Senior Softball: Where 14-year-olds play alongside 88-year-olds

By Trevor Hass

ALAMEDA – An 85-year old man sits at a picnic table at Tillman Park munching on some baseball peanuts on a gorgeous Monday morning in the middle of August. 

He’s wearing the same outfit he does every week – a worn-out sweatshirt and sweatpants, a pair of snazzy shades, New Balance shoes and an Oakland A’s hat.

He’s been coming here, playing Senior Softball, since 1991 – before I was born.

Sam Wales, the umpire, pauses before he shares who’s older than he is here. He can’t quite remember at first.

“Jack’s got me beat,” he says. “He’s 86 now. I’m 85. Forgot about Jack.”

Meet Jack Moore. He’s the man. He was recently honored on the big screen at the A’s game on his 86^th birthday for being a long-time season ticket holder.

I haven’t found official rankings anywhere, but Jack just might be the best slow-pitch softball southpaw in the state of the California. He’s come here nearly every Monday for 10 years, and he pitches essentially every time.

“Oh, I don’t miss days,” Jack says, looking me right in the eye. “Every Monday. Maybe I was sick once.”

Jack’s been known to wear a Bras & Mattos hat, but on this particular day he’s sporting an emerald green Explore Idaho shirt.

He points out all of his protégés. There’s Barry, who asked Jack how to improve his stance. Jack molded Warren into a consistent line-drive hitter. Then there’s “Big Ed,” as Jack calls him, who Jack is determined to turn into a first baseman.

If you need help on the softball field, Jack’s your guy. He’s been doing this for decades and he knows a thing or two about hitting.

It’s a few minutes before first pitch and everyone’s mingling and laughing, as usual. Yeawa Asabi, a 17-year-old from San Leandro, chats with her grandma, 64-year-old Yvonne “Maxie” Wayne, an Oakland resident who has been coming here for three years. Walter McQuesten, a charismatic, well-traveled, vivacious man who graciously lent me his 1983 Mercedes-Benz earlier in the summer, converses with Charlie Wanczyk about a mutual friend they have from decades ago.

It’s just like any other Monday. The beauty of California is that the weather almost never gets in the way. This has been going on for decades, in the same place, with many of the same people.

It doesn’t matter how old you are. Dick Bellefeuille, a spunky outfielder with some pop at the plate, once brought his middle-school aged grandson Jared. I’ve brought my friends Oliver and Jake, and one of my best friends Joe will play next week. They don’t care who plays, as long as the newcomer respects the game.

They just want to play softball and have a good time. Nothing is more complicated than it has to be.

John Busby, an easygoing, approachable man who often smokes a cigarette and plays some mean defense, makes the teams, which change every week.

“I try to stack the teams as subtly as I can without having anyone notice,” John says with a hint of a smile. “Usually it works out.”

The game gets started a few minutes after 9:30. I was planning on taking a step back and just watching and writing, not playing. But when I told John, he seemed disappointed, and everyone else chimed in encouraging me to still play.

It's been pretty neat to be an integral part of something my amazing aunt Abbe Kalos (who has unbelievably kindly let me stay with her for the summer) had told me about. I knew it would be fun, but I had no idea just how fun it would be. So I decided to play this time around, like I have most weeks since late May, and I was in the field to start the game.

Jack deals Ron Kimmel what seems like a juicy changeup to start, but Ron takes a mighty hack and swings and misses. Then Ron crushes one, starting a string of seven consecutive hits.

Kevin Dundon smacks a ball to right-center and motors all the way around for an inside-the-park home run (they’re pretty common here). He holds his hat in place. Usually it falls off while he’s flying around the bases and he has to go retrieve it from short after the play’s over, but this time it stays put.

The Red team scores five runs (the max you can get per inning is five until the seventh and final frame). Jack paces off the field, ball in glove. “We got ‘em right where we want ‘em,” he says, drawing a laugh.

Believe it or not, Jack isn’t the oldest player here. In fact, he’s not even the oldest pitcher. Don Young, a gentle and patient man who turns 89 on Oct. 18, has been playing Senior Softball since 1992 when he retired at the age of 65.

