Super Bowl predictions

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Photos courtesy of the Amherst Patriots Luke Manning, wearing Tom Brady's number, gets ready to take the snap during an Amherst Patriots game last fall.

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Photos courtesy of the Amherst Patriots John Lohnes, wearing the number of Gerard Mayo of the New England Patriots, chases down a ball carrier during an Amherst Patriots game last fall.

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Photos courtesy of the Amherst Patriots Matt Simco, wearing the number of his favorite New England player, Wes Welker, plays both ways for the Amherst Patriots. Here he is on defense last fall.

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Photos courtesy of the Amherst Patriots Clem Sherwood gets ready to make a tackle during an Amherst Patriots game during the fall. His favorite New England player is offensive tackle Matt Light.

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Photos courtesy of the Amherst Patriots Luke Manning, wearing Tom Brady's number, gets ready to take the snap during an Amherst Patriots game last fall.

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He’s a quarterback.

His name is Manning.

And on Sunday, when the New England Patriots and the New York (New Jersey) Giants meet in the Super Bowl, he’ll be rooting for ...

The Patriots?

Say what?

That’s right: Luke Manning, an Amherst third-grader at Wilkins School, wears number 12 when he plays for that other Patriots team – the Amherst Patriots – and he’s a huge Tom Brady fan (which explains the number 12).

“I like him because he’s a good quarterback and, of course, he plays for the Patriots,” Luke said during a telephone interview.

The Cabinet spoke with four Patriots – not a single one of them named Brady or Branch, Belichick or Green-Ellis – ranging in age from 8 to 12 and found one universal belief:

The Patriots (the guys from the New England team) will beat the Giants on Sunday.

Luke Manning, who shares his number with the New England quarterback and his name with the quarterback of the Giants, even believes we’ll get more than 60 minutes.

“I actually think it might go into overtime,” he said, although he predicted a final score of 24-23.

Luke, who has been watching football since he was 4, thinks the key to the game is the offensive line’s ability to protect his hero and “the defense to put pressure on Eli,” the Manning for whom he is not rooting.

And speaking of that offensive line, Clem Sherwood of Brookline, a sixth-grader at the Brookline Elementary School, will be keeping his eye, at least some of the time, on his favorite player: offensive guard Matt Light, with whom he shares the number 72.

“He’s from Ohio, in high school he was a guard and in my first year, I was a guard, too,” Clem said on Sunday. Now he plays offensive and defensive tackle positions. Plus his mom and his sister are from Ohio and his grandparents live there, so his rooting interest spans geographical lines.

Asked about his focus during the game, Clem said, “I’ll kind watch the whole game but I’ll watch Matt a lot, too.”

He keeps his eye on his favorite player to learn technique, he said, but in the Super Bowl, he’ll be paying more attention to how Light keeps Tom Brady upright.

“Matt needs to have a lot of protection for Brady,” Clem said, and Brady “needs to make good throws and to do that, he’s got to have protection.”

He predicts the Patriots will win 31-28.

Matt Simco, a sixth-grader at the Hollis Upper Elementary School, will be the only one of the four Amherst Patriots not watching the game on television. He’ll be watching it live, with his dad, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis – his second straight Super Bowl visit.

His dad, Mike, gets tickets through his employer.

“This year, with the Patriots,” said Matt, “it’s really lucky for me. Let’s hope they win.”

He thinks they will, predicting a score of 35-28 because “the Patriots’ offense can score points on the Giants’ defense.”

His favorite player, whose number 83 he wears, is receiver Wes Welker, who will play a big role, Matt believes, “especially if Gronk doesn’t play.” He was referring to tight end Rob Gronkowski, who has a high ankle sprain suffered in the victory over the Baltimore Ravens.

He’s not worried about Welker picking up the slack.

“He has a lot of confidence in himself, he loves the game, he wants to play and have fun,” said Matt, who feels the same way about football and one day hopes to play for Hollis Brookline High School, perhaps as a slot receiver.

He’s never been to Indianapolis, and as much as he is looking forward to the game, he’s also excited about a pre-Super Bowl party at which he will get to meet Joe Montana and Steve Young, former San Francisco 49ers quarterbacks. He thinks the Patriots will win 35-28.

The only local Patriot of the four to wear a defensive player’s number, John Lohnes of Amherst, is a big fan of linebacker Jerod Mayo.

“I’m a linebacker and he’s a linebacker,” said the Amherst Middle School student. “I like his style, the way he plays, the way he fills the hole.”

John has been playing football for four years and said he enjoys the intensity of the game and tackling people, and “I love hanging out with my friends” who also play.

He thinks the key to the game is New England’s defense stopping the Giants’ run game. On offense?

“Brady just needs to do his magic and get the ball down field,” John said, predicting that the Patriots will win 27-21.