Howe HS/Billerica Memorial HS Football History
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Week 5: Tewksbury 12, Billerica 7 (Next Week: Lawrence at HOME 10/16/09 7PM; First Meeting Since 1995)

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)