Herman Esquivel Paces CHS Football Team to 36-24 Victory over East Boston
Herman Esquivel turned in one of the greatest individual performances in Chelsea High football history to lead the Red Devils to a 36-24 victory over the East Boston Jets Friday evening under the lights at Chelsea Stadium.
Herrman was a force on both sides of the ball. On offense, he scored four touchdowns and a two-point conversion en route to accumulating 226 yards on 18 carries.
The senior captain, who stands at 5’-8” and 165 pounds, also was a stalwart for the CHS defense, accounting for 15 tackles on the night, the fourth straight game in which he has made 15 tackles or more for coach Michael Jackson’s Red Devils.
The contest was a slugfest in the trenches, with East Boston attempting just one pass (which was intercepted) and CHS quarterback Duane Davis throwing four times with two completions for 73 yards. Davis also ran twice for 15 yards.
The visiting Jets drew first blood, scoring a touchdown on their opening drive that consumed six minutes of the first quarter.
However, Chelsea struck back quickly. Jaiven Diaz hauled in a 44-yard pass reception to the Eastie 20, from where Esquivel took over, punching the ball into the end zone on two carries.
The Red Devils never yielded the momentum thereafter. After making a defensive stop on fourth down at midfield, Chelsea marched from just inside its own territory, with Esquivel lugging the ball for the entire drive and then making the two-point conversion for a 16-8 Chelsea lead.
Jackson then called for an onside kick by CHS kicker Alex Cano. Red Devil Jhostin Salmeron put a nice hit on the Jet who first got to the ball, causing the pigskin to come loose. In the ensuing scrum, Jhostin came out of the pile with the ball.
The next drive, starting from about the 40 yard line, began with a reverse by the fleet Ali Warsame that netted 32 yards to the EB eight, from where Esquivel once again scored on three carries.
East Boston got the ball back with four minutes left in the half and marched to the Red Devil 10 yard line. However, the Chelsea defense bent, but didn’t break, thanks to an interception on third down by Jaiven Diaz at the pylon, with Jaiven running the ball out of the endzone as time expired.
Chelsea received the kick-off to start the second half, with Anthony Cortave making a nice return from his 30 to the Eastie 35.
However, an interception by the Jets in their red zone was returned all the way to the Chelsea red zone, opening the door for an East Boston comeback. The Jets scored on three plays and, with the two-point conversion, drew within 22-16.
However, the Red Devils — led by their captain, Esquivel — stormed back with a 60-yard drive to make it a two-score game, 28-16.
The Jets refused to quit and fought back with another TD drive to close the gap to 28-24.
However, the unstoppable CHS offense, with Esquivel leading the charge, scored with six minutes left in the contest to put the game out of reach for the 36-24 finale.
In addition to Diaz’s interception and Esquivel’s 15 tackles, other key players on defense for Chelsea were Tommy Santana, who had two tackles for a loss and a sack, and Salmeron, who had a sack and two tackles for a loss.
In addition to Esquivel’s exploits, other key contributions to the CHS offense came from Warsame, who ran for 49 yards on two carries, and Diaz, who had two receptions for 73 yards, bringing Jaiven’s total to just over 400 yards receiving on the season.
Jackson and his crew will seek their second win of the season when they trek to the Manning Bowl to face Lynn English tomorrow (Friday) evening. The opening kickoff is set for 7:30.
CHS Volleyball Team Wins Three Straight
The Chelsea High volleyball team rolled to three impressive victories this past week against a trio of Greater Boston League opponents.
The Red Devils defeated Lynn English 3-1 in a contest that was highlighted by some superb individual performances. Outside hitter Jasmine Varela served an outstanding 11 aces, along with making six digs and three kills. Setter Rileigh Connors had 12 assists and three aces. Outside hitter Tatiana Sanabria delivered 11 kills and five aces and Libero Guidaysis Castro made 14 digs.
In a 3-1 triumph over Lynn Classical, Connors set 16 assists for her teammates. Varela once again turned in an impressive two-way performance from her outside hitter post with 10 kills and 10 digs, as did fellow outside hitter Sanabria with 10 kills, nine digs, and four aces.
Castro, the Red Devils’ Libero (the defensive specialist position) made 11 digs. Alondra Rodriguez also made a big contribution to the winning effort with four aces, five assists, and five digs.
This past Monday, the Red Devils won their third straight with a 3-0 shutout of Somerville 3-0. Among the highlights in the victory were the play of outside hitter Jasmine, who tallied seven kills; setter Rileigh, who provided 13 assists; middle blocker Yareliz Gonzalez, who added three kills and four aces; outside hitter Tatiana who accounted for 10 kills, three aces, and eight digs; and Libero Guidaysis, who had eight digs and four aces.
Coach Gabriel Morales and his crew have a busy week ahead with four matches in seven days: The Red Devils are scheduled to host Everett today (Thursday) and travel to Malden tomorrow (Friday). They will have a rematch at undefeated Revere on Monday and will entertain Medford next Wednesday.
CHS Cross Country Teams Top Classical
The Chelsea High boys and girls cross country teams defeated Greater Boston League rival Lynn Classical last Wednesday on the Red Devils’ home course at Admiral’s Hill.
