Jamie Pote celebrates anniversary with Town Crier: A look back at Tewksbury Sports over the last 25 years

Back in May, I celebrated my 25th anniversary working for the Town Crier. I spent the first four months as an intern, the next six months as a paid reporter and then was named the Sports Editor in March of 1994, replacing Hall of Fame writer Rick Cooke, and still hold that title today.

I thought it would be fun and interesting to go back and write about all of the sports stories I have written about over the years here in Tewksbury. However, the Wilmington Library has every Wilmington Town Crier issue ever printed so I was able to do much more extensive research about my coverage of Wilmington Sports. Minus a few years on our TC system, I wasn't able to go back through all of the years of the Tewksbury editions. So what is below, is either what I gathered through some of the Wilmington issues, or through some previous stories or things that have come off the top of my head. The timeline consists of things I have reported on through the years starting in May of 1993 and going to end of 2017, as I'm not including things that have happened so far in 2018. I know there's a lot of things that I missed because of the lack of previous TC issues and I also left out a lot of the cross-country/track accomplishments as they appear elsewhere in this section.

1993

• On May 12th, 1993, I had my first assignment here at the paper, covering the Wilmington-Tewksbury Softball game. The story appeared in the May 19th issue. As for the game, the Wildcats prevailed 4-1, and the win qualified the team for the Division 2 North Sectional tournament.

1994

• I penned “my first” controversial article, criticizing two referees at the Wilmington-Tewksbury Girls Basketball game. In the game, 59 fouls were called. The article made a lot of noise in the town of Tewksbury for several weeks.

• In the March 9, 1994 issue, it's announced that Rick Cooke has left the Town Crier, and that I was following in his footsteps as 'Sports Editor'. I penned the line “I hope I do just as good a job, but no one will ever top him'. Certainly, no one locally has ever topped Cookie.

• TMHS announces that Joe DelGrosso will not return as head football coach, despite an ongoing battle with parents. Later on Bob Aylward is named head coach, coming back after a stint at Nashua High School.

1995

• The TMHS Boys' Hockey team was crowned the Division 2 State Champions with a 9-1 crushing win over Whitman-Hanson under head coach Bob McCabe – I actually was not at this game, but had covered the team throughout the season.

• The TMHS Football team under Bob Aylward in his first year, advance to the Division 2 Super Bowl. The team had to travel to Walpole High School and face the Rebels on their home field. The Redmen trailed 21-0 at halftime before a big second half comeback fell short, losing 28-14. The team was led by QB Mike Torode (1,417 passing yards, 14 TDs and 269 rushing yards with 6 TDs), Ben Christopher (16 TDs, 133 total points) and Tim Lavoie (672 rushing yards).

• In November, the Merrimack Valley Conference Athletic Directors vote 9-0 to change Thanksgiving Football opponents, thus ending the rivalry between Wilmington and Tewksbury. In late December, the Athletic Directors met again and Haverhill AD John Ottaviani announces that the Hillies will keep playing Salem, New Hampshire, therefore Wilmington and Tewksbury would remain rivals.

1996

• The TMHS Boys Hockey team competes in the Elite 8 State Tournament under head coach Bob McCabe. The team loses both games to BC High and Arlington Catholic, but the first game went down to the wire.

• In the summer, the Tewksbury 13-year-old National and 14/15 Senior National All-Star teams both go on a magical ride which included winning District, Bi-District and State and New England Championship titles. The 13's then advanced to the Eastern Regionals in New York and fell two wins away from the title, losing to Tom's River of New Jersey, while the Seniors also advanced to the Eastern Regionals, which was played in New Jersey.

• In one of the more memorable Thanksgiving Day Football games, Wilmington had a lead over Tewksbury, who a week later lost in the Super Bowl, but fell 17-14 behind a 58-yard touchdown run by Matt Petros, which came just 29 seconds after Wilmington scored on a Sean Kerrigan touchdown run. Petros and Kerrigan would wind up being teammates for the UMass-Lowell Baseball team, and both had terrific careers.

