Swampscott Football Wins 54-40 by Chris Thomsen

Although it fell out of playoff contention, the Swampscott Big Blue football team had a lot to play for on Saturday against Arlington Catholic.

Even though they weren't playing against Marblehead, the seniors of the Big Blue wanted to end their careers strong with their final home game at Blocksidge Field. With no playoffs, Swampscott could start focusing on development for next year. And of course, there’s always that game on Thanksgiving.

With all that in mind, the Big Blue, building on all of its past failures, soundly defeated the Cougars, 54-40, in a performance that sent the seniors out on a high note.

The Big Blue seniors were accountable for every touchdown. Senior running back Desmond Wilhelmsen and senior quarterback Brendan McDonald both ran for three touchdowns. Senior wideout Cam Frary caught a touchdown pass from McDonald, while senior running back Maleek Newsome ran for his own score in the fourth quarter.

“I thought our backs ran hard, and I thought Brendan did a good job managing the game,” said head coach Steven Dembowski.

After McDonald and Arlington Catholic quarterback Brendan Whitney each ran for touchdowns in the first quarter, Swampscott took off. Three Desmond Wilhelmsen touchdowns gave Swampscott a 27-12 lead at halftime, enabling Swampscott to seize command in the second half. McDonald ran for two more touchdowns and threw his best touchdown pass yet to a covered Cam Frary in the middle of the end zone. Newsome’s touchdown in the fourth quarter would seal the deal.

On the defensive side, Swampscott had difficulty halting the Cougar attack. Whitney threw for three touchdowns, while running back Greg Whelan balanced the offense through multiple first down carries.

With nine seconds remaining before halftime, Arlington Catholic’s William Barrett ran for a 24-yard touchdown run to keep the game within two scores. Barrett was able to glide through both of Swampscott’s safeties and scored with ease.

The Big Blue defense had communication problems on defense, something that Dembowski believes needs to be improved.

“Defensively, obviously, we had a lot of critical breakdowns. They had some matchup problems for us that we knew about,” said Dembowski. “[In certain situations], we have to handle parts of the game better.”

But the Big Blue maintained control in the second half. Swampscott was able to deploy many underclassmen, some of which had never seen varsity time before.

“We haven’t been able to play a JV team this year,” said Dembowski. “A lot of these juniors are either in rotations, or they haven’t seen the field at all. It’s tough for them.”

For the next two weeks, the Big Blue will be investing in the long term. Not only will Coach Dembowski be developing his underclassmen for future seasons, but also he will be preparing his seniors for Marblehead.

When the playoff format in MIAA High School Football was changed, one of the major complaints was that the annual Thanksgiving Day rivalry matchups lost value. But for Swampscott, its entire year is now revolving around that one game.