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(Excerpt From the
Salem Evening News, Tuesday, July 6, 2004 - Phil Stacey - "Canuks
'thrilled' to have Schneider on board")
While pre-1900s records are sketchy at best, we do know
that Beverly High has fielded a varsity football team every season since
1901 (with the exception of 1918, where the entire season was cancelled do
to World War I). In the 102 seasons from 1901 to 2003, the Panthers
have compiled an overall record of 548 wins, 389 losses and 65 ties - a
total of 1,002 games.
You have to figure there are more games than that the
Panthers have played over the last 100-plus years, but they just aren't
documented.
For instance, we know the Panthers had a varsity team as
far back as 1891 - the first time they played Salem High. In fact,
they played Salem four times that are recognized as varsity games in the
1890s, so that counts as at least four more games to their overall total.
If we had to guess, we'd say there are more that just aren't on file.
Granted, some of these so-called varsity games in the
early part of the 20th century were a bit sketchy.
For instance, Beverly High faced off against both the
Atlantic A.A. (a 6-0 loss) at Hartford A.A. (a 24-0 triumph) in 1903.
They faced Holyoke House of Havard in 1908 and 1909 (22-0 and 21-0 wins),
the Beverly Independents in 1911 (a 12-0 victory) and even counted games
against 'Alumni' in 1904, 1905 and 1911, winning all three by shutout
(16-0, 10-0 and 29-0, respectively).
The Panthers even faced a team called U.S.S. Enterprise on
1905, taking a 23-0 win. (Who was the quarterback - Captain Kirk of
Spock?)
But they all go down in the record books as varsity games.
So Unofficial Game No. 1,007 will be played when the Panthers host
Haverhill High under the lights at Endicott College's Tupper Field in
Beverly on Opening Night, Friday, Sept.10
By decade, Beverly High has gone 63-28-15
(1900s), 47-29-8 (1910s), 39-57-7 (1920s), 41-43-14 (1930s), 51-33-8
(1940s), 62-22-4 (the glory years of the 1950s), 59-28-3 (1960s),
37-56-2 (1970s), 76-23-2 (another great decade, the 1980s), 59-42-2
(1990s) and 39-45 thus far in
the 21st century.
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