Super Bowl champs take the high road amid officiating controversy

It isn’t often that the winning team in a championship game gets overshadowed by a single, correct officiating call, but that’s precisely what happened in the aftermath of this year’s MIAA Division 4A Super Bowl, won by Blue Hills Regional Technical School 16-14 over Boston Cathedral.

Blue Hills AD/head coach Ed Catabia (Judy Bass photo)

The call in question, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Cathedral quarterback Matt Owens that negated what would have been the go-ahead touchdown midway through the fourth quarter, ignited a firestorm of controversy in the local press, fueled by Boston Mayor Tom Menino’s public assertion that the call was “ridiculous.”

Picked up by the Associated Press, the story eventually went national, appearing in various media outlets under the headline “Mass. title lost when player celebrates winning TD.” A number of columnists and talk show hosts also weighed in on the issue, many of them siding with the sympathetic Owens and his Cathedral teammates.

Suffice it to say, it’s been a bittersweet past few days for the Blue Hills community, as players and coaches have been thrown on the defensive at a time when they should be basking in the afterglow of their big win.

Blue Hills head coach Ed Catabia, for his part, is done talking about the controversy, having been inundated with media inquiries from the moment the final whistle blew.

“We’ve been through enough this week as a football team and as a school,” said the mild-mannered Catabia in a telephone interview last week.

Perhaps the greatest irony, according to Catabia, is that the Warriors have developed a reputation for playing the game the right way — a mentality that is nurtured from the first day of practice and reinforced throughout the season, regardless of the outcome.

“We have always taught our kids, in our teams, no matter what sport, you play by the rules, you respect your opponent, and you move on from there,” said Catabia. “That’s where you build integrity from.”

Of course, it helps when the team is successful on the field, which has been the case for the football team over the past several seasons, other than a down year in 2009.

That season the team finished 4-7; however, they won three of their final five games after inserting a bunch of sophomores into the lineup, led by Canton’s John Curran at quarterback.

Catabia, who was in his second season as head coach after 27 years as an assistant to Vin Hickey, made the decision along with his coaching staff to roll with the younger players, hoping that the move would pay dividends in the years to come.

“We knew they were pretty special,” he said of the class of 2012. “They were team oriented. They had gone undefeated in their freshman year. We knew that if we kept these kids together that they would play together as one.”

John Curran (Judy Bass photo)

Sure enough, Curran and company retuned last fall as juniors, and with the help of a “great senior group” and a certain sophomore phenom named Vincent Burton, the Warriors exploded onto the scene, winning 10 games en route to a Mayflower League (large division) championship and a Division 4 Super Bowl berth.

They ended up drawing Shawsheen Tech, and while they lost the game 20-6, Catabia said his players, to a man, all walked off the field with their heads held high.

“We were a Cinderella team,” he said of last year’s squad. “You know when you don’t expect to be there, but you’re happy to be there — that was us last year. We were happy to be on that field and playing in December.”

But this year’s team had a different feel to it, Catabia said. The once promising sophomores from 2009 were now seniors, and while they never talked about the super bowl during the season, it was clearly in the back of their minds.

“They were not going to be denied,” said Catabia.

With Curran under center and a dominant rushing attack led by Burton and seniors Isaiah Teixeira and Jordan Rotman, the Warriors ripped off nine consecutive wins and 10 of 11 overall, their lone loss coming in a “monsoon rain” at Greater Lawrence in the second to last game of the season.

Although hoping to go undefeated, the team managed to brush off the loss and promptly punched their ticket to the postseason with a blowout win over Bristol-Plymouth in the Thanksgiving Day finale.

They went on to beat nonleague rival East Boston in the state semifinals, winning the game on an improbable field goal by sophomore tight end David Neil, who split the uprights from 26 yards out on his first and only attempt of the season.

Back in the Super Bowl, the Warriors turned to the players who had carried them all year, starting with Curran, who connected with Teixeira on a 45-yard bomb to give Blue Hills an early 8-0 lead. Then it was Burton’s turn to shine, as the two-time Boston Globe Player of the Year pounded out 152 yards on 37 carries to go along with a touchdown and a pair of two-point conversions.

Much of the credit also goes to the Warrior defense, which yielded just 50 points all season and came up with several key stops in the second half, including a game-changing interception by Keith Gomes with just over four minutes remaining. Catabia also singled out senior captain Stephen Snider, who had a dominant season at the safety position and finished as the school record holder in interceptions.

Having now had a chance to reflect on this incredible season, Catabia is no longer concerned with the controversial call or the naysayers who want to somehow discredit their championship. Instead he is reminded of the 22 seniors who helped lead the program to new heights, or his hardworking coaching staff, including offensive coordinator Mike Walsh and his junior varsity coach, Canton resident Brian Murphy, as well as former players Ed Madden and Matt McGahee.

And when he looks back on some of his favorite moments, it’s not the big plays or the gaudy point totals that come to mind, but rather the fierce battles with some of their biggest rivals.

“For some reason, and it’s nothing the coaches have said, the kids play so hard against each other that there’s no trash talking on the field, absolutely none,” he said. “It’s amazing, really. They line up, run the play, tackle, and go back to the huddle. And when the game is over they’re congratulating one another and cheering each other on.”

“It’s pretty unique to see.”

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=10186

Posted by Jay Turner on Dec 14 2011. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.