Page 14 THE EVERETT ADVOCATE–Friday, September 13, 2019 Crimson Tide stunned in season opener The talented EHS Crimson Tide Cheerleaders (Advocate photos by Mike Kearney) By Greg Phipps P redicted by many experts to remain in their typical place atop the Eastern Massachusetts football rankings in 2019, the Everett Crimson Tide received a serious wakeup call last Friday evening at Veterans Memorial Stadium. The defending Div. 3 state champion Springfield Central Golden Eagles traveled across the state and ran roughshod over the Div. 1 Tide on their way to a 4012 rout. Not only did Everett lose the contest in convincing fashion, they lost a player early when junior linebacker Egan Gouveia was hurt on the opening kickoff and had to be taken off the field on a stretcher. From there, it was pretty much all Eagles, as they built up a 33-0 lead before the Tide finally scored their first points in the second half. Central led, 21-0, at halftime and would tack on two more scores to go up by more than 30. Everett’s offense struggled to get anything going until it was too late. Tide head coach Theluxon Pierre seemed surprised to see his team so outplayed in its opener. “I hope [our players] are awake now,” he told the press after the game. “There was no effort on the Everett side today and that never happens, never. So, we’ll get to the bottom of that.” With the defeat, Everett is now in an unusual spot, having started off behind the eight ball. A rarity for the storied Crimson Tide program, which has won 10 Sweet 16 Super Bowl titles (2016 and 2017 being the most recent) and is a perennial powTide junior wide receiver Tyrese Baptiste (11) is congratulated by sophomore wide receiver Ismael Iamer after scoring a touchdown. erhouse in Eastern Mass. Another formidable foe, Xaverian, awaits this Friday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium (scheduled 7 p.m. kickoff). The Tide are hoping to get things turned back in the customary winning direction. Last season proved to be another stellar go-around for the Tide, as they went 10-1. But the one blemish was a 23-20 loss to Central Catholic of Lawrence in the second round of the Div. 1 North playoffs. The ultimate goal of making a trip to Gillette Stadium in Foxboro for the Super Bowl is still in the cards for 2019. “What matters is where you’re ranked in the end,” said Pierre of his team’s top ranking coming into this campaign In his second season as head coach, Pierre is looking to returning quarterback Duke Doherty, a junior, and experienced college football prospects Ismael Zamor Senior running back Clarence Jules is off to the races behind a nifty block by junior Ghustin Boyce. (wide receiver), Samy Lamothe (safety, running back) and Josiah Stewart (defensive end) to help achieve the team’s objective. The team also sports a large number of underclassmen performing in starting roles. During the preseason, Pierre did imply that this year’s squad could fall a bit below its usual expectations due to its youth. “We’re a young team – I don’t know where all this hype [top preseason ranking] is coming from. It’s funny, everybody who has a young team, they say, ‘They’re going to have a down year.’ We have a young team and everybody expects us to be all that. Can we have a young team and have a down year? Is that okay in Everett?” After this week’s contest with Xaverian, the Tide move on to face St. John’s of Shrewsbury on Sept. 20 and return home to host Brockton on Sept. 28 at 1 p.m. Sophomore defensive end Jalen Murphy (16) shares a pileup with the defensive line. Tide QB Duke Doherty looks downfield for a target.
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