THE DREADED COIN TOSS
1999: Wakefield 14, Melrose 14
(Full disclosure, former Herald columnist Michael Gee covered it for me, I handled the aftermath.)
The Middlesex League title and a berth in the Div. 2 Super Bowl was on the line when these two powers met.
Melrose came into the game as the favorite and controlled the game for the better part of three quarters behind the hard running of George LeBlanc (129 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries). The Red Raiders took a 14-0 lead into the fourth quarter and appeared to be in the driver’s seat as the rain turned the field into a quagmire.
But Wakefield was a team of destiny and wasn’t going quietly into the night. A short touchdown run by William Morrison, followed by 20-yard touchdown pass from Kirk Irons to Robert Caira with 25 seconds left, tied the score, leaving fans wondering what next.
There was no overtime and the league rules stipulated if all avenues failed in determining a league champion, the title would be settled by a coin flip. Ironically, earlier in the year, the league looked into changing the format but never did.
The following morning, coaches, principals and captains met at Melrose High. The coin flip would take place behind closed doors, leaving a host of reporters and media in the lobby breathlessly awaiting the outcome.
“It was a tough Friday morning having to wait 24 hours,” Wakefield football coach Mike Boyages said. “I remember my former basketball coach Sonny Lane (at that time he was the AD at Melrose), telling us not to get too emotional after the flip. There were two envelopes and we were fortunate to pick the right one.” An interesting side note to the coin flip. Former Boston Herald editor-inchief Joe Sciacca was filling in for David Brudnoy on his extremely popular weeknight radio show on WBZ. He asked me to come into the studio to do a quick five-minute spot on the game and the ensuing coin flip.
That five minutes turned into an hour-long session as the phones lit up with people expressing their displeasure over a coin flip deciding a Super Bowl berth. Some were a little more colorful than others. Wakefield went on to defeat Acton-Boxboro, 12-7, to win the Super Bowl.