Swampscott Football Captains Eye Pair Of Title Shots

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — The Swampscott High football captains spent most of the past two years just hoping they would be able to play a few games.

Now they are playing for a championship.

Two championships in six days — to be specific — with a Northeastern Conference title on the line in a battle of unbeteans against Marblehead Thanksgiving morning and then the Division 5 state title hanging in the balance the Big Blue (11-0) travel to Gillette Stadium to face North Reading next Wednesday.

The senior football and cheer captains got a bit of a sneak preview of the latter scene on Tuesday when they traveled were guests of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Super Bowl breakfast overlooking the Gillette turf.

"It all went by so fast," said senior captain Dylan Dubiel, who pulled down a game-clinching interception in Friday night's 20-6 state semifinal triumph against Bishop Fenwick at Lynn's Manning Bowl. "It seems like yesterday that we were preparing for our first game. But we're here now.

"We're excited for the Super Bowl. But we're focused on Marblehead right now for Thanksgiving. It's all just a crazy feeling. We expected it. But at the same time, you never expect to be standing here (in Gillette) with all this attention and all these expectations."

The Big Blue were relegated to coronavirus-restricted practices last fall as the season was postponed to a late-winter wedge season. But as COVID cases continued to circulate throughout the North Shore, Swampscott faced uncertainty each week, canceled games and suffered a spirited loss to archrival Marblehead.

"With that last season, it was still kind of a mess for us," senior captain Xaviah Bascon, who rushed for 94 yards in the state semifinals, said. "We only got like four total games played. So, to me, I used it as a preseason to this season. This season was what I was focused on looking forward to the whole time.

"We're here now. We're just obviously planning on winning Thursday as well as being the NEC champs along with being the state champs."

The Big Blue entered the Division 5 draw as the No. 2 seed before a 55-19 wipeout of Apponquet and a 23-9 victory against Dover-Sherborn put them in the semifinal.

Swampcott was tied at 6-6 against Fenwick at the half, but took control in the second half behind senior captain Cam O’Brien’s 61-yard scoring pass to Elijah Burns and a 28-yard scoring strike to senior captain Cole Hamernick.

"Last year I just went through every game just trying to play my hardest in every game," Hamernick said. "I wasn't really expecting anything from the next season. But when I got (to this season) I had high expectations for myself and now we've gotten here."

"During COVID we never really expected a natural season to happen for us," Dubiel admitted. "We never expected we'd be able to have a 'Fall 2' season. But when that happened, we didn't know what would happen the next year.

"We're just grateful to be here and have a full season."

A very full season, as it turned out, that includes three games in the final 13 days — including Thursday morning's home game against a Marblehead team also eyeing a Super Bowl trip back to Gillette in Division 4 next week.

"Knowing that Marblehead's also here with us for the championship breakfast, it makes it even more of a rivalry," O'Brien said. "To see them make the championship, and we also made the championship, it makes it like the NEC is getting noticed across the whole state.

"It's like playing for another championship in the same week."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)