight and what can we say about Jack Fabiano. He’s an extremely special football player,” said head coach Patrick Sheehan.
Masco’s defense was in lockdown, not allowing Revere to get anything going on offense. The Chieftains’ two defensive ends were lethal all night, cleaning up anything that came their way.
PASSION
Senior captain Cash Kornusky and junior star Lucas Magnifico delivered blows in the backfield all night.
“I saw a lot of passion, I saw a lot of grit, and I saw a lot of great football out there. This team has made a huge flip from last year and I can’t believe my eyes,” said Magnifico. “I’m so proud of these boys and everything we have done, it’s unbelievable, to say the least.”
Junior Cal Weidman added a nice interception and linebackers senior Arbri Halilaj and juniors Ryan Richardson and Alex Cantalupo made many tackles for the Chieftains.
Junior linebacker Achilleas Koutoulas made his presence felt, tipping two of the quarterback’s passes.
Late in the fourth quarter, Masco still wasn’t done and struck the goal line again.
After some excellent running from Halilaj down the field, sophomore quarterback Cruz Zizza threw a dart to the stretched-out arms of junior receiver Liam Ginley for a 13-yard touchdown. This was an awesome moment, being each of their first varsity touchdowns.
“I’m feeling great right now. The offensive line did their job and Ginley sure did his job, this was a great day,” said Zizza.
EXCLAMATION POINT
“I saw nothing but open grass, I was wide open and they forgot to cover me,” said Ginley.
At halftime, Masco’s players and coaches weren’t satisfied and came out even stronger in the second half.
Coming off a big win like Billerica, all week the coaches preached the traits of staying humble and not getting complacent. Masco did a nice job of that, never getting too comfortable and firing through the game.
“This team has answered the bell for six months. And whatever we have asked them, they have done. I wasn’t particularly pleased with the week of practice we had, our physicality and effort were perfectly fine but there was a lack of mental intensity. I think that showed tonight where we were a little sloppy on all three phases of the game, but a nice exclamation point to end it,” said Sheehan.
Masco continues to show people what they are made of and stay undefeated. A tough matchup against Winchester should shape up to be a nice game for Masco as they head back to their home field.