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Amesbury made strides as a program

Tuesday, November, 27 By Dan Guttenplan
Sports editor

ARLINGTON | Members of the Amesbury football team will be proud to wear their letterman jackets over the next nine months.

And that is, perhaps, the biggest sign of change for a historically stagnant program.

This season may symbolize the turning of a corner for a team that hasn't seen the other side of the mountain since the late-1980s and early-1990s. Never did the Indians of the last 15 years win Cape Ann League titles. Rarely did they see seasons with more wins than losses.

But that all changed last Thanksgiving when the Indians pulled off the first of what would become back-to-back Thanksgiving Day stunners over Newburyport.

The first victory gave the Indians hope. The second proved they can no longer be considered an also-ran in the CAL picture.

Last night's 19-16 loss to Greater Lawrence in the EMass. Division 3A semifinal will serve as a bump in the road for Amesbury. But those bumps can no longer sidetrack a program on the rise.

The last 12 months are evidence enough of that.

In that span, Amesbury has claimed as many Thanksgiving Day victories as it had in the previous 12 seasons. The Indians have one more CAL title than they captured in the previous 18 seasons. And they have one more postseason appearance than they had in their entire program's history.

"This put us on the map," Indians coach Thom Connors said. "Amesbury's never had a season like this. We had fun all weekend preparing for a playoff game. All of the school came out to see us, it's been great."

But the journey to the postseason didn't come without its share of adversity for Connors.

In 2002, he took over a program on the brink of hitting rock bottom. His first team went 0-11, and he struggled with numbers and enthusiasm. The long-time Newburyport High assistant had to be thinking, "I left greener pastures for this?"

But he didn't feel sorry for himself. He dug in and turned the program around.

Last year's Thanksgiving Day victory clinched the first .500 season in the Connors era. This year's training camp opened unlike any other for the Indians.

People had Amesbury as a potential CAL Small contender. And why not? They had a host of young players returning from last year's team.

But the journey to the top is never paved with preseason predictions. The Indians needed to learn that for themselves, and they did en route to an 0-3 start. Four weeks later, things didn't look any brighter when Amesbury found itself 2-5 with a league loss to its name.

"At that time, we would've had the highest odds in Vegas for making it as far as we did," Connors said. "We did well to get here."

To get there | the postseason | the Indians had to climb outside of the shell that had held the program down for years. Past Amesbury teams had started slow. Many of those fell by the wayside.

This team dug itself out, winning three games with its proverbial back against the wall.

Amesbury marched off the field solemnly last night, with Greater Lawrence joining in a team-wide cheer on the walk to the bus. The Amesbury players' faces told the story; it was a game they could've had, but it got away from them.

No one could say the locals didn't belong on the field with their Commonwealth Conference Large champion counterparts. The Indians played them tough and had them on the ropes at halftime (16-7, Amesbury).

But none of it mattered to the Indians when the scoreboard showed a final score of 19-16.

What matters for Amesbury going forward is no longer participation numbers, offseason conditioning or team morale as has been the case in years past. Rather, next season, wins and losses, league titles and Super Bowl appearances will be the sole priority.

That's how the Amesbury football program has changed over the last two seasons. And there may be a swarm of Amesbury High letterman jackets to prove it.

Dan Guttenplan is the sports editor of The Daily News. He can be reached at dguttenplan@ecnnews.com.