Doherty High School is the only WPS football team to have a winning record in the last five years, and hasn’t lost to another Worcester team during that time. Why is that?
Want to have your business advert seen by over 1.2 million people per month? Email us at Turtleboysports@gmail.com for more information, and check out our website about types of advertising we offer.
Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook
Click on the image to check out the Turtleboy Store – your one stop shop for all your Turtleboy shopping needs.
I used to hate Doherty High School football because they always won and we could never beat them. I went to one of the other public high schools and beating Doherty was almost out of the question…in any sport. It was an extreme case of Inter-High butthurt. If you did beat them it was like winning the Super Bowl. Year after year the best athletes in the city all seem to live within the boundaries of the west side. Didn’t make any sense in high school and it doesn’t make any sense now.
I understand why teams like St. John’s, SPM, and Holy Name win. If I was a helicopter parent with a kid who I thought could play in college, I wouldn’t want him to get his ass beat week after week on some 1-10 team, when I could send him to a school with a tradition of winning. I also understand why Worcester Tech isn’t as good traditionally, because it’s a Voke school, and kids don’t go there to play sports. But the fact of the matter is, here are the final records for the last four seasons in the Inter-High:
2014
2013
2012
2011
This is all the Telegram and Gazette has for archives. I’m sure if you keep going back you’ll see similar numbers. South had a couple good years around 2005-07, and North and Burncoat have had scattered periods of success as well.
But as you can see, Doherty hasn’t lost to another WPS team in the last four years. None of the games were close either. They’re basically playing them out of tradition. During that time Doherty has won a state championship, sent multiple athletes to Division 1 colleges (UConn, BC, Memphis), and even had a NFL draft pick (Yawin Smallwood).
On top of that, the schedules these schools play couldn’t possibly be more different. South won five games in 2012 – Worcester Tech, North, Burncoat, North, Oxford, and St. Bernard’s. That’s two wins against schools not located in Worcester. Because someone has to win the game when two Worcester teams play. The other schools on their schedule – Bay Path, West Boylston, Bartlett – all have less than half the population that every WPS has.
Meanwhile who is Doherty playing? In 2013 they beat North Middlesex, Tantasqua, Marlboro, Holy Name, St. Peter Marian, and Shepherd Hill. All traditional Division 1 teams. Their three losses (Shrewsbury, Nashoba, Shepherd Hill) all came to Division 1 teams as well. The most astounding number from that season was the combined point total Doherty had vs. the other three Worcester teams – 115-28!!!
I don’t coach high school football so I have no idea why this is the case. I’m sure local coaches could provide us with more insight. But I know that Worcester has a good Pop Warner program, so where are these kids going when they’re in high school? And do they all live in one concentrated area of the city?
Sorry, I just don’t believe that schools like Burncoat, North, and South can’t win football games. But I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that this is heavily influenced by an exodus of student athletes to catholic schools, and school choice to districts like Auburn, West Boylston, and Wachusett. Last year the WPS lost 465 kids to school choice. And who pays for that? You do. We have to send our tax dollars to other towns so that they can educate our kids and put winning teams on the field.
The fact of the matter is that kids who grow up in the North, Burncoat, and South quadrants aren’t magically fatter, slower, and shorter. They’re just like any other kids. The difference is that they have the misfortune of living in a city where taxpayer resources are funneled to fake non-profits like Mosaic Cultural Complex, instead of being invested in the needy high schools. It’s the reason why South High School had to beg for money for their football team with a GoFundMe this summer. And when given the choice, it’s not surprising at all when parents of WPS students look at these misplaced priorities and underfunded programs and decide to send their kids elsewhere.
As a Worcester taxpayer, I’d much rather see my property taxes help improve the Worcester Public Schools than continue to pay diversity training pimps who seek to divide us.
The bottom line is, whatever Doherty is doing is working. Despite the fact that their practice field and facilities are a joke, they consistently put teams on the field that can play with anyone. It would be cool to see the rest of the city schools enjoy that type of success.
Want to have your business advert seen by over 1.2 million people per month? Email us at Turtleboysports@gmail.com for more information, and check out our website about types of advertising we offer.
Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook
Click on the image to check out the Turtleboy Store – your one stop shop for all your Turtleboy shopping needs.
17 Comment(s)
My son is on the DHS freshman team this year. It is absolutely the coaching. The pride and confidence installed in my son from DHS football is top rate! The freshman team played south JV last week, the difference in coaching was night and day. I am so happy we live in the DHS district!
When I played We beat Doherty in back to back years (94,95). North High!! It was the first time we beat them in 35 years lol.
Does this new writer know anything about local football? There are no D1 teams in central MA. N. Middlesex and Marlboro are D2, the rest are D4 just like the rest of the Worcester schools (excluding Voke, who is D6 I believe but might have to look that up).
TB’s never been big on accuracy or facts. No matter, the football stuff is really just mindless filler in which to wrap his ongoing war against minority groups who have the audacity to dare to hold and wield political power to their and their constituent’s advantage. Only white people are supposed to have that privilege.
Its a High School football blog that you managed to turn into a racist white privileged rant. get over your inner hate. All that racism out on Sturbridge must be so consuming. Almost as consuming as another white boy who hates his own skin yet lives in a Podunk all white resident town. Hmmmm
Could you please explain what this comment means???
He called them traditional division 1 teams. Traditionally he was right. Almost all of those schools were Division 1 before the recent realignment. They’re also division 1 in most other sports, particularly sports where there are just two divisions.
No one goes to North or South to play football. Burncoat has up and down years. Plus Doherty is the only marginally acceptable school to send the little darlings. Oh, now if you compare soccer bet North is at the tops.
I played fb for DHS back in the day. St. Johns plays dirty, Leominster always kicked our butts, but even in the 80’s the inter high was weak.
Mulcahey’s tenure lends consistency to the Highlanders’ program. That’s where winning begins and ends – with the system. What type of longevity do the other WPS fb coaches have?
Doherty has long recruited athletes on the low; it’s no secret within inter high. Basically, they have the same level of investment in athletics that the local catholic schools do. It snowballs and makes other inner city athletes want to go there for success and exposure. Good for them. Makes it all the more enjoyable when you beat them and their machine though.
You cant recruit …Name a Doherty kid who should be playing elsewhere?
Doherty has best “assistant coaches” around.
WHAT WORLD DO YOU LIVE IN
any coincidence that the school with the best football team in the inter-high is the only one without a JROTC?
BHS has the Airforce ROTC
I don’t see how that’s relevant
Well tech is a Worcester public school and they don’t have JROTC. Claremont doesn’t, UPCS doesn’t
Sorry to change the subject but any update on the dead body, found stabbed to death at Crystal Park, in Joe Petty’s Worcester? You know – good schools, safe city, nice parks. All connected thanks to Joe, Jimbo McGovern, and the blood pressure technicians at Mosaic.