WILLIAMSTOWN -- For 30 years the benchmark for a Berkshire County football dynasty was 27 consecutive wins. The unbeaten streak is set at 31. Hoosac Valley set those marks in the 1981 season.
Mount Greylock broke the win streak with a 38-14 win over Monument Mountain on Sept. 14. If the Mounties win or tie the Lee Wildcats tonight at 7 p.m. in Lee, they will tie the 31-game unbeaten mark. Hoosac had a 6-6 tie to Taconic in October 1981. But Greylock will do it with 31 straight wins.
"None of us have heard that fact before," senior quarterback Hank Barrett said. "That's kind of neat to know going into the week, but we're just going to approach it like any other game. It is pretty special being apart of this."
The Mounties started their streak at the end of the 2009 season, winning their last two games. They ran the table in 2010 (12-0), claiming their first Western Massachusetts Division III Super Bowl since 2006. They duplicated that in the 2011 season. Now, they are 4-0 and have a rematch of last year's Super Bowl tonight.
With the win streak dating back so far, some current players, like Jake Benzinger, were still in middle school when it started. He's noticed the increased attention throughout the week.
"Every day it's like ‘What's your prediction for the game?' ‘Are you guys ready to go 30-0?' That kind of stuff," he said. "I'm always excited for the games, and I just like to take it one week at a
A win streak that stretches into the 30s can be tough to wrap your mind around.
"It's definitely easier to look at 4-0 and 5-0 rather than looking at the big picture and seeing 30-0," fullback Daivon Clement said, who was a freshman during the 2010 Super Bowl season. "You're just like ‘wow, we won that many games.' I like to look at the 4-0 really because it takes more pressure off, I feel like."
There have been other streaks that surpassed the 20-game plateau. Lee ran the table in 1993 and finished the ‘94 season 10-0-1 to extend their unbeaten streak to 22. A loss in the ‘95 opener stopped it.
After that, Greylock reached 24 straight in the 2001 campaign. That streak ended with a 17-0 loss to Drury. Should the Mounties beat (or tie) Lee tonight, they will go for the outright record against the Blue Devils at home on Sept. 12 at 7 p.m.
So what does it take to have a streak survive more than two seasons?
"I'd say athletes," coach Shawn Flaherty said jokingly, but seriously. "You definitely have to have athletes that know the game of football. We've been real fortunate these last few years to put the teams together that we've put out there."
Greylock isn't the only team in the state enjoying such a streak. Duxbury also has a 30-game win streak heading into tonight. It plays St. George tonight at home.
A quick look on maxpreps.com puts the Mounties' streak into perspective. The longest active win streak in the nation is 52, which a Pennsylvania school owns. Greylock is in a three-way tie for 16th with Duxbury and a North Carolina school.
"When it comes down to it, we just want to go at every game and we just want to win," Barrett said. "We're a very competitive team and we hate losing, and it's always been like that."
To reach Josh Colligan, email
jcolligan@thetranscript.com.
On Twitter: NAT_DigitalJosh
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