Blue Night Football a First at Blocksidge

Baseball purists were apoplectic when they lit up Wrigley Field, well, that worked out fine for baseball and the team makes history when they tonight against the Triton Vikings.

Approval for the night game came last spring and all the parties involved are excited to get the game on at seven this evening.

“The players are excited, the coaches are excited, this is a good thing for the football program,” head coach Steve Dembowski said from his office Tuesday afternoon. “We’ve practiced under the lights out back many times, and everybody connected to the program is excited to get going against Triton.”

The Big Blue football team has had temporary lighting set up in the back practice fields many times over the years, but tonight is the first time night football will be played in Swampscott, home of one of the great high school football programs in Massachusetts.

Swampscott won the first high school Super Bowl under coach Stan Bondelevitch in 1972, and has sent many players to the NFL, and dozens to successful college football careers.

With the observance of Yom Kippur this weekend, playing Saturday was not an option, so adjustments had to be made.

“We got an offer to have the lights donated by a local construction company, so we jumped at the chance to play the game at night,” Dembowski said.

A lighting system that is usually used to illuminate overnight highway work and construction projects, tonight will shine on quarterback Mike Walsh and his offense, and co-captain Zach Kalapinski and the Swampscott defense.

“We’ve only got five home games (out of eleven) this season, and I think it was important, for the seniors, for the team, to figure out a way to get this game played in town, in front of our fans,” Dembowski said.

The Big Blue has had to play outside of town in the past; renting Bishop Fenwick’s field in 2009, so getting games played at Blocksidge Field has always been a priority for the coaching staff.

“Obviously the guys want to play at home, and other teams have used temporary lights, so we looked into it, and once we found a way to put it together, we moved forward,” Dembowski said. “We’re very grateful that Nick Meninno (of Meninno Construction) had contacts that were able to get us the lights for the game.”

The contact was Bob Rotundi of D & R Paving.

“You really can’t beat the home game experience, last weekend against Lynn English was great, we had the cheerleaders, our home fans and the high school band, that makes for a great atmosphere,” Dembowski said.

Tonight’s opponents know that they’re not only making history in town, they’re up against a good football team.

“We know about Swampscott, they’ve got a great offensive attack with (Mike) Walsh, (Richard) Sullivan and (A. J.) Baker, they move the ball very well, we certainly don’t want to get into a shoot-out with them,” Triton head coach Pat Sheehan said yesterday afternoon.

“We’re glad to be participating in the first night game in Swampscott, and we’d like to get a win for sure,” Sheehan said.

Swampscott (4-0) has a game against Malden next week before league play starts on October 22 against Salem; Triton (3-1) is trying to keep rolling after beating Masconomet for the first time since 2003.

"We're getting healthier each week, but as a team, we have a lot of room to get better, hopefully we can make more progress as a team against Triton," Dembowski said.