Former Phillips Andover star Sal Lupoli Jr. was just over six months old when the last defensive player in the Northeast-10 Conference was the league Most Valuable Player Award (William Yarocki, C.W. Post defensive lineman) in 2000.
Well, it happened again and Lupoli, a Bentley University linebacker copped the same league MVP honor 23 years later.
The 5-foot-11, 215 pound linebacker, a former star at Chelmsford High, put up the eye-opening numbers in this, his graduate year. He averaged 12.3 tackles per game to not only lead the NE-10, but lead the nation.
He also had six of his 10 career sacks, and 13 of his 22.5 tackles for a loss this fall. He had a career game back in early October getting 23 tackles, including two sacks, against St. Anselm.
St. Anselm coach Joe Adam was apparently one coach in Lupoli’s corner come awards’ selection time.
“I remember at some point [when we played Bentley] saying, ‘Is anybody going to block that guy,’” said Coach Adam. “Lupoli is a big-time player and big-time players show up in big games. They have a defense that is loaded with talent, but he’s at the top of the leaderboard, a special talent.
“I love his leadership skills, too,” said Coach Adam. “You can hear him pregame and how he talks to the team. When you love ball like he does you can do great things.”
It wasn’t easy, as Lupoli played the first three games with a knee injury and the last two games with a shoulder injury.
Bentley’s defense, under “captain” Lupoli, was among the top 10 Div. 2 teams in the country allowing 13.8 points per game.
In Bentley’s final, a 24-17 loss to NE-10 champion New Haven, he needed 12 tackles to break Bentley’s all-time record. He got the 12th tackle on the final offensive play for New Haven.
“He’s a special player and everyone in our program feeds off Sal,” said Bentley coach Saj Thakkar. “He’s an all-time great.”
You can email Bill Burt at bburt@eagletribune.com.