• On a very cold and rainy night at Boston University's Nickerson Field, the TMHS Football team avenged the Super Bowl loss from a year ago and defeated Walpole, 20-19, including a defensive stand on a two-point conversion attempt on the final play of the game. Lavoie led the team with 23 touchdowns and 1,131 rushing yards and 142 total points.

• After the SB win, Bob Aylward retired as coach after the game and later on that school year became the school's Athletic Director after Mickey Sullivan was relieved of his duties. Sullivan went on to stints at Holliston and Lowell Catholic, while Brian Aylward replaced his father as head football coach.

1997

• The Shawsheen Tech Girls Basketball team is defeated in the Division 4 state final at the Boston Garden by Hull, 47-29.

• Brian Aylward takes over the reigns of the Football team and leads the Redmen to an 8-2 season.

1998

• A total of 55 TMHS student-athletes were arrested in a cabin in New Hampshire after the prom. The big group consisted of track athletes, who missed out on the divisional meet.

• The TMHS Baseball team makes a nice run in the state tournament, winning the first game behind a no-hitter from Scott Favreau before losing on a walk-off hit in the bottom of the 11th inning in a 5-4 loss to Reading.

• The WHS Football team defeated Tewksbury, 14-7, before 4,000 fans. It was the team's first win over the Redmen since 1992.

1999

• Roger Brasil breaks Tim Boudreau's record of career points with 1,062.

• At the annual end of the year TMHS Banquet, in a very funny scenario, Steve Levine throws plastic balls at Derek Favreau to get revenge on an earlier prank at the coach.

• In arguably the best Wilmington-Tewksbury Thanksgiving Game played over the last few decades and before 4,000 fans, the game comes down to the final play and the Redmen prevailed 21-14. Mark Jepson scored both of Wilmington's touchdowns on kick-off returns. With the game tied at 14 with five minutes to go, Wilmington's Sean Quigley scored a touchdown but it was called back as the referees ruled that he was out of bounds. Tewksbury scored the game winning touchdown with 1:32 left. The 'Cats responded and moved the ball down to the six yard line and didn't score because of Ryan Carlson's interception.

• The Austin Prep Football team captures the Super Bowl title behind several locals.

• Tewksbury defeated Wilmington 67-59 in the championship game of the annual Knights of Columbus Basketball tournament. Roger Brasil was the Tournament MVP after he scored 36 points in the win.

• My very good friend, as well as former TC Editor and TC Sports Reporter/Photographer, Jeff Nazzaro leaves the paper and pursues a different career in California.

• In a news story, I feature a local musical band, Red Shagg, who released a CD, which I still listen today. Members of the band included my cousin Jay Pilcher, as well as childhood friends Mike Querci and Eric O'Melia, with singer Mark Gaudette.

• The Town Crier announces its end of the decade award winners, making Bob MacDougall the Coach of the Decade, Mary Alice Brady the Female Athlete of the Decade and Tim Lightfoot the Male Athlete of the Decade.

2000

• I interviewed professional baseball pitcher Lou Pote (still not sure if he is related) about his career in the Major Leagues.

•I n a wet-wild crazy doubleheader night between the Wilmington and Tewksbury Boys and Girls soccer teams, Adam Jensen scores four goals to lead the 'Cats to a 5-3 win and Lauren Rappoli scored two goals to lead the 'Cats to a 2-1 win.

• Quarterback Mike Rocco tosses six TD passes in a crazy 54-30 win over Billerica. It was believed at the time that the feat broke a program record.

• In the annual Thanksgiving Football section, I first dedicate the section to my longtime good friend Ronnie Barber of Wilmington, who passed away earlier that summer. Then I predicted Tewksbury to win. That didn't happen, as Wilmington won 27-20.

