After carrying Braintree football with one arm, record-breaker is finally at full strength

BRAINTREE — In terms of history-making for the Braintree High football team , it appears that James Curry was ahead of the curve last year.

Now imagine if he was full strength. Thankfully, he finally is.

Curry, despite sporting a heavy-duty brace on his dominant right arm, turned a monster statistical season thanks to a second-half breakout to his junior year last fall. He set program records with 1,750 rushing yards and 23 touchdowns as the Wamps (7-4) treasured their first winning season since 2018.

"I’d be lying if I said I expected (the record-breaking season), but it wasn’t something I doubted," third-year coach Lee Carlson said. "I wouldn’t put anything past that kid. ... He's a special type of talent.”

Curry missed almost the entirety of his sophomore season in 2022 due to hyperextending his elbow while recovering a blocked punt vs. Stoughton during the second game of the year. It later required an operation adjacent to Tommy John surgery.

Curry, who stands 6-foot-1 and over 230 pounds, recovered well enough to return to the field in 2023 and embraced the move to workhorse running back.

“He played all of last year with one arm," Carlson said. "He was carrying (the football) with his weak arm."

More: 'We understand our potential': Weymouth football aims high after standout '23 season

Curry surpassed 100 rushing yards in 10 of Braintree's games last fall. One of his signature performances came in Braintree's four-game winning streak to end the season -- 288 yards and 4 touchdowns on 25 carries in a 43-7 win over New Bedford.

“It was unreal seeing James absolutely dominate defenses," senior tight end Sean Canavan said. "I loved being on the field to witness it.”

Senior quarterback Garoid Stones, a two-year starter, said Curry will graduate as "one of the best players to come out of Braintree High."

“It makes it a lot easier, handing it off to James, because he just runs through everybody," Stones said.

Seniors' chance at history

Curry, now fully healthy, is looking to lead the Wamps to their first back-to-back winning season in over 20 years. If achieved, the core of 20-plus seniors will graduate as the program's winningest class "possibly ever," said Carlson, a Class of 1999 alum.

“It makes the school more excited about the team," Curry said of a potential winning season. "It makes kids want to play and actually care about the team more. Hopefully this will be a good year and we can keep that up.”

Braintree retains nine returning starters to its offense, minus 2024 graduates Joe Pendergast Jr., an All-State lineman, and league All-Star Caleb Parsons-Gomes at receiver.

Curry, Canavan and Stones headline the unit, with David Pressmand (senior fullback), Leo Bresciani (senior receiver), Kevin Dang (senior tackle), Jared Coughlin (senior receiver), Owen Kelly (senior receiver), Demetres Holley (junior lineman) and Joe Donovan (junior lineman) playing complimentary roles.

Ethan Elie (junior safety), Mike Witham (senior linebacker) and Ryan Medina (senior defensive back) are names to know on defense. Many of the offensive starters play both ways.

2023 rewind

The Wamps sat at 3-4 following a three-game losing skid against tough Bay State Conference competition in which each loss was dealt by a margin of two or more touchdowns. After barely missing the cut to enter the Division 1 tournament, Braintree finished on a four-game winning streak against Newton North (35-6 win), Brockton (28-20 win), New Bedford (43-7) and Milton on Thanksgiving (33-19 win).

“I could feel it coming," said Stones. "In practice, everyone was ready to go. The Thanksgiving game, we were ready to go. Milton went to the Super Bowl and we didn’t really care. We just wanted to beat them and help us move on to our next season.”

Three names to know

James Curry, senior running back/linebacker: Curry broke school records for rushing yards (1,750) and touchdowns (23) as a junior last fall.

Garoid Stones, senior quarterback: Stones enters his second year under center for the Wamps. He transferred from Catholic Memorial ahead of last season.

Sean Canavan: senior tight end/linebacker: The 6-foot-6 hybrid will make a big impact on both sides of the ball. He verbally committed to play Division 1 baseball at UMass Lowell next year.

They said it

Carlson on last year's midseason turnaround : “That Brockton win, from a self-confidence standpoint, it showed kids from Braintree that they can win football games just not against teams that we typically beat year-in and year-out, that they’re able to compete with and even beat some of those teams we’re expected to lose to. ... If we can play with Brockton, if we can play with Milton, we can play with anyone.”

Carlson on Curry: “He’s not going to catch anybody off guard. (Last year), I think for the first three, four weeks, people didn’t know who James Curry was. 1,000 yards and 10, 15 touchdowns later, they did.”

Senior fullback David Pressmand on last year's midseason turnaround: “After we didn’t make the playoffs, we just had that anger inside all of us. We took it and went on that four-game streak.”

Braintree High football schedule

Friday, Sept. 6 -- at Weymouth, 7 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 13 -- at Dartmouth, 7 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 20 -- vs. North Quincy, 6 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 27 -- vs. Framingham, 6 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 4 -- at Quincy, 7 p.m.

BYE WEEK

Friday, Oct. 18 -- vs. Needham, 6 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 25 -- vs. Walpole, 6 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 1 -- vs. Newton North, 6 p.m.

Thanksgiving: Thursday, Nov. 28 -- at Milton, 10 a.m.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: After carrying Braintree football with one arm, record-breaker is finally at full strength