LYNN — It’s far from out of the ordinary to see St. Mary’s teams competing for state championships year in and year out.
This week, two of the school’s teams will compete in their respective state semifinal games and they’re both one win away from reaching their state championship tilts.
The football team won the Division 7 North final last Friday night with a 39-14 win at Nashoba Valley Tech. This Friday night (7), they’ll compete against South champion Cohasset at Medford’s Hormel Stadium in the state semifinal.
The school’s boys soccer team won the Division 4 North title Sunday night with a 2-1 win over Mystic Valley at Manning Field. Wednesday night (7) the Spartans will travel to Marshfield High to battle South champion Cohasset in the state semifinal.
St. Mary’s Athletic Director Jeff Newhall said it’s an exciting time to be a part of the school’s community.
“I think we’ve had a very good run dating back the last 14 years,” Newhall said. “It’s been 14 consecutive years our school has won a state title now with what the golf team did earlier this year (Division 3 state championship). The expectations are high across the board. To have three teams go this far in a high school with about 200 boys is a testament to our athletes and the coaches.
“A lot of the kids have reached out to me about fan buses,” he added. “It’s unique that we’re playing Cohasset in both games. It’s a small school so everyone feels they’re a part of it. That’s the unique part about it for us. We only have about 525 kids so they know each other, they’re committed to each other. The momentum continues to build. The kids and their families continue to come to games. We’re spoiled. It’s like living in Boston the past 17 years. We expect to win.”
Both teams took similar paths through their tournament runs. The boys soccer team challenged itself with tough opponents, including St. John’s Prep, Lincoln-Sudbury, Malden Catholic and Concord-Carlisle. With a senior-heavy roster, the Spartans built themselves up for a deep run this fall and the results have come to fruition.
“They’ve been competing at a high level for the last four years,” Newhall said. “They were in the state final in 2015, the North final in 2016 and they went undefeated last year. This year, with it being a real senior team, we made it an effort to challenge them with the best schedule we could.”
The football team also challenged itself, playing top-notch opponents like Mashpee, Catholic Memorial and Millis. St. Mary’s went 4-3 during the regular season, a somewhat low mark for the Spartans, but ran the table in the sectional tournament. The Spartans lost a number of key players from last year’s team but new players have filled in smoothly and they’ve found a winning formula on Tremont Street with first-year coach Sean Driscoll.
“Since they went to this playoff format no other team in the state has won four consecutive sectional titles,” Newhall said. “They challenged themselves with a tough schedule. They played Catholic Memorial, who qualified for the Division 1 final. They played Mashpee. They challenged themselves. We lost a tremendous amount of firepower from last year’s team and we have a new coach.
“They had a lot of things go right for them, the coaches,” he added. “(Running back) Jalen (Echevarria) playing football for the first time, I think he leads the state in scoring in (Division 7). A lot of things you aren’t sure of went right. We had a target on our backs. The kids have responded and done well. With one more win they can get back to Gillette Stadium.”
