Personality provides punch for Xaverian’s Noah Sorrento

FOXBOROUGH — Fresh blood splattered onto quarterback Jake Farrell’s face. It soaked his helmet red and changed the color of his chinstrap.

“Everyone was like, ‘I don’t know whose blood this is,’” Farrell said. “Sure enough, it’s Noah’s.”

That would be Noah Sorrento. The same Noah Sorrento whose eye black covers nearly his entire face during post-game interviews. The Noah Sorrento who has referred to his teammates as a “bunch of beauties,” “absolute savages,” and “junkyard dogs” throughout the season. The Noah Sorrento who first got into Pop Warner football as a mechanism to channel his anger.

On the field, Sorrento is one of many playmakers on the most talented team in the state. Off the field, he’s a character. His teammates laugh as he’s asked about his intensity and enthusiasm.

Sorrento will bring his unbridled zest for football and life into Xaverian’s Division 1 Super Bowl matchup with Everett Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Gillette Stadium.

“Off the field he’s the same as he is on the field,” Farrell said. “He brings the intensity wherever he goes. He’s always fired up.”

In that bloody exchange, in the first game against Everett earlier this season, Sorrento cut his elbow while running the ball. He stayed in the game and scored on the next play. When he got to the end zone, he flung his arms in the air and unleashed the blood sprinkler.

When they realized the blood was Sorrento’s, they weren’t surprised.

“It was out of control,” Sorrento recalls. “It was bad.”

The blood still sits on Farrell’s helmet and chinstrap to this day. He didn’t wash it off for sentimental purposes.

When Sorrento was younger, he admits he had anger issues. His dad — who teammate Joe Gaziano says has the same fiery demeanor — placed him into Pop Warner to harness his rage. Sorrento loved any sport with contact as a kid, including hockey.

Xaverian coach Charlie Stevenson knew Sorrento was a special player right away. He made the team as a freshman and blossomed into one of the state’s best running backs. He uses his shiftiness and brute force to break tackles and score touchdowns.

Sorrento’s gusto carries over to playing video games, notably Call of Duty.

“He gets really fired up,” Farrell says with a laugh.

Sorrento’s always the loudest one on the field. He’s the same before games when he revs up his teammates, during games when he hits hard and celebrates touchdowns, and after games when he cherishes the moment with his “bunch of beauties.”

Sorrento says he loses his cool after the game, even though Xaverian has won every game this season. He gets “jacked up.”

“I just go out there being an intense guy,” Sorrento said. “It feeds off to other guys on the team. I try to get as pumped up as I can.”

Follow Trevor Hass on Twitter @TrevorHass.