By Nick Curcuru
The accolades just keep coming for Gloucester High School senior Conor Ressel.
Earlier this month, Ressel was named to the Massachusetts Football Coaches Association's 15th All-State football team, also known as the "Super Twenty-Six" team. The team is selected by the state's football coaches, a committee of five coaches led by Lincoln Sudbury's Tom Lope put the team together based on nominations from high school coaches. There were over 100 nominations.
The Fishermen running back, who is now playing for the Gloucester hockey team, was already named Northeastern Conference Offensive MVP and broke the single-game, single-season and career rushing records at GHS. He also helped lead the Fishermen to their second 13-0 season and Super Bowl title in the last three years.
The 6-foot, 200-pound running back was one of 13 offensive players and 13 defensive players named to the team. Ressel joins Walpole's Ryan Izzo (the state's all-time touchdown leader), Marlboro's Anthony Carter and East Longmeadow's Michael Barthelette as the chosen running backs. Masconomet's Chris Splinter is the only other North Shore player to be named to the team.
Ressel is the third Fishermen player to be elected to the Super 26 team. In 2007, defensive end Anthony Enderle, who helped Gloucester to the Division 2A Super Bowl title, was named to the team and in 2004 defensive end Nate Hunter, who is currently an All-American shot putter at Northeastern University, was selected.
The Gloucester running back will be honored at a banquet on March 7 with the other 25 members of the team at Lantana's Restaurant in Randolph.
"He deserves to be on that team," said Gloucester head coach Paul Ingram, who nominated Ressel to the team. "They want stats and he certainly has them. Plus he stacks up with the state's best players."
Ressel's stats were nothing short of spectacular this season as he ran for a school record 1,924 yards and scored 30 touchdowns. He is the school's all time leading rusher with 2,555 yards and is second in school history with 46 career touchdowns.
Gloucester's all-time leading rusher also benefitted from a ton of exposure. Due to the snow and an 8 p.m. start time, a lot of high school football fans watched the Fishermen's 33-13 win over Bridgewater-Raynham in the Division 1A Super Bowl at Gillette Stadium on television.
"We didn't like the start time at first," Ingram said. "But it got us a lot of exposure with the snow and the night game. A lot of people got to see what Conor could do."
What Ressel did was run for 189 yards and two touchdowns to go along with a 28-yard touchdown reception. Just five days prior, Ressel ran for 209 yards and three scores in Gloucester's 34-28 playoff win over Westford Academy.
Ressel is also just as much of a beast in the classroom as he is on the football field. The senior was one of five Fishermen to get straight A's for the first term of the school year and he boasts a 93 grade-point average.
"He is the total package," Ingram said. "That's just another honor he deserves."
