After long-shot run to Div. 8 Super Bowl, veteran Hull football team ready for an encore

HULL – Sequels often disappoint, but the Hull High football team is hoping that bringing back so many popular characters from last year's smash hit will help the Pirates recapture the magic of the original.

Against all odds, chronic underdogs Hull and Randolph squared off in the Division 8 Super Bowl in 2021. Hull came up just short, losing 20-14 after leading 14-8 at halftime, but the sadness of that day at Gillette Stadium was tempered by the knowledge that the Pirates would have five all-league players back for the 2022 campaign.

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Now, with the new season just around the corner – the Pirates open at Blue Hills on Friday, Sept. 9 at 4:30 p.m. – there's a real sense of momentum around the Hull program. The Pirates were 5-2 in the Fall 2 season in the spring of 2021 and followed it up with a breakthrough fall in which they went 9-4 and advanced to their first true big game since winning an EMass Super Bowl in 1996 under the old playoff format.

With running back/safety John Gianibas, quarterback Luke Richardson, center/linebacker Aidan Murphy, receiver/linebacker Austin Bongo and tight end/defensive end Tyler Sordillo all back for their senior year, Hull is looking to simply pick up where it left off in 2021.

"That's what we're hoping," Bongo said. "We're hoping to get everybody back into the swing of things, get the team chemistry going, take it week by week and beat each opponent."

"Obviously, it's a great starting point to have the core come back like that," coach Mike O'Donnell said. "All that experience makes practicing the installs a little quicker. But the big thing right now is replacing some of our seniors – Ryan Dunn, Aidan Robey and Jaden Stilphen, three guys who played both ways and had key roles. We've got to find (their replacements), and our two offensive tackles (Conner Sordillo and Joe Johnson) graduated, so we have to work on replacing them."

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Dunn starred at left guard and toggled between defensive line and linebacker. O'Donnell called Robey a "jack of all trades" on offense (tight end, guard, fullback). And Stilphen was a running back/linebacker.

So there will be changes and a slightly altered chemistry. And the Pirates know that past performance doesn't guarantee future success.

"We're definitely confident in the season," Murphy said, "but, again, that was last year and it's over with and we're on to a new chapter in our story."

The 2021 chapter was a real page-turner. Off a 6-2 regular season the Pirates earned a No. 4 seed in the Div. 8 playoffs and proceeded to knock off No. 13 Millis (in Hull's first-ever home playoff game), No. 12 KIPP Academy and No. 1 Hoosac Valley to punch their ticket to Gillette Stadium.

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Along the way, the Pirates became full-blown celebrities in town.

"It was awesome," Murphy said. "Everywhere you'd go in public, everyone was talking about how great the football team was and how great we were doing."

"Every day in school people would congratulate you," Sordillo added. "You knew you were one of the big teams. It felt good."

That playoff run is still paying dividends, by the way. Hull has 36 players on its roster this season, and while that might not seem like much, it's the biggest team the Pirates have fielded in recent memory. They were down in the low 20s just a few years ago.

"It definitely made a lot of kids more interested in joining the team, helped push more kids to join the team," Bongo said of the high-profile 2021 season. "We have more kids already this year than we did last year. It also shows us what we're capable of doing. We've always had some good talent on our team, but last year was the first time we had really gone far with that. Now we know that we can go all the way."

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"People in the school are definitely talking about us," Richardson said. "They're definitely interested in us and they want to see what we can do this year."

Richardson and the passing game made great strides last season. The 6-foot-3, 200-pounder threw for more than 1,800 yards and 9 touchdowns and had a big game against Hoosac Valley (6-of-8, 159 yards, 2 TDs) in the semifinals. He's also driven by the memory of the Super Bowl near-miss.

"I feel like I definitely could have done better in the Super Bowl with the two interceptions," he said. "That wasn't ideal. I can definitely make it better this year."

Bongo (16 catches for 291 yards and 3 TDs last year) and Sordillo (15-305, TD) figure to be two of Richardson's favorite targets. Both have great size with Bongo at 6-foot-3, 205 and Sordillo at 6-foot_2, 230.

The QB also will enjoy throwing (or handing off) to Gianibas, who scored 18 TDs last season while rushing for 1,316 yards and catching 14 passes for 492 yards. Gianibas had huge games vs. Millis (17 carries, 196 yards, 2 TDs) and Randolph (13 runs for 72 yards, 9 receptions for 125 yards, TD) in the playoffs.

"He's the kid who, when he has the ball, he always wants to get extra yards," O'Donnell said. "There's never a play that's done until the whistle blows with him. Great effort."

The offensive line needs to be rebuilt with only Murphy and right guard Sean Reilly returning, but Gianibas joked, "I did the math, and we gained 100 pounds in total" when looking at the new-look lineup.

Junior Nick Tiani, who was a breakout star in the state semifinals with three second-half touchdowns, returns as a running back/receiver hybrid on offense and a starting cornerback (with Tommy Burke) on defense. Senior kicker Logan Chenette also is back, along with volunteer kicking coach Jeremy Shelley, who once hit five field goals in a national championship game to lift Alabama over LSU.

One thing O'Donnell wanted his team to work on over the offseason was getting stronger. The Pirates wore down in the second half of the Super Bowl against Randolph's punishing ground game.

So far, so good on that subject.

"Bigger team. Definitely stronger," Gianibas said. "Everyone got in the weight room."

"We had a really strong summer," O'Donnell noted. "The kids really committed themselves, both here and the (outside) facilities they went to for training. When we took over the program seven or eight years ago, we really sold them on the idea that (success) starts in the weight room. You have to be stronger, you have to be faster. This year's group really bought in. Let's be honest, it's the momentum of last year. There's a good feeling in the program and they want to repeat that."

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Previewing the Hull High football's team upcoming season