Further Review III

M.I.A. performs at the Palladium in Worcester last November (Robert E. Klein / Globe Photo)

Good luck trying to label M.I.A.'s music. A search on iTunes pulls up results under electronic, pop, rock, dance, alternative, and, hip-hop. Or, just about everything but, say, country.

Trying to properly describe M.I.A. the artist might be just as difficult, so we'll let Wikipedia introduce Ms. Arulpragasam:

Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam (born July 17, 1977) better known by her stage name M.I.A., is a British songwriter, record producer, vocalist and visual artist of Sri Lankan Tamil descent. Her music encompasses various genres she has expressed interest in, with lyrics that voice politics, social realism and humor. Her artwork and clothes feature similar topics and have distinctive, often vibrant color schemes.

An accomplished visual artist by 2002, she came to prominence in early 2004 through file-sharing of her singles "Galang" and "Sunshowers" on the Internet. In 2005, her debut album, Arular, was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Her second album, Kala, was released in 2007. Her single "Paper Planes" was particularly commercially successful in 2008, peaking at No. 4 on the U.S. singles chart.

M.I.A.'s latest single, "Paper Planes," isn't just the most infectious single of the year, it's also got a pretty popular dance. Which means, if you're like me, you've probably wasted at least a day watching all the different videos posted on YouTube. Yes, if you're upset there's not a new Top 100 yet, blame M.I.A. and YouTube.

To atone, Ms. Arulpragasam drops by this week with a copy of Kala to help us recap Week 3 of the high school football season. And since M.I.A.'s song titles are often gibberish (to us Americans anyhow), this might be the most challenging week in the history of Further Review (well, until we tackle a Sigur Ros album).

Let's dive right in:

First down and the Top 10

1. Everett (3-0) -- It seems the only way to hang with the Tide is to hit the big play (see Dartmouth in last year's Super Bowl; Dracut in the first half of Saturday's game). But no one's figured out the secret to actually beating the Tide.

2. Dartmouth (2-0) -- Another gutsy win for the Indians, who find a way to topple another quality Hockomock opponent without the services of the player that makes the team tick on both sides of the ball. A healthy Sean Sylvia is imperative for his team's success later in the season.

3. BC High (2-0) -- The number of touchdowns the Eagles' defense has allowed during the first three quarters so far this season: 0. Yep, they're that good.

4. St. John's Prep (3-0) -- We know the Prep can put points on the board, but this week's battle with top-ranked Everett should ultimately hinge on whether the Eagles' front 7 can limit the Tide's rushing attack (and get off the field with third-down stops).

5. Walpole (3-0) -- Maybe we've set the bar too high when we see Ryan Izzo rushed for 134 yards and think, "Wonder why he had an off day?"

6. Natick (3-0) -- The Red & Blue wont looking ahead, but we will. Natick has a tough three-game stretch leading up to the Walpole showdown on Nov. 14 with matchups against Milton, Needham, and Weymouth. We'll be interested to see if there's enough left in the tank for what could be the Herget title game.

7. Acton-Boxboro (2-0) -- Chelmsford played a nice game of keep-away in the first half, but the Colonials made the most of their second-half opportunities. We'll be interested to see how the Mercury/Jeanson backfield tandem does against BC High's rigid defense this week.

8. Dracut (1-1) -- Pop quiz: Name the Eastern Mass. team that has allowed the most points per game during the 2008 season? Yep, it's the Middies at 40.0 points allowed per contest (Holliston, with only one game under its belt, has the same number). Is it reason for concern? Sure. But we're eager to see how Dracut fares settling into Merrimack Valley Conference play.

9. Duxbury (3-0) -- Plymouth North had a solid game plan: Limit Shane DiBona. Unfortunately for the Blue Eagles, they didn't have a plan to stop Sean Cross, who had a Ronnie Brown-like day by passing for 235 yards and three touchdowns and hauling in a 33-yard TD pass from DiBona on a trick play.

10. Mansfield (1-1) -- Given the Hornets penchant for passing in previous seasons, we're still wrapping our heads around the idea of Mansfield being a "ground juggernaut."

A few thoughts on the rest of the Globe top 20: Not a whole lot of movement overall, with Marshfield taking the biggest step backwards and many of the teams in the back end taking a step forward with Weymouth falling from the poll. Welcome aboard, Abington. We know folks in Billerica and Needham are probably not happy to see a Division 3 squad vault in ahead of them, but the Green Wave are legit.

