With less than a week to go before the season starts the Norwood High football team still has a decision to make when it comes to who’ll be the starting quarterback for Saturday’s opener against Braintree.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing as seniors Brian Williams and Pat Cavanaugh, both of whom were chosen as captains by their teammates along with linemen Jesse Shaughnessy and Mike Fabbrucci, are going through a spirited battle for the position throughout the preseason.
It is a battle in the sense that there figures to be a winner and a loser, unlike the arrangement at the start of a year ago when the Mustangs used a platoon system with the pair before Cavanaugh went down for the season with a broken collarbone in the game against Natick. What makes the situation unique is that the pair are close friends and are similar style quarterbacks with similar body types, both being listed as 5-foot-10, 165 pounds.
“The most important relationship on this team is the relationship between Brian Williams and Pat Cavanaugh,” said fifth-year Norwood head coach Joe Curran. “Because one is going to be disappointed and one is going to get the starting nod against Braintree, it’s up to the other one to compete, be supportive.”
The duo have known each other since they were nine years old and they understand that a strong preseason competition benefits the team as a whole creating better depth at the top two spots on the depth chart, and also drives their other teammates to match that intensity in practice.
“What we’re trying to do is be competitive, support each other and we both know the team comes first,” said Williams. “It’s not going to be a selfish competition. You’ve got to work your hardest and whoever gets it, gets it. You’ve got to support whoever is at the helm.”
“Whatever we do we’re going to be alright,” added Cavanaugh. “We’re both solid. Whoever is in there can do it. The team has confidence in both of us.”
Going by the Mustangs injury-riddled 2007 in which they finished 6-5, even though someone is bound to be No. 2, chances are strong that they will play a sizable role in the offense.
“I can’t recall, except for Mike Hurley from Walpole, when a whole season went by without a little knick here and a little knick there and being successful with one quarterback,” said Curran. “I like the position we’re in, it creates good competition. They’re two solid kids and we’ll win regardless of which one starts.”
Even though he had the same duo a year ago, Curran is going away from last year’s plan, in which Williams estimated he took 40 percent of the snaps while Cavanaugh took the rest, before Cavanaugh got knocked out for the season in the 3-0 loss to the Redmen.
“I think the kid that starts needs to feel a comfort level, I don’t think a platoon system benefits anybody,” said Curran.
Whoever gets tabbed to take the first snaps will be throwing to a quality group of receivers led by Steve Cottens, who Curran thinks is one of the best pure athletes he’s been around, with Brenden Greene in the slot and at 6-foot-3 Matt Murphy gives the Mustangs some height over the middle as a tight end and they figure to see the bulk of the balls thrown in their direction. Mike Goodwin, Corey Savini and Russell Silquan, a transfer from Boston English also figure to be in the mix.
“We’ve got to find ways to get (Cottens) the ball, but a great compliment is Brenden Greene, who is our version of Wes Welker,” said Curran. “He catches everything thrown his way.”
After a strong offseason Jhorgy Antoine earned the starting nod as the featured running back for the Mustangs with Mark Nardelli leading the way from the fullback position.
The offensive line loses a lot of its size from a year ago with the graduation of Kyle Crowley (Merrimack) and Mike Welch from the tackle positions.
Shaughnessy will fill the left tackle spot and while he yields about 40 pounds to Welch and 80 to Crowley, he sees this year’s offensive line, now coached by former Dedham head man Jay Maguire, able to make their own mark.
“We’re much faster on the line so we’ll pull tackles, guards, center,” said Shaughnessy. “We’re a very smart group so we know the communication is always there before the snap. We don’t have a Kyle Crowley or Mike Welch, but we’re very aggressive and very physical up front.”
They have quickly learned to enjoy the direction from Maguire, who was let go by Dedham High despite being highly regarded by fellow coaches throughout the Bay State Conference.
“I like the way Coach Maguire talks to us,” said Shaughnessy. “He wants us to be the most physical guys on the team. He promotes that and he encourages that and that’s one of the things, we’re not going to be the biggest group but we’re going to outphyiscal every other team we play on every play.
“He’s a smart guy and he knows what he’s talking about. He knows the game very well, and that’s the most important thing.”
At the front of defensive coordinator Bill Egan’s 3-4 defense is a trio of three-year starters with seniors Shaughnessy and Chris Foley on the ends with junior Anthony Colantuoni plugging the middle.
At linebacker the big concern is who will fill the spots inside after the departure of Paul Colantuoni and Kevin Morrison (Endicott) and while Mike Verrochi appears to be the front-runner for one spot, Nardelli, Bobby Kane, Chris Smith are in the running for the other side.
“We’re just trying to find the right combination of athletes and football players to give us the best chance to win,” Curran said.
Jake Rubenstein at cornerback is the lone returner in the secondary with Cottens taking over at the other corner and the two safety positions still being sorted out, with Cavanaugh being one of the top options at free safety if he loses the quarterback battle.
Curran has been pleased with the job throughout the preseason by senior Steve Mahon, who will handle both kicking and punting duties following the graduation of K Jon Finnell and P Greg Migdal.
Whatever lineup the Mustangs put on the field the key for Norwood to have any chance to being a threat to Walpole and Natick atop the Herget Division will be staying healthy, something they struggled to do a year ago.
One thing that figures to help this year is the way the schedule plays out with an extra week built into the season, giving teams a bye week in Week 6 (Oct. 10-11). The Mustangs will have two weeks to prepare for Walpole.
Also favoring Norwood is that unlike last year, they will not have to face the iron of the BSC (Natick, Weymouth, Walpole) in 14 days. They still play Natick and Weymouth back-to-back in September, but a year ago the three teams tested Norwood’s depth and the Mustangs lost all three games by a combined 47-7.
“In a league as physical as the Bay State Conference a bye week is just what the doctor ordered,” said Curran.
