Gloucester Alumni

By Matt Langone , Sports editor
Gloucester Daily Times

Just how big was the Gloucester football team's 26-22 comeback victory last Friday night against Lynn Classical?

Well, it was big enough to earn Fishermen head coach Paul Ingram the honor of High School Coach of the Week from the New England Patriots. That's how fast news can travel when your team overcomes a 22-6 deficit with eight minutes left in the game, as Ingram's Fishermen did last week.

"I was shocked," said Ingram of his reaction to hearing about his award. "I found out on Monday that I would be getting the award. It was such a great honor to get it. I told all of the kids on the team that it's really an honor for the whole team."

Meanwhile, Ingram's players couldn't be more proud of their coach.

"It's great to see coach Ingram get recognized," said senior captain Cam Marston. "We win the games as players, but it's all because of his play-calling and time management. We're all really happy for him and glad to see him get rewarded."

Ingram, whose team is a perfect 8-0 on the season going into tonight's battle with Lynn English at Manning Field (7 p.m.), took a trip to Gillette Stadium on Wednesday to receive his award, and brought along his team captains for an experience that few high school players get to enjoy.

Gloucester's four captains, Andrew Fulford, Adam Quinn, Mario Peritore and Marston, accompanied Ingram to Foxboro and received an in-depth tour of the stadium from none other than former Patriots Pro-Bowl linebacker Andre Tippett, who is now the Patriots' Executive Director of Community Affairs.

"He (Tippett) took us around and showed us the stadium and all the things that you don't always get to see," said Ingram. "We saw the weight room and the locker room and got to go down on the field."

After spending some time together, Ingram left a fine impression with Tippett.

"I can see why Gloucester is doing so well," said Tippett in a press release. "It is obvious to everyone here at the Patriots that Gloucester High School has an outstanding coach and person in Paul Ingram."

If the stadium tour wasn't enough, Ingram also did an interview with WCVB Channel 5's Mike Lynch as part of WCVB's weekly program called Patriots All Access, with Lynch as the host. During the interview, Ingram was given his award along with $1000 donated to the Gloucester football program from the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation.

The segment will air on television on Saturday night (7 p.m.) and on Sunday morning (10 a.m.).

"He (Lynch) talked to me for a few minutes about the win last week," said Ingram. "And I introduced the captains to him."

Lynch, who played football and baseball at Harvard in the mid-1970s, is a Swampscott product and understands what Northeastern Conference football is all about.

"He (Lynch) gave us some grief about beating Swampscott earlier in the year," said Marston. "He told us about some of the players he played against when he was at Swampscott and he really seemed like a fan of high school football."

For Marston and his fellow captains, the trip to Gillette proved to be a motivational tool, as well as, a chance to see their coach get honored.

This year's high school Super Bowls will be played at Gillette Stadium, and after having a taste of the facility, the Fishermen captains want to go back for a second helping.

"It's even more motivation for us to want to go back there," said Marston.
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