2000 Div 4 - Football Super Bowl Champions
Graduating class: 2001
Inducted into Hall of Fame: 2026
Hall of Fame Category: Team
With seven returning starters from a defense that posted a pair of shutouts and held six of ten opponents to two touchdowns or less in a 6-4 season in 1999, head coach Dana Almeida was brimming with optimism as he welcomed his 2000 team to a new century of football. “This group has that intangible, that character, or whatever you want to call it. You can’t put your finger on it, you can’t describe it, it’s just there. Give them a challenge and they respond to it” Almeida was quoted as saying in a pre-season interview with the Standard-Times. And respond they did.
With the help of those returning defenders, the addition of a new quarterback and a running back whose name was misspelled on the football program in every regular season contest and – more importantly – a hat full of luck, the Blue Devils would earn a trip to the Division 4 Super Bowl and bring home the third championship trophy in ten seasons and first of the 21st century.
The journey began on September 13th in Swansea when Fairhaven’s rock-ribbed defense held Case to seven points and first year back Jon Tadeu accounted for both touchdowns in a 13-7 win. Up from the Junior Varsity, the kid whose name included an extra ‘a’ (Tadeau) on every regular season program may have earned the ‘a’ for effort for finishing the 10-game schedule with a team leading 14 touchdowns, including multiple trips to the endzone in half of those regular season contests. Coupled with the team’s 1999 scoring leader (Nate Patterson – 12 touchdowns), the pair combined for 18 of Fairhaven’s 31 touchdowns enroute to a 9-1 record and tri-championship in the South Coast Conference.
Behind the defensive play of twins Mike and Matt Menard, Matt Ponte, Glen Oliveira up front and the veteran secondary that included Kevin Mitchell, Gary Westgate and Greg Bobola, the Blue Devils held the first five opponents to a combined 37 points to help ignite a 6-0 start.
Seamus Carr took the starting reins at quarterback and guided the offense to routs of Mashpee (33-0), Apponequet (30-6), Wareham (37-12) and Bourne (25-6) while Tadeu (6), Bobola (5), Patterson (3), Westgate, Scott Pease, Josh Charpentier, Pat Mullen and Carr (1 each) combined for 19 touchdowns. A 7-6 win at GNB Voc-Tech came via a Tadeu touchdown and Mike Menard’s clinching point after conversion kick.
The lone blemish in that 9-1 regular season came the following week in Fairhaven when visiting Dighton-Rehoboth rolled to a 22-16 win. But, instead of folding, the Blue Devils rolled up 35 points in a 35-29 shoot out victory over visiting Old Rochester. Tadeu and Patterson combined for all 5 touchdowns with Tadeu scoring 3.
A 7-6 victory at Dartmouth capped a 9-1 regular season with Menard’s PAT putting the period after Charpentier’s touchdown. Because Fairhaven defeated ORR who beat D-R who beat Fairhaven, all three teams ended the SCC season atop the standings with identical 7-1 records. But since there was no tie breaker in place to decide which of the three would represent the conference in the Division 4 Super Bowl, a drawing was held in the Wareham High School gymnasium. Three ping pong balls were placed in a cowboy hat, each bearing the colors of the schools involved (Blue for Fairhaven, Red for Old Rochester and Green for D-R). With dozens of spectators looking on, Wareham Athletic Director Buddy Carlson reached into the hat and when the blue ball was exposed, Fairhaven was on its way to its third Super Bowl in school history. Ironically, the Blue Devil’s opponent, Carver, earned its trip via the tie-breaker rule that decided the winner of the South Shore League.
Fairhaven went on to stretch its unbeaten Super Bowl record to 3-0 on the strength of two touchdowns by Tadeu (whose name was finally corrected in a game program and in the Standard-Times game report), and one each by Patterson, Carr and Charpentier. Menard converted five PAT kicks enroute to the 35-14 victory at Boston College’s Alumni Field.