Sanfilippo on a record setting streak

It all started nearly six years ago when Christian Sanfilippo started playing football for the first time.

For most of his life, Sanfilippo played soccer until his friend told him his peewee football team needed a kicker. Though he started as kicker for the Riverdale Rockets, it wasn’t long before he was moved to running back.

“My coach had mentioned that I was pretty fast for my age,” said Sanfilippo. “One day he just gave me the ball and told me to run and it all started from there.”

Now, Sanfilippo holds three football records within Gloucester High School, all of which were set during last Friday’s game against Saugus. Of the seven touchdowns scored in the 49-7 win, Sanfilippo scored five.

The record breaking 265 yards rushed, including a 78 yard touchdown in the first half, pushed him to a total of 2,619 career yards. The previous record was set by Conor Ressel in 2009 with 2,555 career yards.

As well as breaking the all time rushing record, Sanfilippo has now also rushed for more than 1,000 yards this season alone. He currently sits at 1,106 yards. Last year, he became the first junior in Gloucester High School history to rush for over 1,000 yards with a total of 1,052 yards. With these two feats combined, he became the only student in GHS history to run for 1,000 yards two seasons in a row.

Sanfilippo also set a third record for most yards rushed in a single game. The five touchdowns pushed him to a total of 265 yards, beating Ressel’s previous record of 257 yards.

“The records were meant to be broken, it was inevitable,” said Sanfilippo. “The team focus is to win the Superbowl. This doesn’t change anything.”

After high school, Sanfilippo plans on continuing his football career in college while also studying mechanical engineering. He currently has Holy Cross, a division one team in Worcester, in mind.

Right now, however, the Fisherman are shifting their focus towards the playoffs. The team finished their season with a record of 6-1 to become the Northeast Conference South champions for the second year in a row.

Gloucester, the fourth seed in the conference, will be playing fifth seeded Melrose this Friday. Melrose finished their season with a record of 5-2. The game will be held at Newell Stadium, beginning at 7pm.