Billerica Memorial High School Wrestling

Billerica Memorial High School Wrestling is the varsity wrestling program of Billerica Memorial High School, a winter sport for boys that the school has fielded since the early 1960s in the Merrimack Valley Conference. Under Vincent Viglione, who coached the team for more than three decades, Billerica won its first league championship in 1977-78, three straight Merrimack Valley titles from 1978 to 1980, and the Massachusetts Division I state team championships of 1983 and 1993. The program won further conference titles in 1995, 2016 and 2017, and in 2017 finished second in the All-State Tournament for the first time in its history.

No wrestling appears in the records of Howe High School, and the sport first appears in the school records of the early 1960s. The athletic accounts printed in the town report for 1964 carry $886.49 for wrestling, beside the older lines for football, baseball, basketball and track, and the Warrior of 1964 has the first pictures of the team, with its captain on the mat and Coach Wilson refereeing a practice bout. The squad of the following winter appears in the 1965 yearbook, and in 1966 the yearbook names Mr. Jannino as coach. Mr. Ralph coached the varsity in 1967-68 and 1968-69, with Mr. Brennan in charge of a second squad; in 1968 two Billerica wrestlers placed second in the state tournament and third at the New England tournament, and the 1970 yearbook pictures a Billerica state champion.

Vincent Viglione, who taught at Billerica High School for 33 years and also coached Billerica Memorial High School Football, was head coach by 1971-72, when he and his assistant Mr. Connors had a 6-8 team that had to forfeit two weight classes, including heavyweight, in every match. About 45 boys came to the first practice in 1974-75, and the yearbook complained that the team had "no support from the student body; all the guts and none of the glory." The 1975-76 team was called one of the best of the previous five seasons, and the 1976-77 team, with "the best team record ever," was described as "the most successful in the history of Billerica High School"; it finished fourth in the state tournament of 1977. The 1977-78 team went 14-1-1, and its yearbook noted that "this season marks the first time any Billerica High wrestling team has won a championship." It placed third in the state tournament of 1978, and the team of 1979-80 won its third consecutive Merrimack Valley Conference title.

The 1982-83 team had the program's first undefeated dual-meet season, 15-0-1, won the Merrimack Valley Conference and its tournament championship, and then won the Division I state championship, the school's first state title in wrestling; the Boston Globe named Mr. Viglione its coach of the year. The 1983-84 team, which lost eight seniors from the state champions, went 13-1, for a record of 28-1-1 over two seasons, with Mr. Tholander as assistant coach. The 1986-87 team was third in the conference, fifth in the state and tenth in New England; the 1989-90 team went 12-5-1, second in the league and third in the Division I North sectional; and the 1990-91 team went 14-3-1 and finished second in the Division 1 sectional, ahead of Chelmsford for the first time in five years, with six wrestlers in the state tournament at Springfield.

The 1991-92 team won the Division 1 North sectional championship, and the 1992-93 team, called "one of the best the high school has ever produced," won the Lowell Holiday Tournament and the Division 1 state championship, the program's best tournament showing "since 1983," with two individual state champions; Mr. Viglione was again the Globe's coach of the year. The 1993-94 team, the largest varsity squad in the program's history, went 9-7 and finished third in the Division I state tournament. The 1994-95 team went 15-2, won the Merrimack Valley title and the sectional championship, and for the first time placed all thirteen of its wrestlers in the top six of the section, sending every one of them to the state meet at Westfield, where Billerica was third for the second year in a row. The 1996-97 team went 11-4 and sent a Division 1 state champion to the national tournament in Pittsburgh, and the 1997-98 season, 12-7, ended with Mr. Viglione's induction into the New England Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame.

In 1998-99 the team had a new head coach and assistant, with Coaches DeRosa and Berglund in the yearbook picture, in what the wrestlers called a rebuilding year. Mr. Viglione was back as head coach in 1999-2000, a 5-12 season, with Ray DeRosa as his assistant, and the two led the team through 2003-04, when it competed in the Lowell Holiday, Wayland Holiday and Weymouth tournaments. Mr. Viglione retired from the Billerica schools in 2004. The National Wrestling Hall of Fame credits him with a record of 350-155-6, two state championship teams, two runners-up and five third-place teams, three North sectional titles, 18 individual state champions and six New England champions; he is a member of the New England Wrestling Coaches Association and Interscholastic Wrestling Association halls of fame and the Billerica High School Hall of Fame, and received the Lifetime Service to Wrestling award of the Massachusetts chapter in 2007.

