Dual threat sparks Gloucester

The 5-foot-10, 180-pound Cahill has been a sparkplug for the unbeaten Gloucester High football team this season.

But in addition to his stellar play as a starting linebacker, Cahill has taken on a much larger role on offense.

A backup at quarterback the past two seasons, the senior has stepped in under center this fall, and his strong, accurate arm has allowed the Fishermen to open up their passing game.

And his typically energetic, physical play on defense has helped stabilize a team that suits up only 39 players this season - drastically off from the usual 60 or so.

“Brett coming in was huge,’’ said senior Gus Marjoda, an all-conference center. “He was playing well as a second stringer [last year], and we trusted his arm the whole time. He throws a great ball, it just goes where it needs to go. I think it shaped our offense. With him now we have a guy who can throw the ball. And with our defense he’s a nutcase; he likes to just go tackle anybody.’’

Cahill has thrown five touchdown passes while running for one more. But more importantly, his effective passing game has opened up the traditionally powerful Gloucester running game for a number of the team’s contributors:

■ Senior Conor Ressel ran for 236 yards against Andover on Sept. 17.

■ Senior Ali D’Angelo took his turn the following week against Winthrop, with two touchdowns and over 75 yards.

■ Ressell ran for over 200 again against Salem.

■ And in a tight, 21-14 win over Masconomet last week, it was Jordan Shairs’ two touchdowns that provided the difference.

Much of that success with the running game, according to coach Paul Ingram, can be directly traced back to the successful passing game Cahill has helped orchestrate.

“Brett’s certainly having a great year, it’s really opened up our offense, with completing passes,’’ he said. “We’ve always been known as a running team - drive the ball down the field - and a lot of times we have to face nine or 10 people in the box, but this is making them open it up a bit.’’

Now, against Gloucester, teams have to prepare to stop both the run and the pass, something they’ve generally been unsuccessful doing this year, with the Fishermen averaging 32.8 points per game.

Opponents have found it just as hard to score on Gloucester.

Ingram said the Fishermen’s first-team defense has been practically immovable this season, allowing only seven points total before the Masconomet game.

Taking the entire team into account, Gloucester is still only allowing an average of seven points per game.

Cahill, for his part, was reluctant to take any of his focus off his defensive duties. But Ingram said his talent and his passion essentially necessitated the situation. And the results speak for themselves.

“He’s a big part of that. I think his fear was that if he played quarterback we would take him off the defense, but this is kind of a unique situation. Usually you don’t have your QB playing linebacker but he’s so valuable to us - you know what, we’re just going to let him play.’’

Cahill said he thinks part of the reason the Fishermen have been so dominant on both sides of the ball this year is because the short roster has forced the team to be a tighter, more cohesive unit.

“I definitely think that we’re much closer than we have been in the past,’’ he said. “We’re getting along better; there’s a lot of good kids on this team . . . we all hang out with each other.’’

On weekends, the Fishermen will get together for spaghetti dinners or hang out on Sundays to watch NFL games, according to Cahill. Marjoda said the cohesion also came from summer drills and all the time everyone spent around one another.

“In the beginning of the season, with only 40 kids at camp, it was kind of a shock. But I think we got closer this summer when we trained and stuff. We ran a ton in the summer together and then we’d all just get together and hang out at somebody’s house,’’ he said.

“The biggest thing now is getting together with the team to go watch film from last year. We all kind of live around football; our lives kind of revolve around football.’’

To put that in perspective, only three other players at any divisional level have 100 points. The next highest total after Perrina is Triton’s Brendan O’Neil (110), who scored a touchdown in a 21-19 loss to Lynnfield

The top three players in EMass in touchdown passes also hail from the area: North Shore senior QB David St. Pierre (17), followed by Whittier senior Dillon Ryan (15), who threw four touchdowns this past weekend, and Lynn English standout Tyllor MacDonald (14).

After an off week, Chelsea will play Minuteman this weekend while Whittier will travel to Shawsheen. If both teams stay unbeaten, it sets up their matchup at Whittier on Halloween night.

Jonathan Raymond can be reached at jraymond@globe.com.