“I pitch because I can’t do anything else,” Don says. “I can’t see the ball as good as I used to. I’m getting too old.”

Don throws a ball, and Maxie, who’s playing first, compliments him on the pitch. Tom Nolan – a soft-spoken, warm man from Indiana with whom I played tennis a few weeks ago – shouts to Maxie: “I’m surprised you thought that was nice.”

Maxie turns and responds, “It’s the first inning. Don’t start, Tom.” It’s all in good fun. Always is.

Clare Kruse, a conversational, baseball-crazed man with a tremendous dose of well-timed sarcasm, creeps up to the plate. The area to the left of the dish is covered in sand – more than usual – and Clare takes notice.

“I thought I was too old to play in a sandbox,” he says.

The game moves forward, and the Red team holds a 7-2 lead in the third. At one point, Jack turns to Ed and says, “I’m tired, Ed. All I want to do is lay down.”

“I’d say you’re doing OK, Jack," Ed, a tall man who wears a mask when he’s in the field for protection, replies.

I hit a sharp grounder to short and legged out an infield single despite a nice play from Kevin. “Anyone else, I would have had him,” Kevin, who has even better speed than I do, yells to me from across the diamond.

I shrug, smile and give him a point, and two batters later Clare and I come around to score when Abbe – who’s usually an opposite-field hitter, but picks her spots – hits a beautiful ball down the third-base line to cut the deficit to 7-5.

The two teams trade runs. At one point, Kevin hits another inside-the-park homer and his hat falls off this time. “Why don’t you nail it to your head?” Jack inquires, mostly kidding, but perhaps a tiny bit serious.

Jack pitched for years in multiple leagues around the Bay Area. Once he found out about this league, he never stopped coming. He only remembers two legitimate quarrels in 10 years. For the most part, everyone else gets along despite minor spats here and there.

“It’s so much fun. Everybody’s bitchin’ elsewhere,” Jack says matter-of-factly. “I decided I was going to start coming here every Monday. Its worked out really well. They let me do whatever I want.” 

For Maxie, her favorite part about coming every Monday and some Thursdays is the camaraderie. Just something about the atmosphere and the people makes her always come back.

It’s the same cast of usual suspects nearly every Monday, and around us there are people who often occupy the park at the same time.

“Seeing people doing Tai Chi, the children, the old gentleman playing soccer. Eighty-something years old,” Maxie said. “It’s great to see who can continue to come back and deliver and make the play. Any given week you don’t know who’s going to do what.”

On this particular day the Red team beat the Black team, 24-17. We made it close with a monster 10-run seventh inning, but ultimately the deficit was too sizable to surmount.

I’m a very competitive person and I love to win, but that’s not really what it’s about here. It’s about the people, all sorts of different folks who come from entirely different backgrounds and range from 14 to 88.

Moving to a new city can be overwhelming, but it’s a lot less so when you have something as steady and sensational as Senior Softball to look forward to every week.

I’m sad to be leaving Oakland in a few weeks. Everyone here has treated me extremely well, living-wise, socially and at my internship covering the Oakland A’s for MLB.com. I had high expectations for the summer, and it’s exceeded them by a long shot.

In 65 years – when I’m still younger than Don Young is now – and my grandkids ask me about my summer in Oakland, I’ll be sure to tell them all about Senior Softball.

And who knows, maybe it will still be going on in 2080 and I’ll come back, sit on that same bench and chew some peanuts while a reporter asks me about the good ol’ days at Senior Softball back in the '10s.

Personal information

My name is Trevor Hass, and I am a senior Newspaper and Online Journalism major in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Below are some of my clips with The Boston Globe, The Baltimore Sun and the Daily Orange, arranged in that order.

This summer I am interning with MLB.com, covering the Oakland A's as an associate reporter.

Thank you for reading.
Trevor

MIAA football playoff system still irks some ADs

When the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association implemented its new high school football playoff system in 2013, many people around Eastern Massachusetts had a strong opinion about the changes.

Traditionalists complained that the Thanksgiving games would never carry the same luster or significance. Powerhouse schools rejoiced at the thought of capturing one of six “true” state championships instead of one of 19. Coaches squirmed at the potential of playing the same opponent three times in one season.

