In the first two nights of the high school football season, I attended three games, driving 160 miles over five hours, to take in the scene surrounding six of the teams in the Globe’s preseason Top 20 rankings.
Notes from the road:
▪ Quarterbacks always draw the most attention. This season, it seems warranted. Sure, there are plenty of talented players around here. For example, Catholic Memorial’s game-wrecking defensive tackle Kennedy Hurte-Jones has to be used to seeing shocked faces when he tells people he is a sophomore. The scouts at Rivals think he is the best player in the class of 2029 in Massachusetts.
But there are a bunch of standout QBs worth watching. Week 1’s must-see performance came from Xaverian’s Will Wood, the Penn State commit who is gunning for a fourth Division 1 state title (and third as a starter).
He made his senior debut in Westwood on Friday against No. 11 Bishop Feehan, in front of a rabid student section, behind a massive offensive line, after a Sept. 11 flyover from a Massachusetts State Police helicopter.
Some quarterbacks have talent but lack presence. Wood carries himself like The Man, radiating calm and peppering his teammates with encouraging words. “Let’s do it again!” he told his offense with a grin after Feehan’s Xavier Baker raced 80 yards for a second-quarter touchdown. His six touchdowns — five through the air, and a 10-yard strike in overtime — gave the Hawks the 42-36 win. His rushing touchdown saw him barrel in from 20 yards out while dragging two defenders over the line.
▪ Some of the top QBs in the area — Wood, St. John’s Prep’s Chris Vargas, Tabor Academy’s Peter Bourque, Central Catholic’s Caden Smith, and others — have this in common: they train with former Bridgewater State standout Mike McCarthy. All of them say it has made them sharper.
“They’re great players,” said Smith, a Bentley commit from Salem, N.H. “Every day’s a competition on that field. We’re on time, we’re scheduled. We’re throwing it all over the yard. Vargas, Wood, Bourque — every single session you’re at, there’s someone better than you. But I’m a Smith. I’m a competitor. Every day I challenge myself to elevate.”
The dual-threat Smith was the star of fourth-ranked Central Catholic’s 34-0 win over BC High on Friday in Lawrence. The Raiders showed a rebuilding squad no mercy.
“We said before the game: Take ‘em into deep water, make ‘em tread it,” Smith said. “They can’t stay in the deep water with us.”
It was a tuneup for this Friday’s showdown against Vargas, the five-star recruit committed to Ohio State, and second-ranked Prep.
“I’m fired up for the rest of the week and the rest of the year,” said Central Catholic senior left tackle Brian Waller-Reitano, a Navy commit. He noted that he and Smith grew up in the same town, and have played with and against Vargas and Wood since middle school. After seeing the growth in his pal, he’ll ride with Smith over anyone.
“[Merrimack Valley Conference] offensive player of the year, 1,000 rushing yards, 1,200 passing — he can get it done,” Waller-Reitano said. “He’s going to go toe-to-toe with Vargas next week. Stars don’t mean [much] when it comes to playing the game.”
Central Catholic will need Smith’s best in the next few weeks. They host the Prep before traveling to Bishop Hendricken (R.I.) and Xaverian.
“Not many quarterbacks are as tough as him,” coach John Dubzinski said. “We’re going to lean on him all year long. Everybody wants to do well for him, because he’s giving so much to the team.”
▪ With trips to Westwood and Lawrence on the docket, we couldn’t make it to Springfield on Friday. But a livestream viewing of the Prep’s narrow win at Springfield Central did not show Vargas at his best.
He had his moments (15-of-26 passing, for 144 yards and a touchdown), but the offense struggled to get on the same page. They were no doubt thanking their defense, and Dayvian Sullivan’s late pick-6, for a 1-0 start.
There’s also no question that after that performance, Vargas, a Lawrence resident, will be even more fired up to return to his hometown on Friday.
▪ Our season-opening trip was easy compared to the road Catholic Memorial seniors Kingston and Christian Rust have been traveling.
The twin brothers, a quarterback and receiver/cornerback, grew up in South Kingstown, R.I., and moved to South Florida in 2022 “for football,” Kingston noted after the third-ranked Knights’ 36-14 win at No. 17 Andover.
They’ve played at three high schools — Palm Beach Central (Wellington, Fla.), Barbara Goleman (Miami Lakes), and Christopher Columbus (Miami) — while working with private trainers, including ex-NFLer Ken Mastrole. They moved to Dedham in February.
Kingston Rust, a QB since the age of 4, started throwing with speedster Ramar Thomas when he arrived here last winter. The pair connected for several big plays on Thursday. Thomas’s Division 1-caliber wheels reminded Kingston Rust of what he faced in South Florida.
As an underclassman, he recalled, those speedy defenses punished him for his happy feet. As a sophomore, he broke his collarbone on a hit.
After watching a more mature Kingston Rust show pocket presence, Catholic Memorial coach John DiBiaso was pleased.
“I’ve only had him for like two weeks,” DiBiaso said. “I can’t take credit for it. But whoever taught him before, taught him well.”
▪ CM, as anticipated, is once again loaded. Their largest player — 6-foot-7-inch, 315-pound Jack Erhartic — is an eighth-grader who has yet to see action.
Late in Friday’s game at Andover, a few of the grade-schoolers behind the CM sideline stopped running around long enough to try and get his attention.
“75! 75!” one of them called from behind the fence. He turned.
“Did you pancake someone?” the kid asked.
Erhartic’s baby-faced grin broke through his facemask.
“Not yet,” he said, dreaming of varsity snaps to come.
Read more from Globe Schools
- High school football players of the week: 40 Eastern Mass. standouts from Week 1
- Globe Top 20 football rankings: See which team is at No. 1 after Week 1
- Lynn English is on the road to success thanks to young leaders stepping up
- Globe Schools Insider: 500-yard rushing day, a SportsCenter-level catch, and a USC commitment
- Sign up for Varsity News, our weekly high school sports newsletter
Matt Porter can be reached at matthew.porter@globe.com. Follow him on BlueSky at mattyports.bsky.social.