Play of the Week

In both games we filmed this weekend, we saw victors (Acton-Boxboro and Everett) that thrived more on sustained drives down than the big play.

But if we had to pick one key play from the weekend, it would be Everett's hard count on a field goal setup that forced Dracut to jump offsides and led to a back-breaking score at the end of the third quarter in the Tide's 48-26 triumph.

We've listed the drive chart below, but here's the situation: Everett held a one-touchdown lead when it stopped Dracut with a turnover on downs at the Tide 32-yard-line midway through the third quarter. Everett drove to the Middies 19, but seemed to stall. On fourth down, Everett coach John DiBiaso sent out his field goal unit, but quickly called in the play, "Florida State."

DiBiaso would later reveal that the play's name stands for "Field goal Shift." And it did exactly as it was supposed to as an overzealous Dracut squad, trying to keep it a one-score game, bit on the hard count. The offsides penalty gave the Tide a fresh set of downs and led to a 2-yard touchdown run by Alan Dancewicz that helped rip the game open from its seams.

Here's the drive. Check it out on video.

1st and 10 - Everett 32 - Manny Asprilla 4 run
2nd and 6 - Everett 36 - Asprilla 4 run
3rd and 2 - Everett 40 - J.W. Forte 0 run
4th and 2 - Everett 40 - Forte 6 run
1st and 10 - Everett 46 - Jesus Crawford 19 run
1st and 10 - Dracut 35 - Forte 9 run
2nd and 1 - Dracut 26 - Jonathan DiBiaso 0 run
3rd and 1 - Dracut 26 - Chris McCarthy 1 run
1st and 10 - Dracut 25 - DiBiaso incomplete pass
2nd and 10 - Dracut 25 - Forte 1 run
3rd and 9 - Dracut 24 - Forte 5 run
4th and 4 - Dracut 19 - [False start on Dracut]
1st and 10 - Dracut 14 - Alan Dancewicz 6 run
2nd and 4 - Dracut 8 - Forte 5 run
1st and goal - Dracut 3 - Forte 2 run
2nd and goal - Dracut 1 - Dancewicz 1 run
PAT: Igor Garcia kick

15 plays, 68 yards, 5:24; Everett 34, Dracut 20 (end of 3rd)

Kala

M.I.A.'s sophomore album was met with so much critical acclaim (both Blender and Rolling Stone dubbed it the No. 1 album of 2007) that we have to imagine it's actually cool to not like it by this point. Which is a shame, because it's like a Jackson Pollock of beats and rhythms, combined with sharp writing and a giant slice of wit. It's a bit like a Kanye West record, if West was female and British.

Anyhow, it's worth the 47-minute, 32-second investment. You won't be disappointed.

Bringing it back to football, here's some key performances from this past weekend utilizing song titles from the album, Kala.

• "Bamboo Banga" -- This track contains the lyrics, "We hungry like wolves huntin' dinner, dinner / And we moving with the pack like hyena, yena." This made us think of two things 1) Duran Duran and 2) the Boston Latin Wolfpack. Unfortunately for Latin, Jeff Guzman and Seamus Desmond each scored a touchdown as Somerville improved to 2-0 with a 14-6 triumph Friday night.

• "Birdflu" -- This fresh-from-the-islands track includes the lyrics, "What's the point of knocking me down? Everyone knows I'm already good on the ground." Methinks M.I.A. was rhyming about Andrew Perlmutter, who rumbled for 214 yards on the ground and scored three touchdowns as Dover-Sherborn toppled Weston, 27-15. Perlmutter also passed for 87 yards and a touchdown.

• "Boyz" -- This one sorta sounds like a scratched-up CD playing in your car stereo. You know what else sounded like a broken record? The P.A. in Reading announcing three first-half touchdowns for junior running back Tino Perrina, who helped the Rockets blank Medford, 34-0.

• "Jimmy" -- This snyth-heavy disco track includes the line, "You told me that you're busy." Well Jimmy McCaffrey was busy finding the end zone Saturday, as his two first-half touchdowns helped BB&N top Brooks, 42-13. Derek Papagianopoulus (a last name M.I.A. could appreciate), added two second-half scores.

• "Hussel" -- Ray Doucette and his Cambridge teammates showed a little bit of hustle Friday night. The quarterback lofted a 12-yard touchdown pass to Justin Bernard with 44 seconds remaining to lift the Falcons over Peabody, 20-14. Doucette finished with 186 yards passing and two touchdowns.

