New England Intensity


Women's Tackle Football

                                                                              

History of the New England Intensity

The New England Intensity began it’s existence in 2003 as the Rhode Island Riptide, the third spinoff of the former New England Storm, who played in the Women’s Professional Football League (WPFL) from 2000-2002.  Former Storm players created the Massachusetts Mutiny in 2001 and the Bay State Warriors in 2002.

The Mutiny and Warriors, composed largely of the complete 2000 and 2001 Storm teams, respectively, who grew quite weary of the mismanagement of the Storm, rapidly organized themselves into teams of their own and entered competing leagues.  The Riptide, consisting primarily of players from Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts entered the Independent Women’s Football League (IWFL) for the ’03 season.

The first owner of the team was Sandy Frissell.  She selected Charlie Myers as the franchise’s first Head Coach and held their inaugural season’s home games at South Tiverton High School in Tiverton, Rhode Island. Unfortunately, very little in the way of historical data exists from these first two seasons. 

The 2003 season was a rough one, with the Riptide finishing 1-6.  The Riptide folded due to financial troubles after 2003 and loosely reorganized as the Rhode Island Intensity in 2004 with Lisa Cole as the new owner.

Coach Myers returned for the 2004 season, and the team would move it’s home field to Pierce Stadium in East Providence, Rhode Island—a decent natural grass field but one without lights and locker rooms.  They were an X-team (exhibition) for the 2004 season in the IWFL.  The team made modest progress on the field, finishing the season 3-5.

2004 also saw Tricia Donovan join the team and become a silent partner/co-owner of the franchise later that season, setting the stage for a complete change in ownership the following season.

As the 2005 season loomed, Tara Cramer, Lisa Soderland and Tricia Donovan would be the owners of the franchise and Coach Myers elected to not return for a 3^rd year.  Tara Cramer approached a former assistant coach of the Storm, Michael Correia, with the offer to be the next Head Coach of what was now the Rhode Island Intensity. 

Correia accepted the offer and quickly ascertained that the needs and challenges facing the Intensity were many.  For starters, there was little in the way of a traditional staff.

Facilities were a major concern as well, with the only indoor venue available at that time for off- and pre-season practices (typically spanning the winter months as the regular season in the IWFL runs from April-July) being a carpeted, mirrored aerobics room at a local gym that had low ceilings and was quite small. 

The roster was another challenge, with the normal attrition rate of about 20% over the course of a season (due to injuries and various other reasons that cause players to quit), the fact that fewer than 20 players had expressed significant interest in playing in 2005 was a substantial concern. 

Behind the scenes, the franchise’s financials were in an increasingly bad way.  Many of the relationships that had been developed with local business (for equipment, after-game parties, etc.) were beginning to suffer the consequences of the then financially-distressed franchise. 

Coach Correia contacted Torrance Brown (a former player on the Storm for 2001 and 2002) and her husband, Ben (who has a strength and conditioning background) and convinced them to join the Intensity.  The surprisingly high retention rate of 2004 players and some additional recruitment of rookies that would make immediate impacts, would keep the Intensity’s head just above water with the roster issue.  Extensive revamping of the strength and conditioning program, bringing it more in line with the demands of the sport itself, would also help prepare the numerous two-way players on the team. 

Little progress was made, however, on the facilities front in 2005.  Home games were again held at Pierce Stadium.  The outdoor practice facility was a municipal field in Providence (the Gano Street field) that had more broken glass on it than grass—due to the almost constant soccer games that are held there.  Facility improvements would be a focus area for the 2006 season.

Similarly, no appreciable headway was made on the coaching staff front. 

The on-field challenges facing Correia, who, by any measure, was a knowledgeable and dedicated coach, were daunting.  His multi-flex offensive system was new to the team and the lack of a committed and capable staff, coupled with the inadequate facilities would make success quite fleeting in 2005. The team would finish the season 1-9, taking a step backwards. 

In short, despite the terrible won-loss record in 2005, there was clearly a lot of talent that was developing, lending to a fair amount of optimism for the 2006 season.

Fueling this optimism was Coach Correia returning for another season (more often than not, it is beneficial for a team to be able to grow and mature within the offensive and defensive schemes of the coaching staff). 

Tricia Donovan would become the majority owner of the Intensity in 2005, displacing the other two owners.  Donovan then allowed Correia and Ben Brown to buy into to minority ownership status as the 2005 season drew to a close.  With numerous opportunities to improve just about every aspect of the organization, the new ownership team would waste no time making changes.

The most significant change between 2005 and 2006 would be switching leagues.  After playing all three seasons of the franchise’s existence in the IWFL (where they had amassed a record of 5-20 over that span), the new owners decided that it would be in the best interest of the team to move to the WPFL for 2006.

