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BRIGHTON, Mass. -- In our latest installment of "Chalk Talk", we caught up with Brighton head coach Hugh Coleman and his bright young assistant Kurtis Grant following a Bengals practice Monday night.

The Bengals have turned the corner this season, off to a 10-1 start, a No. 7 ranking in ESPN Boston's statewide MIAA poll, and in control of the Boston City League's North Division. It's also been a rewarding season, not just for the development of some promising underclassmen, but because renovations at the school have forced them to take many of their practices at defunct Hyde Park High.

Coleman and Grant talk about the season's success so far, and show us a new play the team has been working on:

NORTH ATTLEBOROUGH, Mass. -- During Don Johnson's tenure at North, the Red Rocketeers have been a perennial Hockomock League power known for their stout defenses.

On Wednesday, Johnson opened up his defensive playbook for Brendan Hall and broke down the variations of the Red Rocketeers' blitz schemes in our latest edition of Chalk Talk:

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Its 2-2 start this season notwithstanding, few ISL teams can lay claim to the kind of run that Buckingham, Browne & Nichols has been on the last few years, with three NEPSAC Bowl championships in the last five seasons headed into 2011.

With two Division 1 linemen in Eric Olson (Northwestern) and Dan Connaughton (undecided), a Duke lacrosse-bound quarterback in Chris Coady, and a junior tight end on the rise in Brendan O'Neil, the Knights are sure to be a tough out the rest of the way through the prep school slate.

Head coach John Papas let us into his office on the Cambridge campus following practice Tuesday night, where he showed us some of his power principles, and the keys to his passing attack.

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BEVERLY, Mass. -- Beverly football shocked the Massachusetts football world last year, emerging as Division 3 Super Bowl champions despite entering the postseason at 5-6.

This year, the Panthers are off to a 4-1 start and are looking for a Cape Ann/Northeastern division title.

On Wednesday, Brendan Hall caught up with Panthers head coach Dan Bauer to take a look at a couple plays out of Beverly's Wing-T playbook, as well as a couple of defensive looks against a spread offense.

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SWAMPSCOTT, Mass. -- WIth their 33-19 win over Lynn English on Saturday, Swampscott Big Blue football remained undefeated and worked their way into our Top 25 poll for the first time this season.

On Wednesday, ESPN Boston's Brendan Hall took a visit to the Big Blue's "man cave" to sit down with head coach Steve Dembowski for the latest installment of our Chalk Talk series. Dembowski broke down and analyzed six plays from the Big Blue's victory with a detailed look behind the X's and O's to some key plays.

Take a look:

We kick off the new football season with our first installment of the High School Chalk Talk with Boston Cathedral football head coach Duane Sigsbury.

Sigsbury will lead the Panthers in action for the first time on Saturday, following the former Reading offensive coordinator's hiring in January. In these clips, Sigsbury breaks down what will be two staples of Cathedral's attack.

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MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA, Mass. -- Don't look now, but after a rough start to the season, Manchester-Essex is rolling. The Hornets are sitting at 10-2 in the Cape Ann League (12-4 overall), with wins over front-runners Wilmington and North Andover, and have stirred up conversation about their chances of competing for a Division 4 state title.

Two components have keyed M-E's success so far in 2010-11:

A) Speed -- The Hornets aren't afraid to run and give themselves more possessions, and it often shows in the scoreboard. In 32-minute games this season they've gone over 75 points six times, 80 thrice, and 90 twice, including a 92-85 win over Wilmington a week ago.

B) Joe Mussachia -- After losing three starters early on, the 6-foot-5, Amherst College-bound forward has carried play with his unique skill set, able to fit into any of the spots on the floor, one through five. Mussachia has seen his share of double-teams, triple-teams, box-and-one's and triangle-and-two's thus far in the CAL, which has forced head coach Duane Sigsbury to get creative.

And boy, can Sigsbury get creative. He sat down with ESPNBoston.com following a Thursday afternoon practice to go over some of the Hornets' sets that have made them so vicious down the stretch.

Hours before the No. 12 Andover Golden Warriors took on Lowell last night, head coach Dave Fazio spent the early part of his afternoon going over his detailed game plan with ESPNBoston's high school sports staff, for the latest installment of our "Chalk Talk" series.

Jinx? After going 0 for 2 during football season, we're happy to report that Andover beat the Raiders by 30 tonight.

But without further ado, here is our three-part "Chalk Talk" with the always colorful Fazio:

(Editors' note: This is the third installment of our "Chalk Talk" series, where ESPNBoston.com staff takes a look into a coach's playbook. Today, Medfield girls' basketball coach Mark Nickerson gives us a peek at his read-and-react offensive scheme.)

Year in and year out, Medfield girls' basketball coach Mark Nickerson has adjusted his strategy to exploit the strengths of his personnel. Last season, with an elite point guard like Marisa Pelosi, the Warriors went with an unorthodox dribble-drive motion attack and had surprising success, winning the Tri-Valley League and advancing to the Division 2 South semifinals. This season, Nickerson has gone in a different direction, and the Warriors are still the cream of the crop, off to a 6-0 start following a 54-40 win over Westwood last night. Nickerson diagrammed one of his bread-and-butter plays for ESPNBoston's Brendan Hall to show just what makes the Warriors click:

(Editor's note: This is the second in our "Chalk Talk" series, where ESPNBoston.com staff takes a look into a coach's playbook. Today, St. John's Prep head coach Jim O'Leary takes us through one of the Eagles' bread and butter plays.)

Jim O'Leary and St. John's Prep have used the power running game to much success since he arrived in Danvers in the early 90s. Opponents who have studied up often know what's in store from the Eagles, but that hasn't necessarily made it any easier for them to stop the Prep's rushing attack. O'Leary opened up his playbook to Brendan Hall, providing a look at a couple of the Eagles' "Power" plays.

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(Editor's note: This is the first in our "Chalk Talk" series, where ESPNBoston.com staff take a look into a coach's playbook. Today, Swampscott head coach Steve Dembowski takes us inside his vaunted spread offense.)

All over the state, from Dracut to Barnstable to Wilbraham, the spread offense and its many forms has slipped its way into many a high school football program over the last decade. But programs like Swampscott have been ahead of the curve on this trend for years now. Head coach Steve Dembowski sat down with ESPNBoston.com and opened up his playbook, to show why the spread has had so much success.

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