Millis Returns to Super Bowl

For the second straight year, Millis took a trip to the Super Bowl. Millis finished the season 10-1 (5-0 in league play) and earned themselves a spot in the Division 8 South Tournament where they defeated three top notch teams to get the chance to play for the Super Bowl Championship.
In getting to the Championship game, Millis took out West Bridgewater 49-20; the number two seed and undefeated, St. John Paul II 42-14 and Wareham, the number one seed, 31-18 before heading to the State Tournament, where they defeated Cathedral (9-1) 40-22 in the Semi Finals.
“Coming into the season we didn’t expect to repeat, but we felt we had a pretty good group of athletes coming back having only graduated a few players from last year’s Super Bowl team,” Coach Dana Olson said. “You not only have to play well, but you have to have your ducks in a row and the ball also has to bounce your way too.”
The season opened on September 8 with a 24-7 loss to Holliston, Millis’ only loss of the season, but despite the loss Olson saw the good from that game.
“If you rewind back to that first game against Holliston, I felt that we played a really good game, but we had a couple of bounces that didn’t go our way,” the coach said. “Since then, we consistently continued to get better as the year went along, and I think that we’re playing our best football at this point.”
Having grabbed their first Super Bowl victory since 1999 last fall, Millis came in well prepared and ready to make a run at returning to the title game. Throughout the season Millis, who plays in the Tri-Valley League, went up against schools two and three times their size but once they got into the tournament they were playing at their weight class.
Millis possess a double threat in the arm of senior quarterback Bryce Latosek and the legs of tailback Kurt Hopkins. Against West Bridgewater Latosek went 17-18 on his passes with five touchdowns, the next game Millis was given the run and took it; Cathedral opted to defend Hopkins, who only gained 60 yards on 17 carries.
While Hopkins was held in check, Latosek took through the air and posted 379 yards and four touchdowns en route to the victory and Millis’ second straight trip to the Super Bowl. On the third play of the game, the Millis quarterback hit senior Dom Zonfrelli for a 72-yard touchdown pass. The two hooked up early in the second quarter and Millis had themselves a 16-0 lead and would put up 33 points before the half came to an end.
At the time of Local Town Pages publication, Millis was set to play Hoosac Valley, who put a beating on Nashoba Tech 76-34, at Gillette Stadium the first weekend of December. While the team is enthusiastic about playing at Gillette, the coach feels that last year’s venue at Worcester State was better suited for the squad.
“The kids are excited, but in Worcester you have 5,000 fans, and you can hear them, I’m not sure you’re going to get the same type of volume with 5,000 at Gillette,” Olson said.
Local Town Pages will follow up with the game results in our next issue.