READING — While the Lynn Tech Tigers are more than happy that they’ve won their annual Thanksgiving matchup against Austin Prep, there is more on their collective mind at this point in the season. Seven days from now, on Thursday night in Westford, the Tigers will play Nashoba Tech for the Massachusetts Vocational Athletic Directors Association (MVADA) championship. It might not be an MIAA state championship, but Tech coach James Runner holds the MVADA in high regard.
“Any championship is a big championship obviously,” said Runner. “Of course we wanted to win the MIAA title, but to be one of only 20 teams that has a chance to play for a state title after Thanksgiving is a big deal for us. Our goal at the beginning of the year was to play for a championship, and now we will.”
The Tigers may not have ever played against this Nashoba Tech team, but they do share a lot of common opponents. The Vikings and Tigers have both played Mystic Valley, Minuteman Regional, Northeast Tech, KIPP and Greater Lowell Tech. In addition, the two coaches have agreed to share film in advance of next Thursday’s game.
The two teams have very different styles of play, with Nashoba running a spread attack and depending largely on its speed on both sides of the ball. But Runner is quick to point out that while his Tigers are largely a big, physical, ground-and-pound team, Tech has a host of athletes that can run with anybody.
“I think that’s the one thing a lot of people either don’t know or don’t remember about us, and that’s the fact that we have a ton of athletes,” said Runner. “We might like to pound the ball, but we’ve played a few spread teams this year and fared well against them with our speed.”
So it will all come down to next Thursday for the Tigers. It will be a chance to finish the season at 12-1, and more importantly it will be a chance to win a state championship for the school and the program.
“Winning this title would mean a lot for all of us, not just for me and the players but for the other coaches, the program, the school and the community,” Runner said. “We want to be able to put a banner up in our gym, and hopefully we can get a big fan bus of Tech crazies to go up to Nashoba next week and share the moment with us.”
The Tigers and Nashoba will kick off next Thursday at Nashoba Valley Technical High School at a time to be determined.
