THE END OF AN ERA: WILMINGTON POP WARNER A TEAM SEASON ENDS AGAINST EVERETT

The Wilmington Pop Warner A Team captains take the field one last time. Left to right: Frankie Irizarry (#18), Joey Dumoulin (#23), Kyle Kenyon (#77), Pete Marino (#42), Andrew Sullivan (#7)

EVERETT – The Wilmington Wildcat A team came up against a buzz saw in Everett last Tuesday losing to the Everett Crimson Tide in the Eastern Mass Semifinals. Wilmington played tough but in the end was no match for a team with serious National Championship aspirations that came within one game of making it to Disney for last year’s Pop Warner Super Bowl. That loss by the Wildcats ends the reign of one of the most successful teams in the long history of Wilmington Pop Warner. Over the last four years, the squad has a 28-3 regular season record, an overall record of 36-7, three Middlesex League Championships, three trips to the Eastern Mass Championship game and two Eastern Mass Conference Championships. Instead of focusing on the last game, it’s better to look at a recap of the fine season and for most of the squad, the fine careers they have had representing Wilmington Pop Warner.

Coming off a three year run where the squad went 29-4 and won back-to-back Eastern Mass Championships, Head Coach Gerry Sullivan knew this year’s team would have make up for losing many significant players from that squad. The team lost half of their starting offensive and defensive linemen, five out of six running backs, seven out of eight receivers, two out of three of the starting linebackers and the entire defensive backfield. During those early August practices, Coach Sullivan would often say the coaches needed to “focus on who we have and not who we don’t have.”

The Wildcats still had a number of key returning players. Quarterback Andrew Sullivan returned and in addition to quarterbacking duties, Sullivan also moved to the safety spot on defense. Fullback Peter Marino switched positions on defense from nose tackle to linebacker along with center Kyle Kenyon who also switched defensive positions from defensive tackle to linebacker. Linebacker Joey Dumoulin moved from tight end on offense to tailback while defensive end Frankie Irizarry moved into a starting wide receiver spot opposite Nick Kullman. These six players represented the core of the team having played in Wilmington Pop Warner for seven years including the last four years with Coach Sullivan.

Although the squad only had 15 healthy players on August 1, one of the first areas that had to be addressed was the offensive line. Luckily for the Wildcats, there were two other returning starters on that line in Michael and Owen Steen. After a lot of competition for those other two spots, Colin Rooney settled in at right guard while the lone A team holdover from last year, Chris Medeiros, settled in at right tackle. Ben Stafford and Michael Smolinsky also provided depth on the offensive line.

The Wildcats also had a lot of new players come in this season as well, many of whom were playing football for the first time. Adam Bishop came in and made an immediate impact as a kicker as well as at tight end. Kyle Munro became a starting corner and also played tailback, fullback, wingback, right guard and tight end. He was certainly one of the most versatile players for Wilmington. Chris Stokes came back to football and played tight end and corner for the Wildcats while Will Ameral came over from Burlington (no A team) and played the offensive and defensive line along with another first year player in Max Caso. Omar Eldaly joined the team in late August and made a huge impact on the defensive line.

The biggest problem the team faced early on was numbers. There just weren’t enough players to field a team. One of the toughest decisions was the decision made by WPW President Deb Smith to disband the B Team and move all players up to A or down to C. This brought six vital players up to the A squad. Devin Clerico and Jake Timmons moved into key starting spots on the defense with Clerico playing corner and Timmons playing defensive tackle. Bailey Smith, one of the smartest players on the team, played fullback, tailback, right guard, linebacker and defensive tackle. Sean Kelley became the much needed backup quarterback and Jason Marquard played defensive end and tight end. Randall Vega also played a huge role with the team. In addition to playing right guard and defensive end, he was also a backup tailback and was the second leading rusher on the team. This was not bad for someone who had never played running back before. Once those players moved up, the roster was set and the Wildcats were ready to begin the 2014 season.

The Wildcats started the season on fire. With no preseason scrimmages, they opened at home with a 20-8 win over archrival Woburn. The team was forced to play that first game without an injured Peter Marino but Joey Dumoulin had a solid game rushing for 117 yards on 11 carries and also scoring three touchdowns. Defensively, Frankie Irizarry had five tackles and two sacks while nose tackle Owen Steen had four sacks on the day.

The next week saw a rematch of last season’s Eastern Mass Championship game against Lawrence. This game was a defensive battle as the Wildcats won a hard fought game 8-0. Dumoulin led the way on offense with 110 yards on 13 carries and the lone Wildcat touchdown while Peter Marino made his 2014 debut with four tackles and a sack on defense.

Two wins against over matched squads from Lowell (22-0) and Wakefield (32-0) gave the Wildcats a 4-0 record at the midpoint of the season. Against Lowell, running back Randall Vega scored his first touchdown of his career and against Wakefield, Andrew Sullivan and Pete Marino hooked up for two touchdowns while Kyle Munro and Sean Kelley scored their first touchdowns of the season.

A nail-biting overtime win against Methuen and a grind-it-out and wear-them-down win against Lexington put the Wildcats at 6-0 for the season. Unfortunately, Wilmington dropped two close games to Waltham and Reading to finish the season at 6-2.
With the fifth seed going into the playoffs, the Wildcats took on a solid Acton-Boxborough squad that came into the playoffs seeded fourth. It was a dreadful weather day and in a freezing and driving rain, Wilmington came away with a 14-0 victory. In the Eastern Mass Semis, the Wildcats fought hard but came up against a solid Everett squad and after losing the game in Everett on a cold Tuesday night, the season was over.

It has been a great run for these young men, with most of them headed to high school next year. For the returning players, they will have one more opportunity to represent Wilmington Pop Warner.

To the players, thank you. Thank you for the way you have represented your town, your Association, your team and yourselves. Whether it was your first season or your seventh season, you are now a part of the history of a truly remarkable squad.

To the parents, thank you. Your unwavering support of the team over these years has been outstanding. You have truly been a model group of parents and are certainly a group that any youth sports coach would love to have.

To the coaches, thank you. Gerry Sullivan, Peter Marino, J.P. Kelley, Ethan Downs, you have done a wonderful job coaching these young men. There will come a time when they all realize how lucky they were to have been coached by you. You helped these players develop as football players and as men.

As for me, your humble scribe, I sign off for the last time. I have enjoyed writing these stories for the Town Crier and Patch for the better part of the last seven years. It has been an honor and a privilege to coach with these coaches and to work with these young men. I don’t feel like I had just one son on this squad. I felt like I had 24.