Two years later, athletic directors around Eastern Mass. largely have the same outlook they did then. Some ADs praise the system for giving more teams a chance to compete. Others bash it for including sub-.500 teams and meaningless nonplayoff games where almost no one is in attendance.

On Wednesday, the MIAA Football Committee will meet for the first time since the end of the season. One of the agenda items will be a review of a survey taken in the past month to determine feelings about the playoff system. That feedback is one element that will help determine whether the system lives beyond next year, the final season of the trial period, or reverts to some version of the old format.

“I think it has positives and it has negatives,” Braintree AD Michael Denise said. “I think it depends on which end of the spectrum you’re on.”

Initially the system was supposed to be a two-year trial run. ADs were under the impression that after this past season they would have a chance to reconvene, confer, and, if necessary, tweak the system. However, the MIAA did not provide that opportunity.

Some ADs are so infuriated that they have discussed withdrawing from the MIAA system and forming a separate football-governing entity. And the latest news, announced at the MIAA Board of Directors meeting last week, is that last year’s football tournament revenue was down $70,000 from the previous year.

The breakaway option

Dracut AD Tim Woods is heavily involved with the potential withdrawal. He has participated in two discussions with ADs from the Dual County League, Cape Ann League, Northeast Conference, and Merrimack Valley Conference.

Woods anticipates a third discussion in February. At that meeting, Woods expects the group will decide whether withdrawing is viable.

“A lot of ADs are talking about retaliation, in terms of breaking up the very fabric of the MIAA,” Woods said. “People are talking about forming their own tournaments and Super Bowls. In my opinion, [the system] has been a disaster.”

Woods said the format effectively ends the season for many teams after Week 7. Thanksgiving games are “a shadow of what they used to be,” and continuing like this isn’t feasible financially.

Dracut is a relatively small school, and Woods estimated the athletic department lost $6,000-$7,000 each of the past two years. For larger schools such as Billerica and Chelmsford, Woods said, that number is in the tens of thousands.

“Financially, most of us just can’t take it any longer,” Woods said. “The MIAA’s getting more money, but we’re losing thousands of dollars.”

If schools in those leagues were to withdraw, they would do so by simply not registering with the MIAA as a football-playing school. They would devise their own schedule and consider starting the season one week earlier. At the end of the year, there would be a Thanksgiving game and a small tournament to crown a champion.

Woods said he was shocked with the MIAA’s decision to proceed to a third year without their consent. He wanted a chance to tweak what he considers a far-from-perfect setup.

“It was a pilot program,” Woods said. “It wasn’t supposed to be permanent.”

Devaluing Thanksgiving

Tom Gallagher, AD at Ipswich High School, vividly remembers his school’s 2006 Thanksgiving morning matchup against Hamilton-Wenham.

Ipswich blanked the Generals, 7-0. The Tigers advanced in the playoffs and eventually claimed the Super Bowl title.

“To think that that atmosphere isn’t there in the current system is kind of tough,” Gallagher said.

Many ADs around Eastern Mass. feel the new playoff system takes away from the tradition of Thanksgiving football. Beverly AD James Coffey dubbed it a “nonfactor game.” His players and coaches still want to beat Salem, but the game doesn’t have the same pizzazz.

Coffey said Beverly collected $30,000 less in football sales in 2013 than in 2012. The school usually takes in nearly $30,000 on Thanksgiving, but this year that number dipped close to $10,000. Coffey typically uses the extra Thanksgiving money to buy necessities for other sports such as field hockey uniforms, but now that has become more difficult.

“It’s really taken Thanksgiving out of the picture for everyone,” Coffey said.

Les Murray, commissioner of the Cape Ann League who used to serve on the MIAA’s Board of Directors, said it’s “a travesty” that some teams could play each other three times in a season, including on Thanksgiving. For instance, Winchester lost to Woburn by 15-plus points three times this past season. Wakefield lost to Melrose three times.

Lynn English AD Gary Molea calls himself a traditionalist. To him, nothing in high school football is as sweet as waking up on Thanksgiving Day and watching or coaching a meaningful football game.

