Blood line in Randolph
Mette varsity siblings have each other’s backs
RANDOLPH — It was the middle of the second quarter during a game earlier this season, and Randolph football coach Chris Boswell faced a unique situation.
Senior offensive lineman Armani Mette had injured his shoulder. A starter with the Blue Devils for a few seasons, Mette had proven himself as one of the best linemen on the team. Replacing him would be no small task.
But on the sidelines, Boswell knew he had someone capable to fill in. Someone who had experience at tackle, and someone he knew who wouldn’t back down.
It was Armani’s sister, Anabela.
“It was kind of ironic,” Boswell said. “You’re out, your sister’s in.”
Armani didn’t have much of a choice, but he was more than OK with it. From the sideline, he encouraged his sister, a junior who was getting her first extended playing time. He cheered for her and took opportunities to coach her up whenever he could.
Armani has returned since, and he and his sister have regularly appeared next to each other on the offensive line during Anabela’s first full season with the varsity squad.
It’s a unique situation, a special bond between brother and sister that will have even greater meaning tomorrow morning when they play together for the last time in their Thanksgiving game against Atlantis.
“It’s been a pleasure watching them grow as young people,” Randolph athletic director Tony Price said. “I think it’s really special to see them play side by side together probably for the last time . ... That’s something you don’t see every day.”
Girl power
Anabela never really had been into football, but her brothers’ interest sparked her curiosity one day before her freshman year of high school.
Her oldest brother, Adriano, was the first to come through Randolph High, and he played all four years. Then came Patrick, who graduated last year, and then Armani.
“They were always watching TV, watching the games, and I was just like, ‘What are you guys so into?’” Anabela said. “And they were saying, ‘Watch it.’ And then I started watching football, and I kind of liked it. I was engaged into the sport.”
One thing led to another, and Anabela decided she wanted to play. She wasn’t completely serious about it at first, but after convincing her mother, she went for it and played on the freshman team.
Anabela isn’t the first girl at Randolph to take an interest in football. Others have joined the team for summer workouts through the years, but none of them stuck it out.
“Anabela was different,” Price said. “You could just tell she meant business.”
Anabela earned the respect of her teammates not only because her brothers came before her, but because of the way she committed herself.
“There was a lot of negativity and doubt around me,” Anabela said. “People wouldn’t think they would hear what they were saying, but I would hear people around me talking about, ‘She’s not gonna last, she’s gonna be done next week.’ I was just like, ‘I’m going to prove them wrong.’”
She did, but then she faced some adversity.
During a practice going into her sophomore year, she suffered a non-contact injury in her left leg. She tore her
ACL and both of her menisci, and her season was lost.
“It was sick, it was crazy,” Anabela said.
The rehab was long, but she came back stronger, which she didn’t expect. And when she returned for her junior season, she became teammates with her brother on varsity.
It almost seemed like fate. “She stuck it out,” Boswell said. “She’s just carrying on the bloodline. It’s just in their blood.”
It was awkward at first — “It kind of got annoying because I’m always around him at home,” Anabela said — but soon they embraced the situation.
“It’s cool because I have her back if anything happens,” Armani said. “If she gets pushed back, I got her. I teach her, I coach her, she listens, and she gets coached up, and she does things right the next time.”
When they’re on the field together, Armani certainly protects her. When he’s playing guard, he watches to see if a defensive lineman tries to get by her. And then there’s what happened earlier this season in a game against Old Colony.
“She told me the linebacker grabbed her helmet,” Armani said. “And then the next play, I pancaked him.”
One last stand
Price said Armani and Anabela aren’t the types to show emotion when they suit up for tomorrow’s finale. Armani, however, is proud of his sister.
“I’ve never seen someone who has a huge heart like her,” Armani said. “She’s still out here in her third year grinding. Me and my brothers thought she was going to quit, but she’s still out here grinding and just proving people wrong.”
As he heads off to college next year, Armani is hopeful Anabela sticks with football for her senior year. She said she plans to. On Thanksgiving, she has her brothers to thank for falling in love with the game, especially Armani, who’s left plenty of lessons behind and plenty of unconditional love — on and off the field — for his younger sister.
Now there’s only one thing left to do as they get ready to play their final game together, brother and sister, side by side.
“We need to make it a night to remember,” Anabela said.