SOMERVILLE — Greater Lawrence coach Tony Sarkis noticed a few positives during his team’s ugly 28-0 loss to Division 1 Somerville at Dilboy Stadium last night.
One of those positives: the way Joey Pizzuto ran the football aggressively and fought for every last yard.
“This is the hardest I’ve ever seen him run,” Sarkis said. “He worked in the offseason trying to hit those holes faster and make those cuts a little faster. He’s definitely improved.”
The 5-foot-6, 160-pound senior running back rushed 20 times for 135 yards yesterday against a tough Somverville defensive line.
Pizzuto is coming off an extremely impressive 2009 season in which he was named an Eagle-Tribune all-star and carried 308 times for 2,132 yards and 27 touchdowns.
His 2,132 yards last season is believed to be the second most in area history. Former Reggie Nate Adames holds the record (2,647) set in the Super Bowl-winning 2007 season.
On the subject of Super Bowls — Pizzuto believes his team can get to one this year.
The running back said he set no personal goals for this fall. He just has one big team goal.
“Nothing but winning the rest of our games and going to a Super Bowl,” Pizzuto said when asked his personal goals. “All that matters to me is the ring.”
Pizzuto noted, however, that his team must improve in a few areas before that happens.
“I would’ve rather been leaving here with a win,” Pizzuto said. “We fought hard. ... We just need to come straight out of the gate. We can’t come out slow. And the young kids need to step up. This was a learning curve for them. (Somerville’s) line was bringing it. Our line needs to step it up. We need to come hard to practice every single day. They (the line) pushed hard but not every single play. We need to come every play, every game, every down.”
Greater Lawrence’s offensive and defensive lines are both inexperienced.
The offensive line returned just one starter from last year while the defensive line has no returning starters from 2009 when Greater Lawrence posted a 7-4 record.
“They (Somerville) attacked our line,” quarterback Jean Carlos Gomez said.
On the game’s opening drive, Somerville ran 13 plays — all rushes — driving the ball 68 yards for a touchdown. A two-point conversion followed, making it 8-0.
Somerville went ahead 15-0 on a second-quarter drive that included five straight runs.
Somerville changed things up in the second half, coming out throwing the football and doing it succesfully.
“We definitely need to work on a couple of things,” Gomez said. “But when you play a tough team like this it makes you want to come harder the next game and the game after that.”
Somerville is a tough team. It plays in the Greater Boston Division 1 conference with powerhouse Everett.
Also on Somerville’s 2010 schedule are powerhouse football programs, including Xaverian Brothers and St. John’s Prep.
“We learned that physically we can match up with those guys, which is a good sign,” Sarkis said. “I think heart-wise, toughness-wise, they didn’t quit. ... But we made a lot of mental mistakes, a lot of breakdowns in coverage in the back defensively. I think if we tighten that out, I think we’re going to be very competitive in our league.”
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Football, 09/10/10 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
