Don Hasselbeck was on the lookout for a highschool to ship the oldest of his three boys, Matthew. Less than 15 miles away, Gene Comella was in an analogous state of affairs, looking for an appropriate tutorial vacation spot for his son Gregory.
Both landed at Xaverian within the fall of 1989 and it was a match made in heaven.
Matt Hasselbeck turned the college’s biggest quarterback, starring at Boston College earlier than embarking on an 18-year NFL profession. Greg Comella was the Player of the Year in Massachusetts in 1992, performed for Bill Walsh at Stanford and spent seven years within the NFL.
Their love for the Westwood college has been handed all the way down to their kids. Henry Hasselbeck is the beginning quarterback for the Hawks, whereas Charlie Comella is a two-way starter who has already obtained scholarship curiosity from BC and West Point.
“This is home,” Matt Hasselbeck mentioned as he greeted a former instructor, Courtland Morse. “I didn’t want to come here originally because it was an all-boys school, which is why my mother (Betsy) probably pushed me to come here. It turned out to be the best decision ever because I loved everything about the school, made some great friendships along the way.”
While Betsy Hasselbeck could have had her causes for sending their oldest little one to Xaverian, her husband Don was already eyeballing the parochial college on Clapboardtree Street. A former tight finish for the New England Patriots, Don was enjoying pickup basketball at Xaverian.
“We were living in Norfolk at the time and the only option was King Philip, who didn’t have the program they have now,” mentioned Hasselbeck, who spent six of his 9 professional seasons in Foxboro. “I used to be enjoying basketball at Xaverian and one of many guys enjoying was Ted Freeley, who was an assistant soccer coach at Xaverian, He talked in regards to the college and there was rather a lot about what he mentioned that I preferred.
“I grew up in Ohio and went to a Catholic school, LaSalle in Cincinnati, I liked the Catholic education and the foundation they established. I think those things are very important and Xaverian seemed to have a lot of what I was looking for in a school for Matt.”
Xaverian didn’t have women, but it surely had soccer. One journey to the Hawk Bowl in 1988 swayed Matt Hasselbeck for good.
“My neighbor Peter Davenport was a quarterback on the team and they were playing Brockton, who might have been No. 1 in the country at the time.” mentioned Hasselbeck, who’s the group’s quarterback coach. “They were awesome, but Xaverian hung in there for three quarters before Brockton took over. After that, I knew that’s where I wanted to go.”
Meanwhile, there was an eighth-grader in Wellesley on the lookout for his highschool vacation spot. Comella didn’t know a lot about Xaverian aside from what he acquired from neighbor Paul McDermott. Affectionately generally known as the mayor of Xaverian, McDermott, who handed away in January, by no means missed a chance to extol the virtues of Xaverian.
“He was always talking about what a great school Xaverian was,” Comella mentioned. “He talked about what a great athletic school it was, how his sons (Michael and Sam) went there and that Dana Barros went there. When I came here, the only person I knew was Deon Young so that made the transition easier. I loved everything about this school, I was fortunate to have so many teachers who became important influences on my life.”
Comella and Hasselbeck have been a part of a dominant freshman group on the college. Hasselbeck is fast to say that the college had a trophy which mentioned we have been 8-0 and by no means punted as soon as all 12 months, including it’s what occurs when you have got Greg Comella.
As a lot as they loved their freshman 12 months, sophomore 12 months was a little bit more durable — rather a lot more durable for those who requested Matt Hasselbeck.
“The MIAA didn’t allow schools to have camps on their campus so we went to Cardigan Mountain for a week,” Hasselbeck mentioned. “That was a tough camp, I would have quit football but we were so far. I remember we had three-a-day practices and it was tough. I went on to play for Tom Coughlin at Boston College and he was tough, but that camp prepared me for him.”
The two keyed Xaverian’s run to the Catholic Conference title in 1992. Comella was Massachusetts Player of the Year and made a number of All-American lists. Hasselbeck was extensively considered the state’s prime quarterback and was recruited by a number of main schools. Their expertise at Xaverian was so constructive they have been hoping that the legacy could be handed on to their sons as soon as they acquired to that age,
Greg Comella mentioned he allowed Charlie the liberty to go wherever he needed with out pressuring him. Comella may afford to take a hands-off method as a result of there have been exterior forces advising Charlie, specifically his brother-in-law and former Xaverian teammate Brian Daoust in addition to his cousins Jack and Nick Daoust, each of whom attended Xaverian.
“My dad was great about letting me make my choices,” Charlie Comella mentioned. “I toured some schools, but I always thought it would be cool to come here. The facilities are great, I played in a flag football league here as a kid and the coaches were always great to me. It just felt like home.”
Henry Hasselbeck took a far completely different path to Xaverian. He spent a while in Nashville, returned to Massachusetts and attended the Fessenden School in Newton as an eighth grader. Several components led to the youthful Hasselbeck attending Belmont Hill as a freshman the place he performed a number of sports activities.
“Henry wanted to come here as a freshman,” Matt Hasselbeck mentioned. “But we were living in Weston and with me traveling for work and my wife’s job, it was so much easier to get to Belmont Hill, plus he was playing hockey for the Junior Eagles and they practiced at Belmont Hill so it was an easy drive.”
One of the massive the explanation why Henry Hasselbeck began interested by transferring stemmed from the truth that most of Xaverian’s video games have been on a Friday, whereas Belmont Hill performs on Saturday, a day when Matt Hasselbeck was touring to New York for work.
“We loved Belmont Hill, it was an awesome experience, a 10 out of 10,” Hasselbeck mentioned. “But I knew a lot of the people at Xaverian, they were super supportive of Henry’s decision to go to Belmont Hill. Right on down from Dr. (Jacob) Conca (the head of school), they were men of integrity.”
Leaving Belmont Hill was not straightforward for the youthful Hasselbeck. The solely factor that made the transfer simpler was the truth that he was going to a college he was very accustomed to.
“Belmont Hill was everything I could have asked for. Memories were made and character was formed,” Hasselbeck mentioned. “It was not straightforward to say goodbye to Belmont Hill, however coming right here has been an A-plus expertise. The folks have been so welcoming, I made a number of pals from so many various walks of life and we turned brothers able to compete on Friday night time.
Al Fornaro graduated from Xaverian in 1978, and served as a longtime assistant coach on the college earlier than taking on as head coach for Charlie Stevenson in February 2017.
“As young men, I didn’t know they were going to eventually become NFL players,” Fornaro mentioned. “Greg had a plan from the beginning that he was going to go from highschool to varsity to the professionals. Matthew needed the identical issues, however didn’t categorical it as a lot as Greg.
“Their sons are completely completely different from their dads. They are a little bit loosey-goosey, they’re extra extroverted as you possibly can inform. They are nice children and you may inform that each of them had nice upbringings.
“I tell Greg and Matt all the time that I wish they had more boys.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com