Banquet speakers Kelley, Wlasuk, Warren impart lessons

SAUGUS – When Tom Kelley took over the Framingham State University football program seven years ago, he inherited a team that hadn?t had a winning season in over 20 years. He won two games his first year and five the second year. The team continued to improve and this fall, the Rams finished 9-1 and made it to the Division 3 regional playoffs.Kelley, the keynote speaker at the 68th annual Item Football All-Star dinner held Monday at the Prince restaurant in Saugus, had some words of advice for the players being honored and it applied to football and to life.He told players no matter what they do in life, whether on the football field or in their careers, to try and get better at it every day. He also told them he learned the most from working the hardest jobs (like digging holes) when he was young.?That taught me I wanted to stay in school,” he said.Kelley also told them about the funnel effect and how every time you move up a level, whether it?s going from high school football to college football or from one job to a bigger job, the numbers get smaller and the competition deeper.Kelley is very familiar with high school football on the North Shore. His Framingham State team had 14 players from the area on this year?s roster, including one of the evening?s other speakers, Sean Wlasuk. At one point, Kelley joked with St. John?s Prep player Johnathan Thomas, who will be playing at Penn State next fall, saying if Penn State doesn?t work out, there?s always Framingham.Wlasuk played high school football at Peabody High and was a kicker for the Rams this season.He talked to the high school players about the transition from the high school game to the college game and told them how he was undersized in high school and really didn?t start playing until his junior year. He didn?t think he?d end up playing in college, but he fell in love with the school and really liked the coaching staff.?Playing college football was the second-best choice I made behind playing high school football,” he said.Wlasuk took care of kickoffs and he kicked the extra points this season. He finished with 36 points, fifth highest on the team.The players also heard from Classical High assistant athletic director Chris Warren, who was presenting Thomas with the Rick Drislane Award. The award is a new one, given to a player who most likely would have made the all-star team if not for being sidelined most of the season by an injury or illness. Drislane was a three-sport athlete at Lynn Tech who died in an automobile accident Thanksgiving night in 1987. Drislane was Warren?s cousin.Warren urged players to stop and think about what they?re doing because the decisions they make can change their lives.