By Mike Rubin

Despite high hopes last season, the Somerville High School football team suffered a bit of a setback. Pegged to win the Greater Boston League title, the Highlanders suffered a multitude of injuries, which resulted in a 4-6 mark.

After a 2-6 start, the Highlanders finished the season on a high note, with wins in their final two contests.

With Harry Marchetti at the helm for the fifth season, the Highlanders are optimistic of an improvement.

“We’ve been banged up right away over the past few seasons,” said Marchetti. “We weren’t able to do what we wanted to do, because we didn’t have all of our guys. We had in mind what we wanted to do, but we couldn’t execute it.”

Leading the way is senior starting quarterback Rob Pratt, who gained some valuable experience from last year while the line of scrimmage will be manned by Kevin Wint, John Wallace, Ryan Conte along with Danny DelaSolais, John DeFraia, Mike Gomes and Brian Simeon.

Rotating between running back, receiver and tight end will be DeVaughn Harrison along with Zach Sciuto, Johnson Thomas and Skirby Odivin.

Defensively, the Highlanders will be aided by Josh Scarry, Stanley George along with McKelin Delpe, Chris Taylor and Eddie Dias.

“We can survive some injuries, because we have some depth to work with,” said Marchetti. “Last year, we couldn’t even put the same lineup on the field.”

Led by several solid performances, the Highlanders rolled to a convincing 28-0 shutout win over Greater Lawrence in Friday night’s season opener at Dilboy Field. Even in the win, the Highlanders still fell short of their ultimate goal.

“The whole defensive team played their hearts out,” said Dias. “We were still short from beating them by 35, but everyone stepped it up and played great football.”

Offensively, Pratt fared impressive, tossing for 246 yards and two touchdowns while Scarry also rushed for a touchdown.

“Pratt was phenomenal with his passing,” said Dias. “Kris Taylor was a beast at linebacker, and Josh Scarry ran the ball very well. Hairston and Sciuto also made some huge receptions.”

Defensively, Delpe led the way on the line, recording two sacks.

“Everyone just did their thing and we came out on top, but we were not happy,” said Dias “We all know we have to keep working harder and harder every week because the competition will only become tougher. We have more dedication than any other team in the past four years I’ve been playing for Somerville. We need to push ourselves more to come out on top.”