Now he doesn’t feel the same way.

“It took all the zip out of that,” Molea said.

Finding their way in

Cohasset was the best team in Division 6 this season. That became clear when the Skippers outscored their playoff opponents, 118-44, en route to a Super Bowl title.

But the sixth-seeded Skippers’ playoff run never would have happened without the new playoff system. Under the old format, Cohasset’s 5-2 regular-season record wouldn’t have been good enough to qualify for the playoffs.

“It’s been an awesome experience for us,” Cohasset AD Ron Ford said. “It’s made football really exciting around here in October and November.”

Lexington would not have made the playoffs in either of the past two seasons without the current setup. This year, the 4-3 Minutemen earned the No. 5 seed in Division 1 North and lost a close game to Peabody.

Naomi Martin, AD at Lexington, concedes that the system could be improved, but said it has helped Lexington play in more meaningful games.

BC High wouldn’t have made the playoffs and wouldn’t have upset Brockton and Newton North as a No. 6 seed. Braintree wouldn’t have participated in a playoff game for the first time in 16 years. King Philip beat the Wamps, 34-6, but Denise, Braintree’s AD, was still thrilled that his student-athletes got the opportunity to play in the playoffs.

“Obviously being the 8 seed, having to go up against the No. 1 seed, was a Herculean task, given the success that King Philip has had,” Denise said. “It was a difficult battle, but I think our kids did Braintree High School proud.”

BC High AD and football coach Jon Bartlett was surprised when he heard that 21 teams in Eastern Mass. made the playoffs despite having a losing record.

“Wow,” said Bartlett. “That’s high.”

BC High was one of those teams. The Eagles, who played one of the toughest schedules in the state, finished the regular season 3-4 but ultimately made the state semifinals.

For other teams that got into the playoffs, the opportunity wasn’t quite as worthwhile. Whitman-Hanson, for example, lost to Somerset-Berkley, 51-15.

There was only one first-round upset in all of Division 3.

Some ADs across all divisions, including Braintree’s Denise, favor a four-team playoff instead of eight, allowing for more competitive first-round games.

“I certainly think that our regular season is too short,” Denise said. “I think we should at least have an eight-game season, if not more, to determine who goes to the playoffs.”

Losing proposition

Gallagher has been Ipswich’s athletic director for 11 years. Only twice in that span has the school lost money during a football game — both consolation-bracket matchups in the past two seasons.

Murray calls them “cricket games” because there are virtually no fans in attendance to make any noise. Lynn Classical once had a total of seven fans at a game.

The attendance is low because the games don’t matter, and it’s not worth paying for business managers, buses, referees, and other expenses. Schools end up losing hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars on those games.

“What tournament do you continue to play after you lose?” Murray said. “There isn’t one. We’re in a culture that really values winning. When you’re not in the playoffs, those games take on an absolutely meaningless structure.”

ADs are split when it comes to opinions on the system, but the ones in opposition appear much more passionate. Beverly’s Coffey believes the format favors perennially contenders such as Everett, Brockton, and St. John’s Prep.

Four of the six Super Bowls were lopsided this year, as Western Mass. teams struggled to contend with Eastern Mass. teams, and that, too, irked some ADs.

ADs such as Denise simply want the MIAA to take another look at the current format.

“If it’s worked out for you, you’re going to like it,” Molea says. “If not, you’re probably going to be on the other end.”

Ins and outs of the system

One of the goals of the new playoff system was to make football like other MIAA sports, in that all teams with a minimum winning percentage of .500 would be allowed entry into the postseason. But as the lists below show, the new format allowed 21 Eastern Mass. teams with losing records into the playoffs and kept 10 teams with winning records out of the playoffs.

