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Swampscott football saves its best for last

Saturday, December, 01 By Mike Grenier
Staff writer

FOXBORO | Swampscott High's football players said all the right things and gave the Medfield Warriors plenty of respect prior to the Division 3 Super Bowl game at Gillette Stadium Saturday.

But once the game started, the Big Blue wouldn't give them the time of day.

That, of course, is no knock on Medfield, which earned the right to be here. Rather, it's meant as a compliment for Swampscott, which refused to be denied in its quest for just its second Super Bowl title in 35 years. On a bitterly cold and windy day, the Big Blue delivered for themselves, their fans and Swampscott teams of the past, 22-6.

"There are no superstars here," said an emotional Swampscott coach, Steve Dembowski. "But it's a great team."

It's a team that fashioned a 12-1 record and displayed its championship character by playing its best football at the end of the season. Swampscott hammered Arlington Catholic, 33-7, in the playoff semifinals Tuesday night and picked up where it left off by decking Medfield, which was playing catchup almost from the get go.

Coaches love to say that they'd rather have their teams be lucky than good, but there's nothing wrong with being so good that you don't allow the opposing team a chance to win. That's what Swampscott did in this game.

The Big Blue did it by jumping out to a 15-0 lead in the first half, which was critical against a Medfield team that is hardly known as an offensive powerhouse. They did it by playing superb defense, including a goal-line stand in the final minute of the first half that prevented Medfield from creeping back into the game. They did it by making the Warriors play out of character | Medfield quarterback Luke Swain threw 14 passes (completing 7 of them for only 59 yards), which is too many if you're a ball control team like they are.

Except for a couple of turnovers, Swampscott dictated the ebb and flow of this game. The Big Blue controlled the ground game with Ilya Levin (11 carries, 76 yards) and sophomore Kyle Shonio (9 carries, 71 yards, touchdown) and the passing game with Peter Kinchley, who threw a 49-yard scoring pass to Justin Mitchell to ignite Swampscott in the first quarter. Defensively, Swampscott held Medfield to just 164 yards. It was about as complete a game as you could ask from a team in such a big game, and on such a big stage as Gillette Stadium.

"You know, it kind of stinks that your high school football career has to end," said Kinchley, undoubtedly summing up the feeling of his teammates, too. "But there's no better way to end it than by going out the way we did. This is special. It's amazing."

It truly was amazing. And Swampscott deserved every bit of it.

Additional stories:

• Swampscott defeats Medfield in Super Bowl