Salem/Beverly Football: 113 Years And Counting

On Thursday morning, if all goes as planned, I will rise early and drag myself down to the .

Once there, I will await the starter's gun before trudging off to complete the .

Then I will trek over to to watch the Witches and the Panthers have at each other for the 113th time. I have not missed a game since 1997.

The first game was played in 1891. Beverly prevailed 12-0. They did not play again until 1895, which was the first year that Salem played a full season.

There was no game played from 1897 to 1899, nor were games played in 1901 and 1909. The teams played each other twice in 1904 and 1905. WWI interrupted the series from 1917 to 1919.

Since 1920, the series has continued, uninterrupted, with the 100th game — an 8-7 Beverly victory — being played in 1998.

1929 was a game to remember. The referee was attacked by a mob of fans after a Beverly penalty deep in Salem territory. The police had to clear the field prior to play resuming. Beverly may have won the fight, but they lost the game 13-0.

All of us who went to have our own memories of this rivalry. Mine are from the mid to late 1970s and the early 1980s. 

My freshman year was 1975. Ken Perrone and his squad were fresh off a Super Bowl appearance where they had lost to Andover in the last minutes of the game. That was the team of the Pinto brothers, Billy at quarterback and Stevie at end.

The two guys I remember the most are the defensive captain, Sarkis Sarkisian, and a bulldozer of a fullback, Tim Mroz. Sarkisian would lead the team in a pre-game lap around the field pumping his legs and arms as he ran. Mroz would simply take the ball, run into the middle of the line, and drag whoever was bold enough to grab him down the field for eight to 10 yards.

In 1976, the only scoring was a single field goal. Bobby Carter, now a Salem Police sergeant, booted a 27-yarder for the victory. Carter, a rather large young man at the time, wore a huge square-toed boot and kicked straight away in the old George Blanda style. 

The game in 1978 is remembered for much more than the play on the field and the final score. Mitch Carrier, a sophomore from Beverly, was injured on the opening kickoff. Carrier never walked again. I believe he is the only student-athlete to ever suffer such horrible injuries as a result of play in this series.

I was in Japan in 1979 when "Big" Jimmy LeBlanc steamrolled into the end zone from the one-yard line and Kevin Koen kicked the extra point for the 21-20 Salem victory. I read of that win in the newspaper a week after it happened. In those days, snail mail ruled. The same was true in 1981 when Koen again came through with a game winning field goal as Salem won at Bertram Field 22-21. 

I will mark the 113th Salem/Beverly Thanksgiving Game with my 15th consecutive appearance as an older fan.  I'll hob nob with some other old-timers and watch as the young men from Salem go for a second victory in a row.

Go Witches!