In a conference where teams are going away from the old three yards and a cloud of dust style and leaning more towards a spread passing offensive system, the Gloucester High School football team is winning the old fashion way: with the running game and a physical style on both sides of the ball.
The Fishermen, however, do not play with a three yards and a cloud of dust style, it's more like eight yards and a cloud of dust.
That was evident in Friday night's 48-7 drubbing of Lynn English as the Fishermen attempted just one pass, a halfback option, and ran for 405 yards and averaged just over nine yards per carry in what was supposed to be their toughest Northeastern Conference game this season.
"This is what Gloucester football is all about," Fishermen head coach Paul Ingram said afterwards. "Play physical football and come to play in the biggest games."
While Gloucester (8-0) has been tough on everybody this season, they have been particularly dominant against their three Northeastern Conference Large foes so far.
Gloucester is 3-0 against those teams (Salem, Peabody, Lynn English) and have outscored them by a combined score of 115-7. The Fishermen have also been tough on teams that run the spread offense, as they are 4-0 and the first team defense has allowed just two touchdowns against offenses that were considered high-powered offenses.
Although the Fishermen are not blessed with size on the offensive line, Ingram still believes that Gus Margiotta, Jeff Lane, Ryan Fulford, Andrew Mizzoni and Anthony Latassa wear opponents down.
On Friday, the Fishermen offensive line made life easy for Conor Ressel, who picked up a school record 257 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries.
"We definitely wear teams down," Ingram said. "We are physical the entire game, and there aren't many teams out there that play physical football anymore. They aren't used to a team like us that will fight for every inch on every play. Against English I actually was looking to throw the football, but the line was blocking the run so well and I stuck with what was working."
Ressel was also quick to share the glory of his record-setting performance with his offensive line. "They opened up some huge holes for me," Ressel said. "They did the dirty work and opened the holes, all I had to do was run through them. It was great to see them dominate against a big team and a strong program like Lynn English."
While the Fishermen offense has been putting up points at an alarming rate this year, their defense may be even more impressive.
Friday night Gloucester's defense held Lynn English's outstanding quarterback Tyllor MacDonald to just 92 yards passing with a touchdown and 62 yards on the ground.
Coming into the game MacDonald, a dangerous scrambler with an equally dangerous throwing arm, led Division 1A with 18 touchdown passes to go with seven rushing scores.
MacDonald was tough to take down, but every time he got away from one Fishermen defender, there was another one right there to take him down. Senior defensive lineman Max Millifoglie along with Gilbert Brown and senior captain Brett Cahill each took MacDonald down for a sack.
Jordan Shairs, on the other hand, was spying MacDonald throughout the game and prevented him from finding any running room.
It wasn't just in Friday's game that the Fishermen defense shined, they have recorded four shutouts on the year and their starting defense has not allowed more than seven points in a game this season.
In an early season game against Andover, the Golden Knights scored two of their three touchdowns against the second team defense with the game comfortably in hand.
"The defense was great all night and they have been great all year," Ingram said. "We look to make first contact behind the line of scrimmage and our front four have been creating a lot of penetration and get after the quarterback. They were very hyped up for tonight's game and they shut down a quick and athletic offense."
In addition to their play on the field, the Fishermen put in the work off the field. On school days, the team watches film during lunch in either Ingram or assistant coach Tom Walsh's classroom.
Ressel says the extra film preparation this week really helped the team come game time. "Our coaches put us in a position to win," Ressel said. "And we watched a lot of film on them so we weren't surprised by anything. When we are that prepared and playing as well as we did today we aren't going to be stopped very easily."
Gloucester 48, Lynn English 7
at Newell Stadium, Gloucester
SFlbLynn English0 7 0 0 — 7 Gloucester 7 21 7 13 — 48 G- Conor Ressel 29 run (Sal Favaloro kick) G- Jordan Shairs 9 run (Favaloro kick) G- Ressel 16 run (Favaloro kick) G- Brandon Cusamano 26 run (Favaloro kick) LE- Melvin Taveres 31 pass from Tyllor MacDonald (Cory Burtkick) G- Cusamano 41 run (Favaloro kick) G- Ressel 2 run (Favaloro kick) G- Kyle Lucido 27 interception return (kick blocked) INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING: LE — Tyllor MacDonald 15-62, Ryan Woumn 1-11, Jaermaine Patterson 6-2; G — Conor Ressel 26-257, Brandon Cusamano 5-93, Ali D'Angelo 6-20, Brett Cahill 3-18, Jordan Shairs 3-17. PASSING: LE — Tyllor MacDonald 9-22-92-1-1; G — Ressel 0-1-0-0-1.
RECEIVING: LE — Taron Seafourth 5-42, Melvin Taveres 2-34, Ryan Woumn 1-11, Jermaine Patterson 1-5; G — none.
