Millis-Hopedale players celebrating a touchdown in their playoff game against Mashpee.
The scoreboard read Mashpee 30 and Millis-Hopedale 12, but
anyone who knew the back story, who had seen how hard this team worked to get
to this point or who had watched the program dwindle to near-extinction could
be forgiven for not caring about the final score.
The players hung around the field long after the final
whistle as though clinging to the season; willing it to continue just a little
longer. Eventually, with tears streaming down many of their faces, the team
made its way to the locker room, to the buses, and to the adoring fans who knew
that it does not get much better than this.
Senior captain Jimmy Perkins encapsulated the feelings of
the team after the game: “Looking back, you can’t be mad at what we
accomplished. I wasn’t mad about losing, just that the road had come to an
end.”
It is only in looking back on the road that brought Millis
football to the brink of the Super Bowl that one can understand why the
community valued the shared experience far more than winning or losing.
The threat of extinction makes everything relative.
*******
In the summer of 2009, Head Coach Dale Olmsted held a
mandatory meeting for anyone interested in becoming a member of the Mohawks.
Only 18 players showed up.
“It was very disappointing for kids and coaches,” said
Olmsted. “Lifting and coaching clinics start in February and every year it
decreased. Kids were reluctant to come out because of the way the team was
getting beaten.”
A demographic shift had hit the town of Millis over the
preceding decades and a lack of growth in the community was finally affecting
the high school population. With only 199 boys in the school, there was a small
pool to choose from. Smaller numbers meant success on the field was less
likely, which led to even fewer students wanting to play.
It was a vicious cycle that school administrators feared
might trickle down from athletics to the overall school population. According
to Principal Bob Mullaney, “There are no conclusive statistics, but it’s a
concern that with no football program, we would certainly have kids moving out
of the district.”
Following the meeting in August, it was clear something
drastic needed to be done to save football at Millis High. Dennis Breen, then
principal of Hopedale High, approached Mullaney at a principal’s conference and
suggested the idea of pooling resources. Hopedale, without a football program
of its own, could supply players and Millis could supply the infrastructure to
get the team on the field.
Breen, who is currently the Superintendent of Schools in
Hopedale, was a former Millis captain and saw an opportunity to save his alma
mater while giving his students “a great opportunity.” He added, “Hopedale was
never going to be big enough to support a football team and I felt this would
be a good marriage.”
The idea intrigued Millis Athletic Director Chuck Grant; but
with only a few weeks until the first game there were a number of details that
needed to be worked out before approaching parents in either town. Fortunately,
in 2009 the Tri-Valley League had split into two divisions, meaning that the
combined Millis-Hopedale team would not have to compete with D1 programs like
Holliston and Hopkinton for a playoff berth.
With the playoff situation already settled prior to the
proposed merger, the MIAA worked quickly to assist the schools so the season
could begin without a hiccup. Olmsted put it succinctly: “It was better than
thinking about it. There was no time, we had to just react to the situation.”
Despite the logistics of creating a practice schedule,
finding rides for the players from Hopedale, buying uniforms, and a thousand
other details that still needed to be worked out, the two schools were in
agreement that this was the right path.
Now they just had to convince the players and their
families.
Tri-Valley League MVP Jimmy Perkins races in for a touchdown on Thanksgiving Day
against Medway. Perkins rushed for over 1,600 yards on the season
*******
It had been five years since Millis had last beaten Norton.
Two wins to begin the year, over Latin Academy and Carver, had given the team
confidence but everyone knew that in order to win the TVL and to reach the
playoffs, they had to go through the Lancers.
On a muddy Adams Field the Mohawks would announce to the
rest of the league that there was a new contender for the crown.
Jimmy Perkins, Millis’ 5-foot-7 running back, set the tone
for the game with a 43-yard halfback option pass for a touchdown on the first
series, and the team never looked back. Perkins would rush for 195 yards and
three scores and the Mohawks secured the victory that pushed them to the top of
the TVL standings.
“Norton was the defining game when we knew we had the chance
to be special,” said senior captain and linebacker Mike Meuse. “I had been to
the Super Bowl three times in Pop Warner, and I wanted to win again.”
*******
The immediate reaction from the players and their families
when the plan for a merger was presented in late August of 2009 was not
outright hostility, but it was certainly cautious. The combination of Principal
Breen’s knowledge of Millis High and the no-nonsense honesty of Coach Olmsted had
to serve as a balm to ease some of their fears.
“We hated it. Some town we never even heard of is going to
be playing with us,” said Meuse.
According to Perkins, “At first we were all hesitant just
bringing in another town to play with us. We all wanted to make sure no one
from Hopedale took one of our spots.”
