By Eric Russo, Globe correspondent
EVERETT – Coming into Week 7, the Crimson Tide (5-1) is gearing up for its last nonleague game of the season. No. 2 Everett will face off against BC High (No. 36 in the Boston.com Top 100) on Friday night, before closing out the season with three Greater Boston League showdowns.
Junior linebacker CJ Parvelus said that the Tide has to build off its strong defensive effort against Xaverian and sustain momentum heading into the GBL schedule.
“We have to deliver hits, shut [BC High] down, and have another big week,” said Parvelus. “Go into the GBL [schedule] and be focused, just like last week. We know they’re gonna run the ball a lot, so we know we’re gonna have to be tougher than them. If anything, we gotta be better than last week, because they can run the ball and they will run the ball.”
There may not be another earthquake on Friday night, but coach John DiBiaso is prepared for the BC High crowd to be rocking. He said his team could learn a lesson from the Patriots’ loss to Seattle at raucous CenturyLink Field Sunday.
“This is a big game for us,” said DiBiaso. “It’s our last nonleague game and we’d like to come out and get into the GBL and be flying. It’s over there. I know it’s gonna be a packed house and we gotta come out early. It’s very important that we come out Friday night, take a lesson from the Patriots, don’t let their crowd get into the game, like they let Seattle get into the game.
“And we don’t [want to] turn the ball over, like the Patriots turned the ball over. They found out the hard way and they’re pros. Those are important lessons that we can learn from.”
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After struggling against Cambridge two weeks ago, the Tide’s defense got back on track last Saturday, allowing Xaverian to score just 7 points. Parvelus had three sacks of Hawks quarterback Austin DeCarr and said he, along with the rest of the defense, wanted to redeem themselves.
“I just wanted to bounce back from the week before,” he said. “I had a bad week. I just wanted to make up for it. I came into the game very focused and just wanted to do my assignment, do my job and execute.
“We came into the game very focused, that we were gonna have a better week. We kinda took it lightly against Cambridge. We didn’t want that to happen two times in a row. We knew that they were very disciplined and we had to be disciplined ourselves.”
DiBiaso was pleased with the way the defense bounced back but still isn’t satisfied, saying he is still looking for a complete effort on both sides of the ball.
“[We’re] looking better,” he said. “We got a little spring to our step. I thought our defense played very well [last week]. We gotta be consistent, though. I’d like to have two good games on defense in a row. We concentrated very hard in practice on defense.
“We gotta get sharper. We can’t turn the ball over, got to cut those out. I think we’re a good team. But to be a great team, you can’t turn the ball over.”
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A week after scoring five touchdowns in the Tide’s win over Cambridge, Jakarrie Washington continued his stellar season, scoring three more TDs against Xaverian. Washington now has 12 touchdowns (9 rushing, 3 receiving) on the season, good for third in Division 1A scoring (72 points).
Washington, who also plays defensive back, had an interception for the second straight week, as well.
“I just do whatever it takes to win the game,” said Washington. “Just play to my hardest level and make everyone work for it.”
The senior said being a receiver allows him to know better what is coming his way when he’s on defense.
“I play wide receiver, so it’s like covering myself,” he said. “I just gotta recognize what I do on offense and put it to the defense for my advantage.”
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For the first time in recent memory, the Crimson Tide will not be playing on Thanksgiving Day. Cambridge, Everett’s former opponent, decided to end the holiday matchup after last season. The Falcons will now play Somerville, while Everett sits without a game. Matignon, which was matched up with the Highlanders, will now play Chelsea.
“There’s nothing,” said DiBiaso, who is also the school’s athletics director. “There’s no one in the state of Massachusetts that’s open. There’s an odd number of teams and we’re the odd man out.”
DiBiaso even went as far away as New Jersey to try to find an opponent, but nothing panned out and he doesn’t see anything changing in the near future.
“We tried everywhere,” he said. “New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, we tried everywhere. I don’t know what’s gonna happen. I’m hoping some team drops somebody, I don’t know. I’m hoping that something happens. Chelsea is the team that was matched up with us for 80 years, we lost them and we haven’t been able to get anyone that stayed with us.”
Everett and Cambridge faced off every Thanksgiving morning, starting in 1995. The Tide’s only loss in those games came in 2001.
Without a game on Thanksgiving, the Tide’s last game will be Nov. 10. If Everett makes the postseason, it will have three weeks off before the first playoff game.
“It’s gonna be a double-edged sword,” said DiBiaso. “It’s gonna give us a chance to get healthy, give us a chance to prepare. It’s also a possibility that we’re gonna be rusty. I’m gonna look at it on the plus side, that we’re gonna get healthy and we’re gonna have time to prepare.
“There’s nothing else I can do. I wish I could come up with a game, but there’s nobody. It stinks. It absolutely stinks. We anticipated this last year, but there’s nothing we could do. It stinks for the kids. It stinks for the city.”
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Every week we’ll have a captain or senior make a Patriots prediction for the upcoming game.
THIS WEEK’S PICK – JETS at PATRIOTS
Senior WR/HB/DB Jakarrie Washington is the first member of the Tide to pick against the Patriots this season: “I’m going for the Jets, 30-24.”