Mental Toughness Keys BHS Eleven to TVL Division Title

By KEN HAMWEY,
Bulletin Sports Writer

The 2023 Bellingham High football team personified mental toughness and resiliency.

The Blackhawks rebounded from an 0-3 record to start the season, won six straight, then finished their year by beating Norton to clinch the Tri Valley League’s Small Division championship.

Coach Dan Haddad’s squad ended its season at 7-4 overall but won all five of its games  against the small division teams.

The Blackhawks lost their first three games by a total of five points. They bowed to Blackstone-Millville and Medfield by two points and lost to Westwood by a point. The team also began its season with 10 players unavailable for the first two games.

“The only way we could get through an 0-3 start was to rely on mental toughness,’’ said Haddad, who has guided BHS to a pair of TVL Small crowns in the last four years. “We had a bunch of kids who didn’t quit and trusted one another.’’

Winless in their first three games, BHS then defeated Ashland, Dedham, Medway, Millis and Dover-Sherborn before entering the Division 6 playoffs. During the tourney, BHS downed Maynard/AMSA then lost in the quarterfinal round to Stoneham. The Blackhawks’  20-13 triumph over Norton clinched the division title on Thanksgiving Day.

Haddad credits senior leadership for the turn-around, especially from the squad’s five captains — Donovan Turner, Sean Dutremble, Connor Kelley, Ryan Cochran and Mason Jacques.

“The most vocal captain was Kelley,’’ Haddad noted. “He emphasized that he wasn’t going to end his senior year of football on a losing team. He stressed that ‘this isn’t going to end poorly.’ ‘’

Haddad said that two other factors in the turn-around were staying focused on the task at hand and not showing any signs of panic. “Winning the division title after the way we started was a great lesson for our younger players,’’ he said.

Capturing the division crown, however, did not soften the sting of being eliminated in the playoffs. The home-field loss to Stoneham (26-20) was tough to swallow because the Blackhawks committed three costly turnovers. They also were unable to stop a fake punt for a touchdown.

“I don’t want to diminish the division title, but our goal was higher,’’ Haddad noted. “We were pleased that we earned something (TVL crown) but there’s still the pain of regret. Against Stoneham, we didn’t play sound fundamental football and we picked the wrong time to commit some errors. We would have liked to see what we could have done against Salem.’’

Salem would have been the Blackhawks’ foe in the Division 6 semifinals. 

Haddad said that beating Dedham, 21-20, was the highlight of the small division schedule and was the catalyst that sparked the six-game winning streak. “Dedham had 28 seniors and they were an awesome group,’’ he noted. “We forced two turnovers that played a big role in the victory. One turnover stopped their momentum and we scored on the other.’’

Defeating Norton clinched the crown outright. It was obvious that the Blackhawks and their coach had no interest in ending their season in a three-way tie for the division title. A Bellingham loss to Norton would have given Dedham and Norton a tie with BHS.

“Norton had a better record than us,’’ Haddad said. “They were 6-2 and we were 6-4. We wanted to prove to our fans that we’d be the last team standing. A three-way tie waters down calling yourself a champion.’’

Haddad credits all his assistants for igniting the spark to finish 7-1 in the squad’s last eight games. “They were the driving force behind the surge,’’ he emphasized. “They all said that we were going to win out and the players bought in. They knew that we were a Super Bowl caliber team.’’

Haddad revealed that his players showed lots of emotion in the post-game gathering on the field. “They were excited they achieved their goal to win the division crown, but I could also see some sadness. Some were sad to see their season come to an end.’’

When a team develops mental toughness and relies on it, that attribute can pay dividends. It obviously did for Bellingham’s football team.

“When there’s adversity, like a fumble or an interception, you have 40 seconds to get ready for the next play,’’ Haddad offered. “You’ve got to shift gears immediately and have a short memory. Mental toughness can take a team a long way.’’

The Blackhawks were down but not out after an 0-3 start. The coaches and the players regrouped and clicked in a big way. 

And, Connor Kelley probably said it best while he was hugging Haddad during the post-game celebration. “I knew we could do this,’’ he said.