Eastie blasts Brighton

EAST BOSTON 58, BRIGHTON 26

Jets are riding high after blowout victory
Globe Correspondent | October 23, 2010

After a 40-22 drubbing last week at the hands of Blue Hills and sophomore Vincent Burton’s career night of five touchdowns, the Jets decided to play a little role reversal yesterday against Brighton at Harvard Stadium.

The Best of Boston squared off, the North represented by Eastie and the South by Brighton, both teams entering 5-2, 2-0 in league play. This week, though, Eastie handed out the punishment, dismantling Brighton’s defense for 40 minutes in a 58-26 blowout.

Led by senior Brandon Campbell’s career-high four touchdowns, the Jets snapped Brighton’s five-game streak, just as Blue Hills ended their streak a week ago.

“We were coming off a loss and I think that’s what made us hungrier for the win,’’ Campbell said. “Since I’ve been at this school, we haven’t lost two in a row.’’

It was a mismatch from the opening kickoff, as Brighton mishandled a squib kick, handing East Boston the ball on the 36-yard line.

“It was huge for us to kick the ball off and recover it right after and march downfield and score. That was big,’’ said coach John Parziale.

Four plays, and just a minute and a half into the game, Campbell flaunted his speed and elusiveness, rushing 25 yards for the first score of the game, putting Eastie up, 6-0.

The Jets went up, 14-0, on Campbell’s 10-yard run and Kyle Jimenez-Fox ran 22 yards for a TD to make it 22-0 at the end of the quarter.

Eastie boosted its lead to 28-0 with five minutes left in the half on a 33-yard run by Andre Rickerson.

Andrew Maestre gave Brighton some life, dragging three Jets players 6 yards into the end zone for Brighton’s first score.

Brighton’s celebration didn’t last long though, as Campbell broke loose again and turned on the jets, returning the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for his third touchdown of the half.

The Bengals responded one last time before the half when Jonathan Marrero hooked up with Dwight Kennedy on a wide receiver screen pass for a 15-yard touchdown, cutting their deficit to 36-14.

Rickerson’s 3-yard romp on Eastie’s opening drive of the third quarter made it 44-14, ending the suspense. Rickerson and the Jets weren’t done as he blasted through for a 16-yard TD.

“Did you see this game?’’ asked Brighton coach James Philip in disgust. “We got our hats handed to us.’’

“It was important this win. You never want to go into a bye week with back-to-back losses, this was a good win for us,’’ said Parziale.