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LHS Thanksgiving Day Rivalry......

By HARRIS P. JAMESON

The time was Thanksgiving morning at the Lynnfield High School football field in 1960 – just forty years ago. The Lynnfield High football team was scheduled to play North Reading High in what the local scribes referred to as the “game of the little biggies”. What was so significant about that turkey day game?

I was an assistant coach for the Pioneers and did all the scouting for the team. Both teams were going into this last game unbeaten and untied. North Reading had a tough defense, while Lynnfield had scored over 400 points during the 1960 season. The game was billed as the “game of the unbeatens”.

The game was the second meeting of these two neighboring schools on the varsity level, so there was tremendous anxiety built up prior to that day. The two schools were new in the North Shore and there was that added incentive of starting a new rivalry. 

The Town of Lynnfield had constructed a huge bonfire the night before, while the North Reading fans had an airplane fly over the Lynnfield practice sessions with a banner “beat Lynnfield.”

The North Reading Hornets were coached by Bill Driscoll who had some fine players. I recall Billy Cotter, and those competitive Martino brothers. The Hornets featured the straight T with quick backs and a hard-hitting defense. 

The Pioneers were coached by Steve Sobiek, assisted by Bill Rodan, who later became head coach, and myself. Lynnfield had a high scoring wing-T offense with a backfield of Charlie Meeker, Joe DeBella, Frankie Beradino and one of the best quarterbacks in Lynnfield history Doug Murdock.

When the teams marched out to the field and jogged to their respective benches, both clubs were aghast at the long lines waiting to get into the park. The field was filled beyond capacity, as fans surrounded the playing field two and three rows deep, while many even sat on the limbs of the nearby trees. It was later estimated that about 10,000 fans came to watch the big game of the unbeaten elevens. 

Oh, yes, there was a game. As a former Pioneer coach, I must confess that, forty years later, some things can be recalled about the game itself, while other incidents blend in with other years. After coaching football at Lynnfield High School for 29 years, I remember vividly four things about the 1960 Turkey Day game. 

First, who could ever forget how the Pioneers opened up the game in the team’s first offensive series. Murdock passed to end Gary Ross who lateraled it off to Charlie Meeker who lateraled it back to Ross. Both played ping-pong down the sidelines until the one who had the ball was downed in the red zone. A few plays later, Lynnfield fullback Joe DeBella scored. Meanwhile, Sobiek, Rodan and Jameson almost suffered from cardiac arrests, because we never had practiced this: the kids had made it up in someone’s backyard. 

The second thing is that the Lynnfield coaches were worried about the team’s defense. The Pioneers had never played a full game of defense, because the subs played most of the second half in those one-sided games. But the team rose to the occasion, as it held the tough Hornets to only one touchdown. 

The third thing I remember is that Sobiek had been given walkie-talkies to use in the game and I had one. Unfortunately, we got every ham radio set in the area, so we never communicated with the person up in the so-called press booth. I remember some fan yelled out, “Hey, Jameson, what are you doing ordering pizza?”

Lastly, we won the game 22-6. But that game began a rivalry which has evolved into one of the most competitive clashes in all sports between the two schools during the last forty years. That Lynnfield 1960 football team was the only undefeated football team in the school’s 41-year history on the varsity level and I am very proud to have been a part of that experience.