By Eric Russo, Globe Correspondent

EVERETT - In the inaugural "Tuesdays with Everett," the No. 1-ranked Crimson Tide come into Week 2 off of a 29-7 victory over Leominster. The victory was their 26th straight and this Friday, they head even farther west to play Springfield Central.

Last week, the Tide was without senior receiver Kenny Calaj and quarterbacks Pat Long (junior) and Lukas Denis (sophomore). And according to coach John DiBiaso, all is the same this week, “Everybody is still out. No progress on anything.”

So, Everett will once again go with senior kicker and defensive back Gilly DeSouza at quarterback.

On Tuesday afternoon, the team focused on getting familiar with their opponents' formations and making sure they pick up the pace on offense.

“On defense, we wanted to get recognition of their formations and things like that,” DiBiaso said. ”On offense, we were trying to work tempo. You saw us going up and down the field trying to speed everything up. Everything we try to do is fast on offense.”

DiBiaso said his team will have to watch out for Central's size and athleticism.

“They’re very athletic,” he said. “They’re big. Bigger than Leominster, so its going to be more of a physical challenge. They’ve got some good athletes, some good backs. It’s their home opener, so I’m sure they’ll have a big crowd there.”

The Tide was also working on improving on some things from Week 1.

“The big area we want to improve in is we had quite a few penalties, motion penalties,” DiBiaso said. “(We had) bad snaps. We didn’t have any turnovers, so we want to keep that the same but we don’t want to have the penalties. The ones we had in the first half kind of stymied a couple of drives.”

DiBiaso praised DeSouza for stepping up against Leominster and called him the “unsung hero” of the game. He also talked about the team continuing to lean heavily on receivers Jakarrie Washington and Jalen Felix.

*The Tide’s practice was cut just a bit short because the boys' soccer team needed the field.

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The Crimson Tide has had a long history of producing players who go on to star in the college ranks. Omar Easy (Penn State), Diamond Ferri (Syracuse), Isaac Johnson (Boston College and Cincinnati), just to name a few. And this past Saturday, some Everett alums currently playing at the college level put on quite a show.

Defensive backs Manny Asprilla and Jim Noel, older brother of Nerlens (Kentucky basketball) and Rodman (N.C. State football), each had an interception in Boston College’s 34-3 win over Maine. For Asprilla, a sophomore at BC and former star receiver for the Tide, it was his first career interception. For the senior Noel, also a defensive back at EHS, the interception was the sixth of his career.

Coach DiBiaso was excited for his two former players, saying he watches them any chance he gets. This past week, however, he only heard the game on the radio.

“Yeah, they had two picks,” he said. “That was real good. I didn’t get a chance (to watch) this Saturday because we were playing JV’s down (at the stadium). It was really great. I was listening to it on the radio but I was texting with Manny after.

“Not everybody’s gonna play at the next level, but the guys that have the ability, it's great to see them play.”

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One of the Globe’s players of the week for Week One was Washington. The senior wide receiver caught a 32-yard touchdown reception and ran for a 52-yard touchdown in the Tide’s victory.

On Tuesday, he talked about his big game and what he is looking to improve on the rest of the season.

“It felt great (to have a game like that),” Washington said. “It felt great scoring the touchdowns, getting great blocks from my lineman, getting great blocks from everyone.”

Washington said it was different with DeSouza at quarterback but that he and the rest offense caught on pretty quickly.

“It's different (with Gilly) back there, but everyone has to adjust and I adjusted to it, so it fit good. (We want) to just keep winning, keep scoring, doing whatever I have to do to make this team better, keep doing what I always do and help my team win.
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According to the Tide’s roster, senior offensive lineman John Montelus, weighs in at 6-5 and 330 pounds. As a highly-recruited prospect and one of the best lineman in the state, one would think there wouldn’t be much to improve on. But, Montelus, who has committed to play at Notre Dame next year, thinks otherwise.

“Basically I want to win another championship and improve on my blocking, on my pass blocking. I just want to keep getting better and come out with a “W” this week against Springfield,” Montelus said.

The lineman also talked about his trip to South Bend this past spring, in which he watched the Notre Dame spring football game, and how he came to making his decision to choose the Irish.

“(The trip) was great,” he said. “The atmosphere was really great. There was a lot of people, it was pretty crazy. Before I went to Notre Dame, I went to Florida. Those were my two options and I compared both of them and Notre Dame was absolutely the best school ever.”

However, while the final decision came down to Notre Dame or Florida, there was one other school that Montelus had had his eye on for quite some time. That school was Penn State. But, when the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal came to light late last year, Montelus quickly changed his mind.

“I was more of a Penn State guy when I was little,” Montelus said. “I told myself after I finish my junior football season, I’m going to take a visit and hopefully going to commit there (Penn St.). I don’t know, I might have committed there, but after that whole situation, after the allegations and they fired (Joe) Paterno, I moved on. I was like, I’m gonna move and look at a couple schools and Notre Dame was the one. It was the right choice for me.”

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Every week we’ll have a captain or senior make a Patriots prediction for the upcoming game.

THIS WEEK’S PICK - CARDINALS at PATRIOTS

Sr. John Montelus, OL: “I’m a Steelers fan, but I’ll go with the Patriots, 35-7”