The Championship Seasons
The first championship
football team for Billerica came in 1942.
Under the direction of first year Head Coach Chuck Lampson and the
leadership of Captain Allen Jenkins, the team went through a tough season
finishing with a 4-3-3 record overall.
In league play the Warriors
were undefeated as they dumped Tewksbury, 14-0, Wilmington, 20-7, and battled
Dracut to a scoreless tie to set up a winner take all battle with Chelmsford on
Thanksgiving.
Led by Jenkins two
touchdowns, Howe High rallied to gain a 14-14 tie with the Lions. The tie resulted in both teams sharing the
Lowell Suburban League title.
Scores: (League games in
bold green type)
09/26- Howe 0, Weston 0
10/03- Howe 14, Tewksbury 0
10/10- Pinkerton Acdy
(Derry, NH) 33, Howe 12
10/17- Howe 20, Wilmington 7
10/24- Howe 0, Dracut 0
10/31- Concord 13, Howe 12
11/07- Howe 19, Brooks
School 7
11/14- Howe 14, St. John’s
Prep 13
11/21- Stoneham 6, Howe 0
11/26- Howe 6, Chelmsford 6
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One year later it looked as
if Howe would not field a team as Lampson and his assistant coach, George
Carnie, were drafted and sent to Italy to fight in World War 2.
School Superintendent, H. D.
Chittim, a very devoted fan, found a coach in Bill O’Neal from Holy Cross, but
not until after the first game of the season, vs. Weston, was cancelled.
The team opened with four
straight shutouts over Tewksbury, 41-0, Pinkerton Academy of Derry, NH, 0-0,
Wilmington, 19-0, and Lexington, 14-0, marking the only time in school history
that Billerica had shut out their first four opponents.
After dropping tough games
to Concord-Carlisle, 6-0, St. John’s Prep, 12-6, and Stoneham, 27-0, they went
into the Thanksgiving Day game with Chelmsford as underdogs in another winner
take all battle for the 1943 Suburban Title. The Warriors dominated the game but it wasn’t decided until the
very last play.
John Glavin made a beautiful
diving catch in the endzone of a fumble that went flying up into the air. The game ended while the ball was in the air
and Howe topped Chelmsford, 6-0, to win the league championship with an
undefeated record of 3-0-0.
Scores: (League games in
bold green type)
09/25- Howe vs. Weston-
Cancelled
10/02- Howe 41, Tewksbury 0
10/09- Howe 0, Pinkerton
Acdy (Derry, NH) 0
10/16- Howe 19, Wilmington 0
10/23- Howe 14, Lexington 0
10/30- Concord 6, Howe 0
11/06- St. John’s Prep 12,
Howe 6
11/13- Stoneham 27, Howe 0
11/25- Howe 6, Chelmsford 0
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The next championship season
would come in 1951,
as Howe would put one of its most powerful teams on the field that would lose
only one game, a heartbreaker, to Lexington.
Led by Don Wentworth, the
green and white posted a 9-1-0 record overall and sailed to the Lowell Suburban
League championship, despite the fact that Wilmington and Burlington refused to
play Billerica.
The Warriors knocked off the
defending champs from Tewksbury, 19-0, and had a thriller with Dracut,
14-12. On Thanksgiving the green and
white dumped a weak Chelmsford team, 19-0, to win another Suburban title.
Scores: (League games in
bold green type)
09/15- Howe 18, Johnson
(North Andover) 0
09/22- Howe 24, St. Charles
14
09/29- Howe 14, Dracut 12
10/05- Howe 26, Hudson 6
(night)
10/13- Lexington 21, Howe 12
10/20- Howe 19, Tewksbury 0
10/27- Howe 21, Foxboro 14
11/03- Howe 27, Maynard 6
11/10- Howe 26, Somerville
Trade 13
11/22- Howe 19, Chelmsford 0
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One of the most memorable
seasons in the history of Howe High School – Billerica Memorial High School
took place in 1952. Led by Captain Fred Glavine, the Warriors
went through the entire season undefeated and untied, they stand as the only
Billerica football team to ‘win them all’ in an entire season.
Howe finished the season on
top of the State’s Class D rankings and was declared the State Champions for
this season. It was Billerica’s first
state football title. The green and
white earned the title by defeating three Class C teams, St. Charles,
Lexington, and Maynard, on route to a perfect, 9-0-0, record and another
Suburban League Championship.
Scores: (League games in
bold green type)
09/27- Howe 13, St. Charles
0
10/04- Howe 27, Dracut 0
10/11- Howe 27, Somerville
Trade 0
10/18- Howe 13, Lexington 6
10/25- Howe 39, Fairhaven 20
11/01- Howe 26, Tewksbury 0
11/08- Howe 14, Maynard 6
11/15- Howe 14, Ayer 6
11/27- Howe 19, Chelmsford 0
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After the 1952 season
Billerica was forced to play a major independent schedule as Dracut joined
Burlington and Wilmington in boycotting Billerica.
Billerica was left out of
the Suburban League’s reorganization meeting in 1955 and had to wait until 1958
when the new Suburban Conference voted Billerica back into the league starting
with the 1959
season.
It didn’t take Billerica
long to get reacquainted with their Suburban rivals as they rolled through the
Conference schedule undefeated while suffering non-league losses to Ipswich and
Rindge Tech of Cambridge to finish the year with an overall record of 7-2-0.
Warren Long, Marty
Boermeester, and Dick Sylvester were just a few of the players which led
Billerica to the title their first year back in the Conference.
