THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021 Page 13 Football Sachems rout Salem for 1st win H By Greg Phipps aving been substantially outscored in its previous two games, the Saugus High School football team turned that scenario around 180 degrees last Saturday at Swampscott’s Blocksidge Field in Phillips Park. The Sachems exploded for 28 first-quarter points and ended up coasting to a convincing 42-6 victory over the Salem Witches. The result left Saugus with its first triumph of the season while Salem remained winless on the campaign. After struggling to produce points through their first three contests (20 total points), the Sachems, now 1-3 on the season, wasted no time racking up numbers against Salem. Running backs Novell Omoruyi and Kyle Surette each contributed long touchdown runs (46 and 66 yards, respectively); Javi Martinez caught a nine-yard scoring pass, and Drew Gardiner ran back a punt 62 yards for the other first-period score. RBs Sal Franco and Omoruyi added two-point conversions to give Saugus a commanding 28-0 lead after the opening 12 minutes. Meet the 2021 SHS Sachems Football Cheerleaders to coast the rest of the way as the Witches were not able to mount any comeback. Quarterback Donovan Clark attempted just three passes but made good on all three, including the two TD throws to Martinez. In all, he had 54 yards through the air. “We were able to make a lot of plays.” The Sachems’ defense also stepped up, allowing just 150 yards of total offense by the Witches. It was a strong effort, especially after the D gave up Rabbit H By The Old Sachem e didn’t play serious basketball until he was Sachems Head Coach Steve Cummings confers with Co-Captain Kyle Surette (#21) and running back Dom Calder (#7) during last week’s battle against Swampscott. That would be pretty much all the Sachems would need as the Witches managed to respond with just one third-quarter touchdown. Martinez’s 24yard TD reception late in the first half (his second of the contest) followed by Justin Belluscio’s 11-yard scoring run and Franco’s two-point conversion later on accounted for the remainder of the Saugus points. The Sachems led 34-0 at the intermission and never looked back. They were able 14 years old, and he was denied playing in the better facilities; he played playground ball with his brothers, Sal and Kermit. He started playing in Washington, D.C., where he was born on September 16, 1934. Elgin Baylor was to become a star in junior high school, high school, college and pro basketball. His basketball nickname was Rabbit. Baylor started his career at (Advocate file photo) The ground game was the main story of Saugus’s offensive attack. Led by Surette’s 103 yards rushing, the Sachems amassed 207 yards running the ball. Sachems head coach Steve Cummings was obviously pleased to see his squad enter the win column with a dominant effort, particularly out of the gate. “That first quarter was our best start in the two years I’ve been coaching here,” he told the press after the game. the Southwest Boys Club and Brown Junior High in D.C. and went on to Phelps Vocational High School for the 1951 and 1952 seasons. He was faced with only playing against other black high school teams because of segregation in the city at the time. He was an All-City player at Phelps, where he averaged 18.5 and 27.6 points per season. He dropped out of school in 1952 and worked in a furniture store while playing basketball on city playgrounds. four straight touchdown drives to begin the game two weeks ago at Marblehead. Saugus is now hoping the Salem victory will be a springboard to more positive results. However, that won’t be easy as He returned to school to a new all-black Spingarn High School as a senior, and at sixfoot five was again an All-City player. Elgin was named firstteam Washington All-Metropolitan as the first black player to achieve this honor. He also won the SSA’s Livingstone Trophy as the areas-best basketball player for 1954. His average was 36.1 points per game. In a game against his old team, Phelps he scored 31 points in the first half, while accumulating four fouls. He was able to play the entire second half without fouling out and scored 32 more points for the record at the time of 63 points in a game for a high schooler in Washington. With an awkward high school academic record, he was not pursued for a college until a friend arranged a scholarship at the College of Idaho, and they expected Baylor to play both football and basketball because of his size. In his one season at Idaho, he averaged 31.3 points per game, but the college fired the basketball coach and restricted the scholarship Sachems Co-Captain Javi Martinez (#24) the Sachems return to Swampscott this Friday night to take on the 2019 Div. 5 Super Bowl champion Big Blue (scheduled 6 p.m. kickoff). after the year, so Baylor was without a chance to carry on at Idaho. A Seattle car dealer heard of the situation and interested Baylor in Seattle University. He had to sit out a year because of the transfer, so he played Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) ball for Westside Ford, awaiting the next season at the Seattle college. He averaged 29.7 points and 20.3 rebounds per game in the 1956-1957 season for Seattle, then in his senior year averaged 32.5 points per game leading the Chieftains, who have since become the RedHawks, to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship game, the college’s only Final Four trip. Seattle lost to the Kentucky Wildcats, and Baylor was drafted by the Minneapolis Lakers as the number one pick in the 1958 draft. Elgin, not being a student anyway, decided to leave the college early and signed an NBA contract with the Lakers. In November 2009 the Seattle College RedHawks named their basketball court the ElRABBIT | SEE PAGE 18
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