HANOVER – Hanover senior quarterback Ben Scalzi has taken the adage “In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity” to a different degree.
The calm, cool former Hawks wideout is again below middle for a second season after being pressured into motion when former beginning quarterback Michael Landolfi left Hanover for Lawrence Academy after the 2021 season.
Scalzi had by no means performed quarterback on the varsity degree till final season, but went on to throw for slightly below 2,800 yards with 27 touchdowns after which added one other 535 yards on the bottom with 5 dashing touchdowns.
Scalzi led the Hawks to a 9-3 file in his first season and was roughly three minutes away from a visit to Gillette Stadium earlier than Milton rallied to a 32-30 victory within the Div. 3 semifinals.
“Last year was a huge opportunity for me with it being my first year starting at quarterback, but I learned a lot,” stated Scalzi. “There’s always room for improvement. Every day we are just getting better, and we just have to stay focused day-by-day.”
Scalzi continued to climb the day-by-day ladder as Hanover shocked Duxbury 28-18 on the highway to open the 2023 season. That broke Duxbury’s 12-game successful streak and handed the Hawks their first-ever win over the Patriot League Keenan Division juggernaut relationship to 1996 (0-11 general).
Scalzi completed with 236 yards passing together with three touchdowns and added one on the bottom.
Head coach Brian Kelliher is in his first season with Hanover and thinks Scalzi, together with a slew of returning starters, has the Hawks in place to go far this season.
“He walks with an air of confidence when he enters the field, he’s just extremely calm but confident in his abilities and he doesn’t force anything,” stated Kelliher. “He just takes what they give him and if a mistake happens, he rebounds very quickly but he’s just a calming influence out there.”
Scalzi feels with the returning group of starters that Hanover is poised for one more shot at attending to the Div. 3 Super Bowl.
“Our starters have a lot of experience from last year and they are all very talented, I have a bunch of weapons, and hopefully I can get them the ball,” stated Scalzi. “Duxbury has been big forever and we knew when the schedule came out that we had to start preparing and game-planning. It was such a huge win for the program.”
Next up on the highway present for Scalzi is Hingham (0-1) which can check the Hawks to stay unbeaten on the season earlier than some dwelling cooking towards one other non-league opponent, Stoughton.
Then the enjoyable begins for the 6’3 senior signal-caller as Hanover travels to Plymouth South for the Patriot League Fisher Division opener for each groups. The Panthers (1-0) have been certainly one of solely three groups to beat Scalzi final season, however Kelliher isn’t trying too far into the long run.
“We have a great group coming back and now obviously (Scalzi) is a huge part of that so we’re just trying to do what we talked about all offseason… we’re not worried about the end of the year, we were just worried about week one,” stated Kelliher. “That was our whole preseason list, let’s worry about Duxbury, and now they’re over and we’re just going to worry about Hingham. We can only take what is in front of us.”
Scalzi isn’t ready for the precise alternatives for Hanover, he’s creating them on his personal.
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BEN SCALZI PROFILE BOX:
NAME: Ben Scalzi
SCHOOL: Hanover High School (Hawks)
AGE: 17
HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6’3’’, 205
POSITION: Quarterback
NICKNAME: B-Scal
FAMILY: (Father, mom, brothers, and sisters) – Father, Jeff; Mother Allison; Brother Aidan; Sisters; Caroline and Claire
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Two-sport Varsity Athlete at Hanover – additionally a senior captain on the basketball workforce
FAVORITE PERSONAL MOMENT IN SPORTS: Quarterfinal win final yr vs. Walpole. Game despatched us to the semifinals, excessive scoring recreation (40-37 win for Hanover).
FAVORITE COURSE IN SCHOOL: History
LEAST FAVORITE COURSE IN SCHOOL: English, undoubtedly English
FAVORITE PIGOUT FOOD: Shrimp and Pasta
FAVORITE TV SHOW: Breaking Bad
FAVORITE MOVIE: Rudy
FAVORITE MUSICIAN: Drake
FAVORITE VIDEO GAME: Call of Duty – Black Ops 2
FAVORITE SMARTPHONE APP: TikTok
FAVORITE TWITTER ACCOUNT TO FOLLOW: Hanover Football – @HanoverFball
FAVORITE PRO TEAM: New England Patriots
FAVORITE ATHLETE: Justin Fields
HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A GAME: Don’t actually have a real routine however simply make certain I keep hydrated.
IF YOU COULD BE SOMEONE ELSE FOR A DAY, WHO WOULD IT BE: Elon Musk
Source: www.bostonherald.com