• Both the Wilmington and Tewksbury Boys Basketball teams get transfer players with Valence Nwachukwu coming from Nebraska and Paulo Caldoncelli coming from Brazil. Both players were initially denied waivers by the MIAA, before court and appeals process helped overturn that ill-advised original decision.

2001

• The Shawsheen Tech Softball team lost in the Division 3 Eastern Mass State semi-final game to Cardinal Spellman. Flo Arsenault, arguably the hardest throwing pitcher I have ever covered, leads the Rams.

• The TMHS Baseball team's magical season comes to an end when Stoneham wins on a walk-off home run.

2002

• Shawsheen Softball coach Ed “Buddy” Henry wins his 400th career game between his days at Bishop Fenwick and Shawsheen. The Rams would lose in the sectional finals to St. Mary's of Lynn behind pitcher Jen Elwell, who finished the season with a 21-3 record with an 0.50 ERA, 343 strikeouts and 16 shut outs.

• I interviewed former WWF Wrestler “Brutus the Barber Beefcake”, who was opening a wrestling school at the World Gym in Tewksbury.

2003

• The Shawsheen Tech Softball team lost in the Eastern Mass state semi-finals to West Bridgewater, 3-0. Jen Elwell finished her season with a 21-4 record, including 322 strikeouts and 15 shut outs.

2010

• Pat McAndrews steps down as Girls' Basketball Coach in the middle of the season siting health problems. Assistant coach Mark Bradley takes over the reigns. Later that season, senior Danielle DePierro registered her 1,000th career point in a game held at Lowell High School. She would then almost single-handedly beat Melrose in the state tournament game pumping in 42 points (16 in the fourth quarter) in a 69-66 loss.

• TMHS Senior Meghan McCarthy, a huge fixture in town, passed away. She was a three-sport athlete. Just days after her passing, Brian Hickey and the two basketball teams run a first-class tribute in honor of Meghan before a doubleheader.

• The members of the girls' 4x400 relay team capture the MVC, Divisional, All-State and New England Championship titles before taking eighth at the Nationals. The team of Ashley Toland, Ally Greene, Jess Bridle and Leanne Tucker won the NE title in dramatic, come from behind fashion with a time of 3:58.75, edging out the team from Windsor, CT, which finished at 3:59.00. All four girls went on to have terrific sports careers in college, all but Greene running track. She played softball at UML.

• Former Shawsheen Tech Softball Coach Ed Henry passed away. In his coaching career, he finished with over 400 wins, including a 332-26 record in 15 years at Bishop Fenwick. There he won seven straight Division 1 state titles and eight in all. At Shawsheen, he led three different teams to the Eastern Mass State Semi-Finals.

• Steve Levine coaches his final soccer game at home. He is surprised when he arrived at the field to see hundreds of former players on hand, a television crew from Channel-4 and State Rep Jim Miceli. The Redmen win the game which gave the team a league title, and Levine is carried off the field by his former soccer players.

• The Wilmington and Tewksbury Boys Soccer teams played one another in the last regular season game for Steve Levine. His Redmen defeated the 'Cats 7-5 in a wild game, and after it was over, the Wildcats presented a signed ball to the Legendary Coach, who won over 300 games. Levine would coach his last game a few days later, a 4-1 loss to Malden Catholic in the state tournament. That team finished the season with a 7-4-8 record.

• Under new head coach Kelly Barrio, the TMHS Girls' Soccer team finishes 10-5-3, capture the MVC Division 2 title, win a controversial overtime playoff game against Saugus before losing in the second round to Danvers. She resigned after the season, and ended up coaching over at Essex Tech for a few years.

2011

• I get to play in a fundraising poker tournament held in Tewksbury. I sit next to Mike Eruzione, who basically eliminated me from the tournament on one hand.

• Tewksbury applies to the Dual County League along with Dracut, Billerica and Chelmsford. A while later, the league formally invites Tewksbury, Chelmsford, Billerica and North Andover into the league. Two days later, all four teams withdraw, saying they though the addition of the four teams would divide the league into three tiers, but that was not the case.