Teams below .500 that made playoffs:

Attleboro, Division 1 South (3-4)

BC High, Division 1 South (3-4)

Beverly, Division 2 Northeast (3-4)

Bishop Feehan, Division 3 Southwest (3-4)

Burlington, Division 3 Northwest (2-5)

Danvers, Division 3 Northeast (3-4)

Hopkinton, Division 3 Southwest (3-4)

Lynn Classical, Division 2 North (3-4)

Nauset, Division 3 Southeast (2-5)

Oliver Ames, Division 3 Southwest (3-4)

Plymouth North, Division 3 Southeast (3-4)

Revere, Division 3 Northeast (2-5)

Sandwich, Division 3 Southeast (3-4)

Scituate, Division 4 South (3-4)

Somerville, Division 3 Northeast (2-5)

Swampscott, Division 4 North (3-4)

Waltham, Division 2 North (3-4)

Westford Academy, Division 2 North (2-5)

Whitman-Hanson, Division 3 Southeast (3-4)

Wilmington, Division 3 Northeast (3-4)

Winchester, Division 3 Northwest (2-5)

Teams above .500 out of playoffs:

Arlington Catholic, Division 4 North (4-3)

Bishop Stang, Division 4 South (4-3)

Bristol-Plymouth, Division 6 South (4-3)

Durfee, Division 2 South (4-3)

Lowell, Division 1 North (4-3)

Lawrence, Division 1 North (4-3)

Marian, Division 6 North (4-3)

Old Colony, Division 6 South (4-3)

Old Rochester, Division 5 South (4-3)

Seekonk, Division 5 South (4-3)

Central Catholic motivated by former teammate’s death

Will Wheeler walked up to his younger brother, Shawn, and gave him a heartfelt hug. Central Catholic had captured the 2013 Division 1 state championship earlier that day and Will wanted nothing more than to cherish the moment with family and friends.

“I love you, Shawn,” he said. “Congratulations, buddy. I’ll see you at home.”

Then the Wheelers and a bunch of Will’s friends watched the replay of the game on TV. They celebrated after each touchdown, reliving the scene.

It was a perfect moment — a player everyone seemed to like, capping off one of the best days of his life.

That was the last competitive football game Will Wheeler ever played. Wheeler, 17, died in his sleep on Aug. 17 of natural causes. Now, every time the Raiders step on the field they have Will on their minds. No. 2 Central Catholic (2-0) will continue their quest for a repeat when they face scrappy No. 4 St. John’s Prep (2-0) on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

“We want the other ring, but he wanted it more than us,” said Shawn Wheeler, 15. “We’re trying to put that in front of us and get him that other ring.”

Central Catholic coach Chuck Adamopoulos thought there was a mistake when he first heard the news. Will died as preseason practices began. The whole week was mentally torturous, and football was the main outlet for Will’s friends.

‘They owe it to themselves to play as hard as they can all the time, like he would.’

Adamopoulos said Wednesday it still hasn’t hit him that one of the team’s most charismatic, popular players has died.

“If he were a country he’d be Switzerland,” Adamopoulos said. “Everyone liked him. No one would ever say a bad word about him.”

Adamopoulos said he never uses Will as a topic for a motivational speech. Someone dying is much bigger than a football game. Using him as motivation wouldn’t be fair to Will or his family.

But although Will isn’t explicitly mentioned much, he’s in the team’s thoughts daily.

“We did talk to the guys about how they’re out here, and obviously Will would love to be here,” Adamopoulos said. “They owe it to themselves to play as hard as they can all the time, like he would.”

When Central Catholic’s captains lined up at midfield before the team’s home opener, they had an honorary captain by their side. Shawn Wheeler.

Captains Michael Balsamo and George Elias miss goofing around with Will every day. From sprinting around the building during winter track to manning the safety position in practice, their memories remain vivid. Shawn misses driving with his brother to New York, just the two of them, joking around and talking football.

Before every practice and every home game, the players pass by a photograph of Will in the locker room. During games they sport a W.W. on their helmets. They don’t have to say anything, but they’re all thinking the same thing. Let’s win this one for Will.

Saturday will be their toughest test yet. Prep’s first-year coach Brian St. Pierre is ensuring his team is ready for Central Catholic.

“We’ve been an underdog in every game we’ve played and that’ll continue onto this week,” St. Pierre said. “We relish the role.”

While St. Pierre’s Eagles are motivated to stage the upset, the Raiders have something — and someone — more to play for, as they look to enact revenge on a team that beat them last season.

