Gridbits: St. John's, South are meeting in football for first time since 1967
This year’s smorgasbord of November games has provided all sorts of interesting matchups, both new and renewed.
∎ One of these matchups is the resurrection of the ancient and honorable meeting of St. John’s and South High. The schools first played in 1917, a 7-7 tie, and most recently played in 1967. The Pioneers won that one, 22-6.
St. John’s has a 10-7-3 lead overall. The Colonels’ most memorable triumph was on Sept. 30, 1967, when they snapped the Pioneers’ 25-game unbeaten streak with a 26-19 victory before a crowd of 4,500.
∎ There are two undefeated teams left in Central Mass., West Boylston and Uxbridge. The schools are tied for the region’s longest winning streak at 10. The Lions last won 10 straight from the end of 2007 into 2008. The Spartans have not had a 10-game winning streak since taking 19 in a row from 1991 into 1993. That included their last perfect season, 11-0 in 1992, under coach Ernie Richards.
West Boylston’s only perfect year was 1988, also 11-0, with Dick Priestley coaching. Not only do the two schools have identical records, their point totals are almost identical as well. West Boylston has outscored its opponents, 404-87. For Uxbridge, the margin is 394-88.
∎ Leominster and Westborough play for the 12th time this weekend in a series that began with a 12-0 Westboro victory on Oct. 16, 1915. Westborough won again in 1916, but Leominster has won the last nine encounters. Westborough played a very ambitious schedule in 1915 that included games with much bigger schools like Haverhill, Concord, Framingham and Gardner.
Leominster was 0-8-1 that year and fired coach Clarence Lombard after six games. He was replaced by Francis Sullivan, who went 0-10 the next year, including another loss to Westborough.
∎ Wachusett’s triumph over Marlborough gave Mike Dubzinski his 170th win as Mountaineers coach. In second place in that school’s long history? Herb Grayson has 46 victories. He coached Holden High from 1926 through 1942, finishing up with a 7-0 team in ’42. ... John Aloisi won his 60th game for Shrewsbury when his team beat Shepherd Hill last weekend. That’s fourth best in school history behind Terry Walles (108), Mario Marchisio (99) and Frank Bergstrom (74).
∎ Littleton’s 21-20 victory over David Prouty was that school’s first one-point win since it beat Maynard, also 21-20, on Oct. 31, 2003. That was a span of 228 games. On the flip side, it was Prouty’s second one-point loss in 2023. The Panthers were beaten by Millis, 7-6, on Sept. 29.
∎ Marlborough and Maynard are next to each other alphabetically on the Central Mass. football list and have played each other a lot starting in 1903, a 6-0 Marlboro victory. Thursday's game is the first time they’ve met since 1987, though, also a Marlborough triumph. Overall, Marlborough leads the series by 38-24-3.
∎ Hudson heads into its playoff game with Lynnfield with a perfectly even all-time record, according to Telegram & Gazette figures. The Hawks are 540-540-60 in 1,140 games since Hudson started football in 1897. ... Tantasqua’s magic number is 35. It has won four games this season, and three of those scores have been 35-12, 35-13 and 35-14. … St. John’s will have its third straight losing season. The last time that happened was from 1992-95, when the Pioneers had four consecutive years in the red. … North takes on David Prouty with a chance to post its first seven-win season since it went 7-4 in 2005 under Mike Ross.
∎ West Boylston back Connor Muldoon has averaged an astonishing 18.3 yards per carry this season, which would be a record-smasher for Central Mass., but the minimum to qualify is 100 attempts. Muldoon has rushed for 822 yards, but in just 45 carries. The record is currently held by Emil Igwenabu of Holy Name, who averaged 13.3 yards on 129 carries in 2006.
∎ Northbridge broke the 20,000 mark in all-time points scored with its shutout of Burncoat. The three regional teams in that category are Leominster (22,900), Fitchburg (21,160) and the Rams at 20,015. The state leaders are Everett (24,842) and Brockton (24,368).
—Contact Bill Ballou at sports@telegram.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @BillBallouTG.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Gridbits: It's been a while since St. John's and South High met
