After a season in which his team was blown out, were competitive but gave up big plays and struggled against more-established programs, Belmont High School’s first-year Head Coach Yann Kumin was able Friday night, Oct. 31, to look at the big scoreboard at Medford’s Hormel Field announcing that his Belmont High School Football team was now a winner on the field.

After falling behind at the half, 14-7 – “We had some serious hiccups early,” Kumin said – the Marauders (1-7) demonstrated a season’s worth of persistence and effort as they surged for 28 unanswered points to win its first game in nearly two years, 35-20, over Medford High (1-7).

“This is the most amazing feeling in the world. I’m so happy to experience this with these guys, to do it in Belmont. It’s the first of many more to come,” said Kumin after the Halloween night game.

Led by sophomore quarterback Cal Christofori, Belmont rode a stellar night from senior running back and co-captain Max Jones who rushed for three touchdowns as the defense owned the second half, giving up its only touchdown with a minute left in the game.

“We got down in the first half but at the half we said to each other, ‘This is the one. We are not losing this one’,” said Christofori after the game.

“For us who have been here this entire time, and waiting this long, it’s an incredible experience,” Christofori said.

“We got this first win, and now we are rolling,” he said.

As the clock ran down to zero, the joy of accomplishing their first program win resulted in an explosion of emotions. While rarely at a loss for words – always encouraging his team to believe in the coaching and their teammates – “Coach Q” could only hug his assistant coaches (Dave Pereira, Brendan Bonn, Brian Shea, Hakeem Barge, Dick Quigley and Leo Harrington) and players who continuously bellowed their praise for their teammates.

When his assistant coaches presented Kumin the game ball for what is his first win as a high school coach, the 30-year-old had tears in his eyes as his team surrounded him in a boisterous celebration.

“It’s a tribute to these guys,” he said, waving his arm to the players still on the field enjoying the victory. “We are a family in the truest sense of the word. We live and breathe and work and practice for each other.”

“Coming to practice with the adversity that’s facing them and just keep working to get better. I said it a couple of weeks ago; I’m not sure I would have been able to do that in high school. I’m crying right now with absolute pride for this team,” he said.

As the Marauders gathered to leave, the Belmont supporters – mostly parents – stormed the field to greet the coaches and team.
It was only as Kumin was steps from the buses to take the team home did a few players decided to give their coach the traditional “Gatorade shower.”

“I’m a little moist,” said Coach Q, as the players cheered.

 

The contest between Belmont High School and Arlington was never in doubt.

The Spy Ponders came into Belmont’s Harris Field on Thursday night, Oct. 2, riding an impressive 3-0 start to the season, dusting off with ease three established programs while the host Marauders had taken a series of lumps since opening the 2014 campaign four weeks ago.

But a participant at the game said before the teams came out onto the field for Belmont’s first home game on the new Harris turf field – along with the White Field House were renovated over the summer – that the game’s outcome was irrelevant to its purpose.

“The score means nothing because this game marks the start of a new time for Belmont [football],” he said.

With a new energetic head coach, Yann Kumin, and his young brain trust, an invigorated boosters program, a newly-established Middle School football team and the new infrastructure in place, a renewed sense of enthusiasm and optimism has taken hold around the Belmont football program which 50 years ago in November won their last state championship.

“We are really moving in the right direction. I hate to sound like a broken record, but I’m a pretty honest guy and if I think were taking a step backward I’m gonna say it. But I don’t see that,” said Kumin.

And members of that last championship team – all grey, many retired – led out the squad onto the field. A piper heralded the players – wearing new spiffy camouflage jerseys – onto the south end zone where they huddled and entered their home field for the first time.

In the game, which ended 49-13, Belmont was outmatched by a disciplined Arlington squad that ran through the middle of the Marauders defensive line seemingly at will. On the other side of the ball, Belmont could not get the offense running effectively against a strong SpyPonder defense.

“Obviously, defensively we just have to keep learning and keep growing and as coaches we have to figure out what we need to do a better job,” said Kumin.

“[Arlington Head Coach John] Dubs [Dubzinski] has done a great job over there. He’s done what we’re trying to do here,” said Kumin, referring to Dubzinski’s reconstruction of the Arlington program in four years from the 3-8 team to co-champions with Reading in 2013.

