Spartan Football Season Finishes a Strong Season with Playoff Loss
“The offense is completely different. Defense we’ve changed as well, but it doesn’t really work without the culture,” Coach Abel Lee said. “Coach Morrisino has done a really good job of changing that culture.”
At the end of the 2022 season, the Spartans had one of their better records in recent years. The 99th ranked team in all of Massachusetts finished with a 7-2 record while also recording a +169 point differential with 114 points against. That’s around 18 points allowed per game.
“It’s buy-in. It’s believing in what you’re doing,” Coach Mike Morrisino stated. “It’s doing the extra things and doing the right things. That’s something I wanted to instill. I wanted to have kids really maximize themselves on and off the field.”
“I’m not gonna say we’re there yet because I want to see the sustainability of it. But we’ve taken a lot of steps getting to that culture. Our kids have been great and they’ve bought into it. It’s not easy, but they’ve done an awesome job of just buying what I’m selling.”
Three seasons ago marked the beginning of Mike Morrisino’s head coaching career at East Longmeadow. Given his prior experience, he was a top candidate. Once he got the job, he and Lee went right to work.
The Spartan defense was nothing short of dominant this year. One reason: the 4-2-5 defense.
“We have four down… two linebackers… five DBs,” Lee said. “But one (DB) is really a linebacker. We’ve found a lot of success with it because the defense we can change to an even front, to an odd front. We can move and adjust to any offenses that come out.”
The results are clear. The Spartan defense allowed no more than 38 points in an entire game, once against division rival Northampton.
Defense wasn’t the only rework that was done when Coach Morrisino stepped in. The Spartans are now using a Spread Offense, a different, more flexible offensive style, that allows the Spartans more options for running and passing.
The Spartans’ season officially ended with a 35-0 loss to Middleborough in the playoffs. Still to go, Thanksgiving game against hometown rivals Longmeadow.
