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Driscoll steps down as Whitman-Hanson football coach

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Driscoll with his family after a win on Thanksgiving over Abington. / Photo by: Sue Moss

Mike Driscoll has stepped down as Whitman-Hanson Regional High’s football coach.

Ever since Mike Driscoll was putting on the pads himself at Whitman-Hanson Regional High 30 years ago, he knew one thing.

“I wanted to become the head football coach,” said Driscoll, who graduated from W-H in 1991 and was part of its Super Bowl-winning team in 1989. “This is where I went to school and this was my dream job.”

After 10 years of living out his dream, Driscoll has stepped down as the Panthers’ head coach. A move he began to ponder this past fall when for the first time in 22 years, he didn’t have football games and practices clogging up his calendar.

“My kids are 10 and 12 years old, so they’re at the prime of their sports careers,” Driscoll said. “I realized there’s much more to life than just football and I need to spend more time with them. I’m sick of missing all of their things.”

Driscoll began his coaching career in 1998 as a volunteer freshman coach at W-H and would then move up the ladder. He also had brief stops at Scituate (one year) and Pembroke (two years) before returning to his alma mater to take over the reins of the Panthers in 2011.

“I knew all the guys who coached here,” Driscoll said. “I wanted to keep the Panther tradition alive. This is about character and class. My goal from Day 1 was to make sure every kid that came through this program left a better person and I know we achieved that goal.”

Ryan Trongone, who graduated in 2019, was a two-way, two-year starter for Driscoll. He now plays at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

“He inspired us all to be the best we could both on and off the field,” Trongone said. “He wasn’t just a coach to us. On the field, yes, he was our coach, but off the field, he was our friend. He was always there when we needed him.”

Under Driscoll, W-H posted five winning seasons and compiled a 51-51-1 record punctuated by a season-ending win over Hingham, 17-7, on Friday, April 9 in Driscoll’s final game as head coach.

“It really didn’t hit me until the end of the third and fourth quarters [it was my last game], and then it really got to me after the game,” Driscoll said. “I was just so focused on the game. We worked so hard on the game plan this week and the kids brought it.”

Driscoll said he’s going to miss most aspects of his high school coaching duties.

“I love Friday nights,” he said. “There’s nothing better than seeing this placed packed. And just that overall feeling when you’re in school that day and how cool it feels on a big game day. I also love the comradery with the coaching staff and preparing and moving on to the next game giving Saturday a day you take a deep breath and Sunday you’re right back at it watching film – hours and hours of it. I’ll miss that part of it. I’m sure I’ll still be watching some film, just not as much.”

Paul Scarpelli coached with Driscoll for 10 years and enjoyed each year of it.

“Mike created a family-like atmosphere for his coaching staff,” Scarpelli said. “I felt like he allowed me to grow as a coach and had confidence in my knowledge. Being the only member of the staff not graduating from W-H, he always made me feel like an honorary Panther. Mike wore his heart on his sleeve and his love for football and respect for the coaches that came before him.”

Driscoll said he has three memories that come to mind first when he looks back on his tenure with the Panthers. 

“My first year, second game we played Rockland at home,” he said. “W-H and Rockland hadn’t played in years and the place was absolutely packed. We had about 2,500 to 3,000 people at the game from both towns. We won. We played amazing that night.

“My second year we traveled over to Foxboro,” Driscoll said. “We were both undefeated. It was the ESPN Game of the Week and we beat them by a point, and the place was just cool. They had the best band I’d ever heard. They had 100 kids and we walked in there and we beat them.

“The Thanksgiving comeback (against Abington in 2016) was a cool game,” Driscoll added. “That was a great, great game.”

While Driscoll’s time throwing on the headset at Dennis M. O’Brien Stadium is over, his time rooting on the Panthers is far from finished.

“My kid is going to be up here in two years,” Driscoll said. “He plays football, so I’ll be at the games. My daughter won’t let me not be at the games. She’s probably W-H’s No. 1 fan. She told me even if she has to walk to the games, she’s gonna go. I’m a Panther for life. I’m not going anywhere.”

Sweeney, Trongone anchors and leaders in the trenches

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From left, seniors Ryan Trongone and Quinn Sweeney. / Photos by: Sue Moss

Seniors Quinn Sweeney and Ryan Trongone have been playing on the line together their whole lives.

For Whitman-Hanson Regional High foot ball seniors and starting two-way linemen Quinn Sweeney and Ryan Trongone, most weeks their toughest competition doesn’t come on Friday nights. It doesn’t even come from the other team.

Every Wednesday during practice, the Panthers hold their pass rush championship. Each drill calls for one quarterback, one offensive lineman and one defensive lineman. After cycling through the rest of the team’s linemen, Trongone and Sweeney are almost a sure bet to be the last ones standing.

“Our practices are very competitive, especially on Wednesday,” head coach Mike Driscoll said. “They compete like crazy, those kids.”

Some weeks, Sweeney, who starts at right tackle and defensive end, gets the edge on Trongone. Other weeks, Trongone, who starts at left guard and defensive end, swoops under Sweeney .

“We’re pretty even with wins for that,” Trongone said. “It’s always fun to go against him.”

Said Sweeney: “We always make each other better. He works hard and gives 100 percent on every play.”

On game day, the two, who have been starting on both sides of the ball for the past two seasons, compete on the stat sheet as well.

“We’re all racing for first in sacks,” Trongone said. “The lead for sacks is a big race be tween us.”

Their work on W-H’s defense, which is surrendering under two touchdowns a game, has been eye-popping. Sweeney leads the team with 21 tackles for loss and Trongone is second with 14. In a 9-6 nail-biting win over New Bedford earlier in the season, the two brought down the opposing ball carriers behind the line of scrimmage five times.

“They’re the heart and soul of the line,” Driscoll said of Sweeney and Trongone. “Quinn has just blossomed into an incredible football player over the last two years. Ryan is just a steady kid. He has the best technique of any lineman I’ve ever coached. They’re dependable guys and come to play every day, every game. They start every game and they finish every game, and they’re just great players to have on the team.”

They’re not just reliable up front. They’re leaders there as well, always trying to find a way to bring their unit closer.

“We have a group chat with the linemen where we all go out and do fun things with each other,” Sweeney said. “We’ll go to Buffalo Wild Wings or fishing, just so we can bond with each other more and then when game time comes we know that we have each other’s back, and we know that we have this bond with each other.”

The two have been building chemistry on the offensive line since playing in Hanson Youth Football, where they won the Super Bowl as eighth graders. Sweeney was an offensive guard and nose guard and Trongone played defensive end and center.

“It’s almost instant where we can say, ‘Go get this guy,’ and the next thing you know we get a run for 10 yards,” Trongone said.

And Thanksgiving Day marks the final time these two linemen will step onto the gridiron as teammates.

“That’s gonna be rough because all the Hanson kids that played in eighth grade and a majority of them that played in high school,” Sweeney said. “I’ll never be able to play football with a group of kids like these every again.”

Said Trongone: “I’m sure by the time it comes there will be a lot of mixed emotions. Obviously the fact that we’re leaving football isn’t the greatest thing I want to leave behind but we’re doing it with the best team we’ve had.”