Bishop Guertin begins life without Kelly against Spaulding

The Bishop Guertin High School football team goes into Friday’s game against Spaulding knowing one thing is certain – Mike Kelly won’t be on the field. Not for that game, or any other the rest of this season.

Kelly, the Cardinals top offensive player, was hurt at the end of the first quarter in last week’s win over Timberlane. Tests revealed the senior had a Lisfranc injury to his left foot, which will require surgery and keep him out for the remainder of the year.

Cardinals coach Tony Johnson isn’t looking for one individual to step up and replace Kelly; he’s looking for a few.

“It’s a major blow to our team,” Johnson said. “Certainly, it’s going to take more than one person to fill his shoes. It’s going to take about three or four. Hopefully we can find those kids. This is where the leadership comes in, all these intangibles that you expect out of your seniors to take place.”

Bishop Guertin will start by look at senior quarterback Steve Cuipa, who had 152 yards rushing against Timberlane and also threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Pete Fucci to put the game away in the fourth quarter. The Cardinals will also turn to Zach Mailloux (60 yards, touchdown against Timberlane), Alex Eaton and Fucci to carry the load.

“Everybody has to step to the plate, and it’s as simple as that,” Johnson said. “We’ve gone through injuries before. I knew this team was a little top-heavy. We’re facing adversity and the question is, how are we going to face it? We need to come together collectively and everybody has to step up their game.”

The Cardinals couldn’t have picked a better opponent for this week, as Spaulding comes to Stellos Stadium for a 7 p.m. kickoff Friday night. The Red Raiders had lost 24 straight games before beating Division III Pembroke to open this season; Spaulding is coming off a 63-8 loss to Winnacunnet last week.

Since making the playoffs in 2006, the Red Raiders have gone 2-31 and have lost to Bishop Guertin by scores of 54-14, 35-0 and 56-6.

“Despite what anyone says, Spaulding has some tough kids,” Johnson said. “They have some real tough kids. We’ve got some holes in our armor and we have to fix those problems.

“We have problems we’re trying to address and we have problems with our execution with our offense that we’re addressing now. We have to prepare every single week.”

A new coaching staff at Spaulding has Johnson unsure of exactly what his team will face.

“I don’t know much because it’s a brand new coaching staff with a brand new offense and a brand new defense,” he said. “What I’ve seen on tape is they’re coming along, they’ve got a good system in place and they’ve got some tough kids.”

While Johnson is excited to be playing at home after two weeks on the road, he’s not happy with the way the Cardinals performed after Kelly’s injury last week.

“I didn’t see much I liked,” he said. “Our defense bent, but fortunately didn’t break. Our offense made a lot of mental mistakes. We can’t make those mistakes. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”