OK, sorry about all the delays.
Took Saturday, my 44th birthday, away from the blog and took the the wife and Ollie to Star Wars in Concert at the Garden.
Wow. i thought Nick laSpada’s Friday night show was spectacular. You should have seen Star Wars, and the music was stupendous.
Back to the gridiron.
My thoughts on the lack of a game Frday night.
Chuck Adamopoulos took the classy route, not wanting to mention it, but Central was flat. The Raiders never, ever were into that game. I’ll continue to say and firmly believe they left every ounce of emotion they had out on the field in Methuen.
It started with the horrifying turnout in the Raider stands, where the Billerica fans outnumbered Central, 2-1, or in this case about 400-200.
If you can’t drag fans in for a winner-take-all championship game, when can you drag them in?
It wasn’t cold, wasn’t wet. It wsn’t in Billerica. It was in Lawrence.
On the field, Central just didn’t play.
That said, Billerica was a monster of Flynnsian proportions. This was not the same Indian team I saw against Lawrence that played unspirited defense that night.
Total different story here.
Friday night, they owned the line of scrimmage. They held Central to 24 first-half yards, enough said.
I will disagree with one of the bloggers that said LaSpada was fitting the football into tight places. He had receivers open everywhere, sideline, middle, short, long, left, right.
I have often said that no high school corners can cover. Let’s just say i believe it more now.
I’m thinking of the 5 TDs:
One was a heave, that the receiver, Bolz????, simply outjumped the DB.
Another, the receiver had 7 yards on his defender running up the middle of the field.
Two were tremendous example of the QB’s skills, a short slant that LaSpada zipped into traffic right on the numbers, in just the perfect spot.
The other, he stood in the pocket for seconds, escaped to the right, toward the Central bench, drew up the defender and then threw a strike on the run in the right corner, that was the one right before halftime I think.
I’m frying on the ffith one.
Needless to say, you throw for 285 and five tDs, hit 15 of 24 with just one interception and it was a big night.
That said, the number one star of the night in my eyes, is Pete Flynn.
The guy throws out the most confusing pass packages that had all the cover men guessing. And it’s something he’s done since before I started covering these games two decades ago.
As a runner, LaSpada only broke loose once as Central did a nice job of containing him.
if you guys want me to agree with you that he’ll be the best player ever in Mass. history, you’re in the wrong place.
I love what i see, but the MVC coaches have a long history of overrating talent.
The one story that pops to mind first was one a Chelmsford halfback, a great one too, decided on UNH over Alabama and Penn State or Pitt. The folks in Chelmsford actually tried to sell that one. The kid hardly started in college, of course he was behind a pretty good one up there in Jerry Azumah.
As recently as last year we heard all the Grimard stories, Notre Dame, BC, etc.
So where does LaSpada fit? I can’t answer until he’s done growing. Right now, he’s a 6-1ish sophomore. I’m 6-1 and I looked him in the eye Friday night.
I look up when I talk to former Prep QB and current NFL backup Brian St. Pierre.
That’s a problem with a bigtime QB. He’s still a sophomore. Grow another inch or two and the bigtime schools will be licking their chops.
Love his grit, love his leadership and love his class.
As a thrower, he’s as good as I’ve seen in the Valley. As a runner? Is he better than CC’s Andrew Ouellette????
That’s where the height is an issue at the college level.
So there’s my scouting report.
Can I say succinctly how impressive the Indians were, though.
Emotion, passion, toughness, professionalism, they came to play.
Best team i’ve seen this year.
