By John Connolly, Boston Herald
BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. -- Peter Mazzaferro can tell you how he coached (future Pats boss) Dick MacPherson on the freshman team at Springfield College in the 1950s. Mazzaferro will gladly talk about his beloved Centre College’s 1921 upset of Harvard’s previously undefeated team, 6-0, that spawned the nickname “Praying Colonels” for his alma mater. Yet, few topics perk up the spry 89-year-old retired coach more than that of the 41st Cranberry Bowl.
It was back in 1979 that Mazzaferro, then the coach at Bridgewater State, approached the Edaville Railroad in Carver about sponsoring a rivalry game between the Bears and Mass. Maritime Academy, located 28 miles away. The company donated a “scoop,” used to harvest cranberries from a bog, and the rest, as they say, is history. Ocean Spray promoted the game from 2006 to 2018 with A&A Metro Transportation coming aboard this year.
“We talked with the Edaville Railroad and they did a cranberry festival and they had a cranberry queen and everything and that was the start of it,” said Mazzaferro.
Saturday, at Clean Harbor Stadium in Buzzards Bay, the Bears (5-4, 5-2 MASCAC) and the host Buccaneers (6-3, 4-3 MASCAC) will renew acquaintances in the 41st edition of the popular Cranberry Bowl. Bridgewater, which took last year’s game, 21-7, leads in bowl matchups by a 29-10-1 margin. The clubs played five times prior to that, leaving the Bears holding a 32-12-1 all-time edge.
Bears co-captain and senior strong safety Mark Wilson transferred to Bridgewater after starting his career at Central Connecticut and said it didn’t take long to realize the importance of the bragging rights that come with winning “The Scoop.”
“I see this game much like the high schools have on Thanksgiving. I’m from Foxboro and we always played Mansfield and I hate Mansfield,” said Wilson. “When I got to Bridgewater, I didn’t know about the ‘Scoop’ until the end of the year so that was emblazoned in me in one year, not four years. Roll Bears!”
MMA co-captain and senior defensive linemen Erik Marchant of East Bridgewater said the game provides an opportunity for players on both sides to show a willingness to give everything they have for one last time. “The stakes are high,” the 6-foot-4 Marchant said.
After enduring back-to-back 2-8 seasons and not posting a winning campaign since 2012 when the Bucs were 5-4, head coach Jeremy Cameron knew something had to change. Cameron instituted a new philosophy to change the culture and it resulted in a 6-3 overall mark, and 4-3 in MASCAC play. The overall record is their best since 1999 and the six wins are the most in Cameron’s 15 years at the helm.
“We talked about going 2-8. We could go 2-8 with anybody. We told them you can help us win or you can help us lose. We knew we had to become a 90-and-10% team. Ninety percent of the time you focus on important matters. Ten percent of the time on all the trivial stuff,” said Cameron, who studied other college teams and how they handled adversity.
One of his concepts was to adopt a “dot” system where a green dot signifies individuals highly motivated to change, a yellow dot to represent hesitancy or a sideways response, and a red dot to denote chaos or naysayers reluctant to change. The entire Buccaneers team bought into the new approach. When the Bucs faced a road game against Plymouth State on its grass field, equipment guru Kevin Conrad drove senior kicker George Lampros (29 of 30 PATs, 42.4 yards punting average), who played at Bridgewater-Raynham High, to an off-campus grass field to prepare since their home, Clean Harbor Field, has turf. When the scheduled practice required a 6 a.m. start, the approach never wavered.
“No one blinked for a second,” said Cameron.
Senior quarterback Matt Long of Weymouth has been the catalyst, rushing for 892 yards and 19 touchdowns, the third-best rushing TD total in all of Div. 3. He has also hit 84 of 178 pass attempts for 1,054 yards and three TDs. The Bucs also pose a fearsome twosome on defense in sack-meisters Kyle Johnston, a senior from Raynham, and Colin McCabe, a junior from Dartmouth. Johnston and McCabe have 11½ and 9½ sacks, respectively.
“We’ve been watching you guys throughout the season and they’ve gotten better and better and better,” Bridgewater State coach Joe Verria said about his friendly rivals. “We have a great offensive line. They have a great defensive line. We have a great defensive line and they have a great offensive line. They have a great quarterback. We have a great quarterback. I think that makes for a balanced game.”
Verria’s Bears follow the lead of senior captain and quarterback Stephen D’Emilia, a homegrown prospect from Bridgewater. D’Emilia has completed 155 of 253 passes (61.3%) for 2,013 yards and 20 touchdowns to only nine interceptions. Senior Nick Santavicca has handled the ball-running chores with 612 yards gained and seven touchdowns. Junior T.J. Hairston of Watertown provides a dangerous target with 46 catches for 555 yards and four scores.