First trip to the Super Bowl in 23 years is putting Fairhaven football back on the map
Nate Pickup knows what it’s like to play in a Super Bowl.
After all, he led the Blue Devils to their first championship in 1991.
Then he watched his younger brother, Russell, win it for Fairhaven in 1994.
Three decades later, Pickup will be in the stands at Gillette Stadium on Thursday afternoon watching his son, Nate Jr., try to do the same.
“You’re way more nervous as a parent,” said Nate Pickup Sr., a former record-holding running back “It was a long time ago when I played. I have memories of certain plays and things throughout the year.”
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Leading up to Fairhaven’s first Super Bowl berth since 2000, Pickup has shared advice from his own experiences.
“In the playoffs, I’ve said, ‘It’s a one-game season. You’ve got to stay focused. You have a chance to make history,’’’ recalled Pickup of conversations with his son. “I always tell him, ‘You’ll always remember the game. You’ll remember who won.’
“We were the first in the school to win it and that was a big deal.”
The No. 8 Blue Devils (11-1) will be going after their fourth Super Bowl trophy when they face off against third-seeded Salem (10-2) in the MIAA Div. 6 state final.
“This is the first time for a Super Bowl for this program in 23 years,” said Nate Pickup Jr., a junior running back and defensive lineman “It’s definitely a big honor to be a part of this team.
“My dad told me stories before. It was definitely interesting, but I never thought about playing in a Super Bowl myself until we made it. We weren’t really making Super Bowls a couple of years ago, but we’ve gotten better as a team every year to give ourselves an opportunity to do this.”
Fairhaven experienced seven straight losing seasons before Derek Almeida took over in 2020. Under Almeida, the Blue Devils have gone 32-9 overall, won three straight South Coast Conference Gold Division titles and made three straight playoff appearances, losing in the first round the last two seasons.
“My goal was to finally get out of the first round of the playoffs,” said Fairhaven junior running back Justin Marques. “I just wanted to finally get out of the first round. It feels great. It feels awesome to be able to put in all this hard work and see it pay off. We just hope we can bring it home for our seniors.”
SALEM ON THE RISE
Salem head coach Matt Bouchard said the foundation of this year’s success was built during the pandemic. Even though the Witches struggled through an 0-7 campaign during the Fall 2 in the spring of 2021, the culture was changing.
“Because of COVID, they got to participate in freshman football,” he said of this year’s 14 seniors. “They really bought into what we needed to do to be successful.
“The mantra of our program is you can have dreams and goals and if they don’t match, you can change your habits or change your goals. They didn’t change their goals,” Bouchard said. “They had aspirations of great goals and they never hit cruise control. They worked harder in the weight room and worked harder in the classroom. This group is a good example that if you continue to grind and work, good things will pay off.”
Salem went 7-4 in 2022 and opened 2023 by winning its first six games. The Witches suffered back-to-back one-point losses to Winthrop (20-19) and Peabody (27-26) to end the regular season.
“I think it was one of the lessons that was important for us to learn,” Bouchard said. “It was a variable that led us to get us here.
“To me that symbolized a lot there. It got them to get their work ethic in place and it forced them to work harder.”
The Witches have won three straight playoff games against No. 14 Dennis-Yarmouth (33-26), No. 6 Cardinal Spellman (55-0) and No. 15 Stoneham (38-14) to reach their first Super Bowl since 1999.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
This game has the potential to be a shootout with two high-powered offenses.
Salem is averaging 36.9 points per game and has topped 35 points on seven different occasions.
“What worries me a little is their size and athleticism,” said Fairhaven head coach Derek Almeida. “Sometimes you see a team that has a lot of size, but they’re not that athletic and they’re not that skilled or vice versa. They’re both. Their athletes are big, strong kids. That makes them harder to defend.”
The Witches have done most of their damage through the air with senior quarterback Corey Grimes completing 107 passes for 1,922 yards and 28 touchdowns while throwing just four interceptions.
“He's a student of the game,” Bouchard said of his three-year starting QB. “We’ve given him the flexibility to make sure the team is in position to be successful every play.”
