Page 10 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, OCTObEr 13, 2023 ~ SHS Sachems Sports roundup ~ By Dom Nicastro SAUGUS GIRLS’ SOCCER TEAM NETS MAJOR WIN OVER BEVERLY When you’re competing at a high level, you’re more than likely going to make some history. And the Saugus girls’ soccer team is doing just that. The team has scored huge wins this season, nine, to be exact. But two stand out – victories over Beverly and Marblehead. Those are teams Saugus girls’ soccer captains Violet Hawley, Madi Femino and Madison Botta had never beaten until this season. The Sachems beat Beverly last week, 3-1. About 11 minutes into the first half, Shawn Sewell took the ball up the field, blowing past several opponents and finished for her first goal of the night – fourth goal of the season. Beverly answered under two minutes into the second half off a corner. Just under 14 minutes into the second half, Veronica Ortega found Botta’s feet for the Sachems’ second goal. This was Botta’s 15th goal this season. To finish out the scoring with only 2:30 left on the clock, Botta found Shay Sewell for her fourth of the season. “The grit these girls displayed was unbelievable to ring in their eighth win of the season,” said Saugus assistant coach Brianna Alimonti, who works with Head Coach Chris Coviello. “Their ball movement with each other and the rest of the team is something to watch.” Layla Manderson, Hawley, Danica Schena and Natalie Justice helped maintain the chemistry and fought the ball out of the back third of the field every time it came knocking. Tori Carter notched a few saves and kept composure when the pressure was on. “The Lady Sachems are truly marking milestones on this season, and I couldn’t be prouder,” Alimonti said. Femino said Saugus went into these challenging matches like Beverly and Marblehead knowing it had to come out with “fiery intensity.” “In the Marblehead game we went out, and we scored in the first minute,” Femino said. “… Luckily, in both of those games, like we were able to score first and last. If you go out and you score that first goal, you have the momentum. When you score that third goal, and it’s not 2-1 anymore, you just look at everybody, and you’re like, we just did this, we just beat this team. We just gotta get through the last couple minutes and just grind it out. And we did and in both of those games, it’s just like the relief that leaves your body.” Hawley said the team has bonded from Day 1. “I love the girls. I love playing with them,” Hawley said. “I’ve been playing with a lot of them pretty much all my life. We have a good group. And I think it’s really fun.” Botta said the team is gaining more and more confidence going into all its matches. “I think it’s great going into a game knowing that we’re just as good as these teams that we may not have been as good as in the past,” Botta said. “And it’s like, we can compete with them. And I think we caught people by surprise this year about how good we’re doing. And it’s just great to be out there and beating these teams we’ve never beaten before.” Saugus also picked up an 8-1 win over Gloucester. Botta had a hat trick, and Veronica Ortega, Shawn Sewell, Shay Sewell, Julianna Powers and Taylor Deleidi had goals for the Sachems. Femino had two assists, and Danica Schena, Hawley, Liliana Hernandez and Powers added helpers. Manderson, Hawley, Schena and Justice held strong on the back line, and keeper Carter made quite a few saves. SAUGUS BOYS’ SOCCER TEAM SPLITS Saugus split with an 8-1 loss to Beverly and 2-0 win over Lynn Tech. Captain Brian Pineda scored one in the second half and Isaac Cesco scored the second from a perfect pass from Carlos Miranda. Saugus football team bows to Salem air show, prepares for big Gloucester matchup By Dom Nicastro T he Saugus High School football lost its second straight contest last week, 55-20, to Salem on the road. It was Saugus’ first Northeastern Conference Lynch Division game and put the Sachems at 3-2 heading into another league matchup at Gloucester on Thursday, Oct. 12 at 6:30 p.m. It’s the third of three straight road games. Saugus again for the second straight game played without Braden Faiella, center and middle linebacker, and Cody Munafo, fullback and middle linebacker. Their availability for Thursday night against the Fishermen was dayto-day as of press time. The Sachems had some defensive players because of those injuries move around and also had some greener defenders going up against Salem, the 5-0 team who is still the No. 1 ranked team in Division 6. Saugus is No. 18 in Division 5, three spots ahead of Gloucester. The top 16 teams in each division make the postseason. “We’re both kind of like just on the outside looking in,” Saugus coach Steve Cummings said of his Sachems and the Fishermen. “So this is a big game for both programs. It’s like a playoff game. Because if you win this one, you’re probably going to be in [the top 16] in the next ranking. And if you lose this one, you’re going to fall further away. So this is important. It’s a big game, and this is one that we have to go get.” Saugus had trouble with Corey Grimes, the Salem quarterback, who had five touchdown passes. Gloucester runs a spread offense, and the Sachems will be looking to tighten things up. “That Salem offense is an absolute wagon right now,” Cummings said. “They like to run a ton of plays, but they didn’t need to because that kid is the most accurate deep ball passer I’ve ever seen. We are still gonna have guys that are a little bit green to the position on defense, but we’ve got to make sure that we do enough in practice to just kind of get their feet under them.” Cummings said it’s a matter of shoring up all three phases of the game. On offense, the good news is sophomore quarterback Jordan Rodriguez, who was thrust into action last week against Swampscott after Cam Preston went down for the season, showed marked improvement against Salem. He had a touchdown run and a touchdown pass to his brother, Isaiah Rodriguez. “Jordan was lightyears ahead of where he was the week before,” Cummings said. “I mean, he was like 15 for 20 through the air for about 200 yards and a touchdown pass and touchdown run. We started ourselves in a pretty early hole. But he played amazing. Just taking the coaching, making his reads, getting the ball out on time and doing little things. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do this Thursday.” Gloucester is coming off two big losses. The Fishermen fell to Salem, 40-6, and Winthrop, 35-0, on the road. They are unbeaten at home – Somerville, Weston and St. Bernard’s Central Catholic. “The coach does a really nice job mixBox Score ................................................................................... 1 2 3 4 T Saugus .................................................................... 0 8 6 6 20 Salem ...................................................................... 21 34 0 0 55 First quarter Salem: Quinn Rocco Ryan 83-yard kickoff return (kick failed). Salem: Shane Field 31-yard pass from Corey Grimes (Corey Grimes kick). Salem: Quinn Rocco Ryan 58-yard pass from Corey Grimes (Corey Grimes pass from Devante Ozuna). Second quarter Salem: Pat Connaster 51-yard pass from Corey Grimes (Corey Grimes kick). Salem: Quinn Rocco Ryan 61-yard pass from Corey Grimes (Corey Grimes kick). Salem: Quinn Rocco Ryan 66-yard pass from Corey Grimes (Corey Grimes kick). Saugus Tommy DeSimone 87-yard kickoff return (Ameen Taboubi pass from Jordan Rodriguez). Salem: Devante Ozuna 3-yard run (kick failed). Salem: Quinn Rocco Ryan 28-yard fumble return (Corey Grimes kick). Third quarter Saugus: Jordan Rodriguez 2-yard run (pass failed). Fourth quarter Saugus: Isaiah Rodriguez 15-yard pass from Jordan Rodriguez (pass failed). ing up their offense,” Cummings said. “They transitioned out of the Wing-T that they were famous for. He’s got a more of a spread approach. And he just always seems to have you running backs that get downhill … and fit that offense really well. So we’re gonna have to play big boy football Thursday night and stop the run because that’s what they do. They run the ball. They do it really well. They always have, and that’s what we’re gonna have to be prepared for.”
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