By Cary Shuman
3,000: Jordan McAfee prepares to toss the pass the ball to an open receiver. McAfee earned a spot in history surpassing the 3,000 yards passing mark during Friday night’s game against the Somerville Highlanders. Along with putting one in the record books, McAfee and the Tide cruised to a win, 49-14.
The Everett High School football team has had a line of superb quarterbacks in its proud history. Matt Nuzzo, J.R. Suozzo, and Jonathan DiBiaso quickly come to mind as signal callers who provided outstanding leadership and firepower at the helm of the Everett offense in recent times.
Jordan McAfee, the Tide’s 6-foot-4-inch quarterback, is continuing the tradition of quarterbacking excellence in this millennium. McAfee passed for 279 yards and three touchdowns to power Everett to a 49-14 victory over Somerville Friday night at Everett Memorial Stadium.
“Jordan ran the team very well,” said head coach John DiBiaso.
Asked if Everett has had some great quarterbacks in this century, DiBiaso replied, “We’ve been very fortunate. We’ve had some great players this century.”
The win over Somerville set up an Everett-Malden showdown for the final Greater Boston League championship Friday at 7 p.m.
McAfee displayed pinpoint accuracy in completing 17-of-20 passes versus the Highlanders. Sophomore sensation Mike Sainristil (76-yard TD reception) and junior Jason Maitre (8-yard TD reception) struck in the first half before junior Anthony Norcia (36-yard TD reception) put the finishing touches on a solid overall performance by the Everett offense.
Theo Zidor was also a standout in the receiving corps, catching four passes for 51 yards.
Senior running back Chris Jenkins provided the longest play from scrimmage with an exciting 92-yard touchdown run. Senior running back Marvens Fedna also took advantage of the stellar blocking by assistant coach Mike Milo’s line with two touchdowns and 56 yards rushing on 11 carries.
John DiBiaso was understandably very pleased with his team’s four-quarter display of power and consistency.
“The whole offense is playing well,” said DiBiaso.
TIDE NOTEBOOK
McAfee surpassed 1,000 (1,076 yards passing) for the season and 3,000 (3,181 yards) for his career. He has 34 career touchdown passes. McAfee was named a Division 1 Boston Herald “Star of the Week” for his work against Somerville.
Chris Jenkins, who’s enjoying an excellent season, wears No. 32 on his Everett jersey which is a legendary number for NFL running backs.
It would only be fitting that Everett takes home the last GBL title in league history. Everett has brought much credit to the GBL with its amazing postseason resume that includes 10 Super Bowl titles.
Everett is locked in to the No. 5 spot in the playoff seedings and will play on the road against Lexington or St. John’s Prep in the quarterfinals. St. John’s had a big win over previously undefeated BC High Saturday. Should St. John’s win at Bridgewater-Raynham this week, Everett would face Lexington in the playoff opener.