Tewksbury Youth Football Kicks Off 2012 Season

Seacoast League

(Editor's note: The following information was submitted by the administration of Tewksbury Youth Football.)

Red Pride A

Tewksbury Red Pride A 22

Timberlane 0

The Tewksbury Seacoast Red Pride kick off the 2012 football season with wins from both the A and B squads over the visiting Timberlane Tornado’s.

The Red Pride A team won its contest on the merits of great defense and solid blocking by the offensive line that resulted in a 22-0 win over Timberlane’s A squad.

The Defense was suffocating tallying 8 sacks and 15 tackles for loss of yardage.  That monster effort was lead by 6th grader Jack Kelly who totaled himself a staggering 4 sacks and another 7 tackles in the Tornado backfield for a loss from his end position.  Assisting Kelly with the defense pressure was Trace Trant (2 sacks, 2 tackles for loss), Josh Sughrue (4 tackles), Kyle Zervas, Matt Allen, Jared Gillis and Brandon Pote.  Other notable defensive standouts were David Aznarvoorian and Zach Weitz.

Offensively the accomplishment was not to be overlooked as well.  Directed by quarterback Sughrue the running back core of Zervas, Francis Pino and Trant collected yardage and points for the Red Pride this humid September morning.  The first score came on the Red’s first possession and saw Zervas fully extended and diving for the goal line, extra point also by Zervas.  The second came late in the first half behind the exceptional blocking of Aznarvoorian, David Miller, Weitz, Tanner Lentz and Connor Nuggent.  Trant plunged through the middle for the second touchdown, extra point converted by Sughrue.  The final tally came late in the contest when Zervas broke loose once more for a 20 yard score, extra point failed.

Other standouts on the morning for successes on both sides of the ball were Brandon Rosa and Derek Graffeo.

Red Pride B

Tewksbury Red Pride B 12

Timberlane 0

The Red Pride B team had their work cut out for them in the second game of the morning, yet prevailed over a solid Timberlane B squad 12-0.

Defense was also the cornerstone of this victory as well.  The B squad bent with several goal line situations but never broke securing the shutout.  Championing the day were Owen Gillian with 9 tackles, Santino Garafalo with 8 tackles, Antonio Capelo 7 tackles and Matt Rosemond, Robert Kimtas and Paul Manzi each with 6 tackles.  Other Defensive notables were Aidan Doherty, Andrew Ferrell and Robert O’Hearn all with several tackles.  Lastly Tommy Bradley snatched the first interception of the season for the Red Pride ending a pressing Tornado drive.

When the offense got their opportunity with the ball they certainly made it count.  With support of the whole team blocking multiple defenders down field Shane Aylward had an impressive outing tallying 147 yards including two long touchdowns on just 10 carries.  None of which could not have been possible without the persistent blocking efforts of Manzi, Richie Markwarth, Kimtas, Michael Rosa, Ryan Day, Ferrell, Doherty and Garofalo.  This labor saw its best example when Antonio Capelo, a offense guard, made a massive block 12 yards down field that sprung Aylward for 50 yards more and the game securing touchdown.

Other standouts on the morning were Jack Menard and Richard Krammer.

Blue A

Tewksbury Blue 8

Lowell 12

Tewksbury Blue A Team met a hard hitting Lowell team.  Lowell jumped out to a quick lead when they scored on their first offensive play.  Tyler Keough never gave up and had several nice runs. Daniel Mottolo was all over the field making huge blocks and tackles.   In the fourth quarter, Tyler Keough had a long run up the sidelines, only to get tackled at the 1 yard line. That is when CJ Zemetres ran a quarterback sneak for a touchdown and the extra point was good to make the score 12-8.   Tewksbury needed to get the ball back and Daniel Mottolo had a big hit on the running back and knocked the ball loose and Tewksbury recovered the fumble.  CJ Zemetres then connected with tight end James Connolly to get down to the 17th yard line, but that is as close as Tewksbury would get.

 Blue B

Tewksbury Blue 14 

Lowell B 12

The Tewksbury Blue B team started the 2012 campaign off in fine fashion with a 14-12 victory over Lowell.   Tewksbury fell behind early 6-0 but used that score as motivation to take the game over from that point on.  Tewksbury took the lead 14-6 on two Evan Mantel rushes and extra point conversions by Jack "The Bull" O'Neill and Sean Phaneuf.  The offense moved the ball consistently all day behind the blocking of Kyle Scrooc, Ryan Keane, Matt Brennan, Jared Bova and Anthony DeSisto.  Defensively, the linebacker corps of Matt Houghton, Billy Chase and Nicky Iannacci and Defensive Ends Brodie Tirrell, Pat Letourneau and Brendan Lamothe did a fantastic job of reading and sticking the Lowell attack.  Their job was made easier by the interior play of Jared Doyle and Ed Clement and the support over the top of Safeties Adam Hines and Jake Forgione.  Lowell added a score on the final play of the game to close out the scoring.  The story of this game though was the solid team effort by all 18 Tewksbury players who made all of their hard work in the pre-season pay off.