After Comp's storybook run came to end with a loss to Longmeadow in the Division I semifinal, "Shurf" told the kids they were the greatest bunch of guys he's ever been associated with.
The Chicopee Comp football team celebrates with the Ames Sword following a come-from-behind victory over Chicopee High School on Nov. 12, 2012.
CHICOPEE — The coach was addressing his team on a rain-soaked gridiron. He had tears in his eyes.
The 2012 football playing Colts of Chicopee Comprehensive High School listened attentively, moments before the final drive of the season ended on the 30-yard line of the Longmeadow High School Lancers.
The news accounts reported that Comp's storybook run had come to an end with a 21-14 loss to Longmeadow in the Division I semifinals.
I was headed for the exits as the Colts and Lancers shook hands in the center of the field. I stopped to watch as the team captain, Kyle Soja, led the squad to the sidelines in front of the home fans and the school band. The Marching Colts saluted their efforts with an emotional rendition of the school's fight song.
The first time I heard that song was 50 years ago. It was then played at the new school's first sport's rally.
Ironically, it had been written by Everett Sittard, the city's music director, who in the 1940s had written the Chicopee High School fight song.
The squad retreated to the center of the field. Coach Marc Schuerfeld, his words genuinely choked with emotion, told the kids they were the greatest bunch of guys he's ever been associated with. Each of the assistant coaches followed the theme; the coaches never gave up on the team, and the kids never gave up on them.
I know that sounds like the cliche-soaked babble of sport's announcers, but as hackneyed as it sounds this fall on Montgomery Street it rings true.
Chicopee Comprehensive coach Marc Schuerfeld stands with fan Barbara Jendrysik.
My son, Mark, and the coach have been friends since kindergarten at Valentine School. Marc Schuerfeld grew up on Marble Avenue, knew every inch of the Atwater woods, played for the Dana Athletic Association's youth teams and spent Sunday afternoons in our den rooting for the Patriots.
My wife, Barbara, called the coach "Eddie Haskell" (Wally Cleaver's super polite buddy on the "Leave it to Beaver" TV show). He still calls her Mrs. Jendrysik.
My sons played soccer at Chicopee High School. Beginning as a 110-pound freshman defense back, by his senior year, Schuerfeld was the overachieving leader of legendary coach Bill Moge's Pacer defense.
He played at Westfield State until his fragile knees gave out. He joined me as my color man for the high school sports broadcasts on Chicopee Public Schools' community television. His most memorable on-air prediction came during Bill Moge's last game against Holyoke High on Thanksgiving Day.
"Shurf" observed that Holyoke High School had better watch out for the "hook-and-ladder play." On the very next play in a driving rainstorm, the Pacers ran the play right into the end zone, ending the contest in a tie. The kid always knew what was going on.
After graduation he began his teaching and coaching career at Comp, serving as an assistant in football, baseball and basketball. Twelve years ago he was handed the reins of the school's football program.
In 2006, his team won the school's first Super Bowl. After an appearance in the 2009 playoffs, the Colts have struggled.
After a winless 2011 campaign, this fall they were dealt a crushing schedule. Games were against five playoff teams, including the two best teams in the region.
In June, my son, Mark, married Kiera Parr-Kraus in the Memorial Chapel at the University of North Dakota. For the happy event, Marc Schuerfeld and his fiancee, Noreen Candin, joined the Jendrysiks in Grand Forks, N.D.
Following the ceremony, I put the coach on the spot about the upcoming football season. In classic "Shurf" fashion, he looked me in the eye, responding that this year's team was going to be OK.
He said Tony Couture was returning to coach the offense and they were installing a no-huddle attack. I just shook my head. A new offense for a winless team?
In September, with losses to Longmeadow, Minnechaug Regional, Springfield Central and Putnam high schools, the Colts were sticking with their complex new offense. The fifth game of the season was pivotal.
Amherst was a playoff contender. Coach Bill Couture's defense came of age and quarterback Tom Duffy had the new spread offense clicking.
Trailing in the fourth quarter, Harley Kagan found the end zone, and the 15-game losing streak was history.
Next, the Colts defeated Hoosac Valley, a playoff-bound team from the Berkshires. The offense scored 31 points against West Springfield, and the team had a modest winning streak.
The season began to take on a whole new perspective. On both sides of the ball the Colts were playing like a playoff contender.
A Saturday-night win at Cathedral evened the record, setting the stage for a dramatic come-from-behind win on Monday night at Szot Park.
Trailing by two scores at half-time, sitting on the baseball bleachers, it looked like the Ames Sword was slipping away. Backfield and linebacker coach Richie Kagan keynoted the "pep talk" and 24 minutes later the Colt fans were streaming across the field. The sword was returning to the display case at the entrance of the new Comp High School.
The Chicopee team hadn't beaten the South Hadley Tigers since the year I retired. The eight-game losing streak ended convincingly, and the Colts had a share of the Suburban League championship.
The Division I playoff game against the perennial champion Lancers was not a replay of the season's first contest. Coach Schuerfeld was correct; his team was going to be OK.
Stephen R. Jendrysik, a retired history teacher, is Chicopee city historian, a member of the Chicopee Historical Society's board of directors and president of the Edward Bellamy Memorial Association.