GLOUCESTER — Ever wonder why the Gloucester football team has a knack for starting out the season strong? Just take a look at the Fishermen's preseason schedule.
Gloucester plays as tough of a preseason schedule as they can, facing off against Catholic Conference power St. John's Prep, Tewksbury of the Merrimack Valley Conference, and Burlington from the Middlesex League. All three opponents are bigger schools than Gloucester.
The Fishermen got their first test when they scrimmaged St. John's Prep yesterday at Newell Stadium, and they held their own against their much bigger foes.
"We like to scrimmage tough teams," Gloucester head coach Paul Ingram said. "Scrimmaging a weak team gets you nowhere."
St. John's Prep head coach Jim O'Leary liked what he saw from the Fishermen, and said it was a good test for his team.
"Gloucester came out very physical on both sides of the ball," O'Leary said. "They run the wing-t well which is tough to defend. They look like they are going to have another good season."
The two teams began the scrimmage in split squad format, with the interior lineman and linebackers on one end of the field, and the skill position players on the other. The scrimmage then switched to a more traditional format with each team running 10 plays each.
"We split the positions up so we could get more kids in," Ingram said. "We did pretty well on both sides of the ball. We covered the pass well, we threw the ball well and our lineman did a good job."
During the full squad scrimmage, Gloucester got off to a good start with their first team offense driving down the field and scoring a touchdown on a 1-yard run from senior captain Rob Lowe. Taylor Burbine delivered the big run of the drive, when he broke free for 40 yards on a reverse.
St. John's Prep bounced back with a good offensive series of their own, followed by a good offensive and defensive series with the second unit in.
"Our first offense moved the ball well," Ingram said. "Our second team was a little out of synch, but there were some strong players for St. John's. The younger guys still need to get used to the speed of the game."
Both coaches conceded that the scrimmage was a success. The two teams got to showcase their starting units, and got their backups valuable playing time.
"It was good work for both teams," O'Leary said. "It was an evenly matched game and both teams came to play."
Ingram echoed that sentiment.
"We got to see a lot of kids play today," Ingram said. "We are still feeling out some of the players and people will be moved around, but we got a good look at some younger kids. We know what we are going to get from Rob Lowe and Dylan Morrissey, it was nice to see some other kids get in there."
