A Return to Glory? A-B Football Team Looks to Return to Glory

What’s Happened

It used to be the Acton-Boxborough football team almost never lost. In fact, from 2000-2008, the teams collectively combined to capture seven Dual County League Championships, and four Super Bowl Championships. Although the team has not won the DCL since 2008, this 2012 team led by Captains Billy Jackman and Zach Adgate looks as poised as ever to recapture the title.

The boys’ football team is currently 2-1. The team opened the 2012 season at home against Woburn with a 28-0 shutout. The team came out with energy in the first half, and looked sharp. The touchdown scores included two runs by William Tejeda, a 43-yard run by Billy Jackman, and a nine yard run by Zach Adgate.

The second half mostly included playing time for the second units, which played well enough to preserve the shutout. The next game, however, did not go as well. The team played against Chelmsford and lost 35-14. The team played hard and well in the beginning, but Chelmsford’s offense (its ability to mix plays well, and run several different sets) and its defense had overall better execution. The next game, the team bounced back against Lexington, winning 48-14.

William Tejeda lighted up Lexington’s defense en route to scoring three touchdowns which included an 85 yard kick return.

Keys to Success

Returning Offensive and Defensive Line:

It has been several years since AB has had a legitimate, big offensive and defensive line. This year, however, the team boasts a formidable offensive line. It features several six-foot, near-two hundred pound seniors who got significant playing time last year including Thomas Cotter, Sean McGavick, and Ciaran Stewart. The other members of the line have complemented this bunch superbly and have seen a large amount of playing time include Dan Linker, Barry Wolfson, Blaize Dudziak, and Ricky Kronenwett, David Dzgoev.

Running Game:

Although the team graduated Kyle Sweeney, a back that ran for a thousand yards, this year’s team has surprisingly had a smooth transition. William Tejeda, and Thomas Sapanaro have collectively filled Sweeney’s shoes very well. Tejeda has seamlessly dominated teams, while Sapanaro has been consistently very good. Sapanaro’s best game was against Chelmsford where he had a five yard touchdown run, and two thirty yard runs. Part of AB’s great running is coming from great blocking from not only the offensive line, but form the tight ends; Mike Murphy and Jack Perry, in particular, have done a terrific job blocking downhill for AB’s runners.

Special Teams:

Led by Jack Perry’s accurate kicking of field goals, and long distance kicking of punts, the special teams has taken advantage every chance it has gotten. Perry has consistently been able to punt the ball below the opposing team’s ten yard line, and this could prove to be very valuable over the course of the season as opposing team’s will have a lot of yardage to make up before scoring a touchdown.  

Concerns

Passing :

Quite, simply the offense needs to pass more. In the Woburn game, the team ran the ball practically the whole game. In total, there were three passing plays. Although this was partly because Hunter Arnold got injured before half-time, the team needs to start passing the ball more. All the elite football programs have a significant passing game, and AB will need to start developing it.

Chelmsford came out with ten men in the box, and only had one safety. That in itself shows how much respect the Lions have for AB’s passing attack. The problem isn’t that AB can’t pass, it’s more like the team doesn’t call enough passing plays. Most of the positives from the Chelmsford game included Hunter Arnold doing a great job passing the ball.

The Colonials started passing a little more after the Lions put ten men in the box, and it worked well. Arnold threw close to half-a-dozen completions to wide receiver Joe Euele, and a couple to tight end Jack Perry. Arnold was particularly potent at passing while rolling out to the left, so that’s something the Colonials might want to note going forward with play calls. The great thing about Arnold’s passing was it included a variety of screens, slants, and downfield throws.

Substitutions:

This may be hard to do, but in watching the Colonials play, many of the players (mainly seniors) who play on offense also play on defense. Over the course of a forty four minute game, fatigue must set in for these players. I think may be in the interest of Coach Maver to start subbing out some of these players for fresh, energized back-ups. While the back-ups might not be as effective, they will not be pacing themselves, and can go all out on each play call.

Kicking

Although when talking to the team, none of the players agreed with me, I really think that AB needs to start using another kicker outside of Jack Perry. Right now, Jack Perry pretty much does all the kicking from kickoffs to punting to extra points to field goals. The player that can probably help with punts is Gabe Cormier who kicked for the freshman team last year, and performed very well. My main concern is that Perry might pull a muscle, and that would be a big loss to the Colonials. While rare, it does happen. A great example of this was with the 1991 Super Bowl Champion New York Giants; the team’s original kicker Raul Allegre pulled a muscle, and the Giants had to pick up Stephen Baker to perform the kicking duties.

Defense:

The defense throughout the season has looked shaky. Especially against Chelmsford, the team was exploited both on its run and pass defense.  Part of it is that there are many new players who didn’t play a lot last year. I think all of the linebackers are new from this year, and it’s been clear as Coach Maver has experimented with several different looks ranging from sophomore Gabe Cormier to the likes of seniors Ray Yost, Dan Joyce. The regulars have included Mike Murphy, Joe Euele,  Sapanaro, and Tejeda. The other part is just simply tackling. The team just needs to work on individual tackling against good blocking.

Missed Opportunities

In the Chelmsford game, the team missed some key opportunities such as three missed interceptions, and failed to take advantage when the team had the momentum. The best example of this was in the third quarter: Thomas Cotter sacked Chelmsford’ quarterback on second down, leading to a third and fifteen. However, the Colonials led up just slightly, giving up a ten yard pass on the next down. Eventually, the Lions would fail to complete the fourth down and six play, however,  its plays like these that define a good team from a great team.

Injuries:

At this point, the list is particularly small, but hopefully the team does not pick up any major injuries along the way. To this point, Evan Callahan, a tight end, has a torn ACL, and is out for the season while Joey Peduto, offensive and defensive lineman, has a nerve problem, and is probable to come back by the time of the AB vs. Lincoln-Sudbury game.

Strategies to Employ:

Long-count offense. The basic idea of this offense is that as long as we have the ball on offense, the other team’s offense is on the sidelines. AB should definitely try to employ this tactic because it means less time for the opposing team’s offense. This offense could come in hand against Westford, which runs a no-huddle offense, and likes an up-tempo game in general.  

Wild-cat formation. The team has shown this a little bit in each of its three games, however, I think it should run the formation more. With great runners on this team, the wild cat can really throw teams off, and can be a huge momentum shifter.

Going Forward

The future for this team looks great. Offensively, if the team starts passing more and mixing up its plays all together between run and pass, defenses will have a tremendous amount of trouble defending this AB team. Defensively, if the linebackers and the whole defense as a unit can come together within the next couple of games, understanding each other and how each reacts to a given situation, they’ll have many opportunities to have some key defensive stands. Look for a legitimate DCL run, and possibly even a visit to the Super Bowl finals.