THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Wednesday, November 24, 2021 Page 15 final game in the series with Bill Buldini at the helm for Medford, as he went a perfect 6-0 on the holiday. It was the first Turkey Day leading the Malden troops for new first-year Head Coach Rich Cullen; Cullen made the crosstown switch as Head Coach of Malden Catholic (his alma mater), where he had been for the previous 12 seasons. 2000: This was a memorable “season saver” game for firstyear Medford Head Coach Al Pare, as the Mustangs pulled the “Dominick Hasek” to take a 1413 win at sunny, but brisk Macdonald Stadium. Medford came in winless at 0-8, and Malden was 1-9, with the victor having at least a Turkey Day win to savor. Medford also took the lead in the series for the first time since 1946, going ahead, 5251-10, with their only win. Junior two-way end Luis Zamora and junior split end Angel Ortiz were Medford’s stars. For Malden, senior Ricky Bethelmie went over the 1,000 yard rushing mark for the year. Malden struck first when freshman quarterback Breno Giacomini (believed to be the first freshman to start at quarterback ever, for either side) hit Nevy Marc with a 30-yard pass, followed by a 20-yard TD run by Bethelmie and a PAT kick by Carmelo Bari. Medford QB Dave Foley then hit Ryan Driscoll with a seven-yard TD pass, and Zamora’s PAT tied it at 7-7 at the half. A big catch by Zamora and a 20-yard run by freshman tailback Julien Mundele fueled the drive. A trick, inside kick by Medford opened the second half as Ortiz leaped high to snare Zamora’s “pooch” kick. A 40-yard run by Zamora and six-yard TD burst by Terence “The Bus” Burrell gave Medford a 13-7 lead. Zamora’s PAT made it 14-7 and turned out to be the game-winning point. A lightning response by Malden came with a 72-yard TD run by Bethlemie, but the PAT kick to tie bounced off the goalpost, and Malden trailed, 14-13. Dave Richard and Jack Dolabany made key sacks for Medford as the visiting Mustangs crowd, a large one despite the team record, roared with each one. On Malden’s last chance drive, Ortiz sealed the win with an acrobatic interception at his own 25-yard line, following his game-saving play with a “Mustang Dive” into the Medford fans as the Mustangs won for the seventh straight time on Thanksgiving. 2001: In front of the largest crowd in years at drizzly Hormel Stadium, this one was thought to be an evenly matched battle before kickoff, but Medford exploded in the first half for a 27-0 lead enroute to a 34-6 victory. Sophomore tailback Julien Mundele led the way with four TDs and 219 yards rushing, one TD short of Mike Colonna’s series record of five TDs set in the 1972 game. Medford senior Angel Ortiz scored the other firsthalf TD, on a reception from senior QB Peter Krasco, who returned to action after missing three games with injury. Krasco went for 138 yards on 8 of 13 numbers. A PAT kick by Mike Piontkowski and two-point conversion by Dennis Giannino off a pass from the kicker were Medford’s other first-half points. Mundele scored his fourth TD on a 31-yard third quarter run. Malden senior quarterback Mike Hudd passed for 143 yards, including a 43-yard TD strike to Tim Konick to avert the shutout. Hudd set the single-season Malden passing mark (1,571 yards) in the loss, which still stands. Medford tied an all-time series record with its eighth straight Thanksgiving win. 2002: A heavy snowstorm blanketed Macdonald Stadium in Malden with nearly a foot of the white stuff, but the Malden players and coaches shoveled it off in time to hand Medford a 12-0 shutout loss and snap an eight-game Malden loss streak. Malden won for the first time since 1993 and also shut out Medford for the first time since the fabled 100th game in 1987 (28-0). On the “frozen tundra,” Golden Tornadoes junior Elisee “Buddha” Pompilus rushed for 149 yards on 23 carries and an 11-yard touchdown. Running behind senior captain Jim Noble and the Malden line, Pompilus’s running set up a one-yard TD burst by senior quarterback A.C. Callahan with 8:53 left in the half. The PAT kick was no good, and Malden led, 6-0, which stood up at half. Medford drove to the Malden 20 next, but Malden’s Dan Laskey pounced on a Mustangs fumble. A scoreless third period left it at 6-0 heading into the final quarter. A 34yard run by Pompilus set up his own three-yard TD with 6:53 to go in the game, and the conversion pass was no good; Malden led, 12-0. Malden’s J.D. Pappagallo was credited with slowing down Mustangs’ star runner Julien Mundele, who was held to just one long fourth-quarter run. 2003: Malden won for the second straight year, 7-0, at sunny and brisk Hormel, the first time Malden shut out Medford in two consecutive games in 44 years since 1958-1959 (26-0, 20-0) and the first time Malden won two years in a row since 19921993. The win also re-tied the all-time series at 53-53-10. The game’s lone TD came on a jet sweep by Malden junior Jamal Woods (7 carries, 56 yards). Senior co-captain Devin McNelis drilled the PAT kick in the first quarter, and that was it for scoring for the day, as the defenses took over. The anticipated showA pair of Malden sophomores who played strong games in last year’s 29-0 Malden win were Mackenley Anasthal (30) and Sammy Solorzano (56) who converged on