• "Mango Pickle Down River" -- Umm... really, how are we supposed to work with these titles? No, no, we said we'd make it through this, so... This helium-infused track includes the lyrics, "I don't really know why you act that way." Well the folks in Woburn are wondering why Billerica freshman Nick LaSpada acted the way he did (which is to say, unlike a freshman). LaSpada completed 8 of 11 passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns as the Indians took down the Tanners, 34-6. LaSpada also rushed 11 times for 63 yards and two more scores.

• "20 Dollar" -- This disjointed track includes the lyrics, "There's 24 hours in a day, I used to split it 8, 8, 8." Well, there were 24 points for O'Bryant and the Tigers split them 6, 6, 6, 6 as Julius White, Chris Perkins, Omari Alfred, and Josh Carrington each scored a touchdown in a 24-6 win over South Boston.

• "World Town" -- This stomper includes the lyrics "It's easy staying down, I never thought about it twice, but you do pay the price." Well, the folks at Southeastern wish Nick Hyman would have just stayed down on the ground. The running back rumbled to the tune of 184 yards and two touchdowns as the Mohawks improved to 2-0 with a 36-12 victory.

• "The Turn" -- I don't know about a turn, but Brian O'Connor knows a thing or two about returns. His 35-yard fumble return for a touchdown in the third quarter lifted Westwood to a gritty 7-6 triumph over Austin Prep. You could say O'Connor's recovery was the game's turning point.

• "XR2" -- The first lyrics ask, "Where were you in '92?" Well, if our math is correct, Barnstable freshman quarterback Doug Crook wasn't even born yet in that year. But he was all about shattering old records Friday as he threw for a school-record 342 yards in Barnstable's 38-31 win over Dennis-Yarmouth. And keeping it in the air...

• "Paper Planes" -- ... Crook completed 18 of 26 passes, including five to his favorite target, Isaiah Voegeli, who also set a school record with 203 receiving yards. Voegeli accounted for two receiving scores in the win.

• "Come Around" -- One verse shouts, "Run down, run down, run down, run, make a run, make a run." Sorta sounds like the guys up at Northeast Regional, who combined for a whopping 440 yards rushing in a 34-14 triumph over Nashoba Tech. Chris McDonald led the charge with 205 yards on 15 carries.

Click the "full entry" link below for more.

Your turn

We've got questions, you've got answers. First, here are last week's results:

• When Everett and Dracut meet this week, who wins? Eighty-seven percent of voters correctly identified Everett as the victor.

• Which team most deserves to be in the top 10?
  Duxbury took home the gold with 31.2 percent of the votes and Mansfield followed with 20.8 percent. Well, looky looky here, both teams vaulted into the Top 10 this week.

• Who will win the Bay State Herget?
  Voters really like Walpole, as the Rebels garnered 63 percent of the ballots cast. Natick grabbed 23.9 percent.

• When Acton-Boxboro and Chelmsford meet this week, who wins?
  Chelmsford won the close election with 52 percent of the votes, but Acton-Boxboro won the game.

And now this week's poll questions:

They said it

• "He's tough to find behind the big people." -- Dracut coach Jeff Moore, on Everett running back J.W. Forte, who rushed for 158 yards and three touchdowns in a 48-26 win over the Middies.

• "We self-destructed a number of times, but our defense did a tremendous job the whole game. If we converted on some of those turnovers, we wouldn't have been fighting for our lives." -- Bishop Feehan coach Tony Wood following his team's 13-9 win over North Attleboro.
  
  
• "People get their money's worth when they come watch Acton-Boxboro vs. Chelmsford." -- Acton-Boxboro coach Bill Maver following his team's 26-20 triumph over the Lions.

• "Going into the game, I said, 'It's nonleague, let's be aggressive and let's play to win.' When the players succeed, it makes the coach look good." -- Mansfield coach Mike Redding following his team's 22-6 victory over Marshfield.

• "It's tough. It was tough getting out here, it was an emotional night. We wanted to put the families first. To see them out here, that right there was a victory." -- Holliston coach Todd Kiley after his team's 40-14 loss to Tyngsboro. Holliston played for the first time since the recent deaths of Joey Larracey, a junior who died after collapsing at a scrimmage, and Tim O'Connell, a 10-year-old who became an honorary team captain as he battled leukemia.