Wakefield High Football 1989

 

     “The 1989 team was the greatest football team I have ever seen. And, it was 90% senior driven (Folger, Harrington, Tucker, Encarnacao, Breslin, et al).  ONLY 2 juniors even got significant playing time, starting strong safety Dick Sweeney and Mike Casoli who spelled Marty Tucker at tailback to keep him fresh.  The rest of us Scrubs - had to duke it out on special teams to even see the field.  In fact, this team of seniors was so incredibly deep that there were only a handful of us juniors who even saw 2nd team offense or defense.  No joke!!!  There were so many good seniors they filled out the majority of 2nd team back-ups as well. The overall varsity football team had so many players that I believe we had 3 sets of offense and defense if I remember correctly.  Very few seniors went both ways (Folger, Inca, Breslin quickly come to mind).  I think the word "Dominant" is appropriate here. Near the end of the season I vividly remember seeing the Channel 5 & 7 TV trucks camped out at the fields for the Woburn, Winchester & Melrose games.

 

     The only loss was a non-league game to Revere - who needed a huge break to beat us and got it when Brian Montroni tripped inside the 10 yr line from a laser from Harrington with time running out. There was nobody around him.  Montroni was our best receiver and favorite target from Harrington all year. Revere used a unique line formation called the Wedge (incorporated into our own offense by Coach Connors HOF that year) which had all the linemen reduce their splits from 12-24 inches down to 1 inch.  They used that formation to keep ball moving forward for short yardage which allowed them to chew up the clock and keep our offense off the field. We didn't make the defensive adjustments until late in the 2nd half which unfortunately may have ended up costing us the game.  The thing that still kills me today was that Revere was an inferior opponent.  In fact, if I remember correctly, Wakefield finished 3rd in the state in 1989 behind Walpole & Brockton – the 2 football powerhouses back in the day.”                                 

                                                       Michael Concessi   Class of 1991   Co-Captain 1990  

 


 

    Even decades later, many still shake their heads in disbelief when they think of the results of the first game of the season with Revere at Landrigan.  Revere had not won a football contest in 22 games, a span of almost three years – but, the Warriors just had one of those games where nothing seemed to go right.  The Wakefield team would go on to win 9 straight games and when you look at the final scores, only a couple of games even appear to be a contest.  The Middlesex League Championship was captured for the first time in 16 years (1973) when the Warriors shared it with Watertown and the first outright league title since 1970.

 

     Wakefield finished third in Division 1 Superbowl ratings with 17.20 points behind Brockton with 22.67 and Walpole’s 19.  (Woburn was rated 6th with 15.9 and Melrose 11th at 10.9) But even if Wakefield had beaten Revere they would not have gone to the big game.  According to the numbers, it would have taken Lexington, Belmont, Reading or Burlington to have beaten one of their non-league opponents, (which did not happen,) plus of course,  the win over Revere for Wakefield to move on to the post-season.

 

 Following the season, Captain Anthony Folger was selected as All-Scholastic by the Boston Globe.

Marty Tucker led the league in scoring with 114 points and ranks high in all-time single season and career points  and most touchdowns scored in one game with 5 against Stoneham. 

Brian Hurton intercepted a pass then ran 67 yards for a touchdown against Belmont in one of his 2 of the longest interception touchdowns in Wakefield history.

Jose Raymond kicked his way to second highest scorer on the team with 25 extra points and 2 field goals for 31 total points that hinted at the multi-faceted offensive force he was to become.

After the end of year banquet, head coach Bob Connors surprised a lot of people when he resigned after six years coaching Wakefield in a premeditated and carefully executed plan revealed to his assistant coaches in a closed-door meeting before the start of the season.

