Echevarria has no regrets in defeat
FOXBORO — The frustration was no more evident on the offensive side of the ball for Jalen Echevarria and St. Mary’s than it was early in the third quarter. The Spartan’s premier back took a handoff from quarterback Derek O’Leary and darted around the left side of the Blackstone Valley defense for a pickup of 15 yards near midfield. The yardage was shortlived though as a holding penalty brought the play back and another possible drive for St. Mary’s was doused in their 18-0 loss in the Division 7 Super Bowl at Gillette Stadium. For Echevarria, who ran for more than 1,000 yards this season, the loss was a tough one in his final football game. This week, the All-Scholastic will join the basketball team in preseason practice. With 976 career points, the 5-foot-8 Echevarria should reach 1,000 very early on the schedule. Despite the defeat, the soft-spoken talent wouldn’t have traded a minute of his fall season on the gridiron. “We had a great season,” Echevarria said. “This isn’t the way I wanted to go out in the last game of my football career, but I wouldn’t want to do it with any other players.” The potential for a big game was there for St. Mary’s, but the Blackstone Valley defense held the Spartans to just 75 total yards and 0-of-9 on thirddown conversions. Echevarria was held to just seven yards on the ground and 11 passing yards on two receptions. Blackstone Valley, meanwhile, struck for 504 total yards. “It seemed like every time we tried to get him going there would be an assignment breakdown,” said St. Mary’s head coach Sean Driscoll. “We came back in the second half and he gets a 15-yard run and there was a holding penalty. Things that didn’t happen to us all year happened today.” Echevarria felt there was more life in the offense after halftime, but the Spartans still couldn’t put a dent in the Blackstone Valley defense. “We had to up the tempo (in the second half ),” he said. “The running game wasn’t working very well so we went to pass. We were able to move the ball, but we just came up short.” Driscoll wasn’t surprised the Beavers had Echevarria marked, given his body of work this season. “Jalen’s a hell of a player,” he said. “He’s tough. Those guys knew it and they keyed on him a lot, just by the way they were setting their defense. They coached against that.” Driscoll said Echevarria’s play this season was a major reason the Spartans were playing on the first Saturday in December. “He’s our MVP,” said Driscoll. “He’s competitive, plays hard and does all the little things. We counted on him for big plays and he made a lot of big plays this year, more times than he didn’t.”