Former Everett High football historian, the late Arn Boardman, is no doubt smiling and cheering at what is happening this season in the Crimson Tide football program he loved so much.
Wow, this is great, Mr. Boardman would be saying: Games at Fenway Park and Gillette Stadium in a period of nine days, a perfect season and the state’s No. 1 ranking on the line, an opportunity to win a second straight Super Bowl.
And now the final chapter: a rematch against Xaverian in what has become the state’s best high-school rivalry.
Even head coach John DiBiaso, who is preparing for his 17th state championship game as the Everett coach, is “excited” about his team’s game on the biggest stage in high school sports, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.
“I’m always excited about playing at Gillette Stadium,” he said Monday.
Indeed, the football program that he and Supt. of School Frederick Foresteire, have presided over for the past two decades, is giving Everett student-athletes memories that they will treasure for a lifetime.
And knowing the competitiveness of Coach DiBiaso and Mr. Foresteire, there is only one outcome that they want for the members of the 2017 EHS team: a victory over Xaverian, a perfect 11-0 season, and another Division 1 state championship trophy to place in the school’s awards case.
This game at Gillette is the reason why the players work hard so hard in practices that begin the heat of August, why the players commit themselves to off-season strength and conditioning workouts . This game – almost an annual rite of the first Saturday in December for Everett teams – is why this program is the gold standard for programs across Massachusetts.
Everett players will conduct themselves with sportsmanship and grace in the feature game of Super Bowl Saturday.
We join the entire Everett community in wishing the EHS football team “good luck” in the winner-take-all spectacle in the town of Foxborough.
We’re sure Arn Boardman will be looking down from heaven and hoping for an Everett victory.