“Everyone rallies around him,” Shawn Wheeler said. “They use him as an inspiration.”

.   .   .

No. 6 Natick visits Acton-Boxboro on Friday as Nick Olson looks to continue his strong start . . . Defensive-minded No. 12 Tewksbury will try to slow down No. 5 Everett and contain running back Nick Orekoya on Friday . . . It’s opening weekend for most NEPSAC schools. Belmont Hill faces BB&N in Cambridge and Milton Academy takes on St. Sebastian’s in Needham, two of eight games that highlight the first weekend of Independent School League football. In the Evergreen League, Pingree hosts Portsmouth Abbey and Dexter travels to Connecticut to face Hyde.

Trevor Hass can be reached at trevor.hass@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TrevorHass.

Super Bowl-bound teams weigh injury potential vs. playing rivals

The appeal of an undefeated season was too juicy. The prospect of finishing the year No. 1 too attainable. The history behind the 82-year rivalry with Foxboro too meaningful.

The Thanksgiving game was simply too irresistible for the Mansfield seniors in 2013. When coach Mike Redding asked them if they wanted to play in the game — instead of rest for the Super Bowl against St. John’s (Shrewsbury) — the response was an overwhelming and unanimous yes.

“It’s such a good game to win for bragging rights,” Redding said. “It’s so hard to say to the kids, ‘We’re not going to play you.’ ”

They played, and the result, a 14-7 win for the Hornets, was overshadowed by a slew of injuries. Star wide receiver Brendan Hill tore his ACL on a bang-bang collision. Running back Miguel Perez separated his shoulder while blocking a defensive back. Two-way player Kyle Hurley tore cartilage in his knee.

Mansfield ended up winning the Division 2 Super Bowl — Perez and Hurley returned, and the injuries didn’t prove insurmountable — but the situation gave coaches in similar spots something to ponder.

This year, as teams prepare for Super Bowls at Gillette Stadium Dec. 6, nearly all have to play a Thanksgiving game first. Coaches have to decide whether to play their starters, and respect the tradition, or to rest them.

With the new playoff system, teams played state semifinal games Nov. 22. Just five days later, they wake up for a morning Thanksgiving game. Then nine days after that, it’s off to Gillette.

Three games in two weeks is a grueling stretch for any high school athlete. If Redding could do it over again, he’d give more consideration to resting certain starters.

Leading up to the Foxboro game, Mansfield had played all 11 of its games on turf. Frigid temperatures, little rest, and poor footing on grass were a bad combination. In hindsight, Redding might have rested some skill players.

Then again, getting to Gillette is much more difficult than it used to be. It’s a tough balancing act, Redding says. The key is to do what’s best for your specific program.

Despite the risks, Marshfield coach Lou Silva is set on playing his starters against Duxbury on Thanksgiving. The undefeated Rams, who will face Longmeadow in the Division 2 Super Bowl, have prepared for the Dragons like they would any other opponent.

Silva said his players go to the beach with Duxbury players during the summer. There’s a sense of familiarity, and the rivalry means something.

Duxbury leads the all-time Thanksgiving series, 14-13-2, but Marshfield’s senior class hasn’t won a game at Duxbury.

Silva doesn’t want to deprive his seniors of that chance.

While the inevitable buzz of the Super Bowl looms, Silva said the team’s only focus this week is Duxbury. He likes certain aspects of the new playoff system, but believes the quick turnaround between games makes winning on Thanksgiving even tougher.

Three days of preparation isn’t much, but Silva can’t control that at this point.

“It’s a total disadvantage, but hey, what the heck,” Silva said, “we’ll pay the price to go to Gillette.”

For Dartmouth coach Rick White — whose team is fresh off a miraculous 20-16 come-from-behind win over Walpole — the situation is a little bit trickier.

The Indians are one win away from their first championship since White’s heyday at the school in 1984. He doesn’t want to jeopardize their chances by playing his starters the entire game against Fairhaven.

He expects Fairhaven, which leads the all-time Thanksgiving series 42-36-4, to play with passion. It’s Fairhaven’s Super Bowl. White believes it would be disrespectful to rest his starters the entire game.