“I have so much respect for their program and their kids. You can tell they are a discipline and classy program,” he said.

Marauder highlights included a pair of long touchdown passes from sophomore QB Chris Christofori to lanky junior WR Justin Wagner, the last TD scored in the final 10 seconds, a several inspired runs by talented running back Michel Johnson.

“It sounds counterintuitive after letting up 41 points in the first half and that’s not what we’re trying to do as a team but I am so proud of this team because there is such a sense of family and togetherness,” Kumin told the Belmontonian.

The problem isn’t that his loss hurt. The problem would have been if it didn’t hurt and they didn’t want to come back on Friday and Saturday to work and continue to grow as a program,” he said.

After the end of the game, Kamin told the team he appreciated the effort each team member has made in the seven weeks since the new Belmont football program began.

“You worked hard for four quarters today. We depended on each other. I am humbled by your work,” said Kamin, adding that when the team wins a Middlesex League title at some future date, he wanted to see the present day seniors, “Max, Mugsy, D Chen, J Paul, Price, Omar on that day and tell you what you started to build, the seed that you planted for this program is growing into something big.”

“If you guys can show the same discipline, focus and heart and pride and energy for the rest of your life that you showed for Marauder football, then I’ll put my head down on the pillow tonight and I’m going to sleep great because you’ll be men I can be proud of.”

Belmont High School Football team’s game and the season didn’t start the way Yann Kumin had hoped.

Belmont’s head coach – his first ever in charge of a program – saw Stoneham High School recover the on-side kick on the opening kickoff under the Friday night lights on Stoneham’s forlorn grass field on Sept. 12.

“Not the way to start,” commented Kumin when the referee pointed towards Belmont’s side of the field.

Despite the hope for a big performance on the first game under a new football mindset, the Marauders stumbled in the season opener, losing 30-0 to the Spartans.

“Disappointing,” said Kumin after speaking to his team, greeting people he knew from when he was Stoneham’s associate head coach last season and receiving congratulations from Belmont Athletic Director Jim Davis.

“I’m proud of my guys. We fought and we were a discipline football team from start to finish. That’s what we wanted to be. We worked hard but we did not get the result we wanted,” he said.

What Belmont could not control was the quickness and football IQ of Stoneham which ran a variety of rushing plays that found gaps in and around Belmont’s front line. Stoneham’s players experience within a system that relies on technique and speed paid off for the Spartans as they made plays that the Marauders could not.

Kumin said the team was not beaten in the physical portion of the game “but [Stoneham] is a team with three years of really quality coaching and teaching them how to tackle. We have had three weeks of coaching so it’s going to take a little bit more time for us.”

“You have a series of bad habits that have been instilled and repeated over and over again,” said Kumin of Belmont’s  past football culture.

“So when our guys find themselves in situations where they’re ‘behind the eight-ball’, it’s easy to revert back to what they’re comfortable doing, So all we, as coaches, have to do, day-in and day-out, is to break those bad habits and get great habits in place,” he said.

Throughout the contest, Kumin and his young assistant coaching staff were either making every play – and mistake – into a teachable moment or encouraging the effort of players. And Kumin saw great promise in several aspects of the Maruaders’ game.

“The positives exist in the fact that we are capable of making mistakes and coming back and try to do good things. We moved the ball really well and by the end of the second quarter, our offense was clicking,” said Kumin.

As he was walking off the field, Kumin told a Stoneham acquaintance that “you’ll have to come next year to [Belmont’s] Harris Field and we’ll be ready for you.”

This is it: the start of a new era for Belmont High School Football begins tonight, Friday, Sept. 12 as new varsity head coach Yann Kumin and his young group of assistant coaches will lead a new look Marauder team to Stoneham for the season opener against Stoneham High School beginning at 6:30 p.m.

The game marks a return to Stoneham for Kumin, who matriculated at Harvard and teaches English at Cambridge’s  Matignon High School, where he was the associate head coach last season. 

The team, which finished 0-11 last season, will bring back talented sophomore Cal Christorfori as quarterback and five senior captains including Max Jones, Austin Lutz, Nick Ryan, Omar Escobar and Darren Chan.

All you need to know about this team can be found in a remarkable video made by a pair of Belmont High School students, Lucas Tragos and James Neylon.