1994 Super Bowl Champs Inducted Into Hall of Fame
It was the year of the “other” Pickup when little brother Russell picked up where big brother Nate left off. Three years after record-setting running back Nate Pickup capped off an outstanding Junior season by putting FHS into position to win the first Super Bowl in school history, younger brother Russell Pickup helped add a second plaque to the trophy case with a record setting effort in the 1994 Super Bowl. Russell scored a team high 14 regular season touchdowns to lead Coach Dana Almeida’s Blue Devil team into the 1994 Division 4-B Super Bowl game against Matignon. It was Russell’s three touchdowns that lifted FHS to a wild 32-24 victory and himself into the record books replacing his older brother as the school’s single season leader with 17. The Blue Devil defense came up huge in the Super Bowl victory even though they gave up 24 points. Matignon was undefeated and had outscored their nine opponents by an average of 36 points per game. As a result, Matignon was heavily favored going into the game. All-Conference Linebackers Dan Vieira and Tim Guillotte, along with All-Conference Nose Guard Jay Kruger, were relentless in their pursuit throughout the game. The defense stopped Matignon’s first and last drives of the game on 4th down at mid-field, and the Blue Devils scored touchdowns after each stop.
All-Conference Running Back Russell Pickup scored at least one touchdown in every game that the Fairhaven offense managed to find the end zone. The only game that they didn’t was the scoreless tie with Case. Many of Russell’s 17 touchdowns were made possible by the tremendous offensive line anchored by All-Conference Guard “Big Jim” Fitts, All-Conference Center Jay Kruger and Tackle Leo Pike. All-Conference Senior Quarterback Jeff Szynal led the senior dominant team, and he accounted for eight touchdowns over the course of the season as he ran for six and threw for two more. Jeff was also an outstanding safety on a defensive unit that limited opponents to eight or fewer points in seven of the 10 regular season games and pitched three shutouts.
The lone loss came against Bishop Stang six games into the schedule. But after allowing 26 points in that 14 point loss, the defense held three of its last four opponents to a combined 14 points, winning all four games, including a 6-0 win at Dartmouth on Thanksgiving Day to gain momentum heading into post season play, and the great victory over Matignon.
Hall of Fame Coach Dana Almeida has stated: “This was a determined group of kids who loved to play football, and totally bought into our program. We were all proud to coach them.”
1994 in review:
Fairhaven – 17 at Dighton-Rehoboth – 6 (Pickup – 2 TD’s; Szynal – 1)
Fairhaven – 28 at GNB Voc-Tech – 0 (DeMelo – 2 TD’s; Pickup & Borges – 1 each)
Fairhaven – 30 Seekonk – 6 (Pickup – 2 TD’s; Borges & Foster – 1 each)
Fairhaven – 38 Apponequet – 14 (Pickup & DeMelo – 2 TD’s each; Joseph – 1)
Fairhaven - 0 at Case – 0
Fairhaven - 12 Bishop Stang – 26 (Pickup & Szynal – 1 TD each)
Fairhaven – 19 Old Rochester – 8 (Pickup – 2 TD’s; Szynal – 1)
Fairhaven – 34 at Wareham – 20 (DeMelo – 2 TD’s; Pickup, Szynal, Joseph – 1 each)
Fairhaven – 26 Bourne – 6 (Pickup & Szynal – 2 TD’s each)
Fairhaven - 6 Dartmouth – 0 (Pickup – 1 TD)
Division 4-B Super Bowl: Fairhaven – 32 Matignon - 24 (Pickup – 3 TD’s; Ribeiro – 1)