A season of high expectations ended in the best way possible.
The St. Mary’s High School football team, who many expected to contend for a state title, completed its mission with a 29-6 victory over Stoneham Saturday in the Division 6 Super Bowl at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.
Senior running back David Brown Jr. rushed for 195 yards and three touchdowns and caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tyler Guy to lead the Spartans to their twelfth victory of the season. Brown’s final touchdown run, in which he simply jetted away from Stoneham’s secondary, was a fitting game-sealer for one of the state’s best all-around athletes.
Stoneham has been a Middlesex League and divisional powerhouse the past few years, but Head Coach Sean Driscoll and his staff put together a great game plan and the players executed it very well on the sport’s biggest stage.
Brown was in a word, awesome, directly benefitting from another stellar effort by the offensive line consisting of Graham Richman, Tommy Falasca, Carlos De La Rosa, Adrian Lule, and Chris Marks.
“If you saw how David competed during the practices, you just knew he was going to shine on the big stage,” said Coach Driscoll. “Tommy Falasca and Derick Coulanges played phenomenally. Jack Marks, Nick Sacco – you couldn’t ask for a better group of competitors as a senior group.”
Driscoll noted that Jack Marks’ third-down catch of a pass on St. Mary’s first possession (after Stoneham had taken an 8-0 lead), resulting in a first down, was one of the key plays of the day.
“Stoneham had just scored, and they were going to get us three-and-out, and the pass from Tyler Guy to Jack Marks was a big part of the football game and why we had success,” said Driscoll.
Coulanges produced a huge second-half kickoff return to set up the Spartans in the red zone.
“Derick and David were a terrific 1-2 punch this year,” said Driscoll. “They both rushed for more than 1,200 yards. It’s quite the accomplishment to have that on a football team.”
Junior inside linebacker Joel Maggs led a ferocious stop-the-run effort that held the other Spartans (Stoneham) scoreless following the opening drive of the game. Sophomore quarterback and safety Tyler Guy excelled on both sides of the football.
Sean Driscoll has been a successful football player and coach. He is beloved in Winthrop as the town’s parks and recreation director and was recently inducted into the Winthrop High School Hall of Fame. But Driscoll put Saturday’s Super Bowl at the top of his list of memories.
“This was one of the better days in my 30 years of coaching,” said Driscoll.
The fifth-year St. Mary’s head coach credited defensive coordinator Timmy Phelps and assistant coaches, Eric Mack, Dylan Driscoll, Todd Collier, Bob Logue, and Jonathan Kazadi, for their important contributions to the program. St. Mary’s is 23-3 in the past two seasons.
“You set goals every year going into the season,” said Driscoll. “To see the players cash in on their ultimate goal was pretty satisfying. Playing at Fenway Park (a 34-21 win over Austin Prep) and looking at the glow in their eyes at that game and getting the thrill of playing at two great venues (Fenway and Gillette), you couldn’t ask for a better end of the year.”