Everybody in this city and this state knows that Everett High had the greatest coach and the greatest program in Massachusetts over the past 10 years.
But it’s always nice when someone outside the Crimson Tide community acknowledges and confirms your superiority.
And Max Preps, a highly regarded national organization that will soon be in charge of seeding teams for MIAA Tournaments, has determined that Everett High – led by head coaches John DiBiaso (2010-17), and Theluxon Pierre (2018-19) – was No. 1 in Massachusetts football – for the entire decade.
And it wasn’t even close.
Everett easily took the No. 1 spot ahead of Xaverian, St. John’s Prep, and Duxbury.
Max Preps assigned points to the categories that really matter most, putting its biggest emphasis on state championships. Everett won five rings – three Super Bowls in a row in 2011, 2012, and 2013, and two more in 2016 and 2017. There was also a John DiBiaso-engineered, 25-game winning streak, four end-of-the-year No. 1 and a pair of No. 2 designations among all Massachusetts schools playing high school football.
“That’s nice,” said DiBiaso, reacting humbly, as usual, to seeing Everett selected as the state’s best program in a landslide. “I’m very proud. We had some good teams. I was very lucky. We had some great assistant coaches whom I had the pleasure to work with, some great players, and a great administrator in Mr. [Fred] Foresteire.”
All-Scholastics at quarterback
Everett’s decade of dominance began with Jonathan DiBiaso as the starting quarterback. All Jonathan did was throw more than 100 touchdown passes in his career, lead Everett to back-to-back Super Bowl titles (2010, 2011) and the aforementioned 25-game winning streak while earning the 2011 Gatorade Player of the Year Award. Jonathan, who went on to Dartmouth and later Tufts, became the state’s all-time leading passer during his reign as QB. He is currently a graduate assistant at Boston College.
Some of the other standout performers during that amazing era were 2010 Gatorade Player of the Year Matt Costello (Princeton), Manny Asprilla (BC), Vondell Langston (UMass), Jakarrie Washington (Wisconsin), Jalen Felix (Eastern Arizona), John Montelus (Notre Dame) and Jaylen McCrae (who caught Jonathan’s state record-breaking touchdown pass).
In addition to DiBiaso, the other featured quarterbacks have been Raheem Wingard, Jordan McAfee (UConn), Jake Willcox (Brown), and Duke Doherty, who returns this fall for his senior year.
Meanwhile, All-Scholastics and All-Stars Lukas Denis (BC), Lubern Figaro (Wisconsin), Jason Maitre (BC), Isaiah Likely (Coastal Carolina), the Miller twins Jacob Miller (AIC) and Josh Miller (AIC), and Mikey Sainristil (Michigan) are among the terrific Tidesmen who also brought glory – and many victories – to the program.
“There were a lot of kids that went to great colleges and did very well in football, but most importantly we had a lot of great people,” said John DiBiaso, whose wife, Maureen (current EHS cheerleading coach), and daughter, Kristina (a former EHS cheerleading captain) are also esteemed members of the First Family of Everett High football.
Further reflecting on what the foundations were to Everett’s gridiron greatness, John DiBiaso added, “First and foremost, it was being a good person, then came the academics, and then came the athletics.”
DiBiaso said a combination of several factors helped Everett to the top of the interscholastic football mountain.
“It was the whole school system, the kids and the program,” said DiBiaso. “We had great coaches like Mike Milo, who was there the whole time with me. And Mr. Foresteire was the best.”
It was the Hall of Famer coach himself, John DiBiaso, who once said, “there’s no place you’d rather be on a Friday night or Saturday afternoon” than Everett Memorial Stadium.
That’s the home field of the best program in Massachusetts.