Stoneham Rolls ... Make That Runs, Past Bishop Fenwick

STONEHAM - It's no secret what the Spartans are going to do. In fact, the ticket booth hands out a Stoneham roster that tells opponents exactly what to expect. Take a look. See if you can find the letters WR. A roster of 53 players without a single wide receiver. Why have a WR when you never throw the football?

Stoneham did what it does best Thursday, run the ball, and the result was a dominating 48-20 win over visiting Bishop Fenwick in the Division 6 North semifinals. Stoneham ran 40 offensive plays in the game, all but one a run.

The Spartans (9-0) will play for the North title against the winner of Saturday's other semifinal between Hamilton-Wenham and Northeast Regional. If you're keeping track, Stoneham is two wins away from playing at Gillette.

All season long Christos Argyropoulos has dominated the headlines and rightly so. But against the Crusaders, junior Seth Russell grabbed the spotlight, scoring four touchdowns and running for 137 yards.

"They were really overplaying to Christos side, trying to stop Christos, which I would too," said Stoneham coach Bob Almeida. "Seth Russell had a huge game. It just kind of opened things up for him. We know he's a good player."

With Stoneham ahead 8-7 after 11 minutes, Russell took over in the second quarter as Stoneham outscored Fenwick, 26-0. He started with a 15-yard touchdown run before adding a 46-yard score and finally a 1-yard touchdown. Stoneham's lone pass went for 65 yards from quarterback Deshaun Chase to Kevin McShane and set up Russell's last score of the quarter. Bishop Fenwick (7-2) went from being in a competitive game after one quarter to being down 34-7 at the half. Argyropoulos added the fourth touchdown of the quarter on a 14-yard run.

Russell, who ran for 99 yards in the first half, kept it up in the third quarter, scoring his fourth touchdown and 15th of the season. When Argyropoulos scored his second touchdown of the game and 24th of the season to make it 48-7, Fenwick was done.

Fenwick's first points came on a 17-yard Cory Bright to Joe Rivers pass in which Rivers was left uncovered by Stoneham's defensive backfield. The last came with under a minute to play when Bright hit Stefano Fabiano from 9 yards out. It was Bright's 13th TD pass of the season. In between, David Cifuentes scored on a 57-yard third quarter run.

"It's not exactly as simple as it looks," said Almeida when asked why opponents who know what's coming can't stop Stoneham. "There's some good blocking schemes in there. We have kids who come off the ball a certain way, we have some misdirection, and we have good players. It works better when you have good players."

Those good players will be back at it next week. RBs and FBs, running behind their OL, looking for a sectional title.

Photo by Bob Holmes