By Jim Stout
MaxPreps.com
There was nothing surprising about the results. Xaverian and Everett Highs were expected to clinch their respective conference championships on Thanksgiving Day and advance to a semifinal showdown in the state's Eastern Division 1 playoffs on Tuesday. Neither Xaverian nor Everett disappointed their followers or the prognosticators.
The surprise came in the following: the ease with which they did it.
Xaverian rolled over St. John's Prep with a strong second half on Thursday, scoring a 34-0 victory in the Catholic Conference clincher, while in the Greater Boston League, Everett moved to 10-0, 7-0 as it beat second-place Cambridge, 44-22.
Xaverian (8-3) and Everett will meet for the second time this season on Tuesday in Quincy as the Eastern Massachusetts playoffs commence with semifinal games in seven divisions. Everett scored a 28-14 victory against Xaverian in an inter-conference game on Oct. 14.
"This was one of the greatest Thanksgiving Day wins I've been a part of as a head coach,'' Xaverian's Charlie Stevenson told the Boston Globe. "All 11 guys went out and shut (St. John's) down defensively and we made some big plays on offense.
"Our goal at the beginning of the season was to make playoffs and play for the Super Bowl title, and we've done that. We've played very well the last four weeks and we'll be ready for the playoffs," Stevenson said."
In the other semifinal game in Division 1, Brockton will get the chance to defend its 2004 and 2005 Super Bowl crowns despite a 5-5 overall record, when it plays host to Old Colony League champ Dartmouth (10-0).
Brockton was shut out on Thursday, 7-0, by Waltham, while Dartmouth beat southeastern Mass neighborhood rival Fairhaven, 28-6, behind the four TDs of junior running back Jordan Todman.
Unlike some states, Mass Eastern regional teams qualify for the MIAA playoffs based not upon a power points system but by virtue of winning their league championship. Though Brockton fields one of the prominent football programs in state history, the Boxers made the 2006 playoffs by winning the Big Three Conference at 2-0 (Durfee and New Bedford are the other two schools in the league).
Brockton does, however, own a regular season win over Xaverian.
Elsewhere in Eastern Mass.
While Division 1 was being settled by teams that steamrolled their opponents, the Division 1A qualifiers in the East had to be determined, in part, by the clip of a coin.
Central Catholic appeared to have blown the Merrimack Valley League title and a trip to the playoffs by losing to Andover, helping create a three-way tie with Lowell and Dracut and forcing a coin flip procedure.
But the first series of flips eliminated Lowell from the process, and Central Catholic then gained the upper hand (and league title) by virtue of its head to head victory over Dracut during the regular season.
Central Catholic will thus meet Dual County champ Wayland in the Division IA semis on Tuesday in Lowell, while Weymouth (Bay State Carey) and Marshfield (Atlantic Coast League) play in the other semifinal game in Quincy.
In the battle for Division 2 playoff berths, the only undermined spot prior to Thursday was that of the Hockomock League, where Foxboro and Mansfield were scheduled to play a winner-take-all holiday game. Burlington, Natick and Bishop Stang had already clinched their respective conferences.
Foxboro emerged with a 16-6 win, handing Mansfield its first loss of the season. Foxboro will play Eastern Athletic champ Bishop Stang in the Division 2 semifinals at Stonehill while Burlington and Natick will meet at Acton-Boxboro as representatives of the Middlesex and Bay State Herget Conferences, respectively.
"It's just terrific," Foxboro coach Jack Martinelli of his team's playoff-clinching win. "The kids were confident, and that's all I can tell you.''
In Division 2A, Winthrop and Hingham went into their holiday rivalry games having already clinched Super Bowl berths. The other two spots were up for grabs. One of the berths was a winner-take-all contest in the South Coast Conference, where Wareham beat Bourne/Upper Cape Tech, 28-6. This marked the fourth straight season that the SCC champion has been crowned following this game.
For the fourth and final 2A berth, all Masconomet had to do was beat North Andover to clinch the Cape Ann Large title. That didn't happen, however, as North Andover took a 20-6 decision. Masconomet still won the title, though, and will play Winthrop in the semis at Lowell. Wareham will play Hingham at Greater New Bedford Tech.
Division 3, meanwhile, was void of any such suspense as the Abington vs. Medford and Whittier vs. Arlington Catholic match-ups were set prior to Thanksgiving, bringing together the champions of the Catholic Central Large, the Commonwealth Large, the South Shore and Tri-Valley Leagues.
In Division 3A, perhaps the biggest surprise came in a game that had nothing to do with the pairings or qualifiers. Though Cape Cod Tech/Harwich will still face West Roxbury in the semifinals on Tuesday in New Bedford, CCT/Harwich's high-powered running game was throttled on Thanksgiving as Mashpee scored a 12-0 win in a non-league game.
Cape Tech/Harwich (9-1) had already clinched the Mayflower Large. Manchester will play Ipswich in the other 3A semi as Ipswich squeezed into the playoffs with a 7-0 Cape Ann Small win over Hamilton-Wenham.
The Division 4 playoffs in Eastern Mass feature only three conference champions so one - Brighton, Marian or West Bridgewater - had the chance to gain a bye directly into Saturday's final. That bye went to West Bridgewater, though it first had to beat Holbrook on Thursday to clinch the Mayflower Small.
Brighton will play Marian on Tuesday at Stonehill, with the winner to play West Bridgewater for the title.
South Hadley, Chicopee Comprehensive Advance
In Western Massachusetts, South Hadley (10-1, 7-0) clinched the Suburban League title and a trip to the Division IA Super Bowl in the region with a 10-0 blanking of Chicopee Comprehensive.
"This is great, whether it was the IA Super Bowl or IIA, we now have back-to-back Super Bowls (appearances) at South Hadley," said South Hadley coach Ray Ferro, whose team entered the game guaranteed it would play in some kind of postseason game.
Comp (7-4, 5-2) lost out on the chance to gain a share of the league title, but it did gain its first Super Bowl bid in 21 years as it beat out Berkshire County member Wahconah for a Division IIA slot. Wahconah lost on Thanksgiving to Mount Greylock, tipping the scale in Comprehensive's favor.
``We're happy...we're a little disappointed because we won't have those bragging rights locally, but we have a Super Bowl to play in," Comp coach Marc Schuerfeld said. "I've been coaching since 1988 and have never been to a Super Bowl."
Super Bowls involving both teams will be played at Holyoke High School Dec. 2. Comp will face Auburn (9-2) at 12:30 p.m. and defending champion South Hadley has a postseason rematch with Milford (10-1) at 3:30 p.m.
Mount Greylock Captures Berkshire Title
Mount Greylock guaranteed itself a date with Worcester Holy Name in the West Division 2 Super Bowl as beat rival Wahconah, 23-8, on Thursday in Williamstown.
The Mounties (9-2) will face Holy Name at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 2, at
Worcester State.
"Whenever I have my little meetings with the team on the field, I always remind them, 'it's defense that's going to win the football game,' " Greylock coach Shawn Flaherty told the Berkshire Eagle. "I tell them 'don't get complacent because you went up by a score.' You hope that defense is your strong point, and they played well today."
Jim Stout is the MaxPreps.com master photographer for the Massachusetts/Rhode Island region and a Northeast region columnist. He may be reached at j.stout@jmstout.org