White’s grandfather played against Fairhaven on one of Dartmouth’s first teams in the 1920s. For years, the home team has hospitably hosted the visitors’ faculty, seniors and cheerleaders for a meal the week of Thanksgiving.

Despite the holiday’s perks, White acknowledges the game itself can be treacherous injury-wise.

He says some players may get limited reps this year. He doesn’t want them to miss out on the chance to play at Gillette.

“It’s kind of a double-edged sword,” White said. “It’s not the greatest situation.”

This year, White is making sure his players remember they have a lot be thankful for. Dartmouth senior Will Kuphal lost his father, a prominent doctor in the town, last week.

White, with many of his players, attended “the biggest wake he’s ever been to,” which spanned from 4 p.m. until 10 p.m. at St. Mary’s Church. So many people were there that it became “standing room only.”

The wake was Friday, and Dartmouth’s remarkable win came Saturday night.

“It was a lot for these kids,” White said. “It’s life. You’ve got to embrace it, but there’s a lot of adversity you have to overcome. It’s a great lesson for our kids to appreciate what they have.”

.   .   .

For all but the 12 teams playing in the Super Bowl games, Thanksgiving is all about tradition, rivalries, and games that are dated in decades, even centuries. Boston Latin and Boston English will meet for the 128th time in a game played at Harvard Stadium. Last year English beat Latin for the first time since 1997. Medford heads to Malden to play in their 127th game. And in Needham, the Rockets host Wellesley in their 127th matchup.

MIAA considering an 18-team super-conference

FRANKLIN — Plans are in motion to potentially combine the Greater Boston League, Northeastern Conference, Masconomet, and conceivably Chelsea into an 18-team league over the next few years.

Charlie Lyons, superintendent of Shawsheen Valley District, unveiled details of the possible super-conference at the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association’s board of directors meeting Wednesday.

Lyons said the GBL schools — Everett, Malden, Medford, and Somerville — have “presented a yearning” to join a larger league. The GBL used to be a premier league in Massachusetts, featuring schools such as Quincy, Brockton, and Arlington.

“I don’t know if it will have a domino effect,” said Lyons, one of the board members. “I’m just trying to help the poor kids from Medford, Malden, Somerville, and Everett.”

Recently, the GBL has dwindled in size from 10, to five, to four teams. Lyons spearheaded a meeting between GBL superintendents and Northeastern superintendents that took place in Cape Cod in November.

Since that time, Lyons said, he has met with Everett school officials who are interested in the conglomeration. But Lyons made it clear to Crimson Tide football coach John DiBiaso that Everett, a perennial powerhouse in that sport, would maintain an independent schedule. Only teams that want to play Everett would be able to do so with the new alignment.

For Masconomet, the potential switch comes at a time when the school is growing in size and athletic prowess. Masconomet may apply to the Northeastern Conference because the school has more than 2,000 students — a high number for a Cape Ann school.

Lyons said Chelsea athletic director Frank DePatto has made it clear that the Red Devils could not compete with certain schools in specific sports.

Despite the potential complications, Lyons believes an 18-team league would cut down on transportation costs, help students get home earlier, and allow teams to play competition largely at their own level.

“I feel confidently that progress will be made, but it’s really up to the principals, superintendents and ADs of the Northeastern Conference,” Lyons said.

Marilyn Slattery, house principal at Malden High, is hopeful that the switch will happen in the near future. The logistics need ironing out and more parties need to get on board, but she believes progress has been made.

“I think it’s closer to happening than an idea,” Slattery said. “It’s been a long time coming.”

Slattery echoed Lyons’s belief that the GBL used to be one of the most vibrant leagues in Massachusetts. Now, she says, “It’s terrible to see the dilution of a league that’s been going on.”

For Malden, a community with many immigrants, Slattery feels that belonging to a league with nearby teams would give her students a sense of community. Many of her kids traveled to Oliver Ames this year without even knowing where Easton is.

MIAA executive director Bill Gaine agrees with Slattery that the new league would give students a sense of belonging.

“There’s no affinity if they’re going from Malden to Marshfield,” he said.

The next step is to spark more dialogue and get leaders at schools involved and in agreement.

