WARREN HIGH SCHOOL CLASS B SUPER BOWL FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS 1979 (Class of 2012)
With Foxy Marshall having replaced Pat Abbruzzi as Warren High School’s football coach in 1978, the team began the 1979 season with three scrimmages, beating Swansea’s Case and Portsmouth and tying defending Class A Champions Rogers.
The Redskins opened their Class B Small regular season with five consecutive shutouts, downing Ponagansett, Central Falls, previously undefeated Narragansett, East Greenwich, and Burrillville, by a combined score of 141-0. In the last of these five games, the northern Rhode Island Broncos were held to four!!! yards rushing.
North Smithfield and Hope, the latter in a penalty-filled contest, were at least able to put points on the scoreboard, but they too were overwhelmed.
The regular season ended with two more shutouts, as Scituate and Tiverton fell victim to the onrushing Redskins.
Warren High School then captured its second Super Bowl win in history (the Hall of Fame team of 1975 won the first) with a 21-6 defeat of Smithfield. In the title game Kevin Almeida rushed for two touchdowns and Jim Martel threw a scoring pass to Brian Cote.
(During the season the team did lose exhibition games to Bristol and West Warwick, teams that played in higher-ranked divisions.)
Regular season highlights included: Andy Vollaro leading the state in scoring with 106 points, while rushing for nearly eleven hundred yards; Jim Martel throwing fourteen touchdown passes, including three against both Ponagansett and Central Falls; wide receiver George Andrade averaging nineteen-plus yards per catch; and Mike Ferrara scoring in five different contests.
Vollaro was named to the Providence Journal All State team, while he and Martel were members of the Coaches All State squad. Almeida, Andrade, Matt Ferrara, Martel, and Vollaro were elected to the All Class B Small first team eleven.
As mentioned earlier, the team was coached by Richard “Foxy” Marshall; he was assisted by Joe Almeida and Tom Vendituoli. Players included Kevin Almeida, George Andrade, Brian Cote, Bob DeRiso, Matt Ferrara, Mike Ferrara, Tom Lombardo, Pete Lombardo, Mike Longo, Pete Lopes, Jim Martel, Ken Mello, Paul Morris, Jed Sousa, Captain Andy Vollaro, Rick Almeida, Chris Amaral, Jim Braz, John Brinkman, John Burns, Jimmy Carter, Steve DeRiso, Guy Francis, Joe Francis, Tom Furtado, Bruce Hutchison, Jerry Incollingo, Cliff Mann, Steve Mansi, Mike Martins, Eric Paulhardt, Bob Perrault, John Ratcliffe, Bob Sousa, Joe Thorpe, Bob Toti, Greg Tupaj, and Dave VanLanding.
The team’s cheerleaders were captained by Mary Abbruzzi and Pam Ernest, and also included Julie Abbruzzi, Dawn Almeida, Pam Blais, Andrea MacDougall, Laura Nelson, Erin O’Brien, Anne Pare, and Cheryl Silva. The team’s manager was Mike Campanella, while Gary Martins was the eleven’s water boy and Janie Abbruzzi its mascot.
Individual members of the Athletic Hall of Fame include Bruce Hutchison (as a wrestler), Coach Richard “Foxy” Marshall, Cheryl Silva (as a volleyball player), Paul Morris and Andy Vollaro (as athletes).
Video : 1979 Warren High School Football Game Oct, 20th 1979 Warren 29 Burrillville 0
.06 Andy Vollaro returns kick for a TD ( extra point no good ) Warren 6 Burrillville 0
3:39 Burrillville TD called back because of Holding.
4:30 Peter Lopes (Warren) recovers fumble
5:14 Andy Vollaro rushes for TD ( extra point no good ) Warren 12 Burillville 0
6:07 Jim Martel passes to Ken Mello for a TD (no good – Holding)
6:10 Jim Martel Field Goal Warren 15 Burrillville 0
7:16 Jim Martel passes to George Andrade for a TD Warren 21 Burrillville 0
7:27 Mike Ferrara rushes for two point conversion Warren 23 Burrillville 0
9:41 Kevin Almeida interception TD returned Warren 29 Burrillville 0
