Man About Canton: 86 Years of Football Action

DID YOU KNOW …

Canton will face Stoughton in the classic Thanksgiving Day matchup tomorrow at 10 a.m. at Stoughton High School.

The Canton-Stoughton rivalry is 86 years of football action since the two teams started playing each other in 1926, and the rivalry now stands in Stoughton’s favor with 43 wins, 39 losses and four ties. Stoughton has moved ahead by beating Canton 15 of the last 17 games.

Each year, MAC publishes some facts, figures, and trivia from the Canton-Stoughton rivalry series. This year, MAC will revisit five of Canton’s biggest upsets (two were ties) and three of Stoughton’s biggest upsets.

1940: Canton 6 – Stoughton 0

In a game that was played two weeks after Thanksgiving due to a snowstorm, the Bulldogs beat an undefeated and unscored-upon Stoughton team 6-0. Canton’s Jim Kelleher blocked a Stoughton punt that bounced out of bounds on Stoughton’s one-yard line. Canton had three runs up the middle with no gain. On fourth down, CHS halfback Antoine Gomes plunged over a hole made by left guard Charlie Tolias for the only score in the game. The Canton Journal described the win as “the most thrilling in the history of the series.” The paper singled out the play of Tolias, who was “all over the field,” the “superb play” of Carlton Titus and Donald Seaman, who “rose to unknown heights,” and Ermes Cametti, who “played the greatest game of his career.”

1959: Canton 18 – Stoughton 8

In a huge upset, a 2-6 Canton team shocked a 7-1 Stoughton team 18-8 to snap a six-year losing streak. Canton was led by captain Paul Pasquarose, who completed 19 of 26 passes for 280 yards, including a 25 yarder to Kenny Oles and a 40-yard pass to Charlie Patriaca. But the biggest play happened with less than two minutes left and the score 12-8 in Canton’s favor: Stoughton had a fourth and two from the Canton 15-yard line when fullback Frankie Polillio was stopped cold by Canton defenders Clem Leary, Eddy Lehan, Leo O’Donnell, and Jerry Callahan. Canton took over and two plays later, Patriaca went 70 yards for a touchdown. A fight broke out in the end zone, and the game was called by the referees with 50 seconds left.

1973: Canton 16 – Stoughton 15

Thanksgiving Day in 1973 gave us one of the most exciting football games ever played in the Canton-Stoughton series. Undefeated Stoughton was set to move into the State Schoolboy Super Bowl for the Division III Championship. Many people believed there was no way that lowly Canton could beat them. Even without its great running back, Ralph Polillio, Stoughton still had a bench full of good backs. The Black Knights did their thing and jumped out to an early 13-0 lead, which carried into the third quarter. Canton then seemed to come alive. Bill Breheny pinpointed some beautiful passes, picking apart the Stoughton defense. Jim Shannon made some great receptions. Dave Johnson, Bubba Withee, and Bill Duggan made some key runs as Canton went up 16-13. Canton had the ball in the last few minutes of the game deep in its own territory. It was then that Canton’s new head coach, Paul Therrian, pulled off one of his best moves. On a fourth down play, he had Breheny run around inside his own end zone while a Stoughton player waited to tackle him near the goal line. Finally, when they saw that Breheny was going to let the time run out, they nailed him for a safety, narrowing the score to 16-15. Withee then sent a beautiful punt from the 20-yard line and put the Black Knights deep in their own territory. Stoughton tried in vain to score, but Canton held on for the upset win. Shannon was voted the outstanding player, showing what a great linebacker and end he was. Other players who had a great game were Ken Harding, Joe Regan, Bill Galvin, Dick Katno, John Marino, Ken MacLeod, Sean McDonough, Tim Danahy, Rick Bodine, Phil McEnany, Alan Haines, and Billy Cravens.

1975: Canton 0 – Stoughton 0

Stoughton came into the Thanksgiving Day game undefeated and had clinched the Hockomock League title. It had rained heavily before the game, and the field quickly turned into a mud bowl. Throughout the game, Canton defenders stopped Stoughton’s runners at the line of scrimmage; in fact, Canton stopped Stoughton inside the 20-yard line five times, but with 20 seconds to go in the game, Stoughton quarterback Chuck Vuytowecz completed a 37-yard pass to Canton’s two-yard line. Canton then put up a great goal-line stand, stuffing Stoughton at the line of scrimmage on the last two plays of the game to win a moral victory. Canton was led by Bill Cravens, Phil McEnany, Bob Pine, Matt Cotter, Jim Duggan, and Steve White.

1992: Canton 0 – Stoughton 0

Canton came into this game as a huge underdog, but again a muddy field and Canton’s size up front made the difference as linemen EJ Callahan, Mark Thomas and Tom Rose, and linebackers Adam Fletcher (12 tackles) and Chris Manning (9 tackles) contained Stoughton’s outstanding runners, Antoine Gross and Ed Mazzuchelli. The inspired play of Canton kept the football between the 20-yard lines, and as time expired, it felt like a Canton win even though the final score read 0-0.

1927: Stoughton 12 – Canton 0

Canton was undefeated (8-0) going into the game, but a determined Stoughton team led by “Red” Hern and Mike Nally stopped Bulldog captain Charlie Callery time and time again as Stoughton pulled off a 12-0 upset win. Canton stalwarts included George Yeomans, Fran Henrickson, and Eddie Wagner.

1939: Stoughton 19 – Canton 0

CHS came into the game a heavy favorite. They outplayed Stoughton throughout the game, running up 13 first downs to Stoughton’s two and added 240 yards of offense to Stoughton’s 126, but still lost 19-0 as Stoughton quarterback “Shipper” Shipalauski ran a punt back for a 60-yard touchdown and threw two long passes for touchdowns. Standout Canton players included Paul Kelleher, Billy Adams, Jack Graham, and Ralph Masciarelli.

1943: Stoughton 7 – Canton 6

Canton was the heavy favorite while Stoughton (0-8) was described in the paper as a “winless, hapless, beef-laden brigade.” The 1943 game was the first Thanksgiving Day game ever played at Memorial Field in Canton, and it was also Charlie Stevenson’s first Thanksgiving Day game as head coach. Coming into the game, Canton had won five straight, including a huge 19-13 upset win over a Walpole team that was undefeated and unscored upon and had beaten Canton the year before 60-0. Coach Stevenson called the 1943 game “his worst Thanksgiving Day loss.” Early in the first quarter, Stoughton’s Gerry Dunn angled a punt out at Canton’s two-yard line. On a muddy and icy field, Canton was stopped for no gain and was forced to punt into a stiff wind. The punt “slithered off the side of the Canton kicker’s foot” and bounced out of bounds at Canton’s one-yard line. On Stoughton’s first play, junior fullback “Scrapper” LaFrance bolted through the center for the score and then rushed for the decisive point after. Statistically, Canton clobbered Stoughton, with 14 first downs to only two for the Black Knights. Canton piled up 243 yards on offense while holding Stoughton to only 34 yards, but Canton could only manage one touchdown by Renzo Piana as Stoughton emerged where it counted, on the scoreboard with a 7-6 upset win.

So there you have it, in MAC’s opinion, eight upsets in the Canton/Stoughton Thanksgiving Day rivalry. Will there be an upset this year? Stoughton is again a heavy favorite, and MAC predicts a 28-6 Stoughton win. But as we have read, one never knows what might happen when these two old rivals meet on the football field for the 87^th time.

This is all for now folks. See you next week.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Joe DeFelice can be reached at manaboutcanton@aol.com.

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