RallyNorth.net

Manchester Essex looking to overcome lack of home field, win conference

Friday, September, 21 By Nick Curcuru
Correspondent

One of the most appealing aspects of playing high school football is the opportunity to play in front of your hometown fans.

Unfortunately, the Manchester Essex football team will not have that opportunity this season.

The Hornets will be playing their home games at Gloucester High School and Endicott College in Beverly because Manchester's Hyland Field is under construction. The field is undergoing a renovation that will include a field turf surface.

In addition to playing home games away from the friendly confines of Hyland, the Hornets have to practice away from home. The team travels to Memorial Field in Essex every afternoon by bus, which is a half-hour commute in total and much more difficult to get to than their normal practice facility, located directly behind Manchester Essex Regional High School.

"It's tough," said Hornets quad captain and split end Sam Cohen, who has 206 yards receiving and two touchdowns so far this season. "We look forward to playing on our home field and in front of our home crowd."

Fellow quad captain Pat Orlando agrees that it's tough, but said he appreciates the efforts of the fans to follow the team through all of the traveling.

"It brings a lot of excitement playing in front of your hometown and its not the same feeling without it," said Orlando, a junior quarterback. "But we are still ready to play no matter what, and we have dealt with it well so far. Plus, we got a good fan following in Gloucester last Saturday and we expect the same when we play at Endicott."

While the Hornets find the situation tough, they are not going to let it stand in the way of their goal, which is the Commonwealth Small Conference championship. So far, Manchester Essex has done its part, starting the season 2-0. The Hornets have won a pair of thrillers with a 27-26 victory over Pope John and a 21-14 overtime win against Lynnfield.

"The travel has been hard for us, but we are going to make the necessary adjustments," head coach Mike Athanas said. "It won't be a problem because we won't make it a problem." The Hornets players have also stressed that their focus is winning games, not on where their games and practices are held.

"We will adapt to our situation," Cohen said. "Our focus is not on the facilities, it's on the game. We are doing a great job staying focused so far, and we will continue to." The Hornets play their second home-away-from-home game, and their first game at Endicott College tomorrow against Minuteman (4 p.m.).

"Endicott has a very nice field," Cohen said. "We got a chance to practice there for the playoffs last season, so it won't be completely unfamiliar. We are really looking forward to playing there."

Minuteman comes into the game with an 0-2 record, having lost to Nashoba Tech (33-13) and Lowell Catholic (14-13). Despite the team's winless record, Athanas says that Minuteman is a dangerous opponent.

"We are going to have our work cut out for us," Athanas said. "They run the ball really well, and they are a big physical team."

Athanas is focused on forcing Minuteman to go to its passing game by stopping the run. In order to stop Minuteman's running game, the Hornets will have to contain tailback Dominique Jenkins-Maxwell, who has three of the team's four touchdowns this season.

Offensively, the Hornets want to stick with their balanced attack, which is led by the trio of Orlando (363 passing yards, four touchdown passes), Cohen and halfback Brian Ciccone (124 rush yards, two touchdowns).

Above all, Manchester Essex will be focusing on playing a complete football game, something that has been a problem for them despite their 2-0 start.

"We expect to play all four quarters, something that we haven't done yet this year," Athanas said. "That's what we have been working on in practice. I think we will be ready to do it."