By John Orrell, Contributing Writer
Shrewsbury / Holden – Shrewsbury High football head coach John Aloisi found himself in a bit of a coach’s conundrum, one that most coaches would love to agonize over, when his team matched up with host Wachusett Regional High in taking to the field as rivals on Thanksgiving Day.
The Colonials are state championship finalists and will play for the Division 2 Super Bowl at Gillette Stadium on Dec. 3. Should Aloisi sit out his core players on Thanksgiving to lessen the likelihood of injuries for the title game depriving some of his players from the holiday tradition? Or does he hold his breath, play his key players and risk injury? Shrewsbury has not been this close to a Super Bowl victory in recent years so the decision could have been a challenging one for Aloisi.
In the end, it was an easy call as Aloisi and his players never once struggled with the decision to play or not to play. It was compete all the way in the most sacred of school traditions and the result was a dramatic 14-7 victory over the Mountaineers (7-4) and a Mid-Wach A title in a matchup whose outcome was not decided until the last minute of play.
“We never had a debate on whether we were going to play our starters,” affirmed senior co-captain A. J. Laramee, who was named Defensive MVP. “That was not a question from the first day of practice. We play to win. You can’t play football worried about injuries. We’ve been doing the same thing week in and week out. It’s a momentum boost that we keep things going. We don’t want to not play a week of football because we might get a little rust.”
“We had a vote and overwhelmingly we wanted to keep playing to keep the momentum going,” echoed fellow senior co-captain and Game MVP Jared Godek. “We didn’t want to lose anything. That’s six straight (wins) now and we have a lot of confidence going in.”
Shrewsbury (9-3) jumped out to an early 14-0 lead and for a time it appeared that that advantage would hold as both squads stiffened on defense. Sophomore quarterback Drew Campanale wasted little time in the game‘s opening minutes finding offensive MVP Chris Campbell downfield on a 30-yard strike. Campanale would find the passing touch once more minutes later on a16-yard toss to Godek, and it appeared that the Colonials were poised for a big point-total.
But both teams’ defenses took control and the score remained at 14-0 until a fourth quarter run by Wachusett’s Sam Brewer brought the home crowd alive by narrowing the gap to 14-7. Brewer shed defenders and found himself with nothing but open space between him and the end zone for a 68-yard run with less than nine minutes remaining.
Shrewsbury continued to endeavor to broaden the lead when a booming 37-yard field goal attempt by kicker Phil Smyrnios, who earlier converted on both PATs, clanged off the left upright and failed to slip through. Wachusett took advantage of the miss and drove once more with a 22-yard gain on a pass from quarterback Mike Fiorelli to Chris Villamarin advancing the ball to the Colonial 25-yard line.
With under a minute left, the Mountaineers found themselves with fourth-and-three and the game on the line. Fiorelli took to the air once more but the pass was tipped by Laramee and into the arms of Chris Vieira for the interception to clinch the win.
“We knew that this was going to be a really tough game and we had a lot on the line,” said Aloisi postgame. “I thought it was good to keep the momentum going from the previous week. We didn’t play our best football but we were able to come away with the win.
“Wachusett always competes. The kids are tough. We knew it was going to come down to the fourth quarter even early when we were able to get up on them. Hats off to them for a tough game. We’re happy we came out with a win.”
“Winning today is awesome but we had some unfinished business,” Trocki added. “They beat us the last two years so this is huge coming in and getting the win and bringing the trophy back home.”
Sachs Jewelers once again this year sponsored the game-day trophy presented to Shrewsbury High postgame.
