It’s Tuesday at 3:15 p.m. and Arlington doesn’t play Woburn for three days, but coach John Dubzinski is yelling like it’s fourth and 2 late in the fourth quarter.
“Championship week, baby!” he shouts to his players. “Practice like a champion. We’re playing for the championship Friday night. Let’s win the day!”
No. 15 Arlington (5-0, 3-0 Middlesex Liberty) travels to Woburn (5-0, 3-0) Friday at 7 p.m. If Arlington wins, it clinches the league, and if Woburn wins, it clinches the league with a Reading loss.
Dubzinski’s intensity is nothing new. He’s been that way the whole season. The Spy Ponders have inched closer to their goal, and now finally have a chance to seize the league.
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“We’re all pretty excited, but we all have to stay humble,” junior quarterback Alec Coleman said. “Coach has been telling us that until we have the league we’re nothing great.”
This season, though, statistically speaking, the Spy Ponders have been great. They’ve averaged 45 points per game, holding their opponents to 15.
And those stats are a bit skewed, because Arlington has gotten off to such sizable leads it has often sat its starters late in the game. A team that used to be associated with losing now expects to win every game.
“The whole mentality has changed,” senior Frank Roche said. “Now we don’t accept losing. Anything besides winning is a failure now.”
Coleman attributes much of Arlington’s success to two factors. First, he says the offensive line deserves 90 percent of the credit for opening up holes for him, Roche, Tommy Houston, and the Spy Ponders’ other playmakers.
Secondly, Coleman said defensive coordinator John Nascimento is “insanely brilliant.” Dubzinski said Nascimento ensures Arlington mixes up schemes based on who they’re playing.
“Even in practice it baffles my mind,” Coleman said.
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Woburn, for example, loves to run the ball with Marvin Jean, Chris Jewett and Rob Maracayo, so Nascimento and Co. are focusing on confusing them and forcing Chris Morgan to throw.
Nothing is etched in stone, Dubzinski said. The key is not only making adjustments week by week, but making them play by play.
Although the Spy Ponders expect to win, they know they’ll be up against a Tanners team loaded with speed and many different weapons.
Jean said he’s worked on his shiftiness this season, and the results have been fruitful. He has seven touchdowns, tops on the team, but he actually isn’t Woburn’s fastest player.
When Jean and Jewett race, coach Rocky Nelson said it’s not even close. Jean is a sensational running back, but Jewett leaves him behind in foot races with his 4.39 40 time. Maracayo and Morgan are also capable of scampering for sizable gains.
“We have great skill,” Nelson said. “Our senior class, a lot of them have been three-year players. We have speed, and that’s something you don’t coach.”
Last year Arlington ran by Woburn, 40-6, but this year the Tanners are seeking revenge. Nelson expects his players to rise to the occasion.
Knowing that a championship could be on the line makes it that much more special.
“This is our chance to prove to a lot of people that we’ve got something,” Maracayo said.
. . .
No. 5 Holliston looks to remain undefeated against host Medfield Friday . . . Saturday games include BC High and St. John’s Prep facing off in a Catholic Conference showdown in Danvers, Tewksbury hosting Haverhill in a key MVC Small contest and in the ISL, and Brooks hosts Governor’s Academy in a battle of undefeated teams.
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