FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Hull High School won its annual Thanksgiving rivalry matchup against Cohasset, 24-10, for the first time since 2009. The Pirates kept their undefeated record (12-0) and won the South Shore League Tobin Division Championship. For his leadership of the team, Hull's Coach O'Donnell has been named this week's New England Patriots High School Coach of the Week.
Coach O'Donnell, currently in his sixth year as head coach, has led the Pirates to their first South Shore League Tobin Division Championship since 1996 and an undefeated record heading into this weekend's Division 8 Super Bowl game. The Pirates appeared in the Super Bowl last year, losing 20-14 to Randolph after sitting out their star players for the Thanksgiving game. So, Coach O'Donnell decided on a different approach this year, deciding to play every starter for the entirety of the game.
"Congratulations to Coach O'Donnell and the Pirates on their exciting win over Cohasset. We know that it was one of the team's main goals throughout the year," said Patriots and Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Andre Tippett. "We were impressed to hear Coach O'Donnell throwing caution to the wind and suiting up everyone to play on Thanksgiving Day, despite the impending Super Bowl matchup, and emerging with both a perfect record and their health intact."
Senior quarterback, Luke Richardson, led his team to victory. He finished 10-of-14 for 201 yards with a 1-yard rushing touchdown and a 62-yard passing touchdown to senior John Gianibas. Junior defensive back and wide receiver Nick Tiani also played a huge role, scoring the first touchdown of the game and adding an interception in the fourth quarter to set up the 1-yard touchdown run by Richardson.
The Pirates will look to keep their perfect record intact and to avenge last year's Super Bowl defeat as they take on KIPP Academy in the Division 8 Super Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 10:00 am at Gillette Stadium. The game will be streamed on Patriots.com as well as CBSBoston.com.
Tippett, now the team's Executive Director of Community Affairs, met with the Pirates football team and cheerleading squad Tuesday morning to present the football program with a $1,000 donation on behalf of the Patriots Foundation in honor of Coach O'Donnell. The visit and check presentation will be featured on the Patriots weekly television show, "Patriots All Access," which airs on Wednesday night, Nov. 30, at 7 p.m. on WBZ-TV in Boston and will be available immediately after on Patriots.com.
This is the 27th year in which the Patriots have joined the National Football League in conducting the High School Coach of the Week program, which recognizes outstanding high school coaches and promotes youth football throughout New England. The 2022 season marks the 11th year that the Patriots have sent Tippett to present the award to the coach at their school.
At the conclusion of the fall, one of the weekly winners will be named the New England Patriots High School Coach of the Year and will receive an additional $2,000 contribution towards the school's football program.
Fans are encouraged to nominate any New England high school head coach who leads a team to an exceptional win, a record-breaking performance or reaches a personal career milestone by emailing nominatecoach@patriots.com. All nominations must be submitted following a team's Friday night or Saturday afternoon game to be considered for that week's Patriots High School Coach of the Week award.
The Patriots Foundation is the non-profit through which the Patriots support charitable and philanthropic organizations throughout New England. This support comes in the form of direct grants, in-kind donations and player appearances. The foundation assists a variety of charitable organizations and programs throughout New England by supporting their educational, family and health initiatives.
