By Nick Curcuru
Staff Writer
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DANVERS — Tuesday's controlled scrimmage with St. John's Prep was all about teaching the system, according to Gloucester head football Paul Ingram.
With about a week-and-a-half until their season opener against Swampscott, the Fishermen were looking to test their skills against one of the top dogs in the powerful Catholic Conference.
"It's about making adjustments," Ingram said. "We didn't exactly know what the Prep was going to run coming into the scrimmage, which I liked. We had to find a way to get it done."
Tuesday's scrimmage was also built for established players to show off their talents and for players fighting for a starting spot to make a name for themselves.
The scrimmage was almost like a controlled practice as it began with both teams running 10-play sets on offense from the 50-yard line. After alternating two offensive sets each, the teams went seven-on-seven and worked on their respective passing games. The scrimmage concluded with both teams running 10 plays starting from their own 30 and moving towards the goal line.
The results could not have been much better for Gloucester, as it controlled play on both sides of the ball in what the Fishermen are hoping is a sign of things to come this year.
"We were physical, which is most important," Ingram said. "We have a lot of experienced players on this team and we expect a lot out of them."
On the defensive end the Fishermen were admittedly caught a bit off guard when the Prep came out running the option. Gloucester, however, made the correct adjustments as Ingram expected and put the clamps on the Prep's attack.
The linebacker trio of senior quad-captain Gilbert Brown, Jordan Shairs and Chris Burke were all over the field and drew the praise of Ingram. Burke made multiple tackles in the backfield and was responsible for a big quarterback sack. Shairs, on the other hand, was a force in the middle.
Ingram also lauded the play of senior defensive tackle Brian Ingersoll. The 285-pound senior was constantly taking on double teams in the middle and causing penetration at the same time.
"Brian is a big strong kid who demands double teams," Ingram said. "The question was his lateral movement and he did a good job with that today."
While the defense was stellar, the offense may have been even better. The offensive line of Andrew Mizzoni and Anthony Latassa plus new starters Burke, Zach Bettencourt and Mark Sutera along with tight end Chris Unis opened up huge holes for the backfield trio of Brown, Shairs and Brandon Cusumano. On their first two offensive series, the Fishermen had just one play go for negative yards, a 4-yard gain was their next shortest gain.
The big offensive play came from Brown. The senior running back had already gained 15 yards when he was wrapped up by three Prep defenders. But Brown dragged them four yards before breaking free and running another 10 yards into the end zone. Senior Adam Philpott also caught a touchdown in the scrimmage from Alex Silveira. He and Joey Avila split snaps at the quarterback position.
"The backs blocked really well for each other," Ingram said. "We need that in this offense. And our offensive line is starting to come around."
The Fishermen and the Eagles also had another opponent to tackle besides each other; the sweltering heat. With temperatures reaching the mid 90's at game time, both teams had to put their conditioning to the test.
"I liked how we sucked it up," Ingram said. "It was nice to see the team play and respond to this heat."
