~ The Old Sachem ~ A Slight Setback

By Bill Stewart

The third portion of the Golden Years of Saugus football suffered a slight setback. After winning teams before, we had a group of young kids who had not played much in the past. The heroes of prior years have mostly graduated. Tom Sheehan, Gene Decareau, Ernie Anganis and the co-captains Forti and Harris all returned, but we had some who would make their mark: Sardi Nicolo, Jim Blunt and George Laskey.

In 1946 the Sachems lost to Malden 0-21 and Beverly 0-19, beat Chelsea 18-0, tied Amesbury at 6, and Revere at 6, lost to Lynn English 0-14 and Lynn Classical 7-34, beat Swampscott 13-9, Marblehead 8-0, and Peabody 7-0 for a record of 4-4-2. Tom Sheehan scored twice against Chelsea, once against Amesbury and once against Swampscott. Laskey was injured before the Malden game and was back for the Revere clash. He scored against Classical, Swampscott, Marblehead and Peabody. Decareau began his successful career as a placekicker – getting the points after in each game.

The hockey team playing in Lynn Arena on Boston Street had their first league season and finished 3-4-1. Sheehan, Carlton, Jack and Charlie Prentice were up front and Popp in net.

The 1947 football season got the Sachems back on track with a 7-3 record. They lost to Brookline 6-12, beat Beverly 7-0, Chelsea 21-13, Amesbury 14-6, Revere 13-7 and Lynn English 14-0, lost to Classical 7-20, beat Swampscott 20-0 and Marblehead 14-6 and lost to Peabody 13-0. Dan Murphy started a career that was tremendous on defense. Falasca, Decareau, Anganis, Blunt, Nicolo, Quinlan and Laskey turned in great performances.

The Sachem hockey team won the championship of the North Shore hockey league as Jack Prentice led the league in scoring 25 points. Captain Ronny Carlton and Charlie Prentice were second with 16 each. The team beat St. John’s Prep 3-0, Lawrence Central 5-2, Beverly 4-2, Marblehead 4-0, Salem 3-0 and Gloucester 3-2, tied Peabody at 2, beat Revere 5-4, lost to Danvers 1-3 and beat Swampscott 5-2. They made the State Tournament for the first of many times and lost twice.

The 1948 season brought the Sachems all the way back; the team went 10 wins and a tie. They beat Brookline and lost to Beverly, 20-15, when a riot broke out in the third period that finished the game. Saugus whipped Lynn Classical 20-7, Amesbury 27-0, Chelsea 40-0, Lynn English 21-0, Revere 53-0, Swampscott 28-0, Marblehead 25-7 and Peabody 26-6. The Sachems were awarded the Lynn Daily Item’s Exchange Bowl, for the first assignment ever. They beat Weymouth to take the trophy. Saugus ran up a season score of 288-60. Co-captains were Sardi Nicolo and Jim Blunt at halfback and Danny Murphy at right guard. Richie Nicolo was the quarterback; Les DiMaci and Fred Quinlan at right halfback. Frank Forti was the fullback; Ken Neal and Charlie Woodell were ends and Eddie Falasca, Don Junkins and Fred Flaherty were linemen.

The Sachem twirlers took part in the riot along with just about everybody else. They included Lona Allen, Muriel Perkins, Marilyn Pettito, Gail Watson, Shirley Westendarp, Marcia Blake, Lucille Weyler, Elaine Belliveau and Gretchen Davis.

The hockey team lost to Beverly, Peabody and Danvers. They tied Amesbury, lost to Gloucester and tied Salem. They lost to Swampscott, Marblehead and Classical. They tied English, then lost to Revere. The team was mostly underclassmen and looking forward to the next season. Stan Popp, Charlie Green, George Nicholson, Rich Eastman, Paul Gage and the Meagher boys, George and Robert, were among the players.

 (Editor’s Note: Bill Stewart, who is better known to Saugus Advocate readers as “The Old Sachem,” writes a weekly column about sports – and sometimes he opines on current or historical events or famous people.)