Grimes’ favorite targets have been junior receiver Quinn “Rocco” Ryan (32 catches for 709 yards and nine touchdowns) and senior running backs Devante Ozuna (34 receptions for 482 yards and three touchdowns and Shane Field (17 catches for 152 yards and three touchdowns). Senior tight ends Julian Ortiz and Logan Abboud both have three touchdown catches this season as well.
“He looks the part. He’s a big, strong, physical kid,” Almeida said of Grimes. “He plays a lot of defense too which tells you he’s pretty tough. They’ve got weapons on offense and he does a good job of getting the ball to them.”
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Salem also had success on the ground with Ozuna carrying the ball 131 times for 937 yards and 12 touchdowns. Field also has over 500 rushing yards and six scores while Ryan is just under 300 yards on the ground with three TDs.
“The difference with this team is we have outstanding athletes across the program,” Bouchard said. “We’ve got some guys. We’re not leaning on one person.”
This year no one has been able to stop Fairhaven’s offense either.
The Blue Devils, who are averaging 33.8 points, have scored 35 or more points seven times.
“We’ve really limited the turnovers and we’ve limited the negative plays which usually puts you in good situations offensively,” said Almeida, who directed Falmouth to the Div. 2A championship in 2016. “We’ve converted a lot of third and fourth downs because most of the time it’s only a couple of yards left to gain. That’s the style of offense we’ve decided to commit to this year. We can have big sustaining drives in the third and fourth quarters when you need them, but we still have some big-play capability as well.”
Fairhaven’s offense centers around Marques.
After setting the school’s single-season touchdown mark in 2022 with 25, Marques broke his own single-season mark with 34 through 12 games this season and leads all of Div. 6 with 208 points. He also became Fairhaven’s all-time touchdown leader earlier this season and enters Thursday’s game with 64 career TDs.
“We think about what we’re going up against on Thursday and it’s going to be critical for us to control the line,” Bouchard said. “They’re extremely physical. We need to match that physicality, especially in the box.”
The driving force for Fairhaven has been the play of its offensive line led by sophomore Zach Moura and junior Ben Comey.
“They’ve grown so much since the first game and they’re really starting to dominate people,” Fairhaven senior quarterback Jayce Duarte said. “Ben Comey and Zach Moura are just absolutely mauling defenders. It makes it so easy for Justin and I and Colby to run around and score touchdowns.”
Fairhaven’s other big offensive threats are senior wingback Colby Correia (seven touchdowns) and sophomore wingback Aaron Lague (five TDs) as well as Duarte, who has thrown five touchdown passes and rushed for another two scores.
SMALL TOWN WITH BIG ASPIRATIONS
Correia can’t wait to show the state what Fairhaven can do on Thursday afternoon.
“I think it’s great for the town,” he said. “It’s great for a small town like us to be in a big place like that and get put on the map more so people know about us. Every team we played said, ‘Who is Fairhaven?’ And now they're like ‘Oh, they’re the real deal.’”
Duarte added, “To have this opportunity, it means everything. All I want to do is win this game. It would be the perfect way to go out. We owe it to the town and the community.”
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SUPER BOWL PREDICTION
Both teams are looking to make history with their first Super Bowl victory in more than two decades and they each have the weapons to do it. The Witches can score a lot of points and do it quickly with a prolific passing game while the Blue Devils can wear opposing defenses down with their grinding ground attack while also possessing big-play potential. Fairhaven’s defense, which has been put to the test the past four games against the likes of Dartmouth, Hudson, Norwell and Winthrop, will need to deliver another big performance for the Blue Devils to prevail.
Fairhaven 35, Salem 28
NO. 3 SALEM VS. NO. 8 FAIRHAVEN
What: Div. 6 Super Bowl
When: Thursday, 3 p.m.
Where: Gillette Stadium
How to watch/listen/follow: NFHS Network, Patriots.com, WEEI-AM 850 and @SC_Varsity on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Records: Salem (10-2); Fairhaven (11-1)
Last Super Bowl appearances: Salem (1999); Fairhaven (2000)
Laurie’s Line: Fairhaven 35, Salem 28
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Preview of Fairhaven vs. Salem football in 2023 MIAA Div. 6 Super Bowl