Billerica just barely got by
Wilmington, 14-12, but rolled over all the other conference rivals, Tewksbury,
20-8, Dracut, 34-14, Burlington, 18-0, North Andover, 18-6, and on Thanksgiving
they rolled to a 19-0 victory over Chelmsford.
Scores: (League games in
bold green type)
09/26- Billerica 20,
Brighton 0
10/03- Ipswich 16, Billerica
6
10/10- Billerica 14, Wilmington 12
10/17- Billerica 18, North Andover 6
10/24- Billerica 20, Tewksbury 8
10/31- Billerica 22, Burlington 0
11/07- Rindge Tech
(Cambridge) 36, Billerica 0
11/14- Billerica 34, Dracut 14
11/26- Billerica 19, Chelmsford 0
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It would take 34 years
before Billerica would have another football championship. 1993 saw a very powerful offence and stingy
defense lead BMHS to a 10-1-0 season.
The only loss this year was
on Thanksgiving. Chelmsford came to
town and knocked off Billerica, 33-12, to force a three-way tie for the
Merrimack Valley Conference Championship with Central Catholic.
Mike Mastrullo, Chris Burns,
Matthew Battcock, and Rhondel Sawyer were the leaders of this team that
qualified for the post season ‘Super Bowl’ game for the first time since the
format was installed in 1972.
This team scored more points
than any other team in school history up to that time, 296, and they went down
to Woburn to battle the Tanners in the Division 2A state championship.
Led by Mastrullo, the
Indians rolled over the Tanners, 27-7, to give Billerica their first 10 win
season and their second state football title.
Scores: (League games in
bold green type)
09/10- Billerica 13, Central Catholic 0
(night)
09/18- Billerica 27, Lowell 7
09/24- Billerica 33, Haverhill 0 (night)
10/01- Billerica 47, Dracut 6 (night)
10/09- Billerica 28, Wilmington 0
10/16- Billerica 41, Lawrence 0 (night)
10/29- Billerica 33, Tewksbury 6 (night)
11/05- Billerica 14, Methuen 6 (night)
11/12- Billerica 21, Andover 0 (night)
11/25- Chelmsford 33, Billerica 12
12/04- Billerica 27, Woburn
7 (EMass Div. 2A Championship @ Woburn)
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The next championship flag
to fly over Billerica came with the 1999 football team. Like the last championship team six years earlier, this team
could score points at will and held the opposition to just one touchdown per game.
Coming back from a 2-8-0
season a year before, this team became the highest scoring team in school
history, scoring 309 points while giving up only 70.
The team recorded a 10-1-0
record, losing only to Exeter, NH in a non-league game, won the Merrimack
Valley Conference title in dramatic fashion with a nail biting, 9-7; win over
Chelmsford in a Thanksgiving showdown with the Lions.
George Gullage, Chris
Doneski, T. J. Canada, Mike Rauseo, and John McBride were some of the players
who stepped up and helped make 1999 a memorable season.
Billerica traveled down to
Nickerson Field at Boston University to face the Newton North Tigers for the
Division 2A ‘Super Bowl’ Championship Game.
Trailing, 15-0, at halftime, the Indians exploded in the second half to
run past Newton, 37-15, to gain their second ‘Super Bowl’ title and third state
championship in the history of Indian Football.
Scores: (League games in
bold green type)
09/11- Billerica 27, Andover 0 (night)
09/17- Billerica 27,
Lincoln-Sudbury 7 (night)
09/24- Billerica 39, Dracut 3 (night)
10/01- Billerica 46, Methuen 0 (night)
10/16- Billerica 20, Tewksbury 7
10/22- Billerica 28, Central Catholic 7
(night)
10/30- Exeter, NH 17,
Billerica 6
11/05- Billerica 30, Haverhill 0 (night)
11/12- Billerica 40, Lowell 7 (night)
11/25- Billerica 9, Chelmsford 7
12/04- Billerica 37,
Newton-North 15 (EMass Div. 2A Championship @ Boston University)
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The latest championship to
comes Billerica’s way was 2005. Heavy favorites to win the MVC, led by James
McClusky, Greg Abelli, Jimmy Galvin, Sean Sousa and sophomore quarterback Tim
Morrison. Billerica won the MVC crown
with a convincing 21-0 win over Chelmsford on Thanksgiving giving the team a
perfect 8-0-0 league record and 9-3-0 overall.
The quest for another state
title came to an end in Acton as the Indians dropped a tough 14-0 decision to
Woburn, in the Division 1A playoffs.
The game marked the first time since 1937 that Billerica played a team
twice in the same year.
Scores: (League games in
bold green type)
09/09- Billerica 21,
Burlington 14 (night)
09/16- Woburn 10, Billerica
7 (OT) (night)
09/23-
Billerica 22, Central Catholic 15 (night @ Merrimack College)
10/01-
Billerica 40, Tewksbury 0
10/07-
Billerica 28, Andover 14 (night)
10/16- Bridgewater-Raynham
8, Billerica 6 (OT)
10/21-
Billerica 24, Lowell 14 (night)
10/28-
Billerica 35, Dracut 22 (night)
11/04-
Billerica 35, Methuen 0 (night)
11/11-
Billerica 20, Haverhill 6 (night)
11/24-
Billerica 21, Chelmsford 0
11/29- Woburn 14, Billerica 0 (EMass Div 1A Playoffs @ Acton-Boxboro)