Thirteen players made the Middlesex League all-star team:

Offense

David Harrington QB

Marty Tucker RB

Brian Hurton TE

Brian Motroni WR

Anthony Folger OL

Peter Breslin OL

Defense

Mark Ryan DE

Robert Horne NG

Anthony Encarnacao DB

Honorable Mention

Paul Anastos C

Jeff Price P

Keith Ingersoll DB

Dick Sweeney WR

 

1989 Middlesex League Champions

Captains Anthony Folger, Anthony Encarnacao

Coach Bob Connors 9-1 with David Harrington

Points Scored

Opponent

Points Against

7

Revere

12

28

@ Watertown

6

28

Burlington

7

28

@ Reading

0

42

Stoneham

6

21

Lexington

6

40

Belmont

20

7

@ Woburn

0

24

Winchester

13

10

@Melrose

6

235

 

75

 

Scorers

Marty Tucker               114

Jose Raymond                31

Mike Casoli                   30

Dick Sweeney               24

Anthony Encarnacao     18

Brian Hurton                 12

Brian Motroni                 6

 1989 Football Roster 

                                                                                                             

No.

YOG

Player

Ht.

Wt.

Off/Def

 

No.

YOG

Player

Ht.

Wt.

Off/Def

 

4

1990

John M. Haggerty

6”2”

190

SB

 

51

1992

Dominic J. Boghus

6'1"

190

C

 

5

1990

Stephen A. Cucinotta

5”8”

170

SB

 

52

1990

Paul G. Anastos

6’

190

C

 

9

1991

Dick Sweeney

6’

190

SB

 

56

1991

David D. Cook

5'8"

165

G

 

10

1990

Jeffrey S. Price

5'10"

175

QB

 

58

1991

Derek B. Masi

5'8"

180

T

 

11

1990

Brian P. Montroni

6'2"

185

SE

 

60

1990

Anthony A. Folger C*

6’

215

G

 

12

1990

David J. Harrington

5'10"

180

QB

 

61

1990

Brendan P. Brown

5'11"

220

T

 

13

1991

Bryan Taylor

5'8"

160

SE

 

62

1990

Robert D. Home

5'8"

185

G

 

14

1991

Bryan C. Fabbri

5'7"

140

FL

 

63

1990

Michael J. Martin

5'11"

185

G

 

15

1990

Michael P. Hafferty

5'11”

175

TE

 

64

1991

Eric R. Driscoll

6’

200

T

 

21

1991

Scott Roberto

5”5”

140

TB

 

68

1991

Aaron M. Scarpello

5'9"

190

T

 

22

1990

Anthony J Encarnacao C*

5'9"

180

FB

 

70

1990

Peter S. Breslin

6'3"

240

T

 

23

1991

Matthew T. Carroll

5”8”

165

SB

 

71

1991

Brian A. Avery

5’10”

180

T

 

24

1990

Martin L. Tucker

5’10”

170

HB

 

72

1990

Brent J. Conley

6'4"

200

T

 

25

1990

Keith P. Ingersoll

5'9"

170

FL

 

73

1990

Michael A. Lisitano

5'9"

190

T

 

27

1990

Shawn M. Werder

5’10”

165

HB

 

76

1991

Daniel S. Muse

5’9”

205

T

 

29

1991

David R. Hansen

5'8"

170

FB

 

77

1991

John E. DiTonno

5'11"

240

T

 

31

1991

Christopher B. Defeo

5'10"

175

FB

 

78

1990

Anthony J. Kim

5’11”

190

G

 

32

1991

Michael P. Concessi

5'8"

165

FB

 

80

1990

Brian Hurton

6'3"

205

TE

 

33

1991

Michael A. Casoli

5'11"

185

HB

 

81

1991

Robert L. Fahey

6’

185

TE

 

34

1992

Jose R. Raymond

5'7"

165

HB

 

83

1990

Mark F. Ryan 

6’1”

185

TE

 

35

1990

Stephen G DiGiovanni

5'10"

180

FB

 

84

1991

Matthew P. Emerson

5’9”

165

SE

 

36

1991

Domenico Casamassima

5’8"

170

FB

 

85

1991

Anthony J. Frongillo

5’10”

185

SB

 

40

1990

Lawrence J. Brennan

6'3"

190

SB

 

94

1991

Robert M. O’Toole

5'9"

165

TE

 

41

1991

Marc D. Almeida

5’10”

180

TE

 

95

1990

Robert J. Driscoll

5’11”

170

SE

 

50

1991

Kevin M. Doucette

5'9"

180

G

 

71

 

 

 

 

 

 

No.

YOG

Player

Ht.

Wt.

Off/Def

 

No.

YOG

Player

Ht.

Wt.

Off/Def

 

* Captain

 

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