John Perry, Tony Johnson Speak at Lynn Item’s Football Banquet
photos courtesy of Reba M. Saldanha, The Daily Item, Lynn.
LYNN, MA - Football head coach John Perry and sophomore linebacker Tony Johnson (Lynn, MA) were among the guest speakers at the 64th annual Lynn Item Football All-Star banquet on December 14.
Johnson, a Lynn native who was the 2007 Item Defensive Player of
the Year, wrapped up his second year at Merrimack with 61 tackles
and nine sacks as a linebacker, and he recovered two fumbles. He's
a two-time Northeast-10 All-Star.
Johnson's message to players who plan to pursue football in
college was a simple one: Pay as much attention to what goes on in
the classroom as you do on the football field.
"I wished I'd paid a little more attention to schoolwork," he
said, referring to his freshman year.
"Treat classroom work as you would treat football. Get up and go
to class, study for tests and make sure you get stuff in on time,"
Johnson told the future college prospects.
Johnson also warned players to be prepared for some stiff
competition for playing time at the college level.
"It doesn't come as easy as it does in high school," he said. "In
college, everyone was the best player on their team."
Perry gave players some words of advice from a coach's
standpoint. He reminded the all-stars that there are a lot of
football players on the North Shore, but only 25 were in the room
that night.
He told players the lessons learned from playing football will
serve them well no matter what they do in life and he encouraged
them to aim high and when they think they've done as much as they
can, to do a little more.
"Judge yourself on excellence, not success," Perry said.
For more information and a photo gallery, log on to www.itemlive.com.
