By STEVE KRAUSE
LYNN — The state athletic association made its decisions on where to hold the two high school football Super Bowls that won’t be at Gillette Stadium next month, and one of them — quite possibly the marquee game of the eight — will be played at Manning Field.
The 4000-capacity stadium, which has been host to Super Bowls in the past, will be the site of the Division 1 game between Xaverian and Everett, at 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3.
The Division 4A game, the only other one not slated for Gillette, will take place at Worcester State University.
St. Mary’s and Marblehead have already clinched spots in the Super Bowl in Division 3A and 2A respectively. Both games will be at Gillette.
“We are very happy to be hosting the game,” said Rich Avery, who is the site manager at both Manning Field and Fraser Field, “and we are looking forward to working with the rest of the city to make sure these games go off well,”
Avery said he and James Marsh of the Department of Community Development will work with other departments around the city to make plans in an advance of the game to ensure their success.
Prior to the beginning of the current season, the MIAA expanded the post-season football playoff format from six divisions to eight. Since the Patriots can only accommodate six games over the course of a Saturday, that left two others to be played elsewhere.
The last time this happened was 2012, and games involving St. Mary’s and St. John’s Prep were played at Curry College and Bentley University respectively. This will be the second time, under these circumstances, that the Division 1 game will not be played at Gillette. St. John’s defeated Brockton in 2012.
In the preseason, Xaverian and Everett were ranked 1-2 in the state, and the Hawks defeated the Crimson Tide, 17-14, in Week 1. However, both teams lost subsequently, Xaverian to Bridgewater-Raynham and Everett to Billerica. By the time the Division 1 North playoffs began, Everett had slid down to No. 5, but the Crimson Tide clawed their way through the bracket, defeating Haverhill, Central Catholic and Andover. Xaverian, No. 1 in the south, defeated Franklin, Catholic Memorial and BC High. Since there is no Division 1-level team in either Central or Western Mass., the North and South winners go directly to the Super Bowl.
Manning Field will also be the site of four state championship soccer games this weekend.
Steve Krause can be reached at [email protected].