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Sports

Jack Martinelli To Be Inducted Into Massachusetts High School Football Coaches Association's Hall of Fame

After 29 seasons as the head football coach, Martinelli will be honored and inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Ask anyone about the Foxboro High School football program, and chances are that you’ll end up talking about veteran Warriors’ Coach Jack Martinelli. After 29 seasons as the head coach, Martinelli will be honored and inducted into the Massachusetts High School Football Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame. With an impressive resume that includes: over 200 wins, 9 league titles, and 4 state titles in 8 appearances, it’s easy to see how Martinelli got inducted.

Coming to Foxboro from Norwood before the 1982 season, Martinelli looked to be the person to bring a change to the football program when the school was looking for a new direction. Going 7-3 in his first season as coach, the program would win their first league title in 1983 followed by another one in 1984.

While these early teams were successful at winning league titles, it would be the Warrior teams of the late 80s and early 90s that would bring the state title to Foxboro. Led by future Denver Broncos Center Tom Nalen, the Warriors would win the 1987, 1988, and 1991 State Championships.

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“It was a great crop of kids and one year fed off the other. They all wanted to be on a higher run than the team before them,” Martinelli said of those teams.

Foxboro’s next state title would come in 2006, a win that would also be the 200th win of Martinelli’s career.

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“The priority is winning that Super Bowl for those kids. The other piece of it is not as important, but I would be a liar if I said it wasn’t a good feeling,” said Martinelli.

With nine Hockomock League Titles and 4 State Championships, Coach Martinelli has created a program with a culture of winning and success. The amazing part about that feat was, he was able to do it at a school as small as Foxboro.

With an enrollment that doesn’t even reach 900, Foxboro has often been considered the underdog. While that has caused some to underestimate the Warriors, Coach Martinelli always saw it as an excuse to overachieve.

Determined to get the best out of his teams, Martinelli has traditionally scheduled the team’s non-league games against bigger schools to raise the level of play and expectations for his team. “The kids have always relished that challenge….that raises the bar for them,” states Martinelli.

It is a practice that paid off in the past. In 1987, Foxboro was able to take advantage of the old ranking system to decide who went to the Super Bowl by playing larger schools. “That particular group played some real good non-league teams; big schools out in Western Mass. They were all teams that had good records and big schools. We got some quality points for that,” said Martinelli.

In the old ranking system to decide the Super Bowl participants, the quality of your opponents was part of the formula that made the rankings. Those quality team points would get Foxboro into the Super Bowl for a rematch against Hockomock League foe Canton. Taking advantage of this second chance, Foxboro would win 9-8 for their first State Championship. This is a Foxboro team in a nutshell. They may not come from the biggest school or had the most funding, but they would take on anyone with confidence that could beat anyone.

The Mansfield game has always been a game that has defined the program. As a game that has often acted as the de facto Hockomock League Championship game, the rivalry is one of two games that Foxboro has used as a measuring stick with the other being again Foxboro’s other rival, North Attleboro.

“I think those two rivalries were embedded in the kids since they started playing midget football. Even on that level the Mansfield/North Attleboro games took on a magnitude maybe a little more some of the other,” said Martinell.

The Mansfield game epically had more meaning. It was a rivalry that would go beyond the games. With the towns bordering each other, bitter rivals who eventually would become friends; “They battled with each other on the field. They battle with each other off the field. When it was all said and done, they became best of friends.”

Even outside of football season, Martinelli is the type to make sure that his players stay out of trouble.

“Coach Martinelli was the kind of coach that cared about his players after their uniforms came off,” expresses former player Kevin Daniels.

Another former player Aubrey Holmes expressed a similar feeling.

“Coach knew more about his players than they knew themselves. He'd treat every single kid on the roster like they were his All-Star player. You would never feel like just a number and a position. The player-coach relationship was so strong, he'd be there for you whatever the case on and off the field, “ said Holmes.

Looking out for his players Coach Martinelli has been supportive of his players participating in other sports, if only because it kept them active. “What happens in the smaller school is that schools can’t afford to have kids specialize in one sport. A Foxboro athlete is usually a 2-3 season athlete. As a coach you always want to know where your kids are," said Martinelli. "I guess that is the same as being a parent you always want to know where they are. It’s nice to see whether they play your sport or someone else’s they are involved in something and if they are not there is a push to get them in to the weight room so you know where they are.”

Entering his 30th season has the Foxboro head coach, Coach Martinelli shows no signs of slowing down.

“I’d like to stay as long as they’ll keep me here, and as long as you feel your coaching staff and kids are responding to what you expect of them, then you’ll want to do it forever if you can,” said Martinelli.

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