MEDFORD – A special high school football team that helped carry their coach through some of the toughest times of his life ran out of miracles in the State Vocational Championship game.
Whittier Tech fell to Diman Regional, 31-6, but there were no losers on the Maroon-and-Gold sideline – just a heck of a lot of uncrowned champions.
“This team gave me hope every day. I told them before the game, thanks for carrying me,” said Wildcats coach Kevin Bradley, who courageously battled cancer while coaching this team through the fall. “You don’t realize what they did for me. When things were rough, I had rough mornings, they gave me hope. And I didn’t want to let any of them down.
“I’d go to the hospital, 6 a.m., driving into Boston, having my radiation and chemo, and I would get back to these kids. I wanted to be there for them. They worked so hard, how do you let those kids down?”
Bradley rang the bell, ending his treatment and continues to forge on. He will coach the girls hoop team again at Whittier this winter, although he took a rare day off from that chore on Wednesday.
He won’t commit to coming back next fall, but he noted,
“If you’re going to play at Whittier, you’re expected to get here. Our goal is to always come back (to the Vocational Bowl). If the underclassmen work hard in the offseason, we’ll be back.”
That was a loud, “we.”
“You never know. It’s hard to leave the kids. I’ll think about the decision, but I love coaching,” he said.
“I’m very proud of them. You don’t understand how hard they work, and these kids already want to get back next year.”
Whittier’s lone real offense in the first half came on back-to-back runs in the second quarter, immediately following the game’s first score, a 22-yard Diman field goal.
Noah Allen surged off tackle for the Wildcats’ first first-down at the 47.
And QB Mark Nealon took the next snap, hid for a second or two behind the Whittier offensive line then escaped around right end for a 53-yard touchdown. The two-point rush was stymied, but the Cats grabbed their first and only lead at 6-3.
From there, though, Diman took control.
Back-to-back TDs, the latter of which was a 20-yard Logan McKenzie-to-Peyton Massey pass with just five seconds to halftime put Diman on a 17-6 advantage heading to the break.
Down the two scores, the Wildcats put up their one last stand, a patented Whittier drive that chewed up eight minutes of the third quarter and rolled inside the Diman 10.
But a fumble ended that march early, and Diman tacked on a couple of late scores to put it away.
Diman 31, Whittier 6
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
None
Second Quarter
D – Logan Noone 22 field goal
W – Mark Nealon 53 run (rush failed)
D – Alexi Gonzalez 13 run (Noone kick)
D – Peyton Massey 20 pass from Logan McKenzie (Noone kick)
Third Quarter
None
Fourth Quarter
D – Noone 69 pass from McKenzie (Noone kick)
D – Gonzalez 12 run (Noone kick)