• The TMHS Boys Hockey team wins the Division 2 State Championship title, 2-1, over Franklin, behind a dramatic goal in overtime by Mark Petti. The game was played before 8,000 fans. The game also marked the family championship between head coach Derek Doherty and his son Ryan. To get to the final, Tewksbury defeated Peabody, Beverly, Boston Latin and Saugus. The Town Crier devoted ten pages to the team after the championship win at TD BankNorth.

• The TMHS Softball team advances to the D2 North Sectional Semi-Finals, losing to Reading, which came after beating Wilmington and Marblehead.

• Within the same week, Steve Levine announced his retirement as head soccer and track coach, Jim Sullivan (boys basketball), Kelly Barrio (girls soccer) and Kara Murray (cheerleading) resign from their positions.

• The TMHS Field Hockey team ended Andover's 30-game unbeaten streak with a 1-1 tie.

• The TMHS Volleyball team wins its first ever league title, while knocking off perennial power Chelmsford.

• Levine's retirement party is held at the Tewksbury Elks before a sold out crowd.

• Phil Conners is named the new and eighth boys' basketball coach in program history. He came over after serving a year as the interim coach at Lowell High School.

• Before 3,000 fans, the annual Wilmington-Tewksbury Football game is another classic, with Tewksbury prevailing with 1:31 left as Frankie McLaughlin catches a 32-yard TD pass from QB Kevin Saunders to lift the Redmen to the 28-21 win. The Redmen then defeated Reading 21-6, to advance to the Super Bowl losing to Duxbury.

2012

• Wilmington resident Jim McGonagle resigns as head coach of the Austin Prep Girls' Hockey team, after a disagreement with the school's Athletic Director. He posted an overall record of 165-61-23.

• Tewksbury resident Phil Maia, who had a long tenure as cross-country and track coach at Lowell High School, gets inducted into the Massachusetts State Track Coaches Hall of Fame. At that time, Maia had a combined record of 329-102-8.

• The Town of Tewksbury turns down a notion of the high school getting a “State of the Art” Athletic Complex, which would have cost 1.935 million dollars.

• Former TMHS Baseball pitcher Scott Oberg gets drafted in the 15th round by the Colorado Rockies following his junior year at UConn. He became the second resident of the town, following Chris Mader in the early 1990s, to be drafted.

• Mickey Sullivan passes away.

2013

• The Boston Marathon ends abruptly due to the bombings. The Town Crier gives extensive coverage of the locals who saw first hand what happened, and luckily left unscathed.

• The Town of Tewksbury is devastated with the news that Shane Contalonis, a young boy, and fantastic youth football announcer, passed away. Later in the fall, the league unveiled the “Shane Contalonis Memorial Press Box.”

• Patrick Cullity finishes another season playing professional hockey between AHL and ECHL teams. He had previously played at UVM.

• The TMHS Boys Cross-Country team wins the Eastern Mass Championship title.

• The TMHS Football team completes its magical season, going 13-0, which included league, sectional, Eastern Mass and Super Bowl titles, including a 42-14 victory over Plymouth South held at Gillette Stadium. James Sullivan scored four touchdowns in the game, which also marked the final game with Brian Aylward coaching his son Johnny, the team's QB. The Town Crier devoted eight pages to the team.

2014

• The TMHS Boys Hockey team advances to the sectional final and was defeated by Beverly, after beating Masconomet and Marblehead, ending the team's season with a record of 17-4-2.

• Scott Oberg makes appears in his first spring training game for the Rockies, tossing an inning and giving up a solo home run in a game against the Milwaukee Brewers. He wore No. 79.

• The TMHS Softball team advances to the state semi-final game, losing a tough game to Bellingham, despite several ill-advised calls by the umpires.

• Tewksbury Football takes on Everett and loses a one-point game, 20-19.

• Tony Romano, a longtime coach and school administrator passed away. Later on, the TMHS Basketball Court is named after him.

