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July 14, 2011

Ipswich foursome ready to make noise in Agganis Football Classic

Matt Williams Staff writer

The seniors on the Ipswich football team won five of the last 11 games they played in high school. That may not sound like much, but after they endured 31 consecutive losses as underclassmen, you can bet your bottom dollar that the 5-6 stretch that ended their careers felt like a million bucks.

If the wins they earned weren’t enough to show you the value of Ipswich’s graduating gridiron class, take a look at the roster for tonight’s 50th Agganis All-Star Football Classic, to be played at Manning Field in Lynn at 7 p.m.

Four players from Ipswich populate the North roster: John Eldredge, Nils Swenson, Jake Leblanc and Brendan Gallagher.

“Those guys started since they were sophomores. They really got after it athletically and in the weight room and worked hard to compete and improve,” said Ipswich coach Ted Flaherty. “They were our leaders and the main reason we were able to kind of turn things around.”

Eldredge, a 6-foot-2, 175 pound receiver and defensive back, will play football at Bates next year. Though he was hampered by injuries, he was one of the best pass catchers on the North Shore last fall with 406 receiving yards and eight TDs, including an incredible 182-yard, three TD performance in a win over North Reading.

“John was really one of the better athletes we’ve had come through here in a while,” said Flaherty. “He had some injuries that would have stopped some kids, but he kept coming back.”

Eldredge scored his first TD as a Tiger as a sophomore running back. By the time he was a senior, he was an ace receiver that Ipswich built most of its passing game around.

“John was a fast, very athletic guy who played three sports. He made everything go,” said Flaherty. “He was a big player for us.”

Leblanc is another Tiger who overcame serious injury. He actually tore ligaments in his knee at the start of Ipswich’s dramatic win over Hamilton-Wenham on Thanksgiving of his junior year, the first game this group of Tigers won on varsity.

“When we finally won, the whole game plan was built around Jake and then he went down. We won for him and that made that win that much more special,” said Flaherty.

Leblanc was one of Ipswich’s leading rushers last fall with 290 yards and two TDs. He was even more valuable on the defensive side of the ball.

“He’s another guy whose injury would have knocked a lot of people out, but he came back,” said Flaherty. “He’s the type of player that loves contact but is always smiling. He’s happy go lucky, but he’ll kill you.”

Leblanc was also an inspiration to his teammates, fighting through injuries until the end. That kind of leadership by example was a big boost for the Tigers, who were striving to rebuild their legacy.

“Jake was a real warrior,” said Flaherty. “I’ll tell you this, no one would dare sit in the training room when they saw Jake out on the field with everything he went through.”

Then there’s Swenson, a hard nosed 6-foot, 205 pound linebacker who played guard for the Tigers as well. He was the Ipswich captain, and truth be told he was athletic enough to play fullback. But Ipswich’s speedy wing system uses guards as the lead blocker more often than not, and Swenson packed plenty of punch for that job.

“Nils was all business. He was playing inside linebacker for us as a sophomore,” said Flaherty. “He is a smart kid who does very well in school. Nils expects a lot of himself and of others. He’s a very physical player who did anything we asked him to do.”

Not to be forgotten is the quarterback, Gallagher, who enjoyed a career year last fall with eight TD passes. He threw for 1,254 yards over the last two seasons and 12 total TDs, in addition to 347 rushing yards and a score last fall.

“Brendan is a gamer. He’s so competitive and had such great instincts,” said Flaherty.

In fact, Gallagher’s chemistry with Eldredge is something that could be resurrected in tonight’s Agganis Classic.

“With Brendan, you felt like you had a chance on every play. He would roll out and you had that threat of him running it on a bootleg to flipping it to John,” said Flaherty. “That opened up a lot of stuff for us.”

Four football players that never quit no matter the record or the score. They were a shining example for the young Tigers and will be honored to play tonight.

“They were as good a group of four guys as you could ask for,” said Flaherty. “There’s a possibility that if they’re all out there the whole left side of the defense could be our orange helmets. I’m excited to see it, and I think it shows we’re really headed in the right direction.”

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