The boys cruised to an 18-42 victory led by Alex Flores, who crossed the line in first place in a personal record (PR) time of 19:51.
The full results for the Red Devils — their places and times — were as follows:
1. Alex Flores 19:51
2. Alejandro Zepeda 20:16
4. Nate Nadow 20:23
5. Kyle Leong 21:41
6. Austin Freeman 23:26
7. Jose Amaya 23:29
11. Heriberto Dejesus 27:37
13. Jimmy Merino 29:41
On the girls’ side, Gizelle Rodriguez outraced the field with a clocking of 21:43. The scoresheet for the Lady Red Devils was as follows:
1. Gizelle Rodriguez 21:43
2. Darily Sanchez 24:31
4. Holly Hatleberg 29:08
5. Iyssis Henderson 35:06
“I loved to see Alex hit another PR,” said first-year CHS head coach Reegan von Wildenradt. “He and Alejandro worked well together up front for most of the race, and Nate had another awesome race to get inside the top five for the boys. Kyle Leong had an amazing performance, as did Jose Amaya.
“I’m really proud of Gizelle for picking up another win on the girls’ side,” von Wildenradt continued. “Holly, Darily, and Iyssis all looked strong and consistent in the race.
“We’re looking forward to having one last shot on our home course this Thursday,” said the coach, referring to today’s final home meet of the season at Admiral’s Hill vs. GBL rival Lynn English.
The Red Devils will travel down the Parkway to Torbert Macdonald Park to take on Medford next Wednesday.
CHS Boys Soccer Tops Classical
The Chelsea High boys soccer team overcame a tough start — the Red Devils yielded a goal to rival Lynn Classical in the opening minute — but roared back to claim a 7-2 triumph over their Greater Boston League rival this past Monday at Chelsea Stadium.
“This was the worst start you could imagine after a two game losing streak,” noted CHS assistant coach William Estrada. “We conceded a goal in less than a minute. This is not what we wanted.”
However, the Red Devils were not deterred by the quick tally by the visiting Rams and Chelsea soon took control of the contest.
“Even after that goal, we played well,” noted Estrada, “so there was no reason for us not to win this game.”
The Red Devils brought the contest back to level at the 25-minute mark when captain Jefferson Ruiz crossed the ball on a corner kick, which found its way into the back of the net after taking a heavy bounce in the box.
“The Lynn Classical defender tried to clear the ball off the line, but luckily for us, he was unsuccessful,” said Estrada of the goal, which was credited to Jefferson.
Before the end of the half, midfielder Kevin Garcia passed the ball over the top that took a bounce at the edge of the box, from where Ever Aguilar scored on a half-volley to give Chelsea a 2-1 lead at the intermission.
Moments into the second half, a Lynn Classical defender was about to clear the ball, but the opportunistic Ruiz stuck out a foot as the ball bounced. Jefferson delivered a shot across the goal, low to the right of the Ram keeper, for his second goal of the game.
Not long after, Red Devil Jose Joj made it a 4-1 contest when he received the ball on the right hand side from defender Olvan Mendez. Jose struck a powerful shot from a tight angle. Though the Classical keeper got a hand on the ball, there was too much power on it and he was unable to make the save.
For the fifth CHS goal, Steven Gamez crossed the ball into the box where Wander De Pina was able to head it into the back of the net.
After the Rams cut the gap to 5-2, Jose “Smiley’’ Melendez, who was playing as a left defender at this point of the game, sent the ball perfectly ahead for Ruiz as Jefferson was running at full speed.
Ruiz dribbled the ball past the goalkeeper and delivered it into the back of the net for his third goal of the game to attain the hat trick.
Senior Angel Rosales applied the coup de grace for Chelsea when he found himself alone in the box and sent in a nice shot. The LC keeper made the save, but the ball landed at Ruiz’s feet. Jefferson passed it back to Angel, who this time sent the ball into the back with a one-time strike for his first goal of the season.
In the Red Devils’ match earlier in the week vs. Malden, a 2-0 loss, Chelsea conceded two goals in the first half, with both of the Golden Tornadoes’ goals resulting from defensive mistakes.
CHS head coach Mick Milutinovic made some adjustments at the intermission and the Red Devils played well enough to turn things around and not concede for the rest of the game.
Milutinovic and his crew are scheduled to play at Somerville today (Thursday) and at Excel Academy on Saturday morning. They will play at Everett on Tuesday and host Lynn English next Thursday.
CHS Girls Soccer Showing Improvement
Although the CHS girls soccer team came up on the short end of a 5-0 decision to Greater Boston League rival Malden this past week, CHS head coach Randy Grajal was pleased with his team’s overall performance.
“We were missing some key pieces in that game, as three of our captains were not able to play because they were recovering from injuries or were sick,” said Grajal. “The team continues to work looking for our first victory. This season has brought a lot of different challenges, but I am pleased with our team chemistry where all the players are working to get better and supporting each other.
“There are some games ahead in our schedule that we are looking forward to playing, as our team keeps improving and we are hopeful we will be able to manage a few victories,” Grajal added.
Grajal and his crew are scheduled to host Somerville today (Thursday). They will entertain Everett Tuesday and trek to Lynn English next Thursday.