FROM THE COMMUNITY ADVOCATE, NOV. 6, 2021

Football fans in the Marlboro-Hudson area were fortunate to watch nine teams make it into the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Super Bowls in the 1970s and ’80s.

At one point, the area had Super Bowl qualifiers in various divisions for seven straight years. Marlborough High played in 1979 and 1980, Hudson High did so in 1981 and ’82, and Assabet Valley Regional competed in the big game in 1983, ’84, and ’85.

Although Hudson’s first Super Bowl ride was in 1974, it sometimes gets forgotten that Hudson Catholic was the first of the four area schools to get there. The Green Wave played in the 1973 Eastern Massachusetts Division 4 Super Bowl

Green Wave dominated in the regular season

With a bunch of starters from Hudson and Marlboro, the Green Wave went 9-0 in the ’73 regular season.

Mike Grasso was the starting quarterback.

“I basically handed the ball off,” Grasso said in a recent phone interview. “One of coach Ray Sherman’s famous quotes was ‘If you pass the ball, it’s anyone’s ball.’ He would rather run it.”

“We had a great offensive line that averaged 215 pounds, which was pretty big back then, so we didn’t have to throw,” Grasso added. “You could count on one hand the times I got sacked, and when I did, it was my fault by going the wrong way.”

That line was made up of center Bruce Harris, tackles John Cole and Kevin Lahey, and guards Jeff Wolcott and Dennis Burke.

Wolcott, Harris and fullback Paul Garcia were among the strongest guys on the team.

“Jeff had the biggest arms of anyone I saw in high school,” Grasso said. “His biceps were like bowling balls and his forearms were prehistoric. Nobody would mess with him.”

Starting safety Mike Vigeant, who platooned with Ray Lambert at one of two halfback spots, gave props to Harris and Garcia, two guys who also started as linebackers.

“Bruce was tough as nails, the heart of the team,” Vigeant said via phone interview. “And Paul was a big guy who could run up the middle.”

All of the Green Wave’s starters went both ways. On offense, Marty Ghiloni was the other starting halfback, and Billy Moore and Billy O’Connell were the ends. For the most part, when switching over to defense, the linemen stayed on the line and the backs and ends became the linebackers and defensive backs.

Injury opened spot at quarterback

Going into the season, Lambert was slated to be the starting QB. But he hurt his foot, so Grasso got the nod.

“Coach Sherman said, ‘Hey you’re going to be our quarterback,’” Grasso said. “I had never thrown a pass in my life. I did OK. We had a senior-laden team. We were able to run on just about everybody except for our last couple of games.

“We didn’t have a lot of players, but we had a lot of really good athletes. In preseason scrimmages, we held our own against bigger schools like St. John’s and Westboro. Against Millis, we won 13-7 and it was their only loss of the year.”

Aside from his commitment to the run, Sherman was known for getting his players in tip-top condition.

“He made sure you could run like hell for 60 minutes and not stop,” Vigeant said. “We had good, hard-nosed kids and we were in really good shape.”

Title game against Hanover was bruising

After winning the Catholic Suburban League, Hudson Catholic played Hanover in the Super Bowl, losing 39-6 at Boston College’s Alumni Field.

“It was so cold and it was windy and that field was the old Astroturf,” Grasso said. “I got tackled a lot in that game and it was like being tackled on concrete. On the first series, I got hit and it was so cold that my hand was numb the rest of the game.

“They had a really good QB and a big running back who was fast. We were outclassed. They had two platoons and their school was probably 10 times our size.”

After Lambert broke his shoulder early in the game, Vigeant got more touches on offense than usual.

“I had two or three really good runs, but they were much bigger than we were,” Vigeant said.

With three more division Super Bowls coming up that day, a big crowd continued to file in.

“Ken MacAfee, who went on to play tight end for Notre Dame, was playing for Brockton,” Grasso said. “It was a pretty full stadium.”

The league championship that earned Hudson Catholic a spot in that game was the school’s first title in any sport.

In college, while trying out for basketball at Army, Grasso was asked by legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski where he played in high school. Krzyzewski had not yet hit it big at Duke.

“I said ‘Catholic Suburban League’ and I was cut the next day,” Grasso said. “It makes for a good story.”

Area Super Bowls (1973 through 1985)

1973 Eastern Mass Division 4: Hanover 39, Hudson Catholic 6

1974 Central/Western Mass Division 2: Taconic 19 Hudson 12

1979 Central/Western Mass Division 1: Marlboro 30, Doherty 18

1980 Central Mass Division 1: Doherty 14, Marlboro 12

1981 Central Mass Division 1: Leominster 34, Hudson 13

1982 Central Mass Division 1: Leominster 40, Hudson 21

1983 Central Mass Division 3: Assabet 21, Northbridge 20

1984 Central Mass Division 3: Grafton 22, Assabet 0

1985 Central Mass Division 3: Grafton 14, Assabet 8

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Read the original story at the Community Advocate.