Jets pick off English
Boston English made a serious attempt to ground East Boston's mile-high season, but the Jets turned up the heat to remain undefeated -- at 8-0 with 20 straight wins -- and cruise past the Bulldogs, 38-14, yesterday in Boston North play at East Boston Memorial Stadium.
''We know Coach [Keith] Parker always has his team well prepared," said East Boston defensive coordinator John Parziale. ''But we made the plays we needed to make."
Parziale leads Eastie on the field while head coach John Sousa, coming back for the first time since the removal of a cancerous tumor on his kidney, is the eye in the sky, leaving the play calling to Parziale and the Jets' assistants.
Trailing, 14-0, late in the second quarter, Boston English (4-5) went on a 2-minute-13-second drive ending with Carlos Restrepo floating a precisely placed ball over Kyle Walker's right shoulder and into his hands. Walker ran another 5 yards to put English on the board at 14-6. Terrance Eaton rushed in for the conversion.
On the ensuing kickoff, Boston English resorted to trickery, kicking the ball from an apparent huddle, but the Jets' Tyrone Hughes recovered at the English 46.
East Boston (8-0) got to the English 20 with 54 seconds left, but an intentional grounding call forced by Restrepo, and an 8-yard sack by Errin Coren, killed the Jets' momentum. .
To start the second half, English took the ball from its 37 and marched to the East Boston 7. On third and 1, running back Tony Tucker was hit for a 7-yard loss. Although Restrepo looked confident, firing a hard pass into traffic, Hughes, who also caught two conversion passes in the second quarter, intercepted at the 10 and cruised for a 90-yard score. Kevin Gilmore (two touchdowns, two conversion rushes) converted the rush to put Eastie up, 24-8.
''That interception was definitely one of the biggest plays on the day," said Parker.
English bounced back to put on a 65-yard drive that ended with Tucker's 4-yard run. The conversion run was again attempted by Eaton, but Hughes met him at the 1-yard line, knocking him out bounds and keeping English at bay, 24-14.
Anthony Malerba (two touchdowns) took Eastie's first play of the next drive 60 yards up the middle for a touchdown, striking another fast blow to the Bulldogs' fanfare. A Gilmore rush boosted Eastie's lead to 32-14 with 6:50 remaining in the game.
Eastie kept the clock moving, eating up more than four minutes on a 66-yard touchdown drive, capped by Gilmore's 4-yard run. The conversion rush failed, but Eastie kept English from scoring to wrap up its 20th straight win.
