You could say that the year 2007 saw the return of an era ? and the end of an era all within a week’s time.It was not as simple as that, of course. We had plenty of the usual thrills and spills along the way. But as we wind down to the end of the year, two things will be fresh on our minds.The first is the return of the Swampscott glory days and the second is the dismissal of Gary Molea as the Lynn English football coach.In 1972, the Massachusetts Secondary School Association (as it was called at the time) instituted the first-ever high school Super Bowl. The Big Blue of Swampscott High won the initial Division 2 game, defeating Catholic Memorial of West Roxbury, 28-21.At the time, the Big Blue were at the tail end of an extraordinary run, and there was no reason not to expect many more such victories.But for 35 years, the Big Blue watched as other schools got the glory.Winthrop, Classical, Salem, Gloucester, St. John’s Prep, Bishop Fenwick, Peabody and St. Mary’s all won titles before Swampscott got all the way back to the top again.It took Swampscott five tries before it won another Super Bowl, but it happened this season as the Big Blue defeated Medfield, 22-6, for the Division 3 championship.Swampscott finished the regular season at 9-1 (losing only to Division 2A Gloucester, which was a consensus Top 5 team), with stars such as Peter Kinchley, Justin Mitchell, Kyle Shonio, Ilya Levin and Brian Palangi leading the way.While Swampscott was celebrating its rebirth, Lynn English was having a tough year all around.It wasn’t just the situation with Molea, although that was the most recent issue. Molea became the head coach at English in 1990, and in his first year, took the Bulldogs to the Division 3 Super Bowl (a loss to Joseph Case Memorial).Molea amassed 100 wins. But English principal Andy Fila decided that Molea needed to concentrate on his athletic director’s position. As a result, he opened up the football job.In boys soccer, Mike Kennedy of Lynnfield was the state scoring leader. The Pioneers advanced to the state final in Division 3, where their season ended with a loss.English is still suffering from the hangover that resulted from the departure of Jack O’Brien (before he even conducted a formal basketball practice) in 2006.Mayor Chip Clancy objected to Fila’s hiring Buzzy Barton as an interim coach because Barton, a former firefighter, is on permanent disability.Still, English won a share of the Northeastern Conference/Large title with Barton at the helm and Jimmy Silvio assisting.Fila then hired Barton as the permanent coach, with Clancy objecting again. Eventually, Barton sued Clancy for defamation of character, and the issue is still unresolved at year’s end.Among the area’s other major stories was the Wyoma Little League softball all-star team, which romped through the District 16, sectional and state tournaments, giving the girls the opportunity to play for the East regional championship and a spot in the national World Series.Wyoma advanced deep into the regional tournament (the girls were 3-3) before running out of gas in early August. Still, it was the farthest a Lynn Little League team has ever progressed – either boys or girls.In baseball, Saugus National won the district for the third straight year.Lynn made hockey history this year by combining the English and Classical programs. The last winning season among the schools was Classical’s in 2005, behind the line of Chad Johnson, Ryan Duggan and Tommy Adams.In the early summer, both the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association and Lynn School Committee agreed to combine the two teams under the name Lynn Jets.The Jets, coached by Al Melanson, got off to a promising start, beating Peabody – a team most people picked as an NEC powerhouse – in their second game of the season, and followed that up with another victory over Winthrop. At this writing, their record is 3-2-1.The region’s summer baseball teams, in general, did well. The Babe Ruth 14-year-ol