PEABODY — It’s not real football in the tradition sense, and no one pretends that it is. But as high school teams build chemistry over the summer while gearing up for the official start of training camps next month, playing 7-on-7 ball is a pretty good facsimile.
The annual Northeast 7v7 East Regional took place at Bishop Fenwick High School Saturday, with 40 teams spread across eight fields taking part in Open and Small School divisions. They used a running clock while playing 24-minute contests with real game officials. Each team was placed in one of eight pools with four other schools of similar size.
With no line protecting the passer or rushing the play, quarterbacks had four seconds to get rid of the football. Players wore T-shirts and shorts; there were no helmets or pads, nor tackling (grabbing an opponent’s flag was enough to halt play). Many head coaches watched from the sidelines as assistants ran the show.
Among the local entrants were Salem, Danvers, Peabody, Bishop Fenwick, Marblehead, Swampscott, Hamilton-Wenham, Essex Tech, Gloucester, St. Mary’s of Lynn, Winthrop, Saugus, Triton, and both Lynn English and Lynn Classical.
Looking long, lean and athletic in the skill positions, Swampscott had the best showing by the locals in defeating Greater Lawrence, 20-12 for the Small School title. In their three-game playoff run, the Big Blue knocked off Northeastern Conference rivals Danvers and Salem before taking down the Reggies for the crown.
Sophomore quarterback John Von Barta, coming off of an excellent ninth grade campaign for Swampscott’s Final Four boys lacrosse team, looked very good in both his reads and progressions. In his first year as a contending for the starter’s job, Von Barta hit his downfield receivers in stride while waiting for plays to open up close to the end zone.
“I’m amazed this is just his third year of playing organized ball,” said offensive play caller Eric Burgos, the former Danvers High star and Triton head coach, now back in Swampscott for a second assistant coaching stint. “John’s super smart and willing to do the work. He’s got his head in the playbook and is doing whatever it takes to get better every day.”
Senior Gabe Tripp, whom Burgos described as having “freak athleticism”, made two nice touchdown grabs in the final, with Henry Beuttler hauling in the other out of the backfield.
“Gabe jumps, and then it almost looks like he jumps again when he’s in the air. It’s like he has those Go-Go-Gadget arms,” he laughed.
Watching the games unfold from a distance, Swampscott head coach Peter Bush liked what he saw from his squad.
“For us, something like this is just about going out and competing,” said Bush. “That’s one thing this group does, no matter what they’re doing. Whether it’s video games, ping pong … they just compete.”
Making the move from the secondary to outside linebacker, Jay Domelowicz was a presence for Swampscott while also collecting passes offensively. Nakeylen Davis, youngster Noah Bascon (who had a big interception against Greater Lawrence), Will Bush and Liam Keaney were among the others whose play drew ooohs and aaahs from those watching.
Swampscott’s lone defeat was a pool play setback to Bishop Fenwick, 12-0.
“The whole group stepped up,” said Bush, whose team will compete in Division 6 this fall. “With playing so many games (7) and you’re in the heat starting at 10:30 a.m. until (4:30), it’s a long day and more of a mental thing. We handled it well.”
Strong showing for Salem
After reaching the Division 6 Super Bowl a year ago for the first time in 24 years, Salem is out to prove it wasn’t a one-year blip. The Witches, behind new senior quarterback Andreas Bernal, reached the Small Small semifinals while going 4-2 on the day.
The 6-foot-1 Bernal had obvious chemistry with captain Rocco Ryan, as the two hooked often during the competition. That included a pair of TD grabs in the victory over Winthrop.
“At our banquet last year, I said, ‘Everyone is going to rule us out in 2024, but they don’t know what we have coming’,” said Ryan. “That’s why something like this is huge for us; we’re bonding even more. It’s more than about football; we’re hanging out and talking together, eating pizza, and just having fun doing what we love.”
Bernal worked not only with Ryan, but fellow Witches such as Elvis Espinal (TD catch vs. Winthrop), Alvin Laurent, Mikey Curtin, Angel Vega, Edwin Ramos, Oscar Fernandez and Connor Buckley, among others.
“We’ve been developing every week; now this is putting that development into game situations,” said Salem assistant coach Jared Lubas, who ran the offense Saturday. “It’s guys being guys doing what they do.”
Danvers coming together
Working in a new quarterback themselves, the Falcons of Danvers saw steps in the right direction while blanking both Northeast (25-0) and Saugus (24-0) as well as defeating Triton (22-12) to go 3-1 and advance to the playoff round.
Assistant coaches Bryan Ibbitson, Tom Ladd and former DHS captain Tom Walfield worked the sidelines for the Blue-and-White, who reached the Division 5 state semifinals a year ago.
“I thought (new sophomore) Nate Wise had great body language and showed himself to be capable of being a good varsity quarterback, even taking accountability when things went wrong,” head coach Ryan Nolan said.
“His classmate, (running back) Jack Houston, really picked it up for us, too. (Senior) Brendan O’Brien has put a ton of work in in the weight room and you can see that paying off, too. (Kaio) Borghardt and (Sam) Lindeman looked good at corner, and (seniors) Mike Albano, Owen Shanbar, Greysun Jackson … those guys all played vital leadership roles.
“You can also pick up things from other teams to learn from in a setting like this, too,” added Nolan. “Swampscott handled themselves really well on a hot day, showing good positive body energy. We’ve got to get to that point where it doesn’t matter what’s going on or what field we’re playing on; it’s more ‘let’s get it together and be ready to go.”
Bishop Fenwick and Essex Tech both went 2-2 on the day while Hamilton-Wenham had a pair of one-point defeats to finish 1-3.
In the Open Division, Marblehead won its pool with a 3-1 mark but was defeated in the opening round of the playoffs by Lynn English (which reached the final before falling to BB&N). Masconomet took home a 2-2 mark, with Peabody battling but failing to pick up a win.