Swampscott-Marblehead football dinner has serious note this year

MARBLEHEAD – Every year, the alumni of Swampscott and Marblehead football past gather at the Gerry 5 for some fun, reminiscences and good food.Most of the time, the conversation is light and lively. But Monday night, things took a bit of a serious turn when both Marblehead coach Doug Chernovetz and guest speaker Larry Hiser, the director of athletics at Endicott College, spoke about sportsmanship and how important it is in today’s world of high school sports.The accent, undoubtedly, comes as the result of last year’s Thanksgiving Day game between the two teams in which there was a skirmish involving coaches and players after the final play. Chernovetz made it clear he doesn’t want to see a repeat.”I didn’t like the way the last two games ended,” said Chernovetz, whose Magicians won, 6-0, last Thanksgiving.”This game has been good to me,” he said. “We need to ensure, as coaches and administrators, that sportsmanship continues to thrive after these games end.”Hiser, who is also Endicott’s baseball coach, said the inter-city Thanksgiving rivalries – of which he was not part when he played high school football in Ohio – “represent the very essence of sportsmanship.”He also challenged the adults and coaches in the room to pay more attention to the role of sportsmanship in high school sports.”If not us, then who?” he asked. “How do we show our priorities in America? How has the sports industry grown so all-consuming?”Both Hiser and Chernovetz alluded to the fact that much of what kids see on sports highlight shows centers around self-congratulation and self-promotion, and they both worried that kids would get the wrong message.”I enjoy ‘The Greatest Sports Show On Earth,'” Hiser said, “but I’m mature enough to enjoy it. I’m not always sure that a 15-year-old kid is mature enough to enjoy it.”Both Chernovetz and Swampscott coach Steve Dembowski gave synopses of their seasons, with Dembowski lauding quarterback Peter Kinchley, calling him “a true student athlete,” and saying that his senior quarterback was headed to Middlebury College.The Big Blue, who won the Northeastern Conference/Small division, will be playing Tuesday against Arlington Catholic in the Division 3 first-round game, but they don’t know where the game is at this time.Chernovetz joked that he’s started seven sophomores this season ? and lost six games. He said one of his assistants told him for every sophomore that starts, the team records one loss.”So,” he said, laughing, “all my sophomores are benched (on Thanksgiving).”In a more serious mode, he said that his team was young and inexperienced, and that no one could have expected the team to get off to a 4-3 start.Evan Harris, a youth sports coach in Marblehead, received the Msgr. John Carroll Award for distinguished service.”I look at what I do as a way of giving back,” said Harris. “And I just want everyone to know that I still have a lot of giving back to do.”