In meetings with parents from both towns Grant, Breen, and
Olmsted emphasized the similarities between Hopedale and Millis. These are two
small, working-class towns that missed the technology boom and the development
that came along with it. These are blue-collar towns that share the toughness
and love for community that is the backbone of small, formerly industrial, New
England towns.
Once the players got on the field all the concerns melted
away. Suddenly, they were Mohawks and it did not matter which town they came
from because once they put on the Millis-Hopedale jersey they were a team. Mullaney
noted, “The kids right from the start got along great. They all love football
and that is their common bond,”
The Millis and Hopedale communities had little time to
acclimate to the radical changes before the 2009 season began, but once the
season was underway there was no question that the right move had been made.
“Proud is an understatement,” said Grant. “The carpools,
donating gas money to get to practices, all with no guarantee of anything more
than getting in shape. Coach Olmsted
deserves credit for inspiring the kids to come back to the program without the
guarantee of winning.”
The merger was given credibility with the players because
the coaches ensured that everyone was treated the same. Being late to a
practice held the same punishment whether battling traffic from Hopedale or
getting stuck in the hallways at Millis. Players were given the same
opportunities and worked just as hard regardless of what color jersey they wore
in other sports. Instead of focusing on the separate schools, the coaches
forced the players to concentrate on the shared goals of attendance, grades,
and winning football games.
Coach Dale Olmsted's honesty and focus on putting the best team on the field
helped ease tensions between players.
*******
“Westwood was the best game,” said Mike Muese, the league’s
Defensive MVP. “They have this giant sledgehammer they put on midfield. We
haven’t won there in years and it was pouring rain. That was great.”
Winning against the TVL’s expected champion was a giant step
but it was the game against Westwood that would give the Mohawks legitimacy
with a much wider audience. As Grant put it, “The win over Westwood showed we
belonged.”
The Mohawks jumped on top early with quarterback Bay Tangney
finding Derek Latosek for a score. Then sophomore defensive lineman Jon Baker
recovered a fumble deep in Wolverines’ territory. Perkins, the league’s
Offensive MVP, powered his way into the end zone from two yards out giving
Millis-Hopedale a 12-0 lead.
A 38-minute lightning delay following the score stalled the
Mohawks momentum and seemed an omen of a Westwood comeback as the Wolverines
got on the board several plays later. The Mohawks defense fought through the
conditions and Joey Meuse had a key interception to preserve a
reputation-building win for the squad.
*******
Following a 3-8 season in 2010, the second year of the
merger, Coach Olmsted and his staff implemented a strict off-season workout
program at Joel St. Cyr’s Sports Performance Academy in Franklin. The program
put the players through weeks of grueling, early Saturday morning lifting
sessions. The team was pushed to its limits as the coaches knew that only
through hard work in the gym could the team change its fortunes on the field.
“These are blue-collar towns with tough kids who are willing
to put in the work,” said Olmsted. “We had been under .500 for almost a decade
and the hard work put in the foundation for a great season.”
The work in the gym brought the team even closer. Players
from both towns proved to each other the lengths they would go to in order win.
“The Hopedale kids showed they were willing to bleed for us,” said Meuse. “It’s
nice knowing someone has your back and is willing to put in the work.”
Perkins agreed, “The off-season workouts were the main
difference (between 2010 and 2011). We did it as a team and it was really
important that we had done it together.”
For Grant the work itself was an achievement, whether it
translated to wins on the field or not, “These kids learned to never stop
working hard. Winning football games won’t make you successful but working hard
will.”
The hard work in the gym was important, but there were also
signs of improvement on the field. The team made a late season run that,
because of numerous injuries to upperclassmen, had given the younger players
much needed experience. There was confidence flowing throughout the program for
the first time in years and, before the 2011 season began, Coach Olmsted walked
into Chuck Grant’s office to predict that this season, “We’re going to make
some noise.”
*******
“Alumni kept coming up to us before the game to tell us how
important this game was,” said Perkins. According to Meuse, “Alumni kept coming
up to thank us for getting us back on the map.”
The Thanksgiving Day game is a rich tradition in
Massachusetts and for most schools, Millis included, it is the biggest rivalry.
It is a game that gets circled on the schedule before all others. The cliché is
that Millis-Hopedale can go 1-10 as long as that one victory is the Medway
game. Unfortunately it had been eight years since the last Mohawks win in the
82-year rivalry.
It was another rainy day, another muddy field, and another
performance to force people to take notice of the newly-crowned TVL small
division champions. The 2011 Mohawks had taken on a ‘team of destiny’ look and
on Thanksgiving morning at Welch Field they once again stepped up and wrote a
new chapter in their incredible comeback story.
