By Evan Mugford
AMESBURY — The Amesbury football team isn't the only Cape Ann League Small liking its chances of capturing a title.
North Reading, Georgetown and Hamilton-Wenham all share identical 2-0 records, and by the end of the weekend, one or more teams could fold under the weight.
But seventh-year Indians coach Thom Connors believes his team is prepared for the long haul and has been so all preseason.
"We returned a lot of players last year who finished the season very strong," Connors said. "We have a large group of seniors and juniors who both spent an enormous amount of time in the offseason preparing, and as a team, I think we're in really tremendous shape.
"Our preseason was outstanding. We were able to spend much of it directly on football, and we didn't have to spend as much time on conditioning, which usually takes the biggest chunk out of preseason," Connors said. "Our team as a whole came into camp in very good condition."
The Indians have two convincing wins — a 34-14 triumph against host Triton (1-2) and a 37-20 victory over North Andover (0-2). Both teams have question marks circling their legitimacy this year, but Connors has seen what they were made of, and is positive the Indians came away with two solid and very different wins.
Against Triton, Connors feels the Vikings were a team possessed. Helmed with a new coach and a completely different outlook, the Vikings threw an assortment of new formations at the Indians, rattling them, and forcing them to counter back. But Connors stressed that the team remained composed, played the game like it had practiced, and ultimately came away with a very satisfying decision.
The North Andover game, explained Connors, was a completely different monster, as the Indians jumped on the traditionally fervent Scarlet Knights in the first half and never looked back. North Andover changed its game plan, but by that time, the Indian freight train had already left the station.
That's two solid wins in two dramatic fashions with a combined 71 points scored. Have the Indians changed their offensive attack? According to Connors, not a bit.
Around two and a half years ago, Connors and staff decided that the Amesbury offensive set was growing stale, so they migrated toward a style that better suited the coach. That style closely resembles the standard Wing-T offense, and according to Connors, they're hoping to add more of that driving philosophy to the team.
"I think offensively what we're doing is kind of a derivative of the Wing-T," Connors said. "It's not exactly Wing-T because we call our offense a little differently, but we do use a lot of the same blocking principles.
"This year, we're able to spread it out a little and add to it as well," Connors said. "It gives defenses a number of things to defend rather than just concentrating on the quarterback or the tailback or the fullback. We're trying to spread the ball to three or four guys in the run game and also give the ball to a few nice receivers of ours. Simply enough, we just want mix it up and give teams a lot of things to think about."
As the Indians head to the capital to face last year's Super Bowl runner-up in East Boston (1-1), it's clear that Connors is aware that the John Sousa program won't be taken lightly. Connors explained that the Jets are capable of scoring and have versatile and quick runners that resemble exactly what Amesbury offers.
"I think they'll give us plenty to deal with defensively," Connors said. "But we're going to try to keep their offense to a minimum and really focus on the ball control."
One of the integral figures of the Amesbury offensive line is senior captain Kyle Mroz, an offensive tackle and defensive end who has been playing on high gear since preseason and has witnessed his teammates doing the very same.
"We put in a lot of hard work in the off-season as well as putting in the extra work during that first bye week," Mroz said. "We have to just keep on going and not let up at any point this year. Basically we have to keep practicing hard and not let the day-in and day-out get to us. The intensity needs to be up everyday."
Two of the area's best backs include the duo of senior captain Kevin Johnston and junior Jesse Burrell, a pair of rushers who adhere to a healthy offensive line appreciation. Amesbury's offensive line includes Mroz, Zachary Calderwood, James Pelkey, Stephen Levarity and Matt Kilmartin.
"The team is just ready to play, and the whole group has a good attitude toward practice," Johnston said. "We've been working hard every day since preseason, and everything's coming together well so far.
"Our offensive line has a lot of veterans, and they look great. They've helped the backs quite a bit this year," Johnston said.
His running mate Burrell, with whom Johnston has been playing for years, enjoys how much the friends complement each other.
"We complement each other very much so, but we just try to have fun out there and win some football games," Burrell said. "Our backups are doing the exact same, and they're allowing the starters to get a lot of good repetitions, and that's been helping us mesh as a team.
"Our offensive line is doing very well this season, and they're putting up awesome blocks for me and Kevin. The whole line is just playing great," Burrell said.
With one of their biggest tests of the year looming on the horizon, Mroz and company know exactly how to respond.
"We're going to have to bring it to them and really hit them hard on the first few plays," Mroz said. "We have to let them know that we aren't about to roll over for anybody."
