Since the Eagle-Tribune football Players of the Year were introduced as an annual honor in 1989, we have honored some truly special athletes.
But perhaps no year quite compares to 2016, which featured a pair of future NFL players!
The defensive Player of the Year a decade ago was Pat Freiermuth of Brooks, who is now in his sixth season as starting tight end for the Pittsburgh Steelers and is regarded as one of the best at his position in the league.
The offensive player of the year that same year? The Eagle-Tribune area’s all-time leading passer E.J. Perry IV, who went on to have a record-setting career at Brown and spent time in numerous NFL camps. He’s also had a productive run in the professional UFL.
Those are the only two Eagle-Tribune football MVPs to ever make it to the NFL! Two-time Super Bowl champ Zak DeOssie of North Andover and Phillips Academy was never a Player of the Year.
But they aren’t the only special players.
This past fall, our offensive MVP Gustavo Varela of Greater Lawrence shattered both the area and Massachusetts career rushing records with a brilliant 6,746 ground yards, and set the area record for touchdowns (86). The defensive MVP Vinny DeMaio of Methuen was an absolute wrecking ball.
Prior to that we had a brother act, as Methuen QB Drew Eason won offensive honors in 2023, then his little brother Rangers running back Shane Eason earned the same award a year later.
We have even had a second-generation MVP. Ralph Fast was our offensive Player of the Year in 1991, and his son Gannon Fast was defensive Player of the Year in 2019.
One of the great matchups in area history was between stud linemen Sean Finneran of Central Catholic/UNH and Joe Marinaro of Andover/UMichigan. This photo of the Eagle-Tribune MVPs (Finneran won it twice) was taken before the 1990 Thanksgiving game. Making the matchup even better is both were from Andover.
A few winners have clinched the honor after leading their teams to titles. Matt Morrison was defensive MVP after leading Pinkerton to its first title in a decade in 2024, Jake McElroy was offensive Player of the Year after leading North Andover to its first ever state title in 2018, Brendan McInnis led Windham to its first title and was honored in 2014 and Nate Adames led Greater Lawrence to its first Super Bowl title and was offensive MVP in 2007.
Joe Cerami could knock your block off but that isn’t what made him special. He had that Luke Kuechly two steps ahead of everyone else football savvy. It was on display bigtime when he led Methuen to the 1992 EMass Super Bowl Division 2 win over Reading. He must have had 20 tackles that day. And they are just a few.
There are plenty of prolific backs and few did it better than North Andover’s Andrew Foote, Pinkerton’s Matt Jordan and the dynamic Salem High duo of Max Jacques and Jerickson Fedrick, who both graduated as the area’s all-time leading rusher.
Phil Panici was a terror on the D-line, winning 2014 defensive MVP honors for Haverhill. Preston Zinter was a force at linebacker for Central Catholic, winning defensive honors in 2022, and LATER helped Notre Dame to a National Title Game. Watching Methuen tackle machine Anthony Romano terrorize offenses was a rare bright spot in the tough COVID days in 2020.
Methuen has had some terrific dual-threat QBs like Jordan Perdomo (2017), and Cal Carroll (2010). Way back in 1970, it was Lawrence High’s Randy Hart.