After a Perkins touchdown and an Ian Strom touchdown
reception made it 12-0, Medway cut the lead with a dramatic 90-yard kick-off
return. In most seasons this would be the point where Millis faltered and the
Mustangs pushed on to take the win, as they had done 46 other times in the
series.
This was not ‘most’ seasons.
Millis-Hopedale took their very next drive 54 yards on six
plays for the touchdown that put the game away. Tangney dove for the score from
one-yard out, which allowed the home crowd to exhale and celebrate the win over
their archrivals.
Now the Mohawks could turn their focus to the Division 4
playoffs against unbeaten Mashpee.
*******
There was a time when Millis football making it to the
playoffs was not only unsurprising- it was expected. Historically Millis was a
powerhouse in the Tri-Valley League and it is a history that Coach Olmsted and the
program hope to recapture.
Under legendary coach Ernie Richards the Mohawks won
numerous league titles, a state title in 1980, and had an undefeated season in
1994. The program’s last trip to the Super Bowl was 1999. Twelve years does not
seem that long ago, but considering the circumstances, it might as well have
been the 19th century.
The players were always reminded of their part in the Millis
High legacy. The coaching staff was filled with former Millis players including
Brian Rizzutti, Class of ’90, Jack O’Rourke, Class of ’69, and James Heffernan,
Class of ’00. There was no attempt to forget the past. History was used as an
added spur to push the players to greater success.
If the players needed more incentive they only needed to
walk the halls on the Monday after a big win. With banners adorning the walls,
students cheering them on, and the instant cache that football confers, more than
any other high school sport, the players became superstars within the small
communities of Millis and Hopedale.
Both principals saw this impact the first week of the school
year. Bob Mullaney commented, “When you begin the year with a successful
football team it adds to the spirit. It’s another reason for kids to want to
come to school.”
Dennis Breen, who watched football transform the spirit of
his students when it was introduced in 2009, said, “Sometimes starting back at
school can be tough, but success on the field can create a camaraderie, a
spirit in the building unlike any of the other sports. This season has been so
much fun.”
The Friday Night
Lights phenomena is not limited to the Southern U.S., but is played out in
different ways throughout the country. With little to do on a Friday night in Millis,
the whole community packs into Welch Field and cheer on their team, visits the
concession stand, purchases their new maroon and blue sweatshirts, and provides
inspiration for even more success.
Chuck Grant points out that the benefits extend beyond the
confines of athletics, “It gives the players instant credibility at the school.
It creates instant leaders in the classrooms. If you see the captains behaving
a certain way then the other players will follow suit.”
******
As the fans piled out of Taunton High School there was no
discussion about 2009, there was no talk about whether the Hopedale players
were needed, and there was no mention of the still-unbeaten Mashpee Falcons.
This was a maroon-and-blue army full of proud smiles, even in defeat.
Mashpee advanced to Gillette Stadium with a 30-12 win, but
on the Mohawks sideline there were no regrets about the loss. There was no
disappointment at not taking the final step to the Super Bowl, only recognition
of their achievement at having come so far.
Coach Olmsted emphasized, “We are not trying to have great
seasons. The goal is to make a great program.”
The Millis-Hopedale Mohawks brought two communities
together, created a team, and saved a historic football program that was in
danger of disappearing. Along the way, they proved that hard work and
perseverance could accomplish great things.
From the work of Chuck Grant in those few weeks before the 2009
season, to the parents who made sure the players made it to each practice
on-time, to the coaching staff pushing each player to reach his fullest
potential, to the players giving up their Saturday mornings for a punishing
workout program, the Mohawks are a study in power of determination.
The story of the 2011 Millis-Hopedale Mohawks ended without
the ultimate prize, but the players are not disappointed. They understand that
sometimes it is the path that you take that matters far more than the trophies
that get handed to you at the end.
Jimmy Perkins, the Boston
Globe and Boston Herald All-Scholastic and Tri-Valley
League MVP: “I wasn’t mad that we lost, just that road had come to an end. I
think about it everyday. It was the best experience of my life. I couldn’t ask
for anything more from my senior year.”
Fellow captain Mike Meuse, the Tri-Valley League Defensive
MVP and TVL All-Star: “I cried after the (Mashpee) game not because we didn’t
go to the Super Bowl but because we wouldn’t have anymore practices- that the
season was over. I cried because I wouldn’t be with my brothers anymore.”
Ed. note- Special
thanks to Dennis Breen, Chuck Grant, Bob Mullaney, Dale Olmsted, Jimmy Perkins,
and Mike Meuse for agreeing to be interviewed for the story. Also, thanks to
Michelle Jones and Tony Risica Photography for the images used in the article.
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