“People have been open, and people are considering it seriously,” said Lyons. “I’m really pleased about that.”

.   .   .

Gaine said more than 23,000 students participated in 2014 fall tournaments . . . Attendance at Gillette Stadium for the Super Bowls last Saturday was the second-lowest in the eight years of using the venue, a statistic Gaine attributed to the inclement weather . . . Members of the board voted, 18-0, to partner with Special Olympics Unified Sports . . . St. Mary’s and Bishop Fenwick announced Wednesday that they will resume their Thanksgiving football rivalry. The game will be held on Thanksgiving Eve. St. Mary’s played Lynn Tech this year while Fenwick played Pingree.

School football preview: Peabody, Everett renew rivalry

Back when coach Mark Bettencourt played for Peabody, everything was different.

Bettencourt quarterbacked a 1990 Super Bowl champion team that beat Everett, 6-0, during the season in a Greater Boston League clash.

Everett was always the game Bettencourt and his teammates looked forward to. In the past decade, though, that rivalry turned sour when Peabody left the GBL for the Northeastern Conference after the 2006 season. Everett has surged to the pinnacle of Massachusetts high school football while Peabody has struggled.

“We’re at the beginning of the climb, whereas Everett’s in the midst of their dynasty,” Bettencourt said.

The fourth-seeded Tanners take on the top-seeded Crimson Tide Friday at 7 p.m. with a trip to the Division 1 North final at stake.

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Here are the matchups and game times for the second round of the MIAA high school football playoffs.

A win wouldn’t catapult the Tanners back to glory, but it would make Peabody a relevant team once again.

“It’s very easy for us to motivate these kids to be that team,” Bettencourt said. “The team that turned the corner and brought back what was missing the last decade.”

Peabody finished 2012 winless and won just three games last season. The Tanners are 7-1 now, coming off a thrilling 42-38 win over Lexington in the quarterfinals.

Junior running back Doug Santos racked up 255 yards and six touchdowns in that game, boosting his season total to 25 TDs.

After the game, as always, Santos approached Bettencourt. “What did I do wrong here? How can I make myself better here,” he’ll ask. Santos skips through touchdowns when watching film, zeroing in on short gains or losses.

“How do you tell a kid who just ran for 250 yards and four touchdowns he did something wrong?” Bettencourt said. “He wants to know.”

Bettencourt said Santos often disappears for two hours Saturday afternoons. When he’s disappointed with his performance the night before, he runs hills for an extra hour.

He’s a dreamer, Bettencourt said. He visualizes himself being successful, and works to ensure he is.

“Sometimes I feel like not as many people want to be as good as they say they do,” Santos said. “I’m different.”

That’s what this Peabody team hopes it can be — different.

Bettencourt’s objective is to silence the Crimson Tide’s playmakers, though he knows that won’t be easy.

“If you look at the scope, you look at the stats, you look at the numbers, it’s David vs. Goliath,” Bettencourt said. “There’s no easy way of putting that.”

Despite the situation at hand, Bettencourt refuses to view his team as a Cinderella. That’s not Peabody football, he says. But if you look at the recent relevance of Everett, St. John’s Prep and Central Catholic, Peabody lags far behind.

That’s why, for Bettencourt and his staff, this game carries extra meaning. When he, as an alumnus, watched assistant coaches Steve Lomasney and Jimmy Festa play against Everett, he felt as if he was on the field with them.

Now this year’s team embraces the task of putting Peabody back on the map — of guiding a program searching for success in the right direction.

It’s only one game, but it carries so much more meaning for Peabody.

“You come out and you make your own history. You make your own story,” Bettencourt said.

“This is something, if we can win this game, that they’ll remember for the rest of their lives, like we remember those games for the rest of our lives.”

.   .   .

In the last weekend of NEPSAC's regular season, Brooks and Lawrence Academy square off Saturday in a battle of 6-1 teams with postseason hopes . . . The oldest prep school rivalry in the country, Phillips Exeter vs. Phillips Andover, continues in Andover Saturday in the 134th meeting . . . St. John’s Prep and Central Catholic play for a trip to the Division 1 North final, one of many state sectional semifinal games.