When the Peabody football team participated in a 7-on-7 tournament at Endicott College this past summer, The Tanners not only won, but their quarterback envisioned a future past high school.
Peabody’s Shea Lynch committed to Endicott earlier this month, and pointed to that tournament where his relationship with Gulls’ head coach Paul McGonagle started.
“He talked to me then,” Lynch said. “From there, we just continued to talk and stay in touch throughout the whole [football] season.”
On top of calling Endicott a “beautiful school,” Lynch said the football team shares similar values to Peabody’s.
“It was hitting close to home to everything we did at Peabody,” Lynch said. “From coach [Mark] Bettencourt to other coaches there, they’ve taught me so much about hard work. Every day, you’ve got to show up and you’ve got to work hard. It doesn’t matter who you are.”
“I think that’s something I’m going to try and translate over to my college career,” Lynch said.
On the field, Lynch was named the Northeastern Conference Player of the Year this season and tossed 2,548 passing yards to go along with 36 touchdown passes. At his future home, the Gulls just went 10-1, 6-0 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference, and averaged nearly 32 points per game.
Lynch went to a game this season, and said “they’re doing something great there with football.”
“Coach McGonagle is great, the whole staff is awesome, and they’ve got a lot of great players from around here who are just going there and performing. I think a lot of that has to do with the coaching staff and preparation every week,” Lynch said. “I just want to go there and contribute in any way I can.”
When asked if Endicott has always been the plan, Lynch said “it’s a perfect situation for me” and mentioned a few boxes his college of choice needed to check off – he wanted to stay close to home, be involved with his family, play for a strong program, and receive a great education.
“Endicott was the perfect fit for that,” Lynch said.
Outside of Hempstead Stadium, where the football team plays #BeachBall as the Endicott faithful would say, there are other things that excite Lynch. The culture of the Blue and Green has always fascinated him, and he wants to support his fellow Gulls in “basketball, lacrosse, soccer, whatever it is.”
“Just get out there and see what it’s all about,” Lynch said.
Also, he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t excited for the food at the Callahan Dining Hall.
“I’ve heard great things about the dining hall, just from some of the people I know there,” Lynch said.
Lynch believes he’ll focus on business management, but hasn’t ruled out other alleys regarding his education. When asked what he hopes to learn from his four years, he responded “work hard and be the best teammate I can be.”
“I want to make new relationships and learn a lot from their coaches,” Lynch said. “They’ll better me as both a person and a player.”
No matter what he accomplishes in a green uniform, Lynch is Peabody-made. He’ll continue to work out with Tanners’ players this summer, and will be present and accounted for come Friday nights at Coley Lee Field.
“Oh, of course,” Lynch said about attending games. “They’ve got some unfinished business to take care of for us.”
