Sports 09-25-2014

Red Devils host Esssex Tech Friday

The Chelsea High football team will seek to get on the winning track this week when the Red Devils host Essex Tech for a Friday Night Lights encounter at Chelsea Stadium tomorrow evening. Kick-off time is 7:00.

The Red Devils fell to 0-2 on the season with a 42-12 loss at perennial Commonwealth Athletic Conference power Northeast Regional Vocational School Saturday afternoon. After the Golden Knights moved out to an early 12-0 lead in the opening period, Chelsea fought back with a 60 yard drive on nine plays that was capped by a touchdown burst by senior Sammy Rivera, slicing the NE margin in half to 12-6.

The Golden Knights struck back with a score to make it 20-6, but the Red Devils put another TD on the board before the half ended. A fumble recovery by senior Moises Casado put Chelsea in business at the NE 35, from where the Red Devils reached paydirt in five plays, the TD coming on a 12 yard pass from junior quarterback Michael Rowan to senior wide receiver Ely Lobo.

So as the teams headed into the locker room at the intermission, the Red Devils appeared to have the momentum and trailed by only eight, 20-12. However, the final two quarters saw Northeast tally 22 unanswered points to post the decisive victory.

Among the Red Devils who earned plaudits from CHS head coach Mke Stellato were Rivera, who gained 85 yards on 10 carries to go along with his TD, and quarterback Rowan. On the defensive side of the ball, sophomore linebacker Javier St. Leger and senior linebacker Casado were the standouts for Chelsea.

Boys soccer team wins two, ties one

The Chelsea High boys’ soccer team strung a together a trio of fine efforts this past week, all of which were long-distance road games, to earn two wins and a tie against rivals from the Commonwealth Athletic Conference.

Tuesday saw the Red Devils trek to Billerica and come away with a 2-0 win over Shawsheen Tech, which perennially is a tough CAC foe for Chelsea. Freshman Carlos Cartagena, who was moved from his usual defensive spot to the forward line by CHS head coach Mick Milutinovic in hopes of providing some offensive spark for the Red Devils, did indeed deliver in that department, scoring one goal and assisting on the other CHS tally.

Sophomore Yefferson Padlilla gave Chelsea a 1-0 lead when he took a nice through-ball from Cartagena and capitalized on the scoring opportunity. Cartagena made it 2-0 when he headed in a corner kick that was delivered by Jonathan Vazquez. Carlos then returned to his usual defensive spot in the second half for the balance of the contest.

“Carlos has some height and gives us a presence and a nice target up-front,” said CHS assistant coach Evan Protasowicki. “He’s only a freshman and has been a nice addition to our team this season.”

Last Thursday the Red Devils journeyed northward to take on Greater Lawrence and brought home a 4-0 victory. Alan Garcia, assisted by Padilla, who made a nice crossing pass, scored a goal in the opening half. Alan then made it 2-0 early into the second half when he converted a rebound from a shot by Wilber Tejada,

Tejada found the back of the Gr. Lawrence net, assisted by Javier Mendez, to increase the CHS lead to 3-0 and Elias Sahile put the icing on the Chelsea victory cake when he took a nice through-ball from Tejada. Tejada ended up with a goal and two assists on the day.

Freshman keeper Angel Molina-Figueroa earned the shutouts in both contests. “Angel is really coming into his own,” said Protasowicki. “He clearly has the physical skills, and he’s getting better and better each week with his positioning and other aspects of the game.”

Chelsea began their week with a hard-fought 2-2 tie at Greater Lowell last Wednesday. “Greater Lowell always plays us very physically.” said Protasowicki, “and this one was no exception.” The Red Devils struck first on a tally by sophomore Derilson DePina, who played on the junior varsity squad last year and who has been a solid addition to the Red Devils this season. After Gr. Lowell evened the count, Padilla delivered a superb and powerful shot from about 25 yards out that reached the back of the GL net to boost Chelsea back into the lead before the intermission.  However, Gr. Lowell tied matters again at about 10 minutes into the second half, from where the teams battled to a standoff the rest of the way.

“We played some of our best soccer of the season this past week,” said Protasowicki. “We have a young team and it will take them some time to come together. Hopefully, we  built some momentum this week that we can carry into the coming weeks.”

The Red Devils have a key stretch of contests — all at home — this week, starting yesterday (Wednesday) against Lynn Tech. Milutinovic and his crew then will host Northeast Regional, always a tough foe, tomorrow (Friday) and Whittier this coming Tuesday. Kick-off time for all games is 4:00.

Red Devils cross country teams nipped

The Chelsea High boys and girls cross country teams both lost by the narrowest possible margin, 27-28, in their meets with Whittier last week.

For the girls’ side, Wendy Becerra won the race in a time of 22:53. Teammate Katherine Cabral was third overall, running 23:17.  Clarissa Sosa finished in fifth place for the Lady Devils. However, the next three spots went to Whittier which ultimately gave them the victory.  Sophomores Melanie Nuguyen,  Tiana Jurisic, and Owliyo Mohamud  finished ninth, 10th, and 11th for the Lady Red Devils.

“We have talked about the importance of running people down in the last half mile and also being able to hold your position late in the race,” said CHS head coach Don Fay. “Unfortunately, twice already this season we have been on the wrong side of a meet with a one point difference.”

For the boys, Jeffrey Estrada ran a personal best of 19:11 to finish first overall.  Brian Horn finished fourth for Chelsea and Eric Orellana was fifth.  Next up was freshman Josue Vargas who finished in eighth position.  The meet was dead even at this time and the fifth runner would decide the meet.  Unfortunately for the Red Devils, a Whittier runner was two seconds in front of Jonathan Gomez, who had an amazing personal best by over 10 minutes. “The boys ran hard and were aggressive early on in the race,” said Fay. “They knew it was going to be very close and they gave it their all.”

Both the boys and girls teams were scheduled to trek to Greater Lawrence yesterday (Wednesday).

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