Shepherd Hill traces Halley's torrid path.

Byline: Jim Wilson 

DUDLEY - Who says Halley's Comet only comes around once every 75 years? There have been quite a few sightings around Shepherd Hill Regional High this fall.

Running back Dan Halley is a prime reason the Rams are headed to their first Super Bowl since 2000. The senior has rushed for more than 1,800 yards and scored 23 touchdowns en route to being named the Division 2 West Offensive MVP.

Halley has broken school records for rushing yards in a season, rushing touchdowns, 100-yard games in a season and career, and is approaching the career rushing mark. However, Halley knows for all the accolades he gets, he's only as good as the six guys blocking for him.

"It feels good (to get noticed), but I can't do it without my offensive line," he said. "Without them, no running back in this offense could work."

Coach Chris Lindstrom said the true MVPs for Shepherd Hill are linemen Keegan Mackin, Stephen Myers, Andrew Letourneau, Matthew LeBlanc, Matt Pastore, and tight end Tim Murphy. Without them clearing a path in the double-wing offense, the Rams are collecting equipment right now rather than gearing up to face East Longmeadow High in the Division 2 Super Bowl at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow at Worcester State.

"We all know the program, we've been to camps, and we worked in the weight room over the summer," Myers said. "This football team isn't about a whole bunch of people coming out to play football. This is about a family - a bunch of people who know each other and do stuff together on and off the field."

Myers, the center, is primarily a wrestler at Shepherd Hill, but Lindstrom - who doubles as the wrestling coach - convinced him to come out for football. Although his first love is grappling, Myers - who now weighs 1541/2pounds but will wrestle at 145 - has no problem missing a week of practice to help the Rams to a Super Bowl title.

That's right - the center tips the scales at a hamburger over 150 pounds. Luckily for the Rams, his heart more than makes up for it.

"I'm not the biggest kid in the world," Myers said, "but before every game I go up to guys like Dan Halley, Brian Szylk and Eric Brigham and the rest of the backs and let them know, `Hey, I'm not much, but I'm going to do my best to make sure you get into the end zone.'"

The double-wing offense relies on lots of guard-pulling and backside blocking. Mackin said there's only one better feeling than pulling around the line and flattening an unsuspecting linebacker: looking up from the ground and seeing a Rams back celebrating in the end zone.

"We call the pull on the backside `the plumbers' because they all go and fix the cracks that are in the front side," Mackin said. "That's tough because those linebackers are trying to make the reads and then suddenly there's no hole for them to read through."

Shepherd Hill finished 10-1 last year but didn't go to the postseason because of Holy Name, which went 11-0 in the regular season. The Rams graduated all but three starters, and Halley admitted he thought Shepherd Hill missed its chance.

"I worked pretty hard in the offseason in the weight room, but I wasn't expecting this at all," Halley said. "To be honest, I didn't think we had the guys (to compete), but it turns out here we are at 11-1 and we're in the Super Bowl. It's really intense."

The Rams beat Nipmuc Regional, 35-33, in overtime in Week 1, but then fell to Algonquin Regional, 21-14, in Week 2. However, Lindstrom could tell the team was jelling in those games.

Lindstrom said the scary thing is that the Rams have been getting better every week. Nipmuc knows that after falling, 34-0, in the rematch on Tuesday.

"We knew we had some pieces of the puzzle already," Mackin said. "After that first game, we saw how well we can come together as a team. We saw the fruits of our labor in that hard work and knew we might have something special this year."

Halley was a starter last year, but missed two chunks of the season with injuries before finishing with 612 yards and nine touchdowns. Teams that focus too much on Halley find out quickly that fellow backs Brian Szlyk (541 yards, 8 TDs), Eric Brigham (789 yards, 12 TDs) and Nick Bolio (353 yards, four TDs) are capable of carrying the load. Nipmuc discovered that in the playoffs when Halley was held scoreless, but the other backs sealed the win.

Shepherd Hill will be facing East Longmeadow running back Chris Setian, who led Western Mass. with 1,716 rushing yards. Setian is like Halley in that he can kick, punt, return, and catch passes.

"They're a very tough team," Lindstrom said. "They have a balanced attack and are going to be tough to beat."

Shepherd Hill has a chance to win the first Super Bowl in school history. The Rams lost, to South High, 3-0, in 1987 and to Mount Greylock, 18-15, in 2000.

"Since freshman year, that's all we've wanted to do," Myers said. "We wanted to bring a Super Bowl title back to the school. Nothing would mean more to us."

NAME: SHEPHERD HILL REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL 

ART: PHOTO

PHOTOG: T&G Staff File/MARK C. IDE 

CUTLINE: Dan Halley's running sparked Shepherd Hill on a run to the Division 2 Super Bowl.