Medford quarterback Aidan Barry for a sack. (Courtesy Photo) down between star backs Elisee Pompilus for Malden and senior four-year starter Julien Mundele of Medford never materialized, as each was essentially held in check, although Mundele did lead all rushers with 77 yards on 20 carries. Penalties stalled Medford all game, which never got inside the Malden 20 in the second half. For Malden, seniors McNelis, 6-7 NFL-bound end Breno Giacomini (4 sacks), Rob Quigley, Sam Nelson and junior Kevin Newhall bottled up Medford’s attack. After the game, Medford coach Al Pare announced his retirement after four years at the helm. 2004: One of the biggest offensive lines in Malden High football history simply dominated the line of scrimmage as Malden won its third straight, 28-6, on a partly sunny, brisk morning at Macdonald Stadium. Malden won its third straight for the first time in 26 years (1986-1988) and spoiled first-year Medford coach Mike DeFelice’s Thanksgiving debut. Seniors Kevin Newhall and Maurice Rodriquez, junior Brendan McNelis and sophomores James Brito-White and Brian Melo dominated up front, and Jamal Woods carried 13 times for 117 yards and two TDs to lead Malden. Junior fullback Renaldo Bloodworth ran for 60 yards, and junior slotback Anthony Pappagallo had 49 yards and a TD. Medford scored on the last play of the first half when senior QB Kevin Krasco hit junior end Kamal Mgaresh in the back of the end zone for an eight-yard TD. Bloodworth and Woods scored in the second half, and junior Wiston Jeune hit 4 of 4 PATs. Outsized, Medford played tough all day, led by senior linebacker Gerry Murphy’s 12 tackles and two sacks. NUbound Newhall led Malden’s defense with 10 tackles. Malden retook the all-time series lead, 5453-10, in the victory. 2005: Malden High started quietly but finished with a loud thump in a 39-6 demolition in a traditional “Mud Bowl” game at Hormel. The fourth win in a row for Malden was the first time in 40 years for a Golden Tornadoes “Four-Peat.” The one-sided win also capped the most successful Malden season since 1988, the first time it had won nine games since 1987 as it finished 9-2. Star of the day was junior Derek Freni, with three touchdowns: one running, one receiving and one punt return TD. Classmate Jimmy Chery capped a banner All-Scholastic campaign with 13 carries for 122 yards. Freni and senior co-captains Brendan McNelis and Anthony Pappagallo, along with seniors Wiston Jeune and Sam Guillaume, led the defense, allowing Medford only one completed pass all game and less than 50 yards rushing. Medford (3-8) scored its only points on an 85-yard kickoff return TD by senior Kamal Mgaresh in the third quarter. It was Coach Rich Cullen’s last game at Malden, as he retired in the offseason. 2006: Medford came in winless, shut out on the scoreboard for six straight games at 0-10, and the only history many gave the Mustangs a chance at making was they’d be the “losingest” team in school history if they dropped #11. There was positive history to be made instead, as the Mustangs’ Sean Foley booted a 26-yard field goal on Medford’s first possession in the first overtime game ever played in the storied, 119-year history of Medford-Malden, a stunning, 17-14 upset at rainy, muddy and dark Macdonald Stadium in Malden. Medford’s fans rushed the field after the “season-saver” win, the second time in the decade (2000) they had entered the game winless and won it, and third time overall (1976). Malden finished 3-7 and spoiled Coach John Lopresti’s Thanksgiving debut. It also turned out to be Medford coach Mike DeFelice’s final game at the helm on Thanksgiving, as he stepped down shortly into the 2007 season, as Medford broke a four-game win streak by Malden. Steve Murphy was the Mustangs’ workhorse in this game – 138 yards and a TD on 23 carries – as Medford shocked Malden by taking a 14-0 lead as drenching rain soaked the field. Malden did regroup and owned the second half, scoring twice to tie it: once on a short keeper by sophomore QB Justin Richardson and then on a 15-sweep around left end with just 46 seconds to play in the game by senior Jimmy Chery. Chery caught the two-point conversion pass in traffic to tie it. Both teams got four downs from the 10-yard line in the historic, first-ever OT period. Malden was stopped at the three-yard line on fourth down by a Steve Murphy tackle in its try. Medford appeared to win it on second down on a Murphy eight-yard TD run on its try, but it was called back due to penalty. Two plays later, Foley’s FG sealed the win. 2007: Game #120 at Hormel in Medford featured the best weather since the 2000 game, sunny and “balmy” in the high 40s, and also brought the closest finish since that year as well, as it took a PAT kick by sophomore Nick Hoyt, the first of the season and of his career, to make the difference in a 7-6 Malden victory. This was a “pick ’em” game to start and ended the same way. Medford scored first on an 11yard run by senior star runner Steve Murphy, but could not convert and led, 6-0. Malden (47) came back and tied the game on a three-yard run by backfield “newcomer” junior captain David Freni, and it was up to Hoyt to deliver the end-over-end kick that made it by about two feet
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