• Under head coach Chris Burns, who completely turned the TMHS Boys Soccer program around, the Redmen advance to the Division 3 North Sectional semi-finals, losing to Wayland, after posting dramatic win over Marblehead.

• Ron Drouin is named the interim Athletic Director stepping in for Brian Hickey, who took a leave of absence for health issues.

2015

• TMHS senior hockey player Ryan Petti breaks the all-time scoring record originally set by head coach Derek Doherty.

• Scott Oberg gets assigned to Triple-A. Three weeks later, he makes his professional debut, tosses a scoreless inning against the San Francisco Giants, while picking up the win. He was sent back down shortly after that, only to get recalled in late May. I took a trip to Philadelphia and over the course of the weekend, he appeared in two games, recorded his first MLB save.

• I write a column about losing close to 40 pounds and decide to run my first 5K, the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce Event.

• The TMHS Boys Soccer team returns to the D3 North Sectional Semi-Finals losing to Wakefield, after posting dramatic wins over North Reading and Marblehead.

• Ron Drouin is officially named the school's fifth AD, taking over for Hickey who announced his retirement. Drouin retires as head coach of the baseball team with 241 wins, 10 league titles, 16 state tournament appearances and one sectional finalist trophy. Dave Harne filled in one year on an interim basis for Drouin before Kirk Monbleau was named head coach, and he just completed his third season.

2016

• Former TMHS Hockey star Derek Petti signs on to play collegiate hockey at Merrimack College. I attend a game, and watch him score his first collegiate goal.

• In a matter of three weeks, the Town Crier's Editor Jayne Miller and Managing Editor Stu Neilson leave the paper. I take over as editor of the news department on an interim basis from February to September, to go along with my duties as sports editor. Over the next seven months, the Town Crier is buried with all kinds of national and town news.

• At that time of the departure of the two editors, the never ending controversy of Tewksbury's Redmen nickname/mascot resurfaced, including a gathering at the high school with the event aired on the local television stations. Nothing changed and the name/mascot remains.

• The TMHS Girls Spring Track team shares the All-State title with Milton.

• The TMHS Softball team advances to the state championship game, losing in extra innings. I wasn't at this game but covered the team throughout the entire season.

• Rick Cooke, my mentor, gets inducted into the TMHS Athletic Hall of Fame. And Doug Hastings, my good pal and a longtime sportswriter here locally, gets inducted into the Burlington High School Athletic Hall of Fame. Both get in as sportswriters, two of the best I have seen.

• Boys' Basketball coach Phil Conners resigns, after posting a 65-47 record over five years, which included three league titles, five tournament appearances, two 1,000 point scorers. A short time after that, he accepted a job at Burlington High School.

• The TMHS Girls Cross-Country team ends its fantastic season by taking second at the All-State Meet.

• The TMHS Football team beats Wilmington for the seventh straight year on Thanksgiving.

2017

• After over a month off from work here at the Town Crier, I write a column about how my wife and I adopted our twin girls from Tennessee. They are now 19 months old.

• The TMHS-Methuen Co-Op Girls Hockey team ends its fantastic season with a loss in the Division 2 State Semi-Final game.

• Leo DiRocco retires as the head coach of the Softball program. He finished his career with a record of 385-214, including being state finalists, winning the Division 2 North Sectional Championship twice, finishing as the Sectional Finalists five times, winning 9 league titles, while having a streak of qualifying for the state tournament the last 20 years.

• The first week of September, the Town Crier's fall sports section featured 16 pages of team previews and features. That's about 12-14 more pages than any other weekly paper in the state.

• Pat Ryser retires as head coach of the Field Hockey team. In her 22 years, she finished with a record of 242-127-76, including 20 state tournament appearances, 2 sectional finalists trophies and three league titles.

• The TMHS Football team advances to the Eastern Mass Semi-Final game losing to North Attleboro. The game concluded a magical five-year run, which the program has gone 47-7 with five league titles.