New Weymouth High football coach brings an old friend out of retirement

WEYMOUTH – Hitting the links wasn't really an option for Greg Burke, who confesses, "I'm not a good golfer."

So Plan B for his retirement was to come out of retirement and go right back into coaching. That's why the longtime Stoughton High football boss is now the right-hand man to his former player, new Weymouth High coach Michael Donovan.

Burke, who coached at Stoughton from 1990 until stepping down after last season, compiled a record of 188-136-4 with the Black Knights, making five South Sectional playoff appearances (under the old format) and winning four Hockomock League crowns. Now he's a veteran sounding board for Donovan, 33, who has extensive experience as a college assistant (at Bentley, Harvard, Brown, Delaware and Bryant) but is charge of a program for the first time.

That's a 1-2 sideline punch that the Wildcats, whose last winning season came in 2012, hope will get them over the hump.

"I'm very fortunate," Donovan said of working with Burke, 70. "There's not much he hasn't seen, so that's very helpful for me. It's been huge having somebody like that that can help out a first-time head coach. I played for him and then I coached with him (as a volunteer assistant at Stoughton) when I was in college (at Bentley). He was the first guy I worked for as a coach. Now it's come full circle here with him being an assistant.

"That's the great thing about high school football – you just build lifelong relationships with your friends."

Burke, who attended Milton High and lives in Quincy, is equally enthused about the new partnership. Donovan was a linebacker for him and the two have kept in touch for the past 15 years.

"I'm a coach," said Burke. "I don't care whether I'm a head coach or an assistant coach; I've done both of them. I'm thrilled to be here. If it was someone else I might not do it, but for him, absolutely. He was one of the guys who helped me out over the years. And he helped me as a player.

"I don't know what to do (without football)," Burke added with a laugh. "I'd drive my wife crazy (if I were home all day). She's happy I'm back coaching."

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Burke will focus mostly on defense, where he'll likely be the play-caller, although he insists, "We end up doing everything together. It's not just my call; everything's got to run through (Donovan)."

Donovan primarily focused on the defensive line and secondary as a college coach, but he's taking more of an overview now as the head man. He likely will serve as offensive coordinator, although he agreed with Burke that Weymouth will take a "community approach" to divvying up work. "It's going to be about taking input from the whole staff," he said.

The no-huddle

Tyler Nordstrom, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound senior, returns as quarterback. He'll be surrounded by familiar skill-position faces, including senior running back Anthony Smith, junior running back Cam Aieta and a slew of senior receivers – Brendan Farrow, Dante Tordiglione, Cam Fernandez, Andrew DelGallo and Alex Semini. No positions on the offensive line are set quite yet, but the top candidates are seniors Landry Ciaccio, Shawn Hogan, Christian Pike and Michael Morris, plus juniors Naheem Ridore and Ethan Lippens.

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Brendan Farrow (cornerback), Jacob Tanner (safety) and Tordiglione (safety) will anchor the secondary. DelGallo (outside) and Smith (inside) will be keys at linebacker. DelGallo also will handle kicking and punting duties.

2022 recap

For the second straight season the Wildcats got off to a solid start but dropped their final three games. In 2021 they went from 5-3 to 5-6. Last fall they went from 4-4 to 4-7. Each time the slide started with a first-round loss in the Division 1 playoffs – last season it was by a 36-6 score to No. 1 seed Franklin. The Wildcats fell to Walpole, 37-6, on Thanksgiving, their third straight loss in the holiday series.

Three names to know

Tyler Nordstrom, QB: He had two relief appearances as a sophomore and then took the reins as a junior in 2022. Nordstrom says he worked on "hip movements and shoulder mobility" in the offseason to refine this throwing motion.

Anthony Smith, RB: The 5-foot-9, 205-pounder describes himself as a power back. Said Tordiglione: "He's always running people over."

Andrew DelGallo, WR/OLB/K/P: This 6-foot-1, 190-pound senior is part of a veteran group of pass-catchers that should make life easier for Nordstrom.

They said it

Donovan on Weymouth's depth: "When you've got 109 guys, the competition level is so good. As you can see, we can get a lot of reps in practice because we have so many guys. We can have two full practices going at once, and that's a huge benefit for us."

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Nordstrom on the offensive line: "We've built (our offense) around our offensive line – Landry (Ciaccio), Naheem (Ridore), Shawn Hogan. They've worked incredibly hard. We want to make our offense good for them because they're such great players and they're such a huge asset to this team and how this offense is going to be run."

DelGallo on the new staff: "I love the coaching staff. They have great experience, great leadership skills. They know where to put guys (in terms of) their strengths and weaknesses. Coach Burke is a great guy. Lot of football knowledge. I've learned a lot from him already."

Weymouth High football schedule

Friday, Sept. 8: at Westwood, 7 p.m.

Thursday, Sept. 14: vs. Newton North, 7

Friday, Sept. 22: vs. Hingham, 7

Friday, Sept. 29: at Milton, 7

Friday, Oct. 6: at Braintree, 6

Friday, Oct. 13: at Framingham, TBA

Friday, Oct. 20: vs. Needham, 7

Friday, Oct. 27: vs. Wellesley, 7

Thursday, Nov. 23: vs. Walpole, 10 a.m.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Weymouth High football 2023 season preview: Wildcats welcome new staff