Red Devils roll past Shawsheen, 26-14
Juan Martinez scored three touchdowns as Chelsea improves to 3-1
The Chelsea High football team roared back from early deficits of 7-0 and 14-7 to come away with a 26-14 triumph at Shawsheen Tech Saturday afternoon.
“This was a great win for us and a total team effort,” said CHS head coach Mike Stellato, whose Red Devils won their third straight game to improve to 3-1 on the season.
The contest was a tale of two halves. Shawsheen put together two long drives in the first half to score a pair of touchdowns. Chelsea’s big highlight of the first two quarters was a key interception by sophomore linebacker Jose Martinez early in the second period that gave the Red Devils the ball at the Shawsheen 35. Chelsea made the most of the opportunity created by the turnover and scored in five plays, the capper being a 13 yard run to paydirt by Juan Martinez, who also kicked the point after to make the contest a 7-7 affair at the time.
The Red Devils had a chance to go up 10-7 after a nice drive deep into Shawsheen territory, but a long field goal try fell just short. Shawsheen then took over at its own 35 and marched the length of the field to provide the home team with a 14-7 advantage as the teams went into the locker room.
But the Red Devils came out fired up after the intermission and soon assumed control of the game on both sides of the ball. A Chelsea fumble on the opening kickoff did not augur well for the Red Devils, but the miscue only seemed to fire up the Chelsea “D,” which stuffed Shawsheen, which took over at the CHS 35, on four downs. Senior linebacker Joseph Saez and junior linebacker Raul Flores played key roles in preventing Shawsheen from capitalizing on the turnover.
“If Shawsheen had scored, it would have made it a 21-7 football game and would have changed the entire complexion of the afternoon,” said Stellato. “But the defense came up big for us.”
Instead, the Red Devil offense took over at the CHS 35 and took just four plays to cover the 65 yards to the Shawsheen endzone. One again, that man, Juan Martinez, turned in the key play, a 34 yard jaunt for the TD. Juan also kicked the PAT once again and the teams were tied at 14-14.
It is said that before you look at the score in a football game, you generally can predict the outcome by looking at the turnover comparison. Saturday’s encounter proved no exception. Senior defensive end Anthony Arroyo, no doubt having taken a cue from Patriot defensive lineman Vince Wilfork, picked off a Shawsheen pass early in the fourth period and rumbled 25 yards into the end zone to give Chelsea its first lead of the game. Although a bobbled snap on the PAT resulted in a missed kick, the momentum clearly had swung to the Red Devils’ side.
The Chelsea defense continued to stifle the Shawsheen offense, once again stopping the Techmen on a fourth down play. The Red Devils took over at the Shawsheen 45 and went on a scoring drive to seal the game, with Juan M. picking up his third TD of the game from two yards out.
The two point conversion failed, but the Red Devils had locked up the victory, which showed at 26-14 on the scoreboard when the final whistle blew.
“Our defense did a tremendous job in the second half,” said Stellato, who lauded his coaching staff for preparing Chelsea for the Shawsheen offensive game plan. “The week off (Chelsea had a bye the previous Saturday) and extra preparation really paid off.”
The coach had high words of praise for the entire defensive unit, but especially noted the effort of senior defensive tackle Peter Vo, along with the aforementioned Saez and Flores. On the other side of the ball, the performance of Juan Martinez (who racked up 150 yards rushing on 17 carries to go along with his three TDs) obviously stood out, but Stellato also mentioned the fine play of senior running back Hector Rivera, tight end Kevin DeJesus, and senior offensive lineman Adam Mahmoud.
The Red Devils will take on their first Commonwealth Athletic Conference Small Division rival, Greater Lowell, this Friday evening under the lights at Chelsea Stadium. Although GL is sporting a 1-3 record, Stellato said that is deceiving. “Greater Lowell always comes to play,” said the coach. “They utilize a spread offense and are one of the highest scoring teams in the league. We know it will be a tough football game.”
Kick off is 7:00 p.m.
CHS boys and girls cross country teams still undefeated
The Chelsea High boys and girls cross country teams remained undefeated, with both squads claiming a win over Minuteman Regional Thursday at Admiral’s Hill.
On the boys’ side, Joseph Arroyo engaged in another duel with the number one runner from the other team, but Joseph pulled away in the last 300 meters to secure first place and pace the Red Devils to a 20-41 victory. Arroyo has not lost a race this season.
Edgar Ocana, Chester Rath and Faisal Nasimi were third, fourth and fifth respectively and Jeffrey Estrada was seventh overall to complete the Chelsea score sheet and clinch the win.
Also running well for Coach Don Fay’s boys were Jay Pedrero, Tony Nguyen, Oscar Sabillion, and Joseph Chirinos, who took places eight through 11.
The Lady Red Devils ran their unbeaten mark to 7-0 with a decisive 18-44 triumph over their Minuteman counterparts. Arandeni Ramos continued her strong season with a solid first place showing. Tatyana Almedia was close behind in second place. Neris Yanes ran a personal record (PR) by 49 seconds to grab fourth spot. Andrea Umana also turned in a big PR to finish in fifth place and Yareli Sanchez ran another PR to take sixth place and clinch the meet for Chelsea.
Monica Hernandez, Alejandra Sanchez and Daisy Mejia also ran well for the undefeated Lady Red Devils.
Both the boys and girls were set to travel to Haverhill yesterday (Wednesday) to take on Whittier Tech. If both the CHS boys and girls teams emerge victorious, they will host undefeated Shawsheen Tech Monday at Admiral’s Hill for the league title. The boys lost a close meet last year to Shawsheen in Billerica, but are hoping for a different outcome at Admiral’s Hill.
The girls also came out on the short end of their dual meet with Shawsheen in 2010, though the Lady Red Devils came back to win the league meet championship.
Boys soccer team cruises past Gr. Lawrence
The Chelsea High boys soccer team raised its record to a sterling 10-1 on the season with a 3-0 victory at Greater Lawrence last Thursday.
The contest was not as close as the final score might indicate, as the Red Devils controlled possession most of the way, keeping the ball in the GL end throughout the game, despite playing without the services of their captains and scoring leaders, Carlos Martinez and Hugo Erazo, both of whom were sidelined with injuries.
Senior outside midfielder Alcides Romero stepped up to fill the void, scoring all three goals for the hat trick. Alcides reached the back of the GL net twice in the first half and then again midway through the second half to seal the game for the Red Devils.
Freshman Dennis Martinez, who has been a vital cog for Chelsea throughout the season, also picked up the slack, taking over at the center midfield slot with the absence of Carlos Martinez.
The Red Devils were scheduled to engage in a key league battle yesterday (Wednesday) at Lynn Tech. Chelsea got off to a quick start in the teams’ first encounter and held on to edge the Techmen. “But Tech has a talented team and they always play us very tough on their field,” said CHS assistant coach Evan Protasowicki.