Bob Belanger and Pat Hogan appear as the coaches in the yearbook of 2005. His 2005-06 team finished eleventh at the New England championships, second of sixteen teams at the Tyngsboro Big Red Tournament and fourth at the Chelmsford Invitational, though only about .500 in dual meets. In 2007-08 Mr. Belanger and his assistants Eric Desmond and John Burrows had a team just under .500 against a schedule that included Lowell and Chelmsford, and in 2008-09, his fourth season as head coach, Steve Hawkins joined him as assistant; that yearbook named Shawsheen Valley Technical High School the team's biggest rival. In 2015-16 wrestling was one of nine Billerica teams to win Merrimack Valley Conference championships, and the 2016-17 team won the conference title again and finished second at the All-State Tournament, "the first time in school history," as the members of the team were introduced at the annual Town Meeting of 2017. Billerica wrestlers won Division 1 state titles in 2015 and 2016.

References

1. Billerica Town Report 1964, school athletic accounts: $886.49 for wrestling
2. Warrior 1964: wrestling team, its captain and Coach Wilson
3. Warrior 1965: the wrestling squad with its coach
4. Warrior 1966: wrestling team, Mr. Jannino, coach
5. Warrior 1968: wrestling under Mr. Ralph and Mr. Brennan; two wrestlers second in the state and third at New Englands
6. Warrior 1969: varsity team with Mr. Ralph, coach, and junior varsity team
7. Warrior 1970: Billerica wrestling team and a state champion
8. Warrior 1972: a 6-8 season under Coaches Viglione and Connors
9. Warrior 1975: wrestling under Mr. Viglione and Mr. Conally, about 45 at the first practice
10. Warrior 1976: one of the best wrestling teams in five seasons
11. Warrior 1977: the 1976-77 wrestling team, the most successful in the history of the school
12. Warrior 1978: a 14-1-1 season and the first championship for a Billerica wrestling team
13. Warrior 1979: fourth in the 1977 and third in the 1978 state tournaments
14. Warrior 1980: third consecutive MVC wrestling title
15. Warrior 1983: first undefeated dual-meet season, 15-0-1, and the MVC tournament championship
16. Warrior 1984: after the state championship season, 13-1, and 28-1-1 over two seasons; Coaches Viglione and Tholander
17. Warrior 1985: a 7-7-1 dual-meet season
18. Warrior 1987: third in the MVC, fifth in the state, tenth in New England
19. Warrior 1989: a 9-6-1 season
20. Warrior 1990: 12-5-1, second in the MVC and third in the Division I North sectional
21. Warrior 1991: 14-3-1, second in the Division 1 sectional, six wrestlers at the state tournament in Springfield
22. Warrior 1992: Division 1 North sectional champions; Coach Viglione
23. Warrior 1993: Lowell Holiday champions and Division 1 champions, the best showing since the 1983 state title
24. Warrior 1994: 9-7 and third in the Division I state tournament under Coaches Viglione and Tholander
25. Warrior 1995: 15-2, MVC title, sectional championship and third in the state tournament
26. Warrior 1996: Billerica mat men set new records; Coaches Viglione, Tholander and DeRosa
27. Warrior 1997: an 11-4 season; a state champion at the national tournament in Pittsburgh
28. Warrior 1998: 12-7; Coach Vincent Viglione inducted into the New England Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame
29. Warrior 1999: a new head coach; Coaches DeRosa and Berglund
30. Warrior 2000: a 5-12 season under Coach Viglione and Coach Derosa
31. Warrior 2002: wrestling team with Coaches Vin Viglione and Ray DeRosa
32. Warrior 2004: wrestling team with Coach Viglione and assistant coaches R. DeRosa and J. DeRosa
33. Warrior 2005: wrestling team with Coaches Bob Belanger and Pat Hogan
34. Warrior 2006: eleventh at the New England championships
35. Warrior 2008: head coach Bob Belanger and assistant coaches Eric Desmond and John Burrows
36. Warrior 2009: Bobby Belanger in his fourth season as head coach, with assistant Steve Hawkins
37. Billerica Town Report 2016, schools: wrestling among the 2015-2016 Merrimack Valley Conference champions
38. Billerica Town Report 2017, schools: wrestling among the 2016-2017 Merrimack Valley Conference champions
39. Billerica Town Report 2017, Town Meeting: BMHS wrestlers introduced after the first All-State second-place finish in school history
40. Billerica Town Report 2015, schools: a BMHS wrestler wins the Division 1 state championship
41. National Wrestling Hall of Fame: Vincent Viglione, Billerica coach, 350-155-6, state champions 1983 and 1993
42. National Wrestling Hall of Fame, Massachusetts chapter: championship teams honored, including 1983 Billerica HS state champions
43. The Boston Globe, April 2, 2016: wrestling All-Scholastics, a second straight Division 1 title for a Billerica wrestler
44. Wikipedia: Merrimack Valley Conference