RallyNorth.net

Medfield hopes its style makes for a tough matchup for Big Blue

Thursday, November, 29 By Matt Jenkins
Staff writer

When Matt Schairer's family moved out of Medfield just two weeks before the football season started, there probably wasn't a single person affiliated with the Tri-Valley Conference that thought the Warriors could contend for a league title.

Medfield football coach Mike Slason had re-designed his team's offense around Schairer's throwing ability at quarterback and that | coupled with the fact the Warriors graduated more than 20 players from their 2006 Division 3 Super Bowl championship team | pointed to a rebuilding year. Yet, here the Warriors are, sitting at 10-2 with a chance to repeat as Division 3 champs when they battle Swampscott at Gillette Stadium Saturday morning (11:30 a.m.).

"We ran the I-formation last year because we had a featured back in Mike Lane and he could break it on any play," Slason said. "We opted for the spread offense (this year) because we had a quarterback (Schairer) that could run and throw, and four or five very good backs that could also catch the ball.

"When we lost him (Schairer), it totally changed our offense. The kid who was the backup was not really an option-type QB, either, so we spent some time searching for an identity."

While Medfield did some early season soul-searching this fall, it leaned heavily on its defense. The offense slowly came around and the Warriors evolved into a ball-control team that wins close, low-scoring games (think last year's Chicago Bears).

Senior captains Mike Welch and Andrew Collins anchor a defense that gives up less than 10 points per game. It's the perfect marriage with an offense that scores a shade over 15 points a contest.

Still, Medfield needed a little help to advance to the postseason after dropping a league game against Holliston, 14-7, in late October. However, Holliston losses to Bellingham and Westwood (on Thanksgiving) re-opened the door for the Warriors, who took out Abington, 12-8, in Tuesday's playoff semifinal game.

"It's been a pleasant surprise," Slason said of his team's success. "We knew coming in we had a decent core, especially defensively. We thought we'd be OK because our defense could keep us competitive, and it would be just a matter of time for our offense."

Some might look at the Warriors' low-scoring offense as a sign of weakness, but it seems that could actually work in their favor.

Medfield, which didn't surrender more than eight points in any of its November games, likes to run a ball-control offense that keeps an opposing defense on the field. If the Warriors can do that Saturday, it means Swampscott quarterback Peter Kinchley and wide receivers Justin Mitchell and Trevor Wheeler will not be able to work their magic.

"Even though we're only putting 14 (points per game) up on the board, we're chewing up most of the clock," Slason said. "Early in the year we had a lot of turnovers. Until recently we were having games with 2, 3 or 4 turnovers a game. That's the nature of our offense. It often leads to that because if you have 15-20 play drives, you're more likely to put the ball on the ground. At least we've put a stop to that."

Medfield has a full stable of running backs that it will trot out against Swampscott's defense. Junior Drew Donnelly, who is 6-0 and 200 pounds, gets the majority of the carries and can run by or over a defender. Junior fullback Peter Gumas is a bruising back who can churn out tough yards, and he splits time with senior Marc Hostovsky, who Slason considers the fastest of the quartet.

Senior Harry Bodozian is a small, shifty back that rounds out the foursome.

According to Slason, the Warriors have played some teams with high-powered offenses this season and done a nice job of limiting them by playing solid defense and working the clock on offense.

Although they know little about Swampscott's personnel, Slason feels the team is well adapted to facing a spread offense. Westwood, Bellingham and Scituate each run versions of the spread, and Medfield only allowed 25 combined points against those league foes.

The Warriors run a variety of defenses to keep the opposing offense off balance.

"We'll change it up," Slason said. "We throw a lot of different looks out there and hope to get the offense trying to figure out what we're doing. You can't get too comfortable with us because we're not going to run any set defense."