One short-term significant negative aspect of this decision was the long off-season between 2005 and 2006.  The IWFL’s 2005 spring season ended well over a year before the WPFL’s 2006 fall season began.  Though this protracted off-season allowed for significant training and recruiting improvements, it was, for a variety of reasons, a very challenging period of time in the team’s history.

In an effort to appeal to a greater base, the new ownership team rebranded for the 2^nd time--renaming the team to the New England Intensity for the 2006 season.  The team has kept this moniker ever since. 

Correia, recognizing the shortcomings of being short-staffed, made it a point to bring on board some additional, better-qualified coaching help for 2006.  Correia made contact with an old high school acquaintance named Bob Gilmore, who would come on board to work with the offensive and defensive lines.  Ken Gikas, a referee familiar with the organization was added to the staff, as was Rich Messemer, who would be helping out with the defense.

Cliff Ashley, a certified Athletic Trainer, joined the organization in 2006 and has been serving in this capacity ever since.  His experience, professionalism, and knowledge were substantial upgrades over the all previous arrangements for Athletic Trainer coverage.

A deliberate effort was made to upgrade the Intensity’s facilities.  As time would reveal, the strides made in this area were likely the most successful and enduring of the new ownership team’s first year in charge.  When the dust settled, the new home field was the recently-opened Medway (Massachusetts) High School’s Joseph P. Hanlon Field—a lighted turf field with ample parking, locker rooms, rest rooms, a trainers room and an officials room less than 200 yards from the field. 

The practice facilities were similarly improved.  Benefitting from personal contacts with Cornell’s Field in Hopkinton (Massachusetts)—an outdoor, lighted, natural grass field--and what was then the Dana Barros Center in Mansfield (Massachusetts)—an indoor turf field—the Intensity now had much better training locales.  

With the regular and post-season in any given year not last more than 4 ½-5 months under most circumstances, a majority of the calendar is therefore spent not in the midst of specific game preparation.  What tends to fill this time between seasons is a focus on recruiting players. 

Aware of the need to upgrade the talent level and depth of the team, and simultaneously realizing that until the staff was expanded, there would be minimal opportunity to develop players new to the sport, Correia began thinking outside of the traditional methods of drawing players to a team.  Namely, he actively recruited veteran players who lived much farther away from the team’s practice and game facilities than most players would normally endure. 

The volume of such players that ended up playing for the Intensity in 2006 exceeded expectations—about 1/3^rd of the 2006 roster was comprised of such players.  Time would show; however, while it was beneficial to have, on-paper, a larger roster, there were logical downsides to having so many players living so far away.  Notably the low frequency of attendance at practices and all the cascading problems that come from it. 

Not only was 2006 a banner recruiting year by way of the veteran free agents that would play for the Intensity, but a healthy crop of rookies.

The Intensity went 7-1 in the 2006 regular season, a substantial turnaround from 1-9 in 2005.  Upon closer inspection though, the 7-1 record had as much to do with the mediocre (at best) level of opposition as it did with anything else.  New England’s actual ability being a bit south of their regular season record was underscored in their first ever playoff game.  The 7-1 mark qualified them for their first post-season game in team history—an away contest versus the SoCal Scorpions in San Diego.  SoCal would prove way too much for the Intensity, soundly beating them 36-0 in front of their home crowd. 

Significant issues that had been increasingly present and troublesome with Correia would boil over in the ensuing off-season.  Soon he would no longer be part of the Intensity in any capacity.   Despite the roller coaster of 2005 and 2006, the Intensity owners now had a larger roster of more talented players and had access to better practice and game facilities compared to the end of the 2004 season.   The combination of no longer being on the brink of dissolution, and the upgraded infrastructure would enable the organization to continue to make improvements in the upcoming seasons. 

With Mike Correia out of the picture (both as Head Coach and as one of the Minority Owners), the search was on for a new Head Coach (Donovan would assume Correia’s portion of ownership). 

At this point, the number one priority for the off-season was to get a new Head Coach, preferably one that could bring a legitimate staff with him.  Bob “Twitch” Twitchell was selected as the primary candidate after a long phone interview.

Twitch, the former coach of the Massachusetts Mutiny for two seasons (notching an overall record of 17-4), would bring Bill “Griff” Griffin, his Offensive Coordinator and Mark Halloway, his Defensive coordinator to the Intensity, as well as Bill Noyes--Line Coach, Pat McStay and Dave Newcomb as Assistant Coaches and Tom Roussell as Videographer.  Armed with this substantial staff—most of whom had worked together before and/or knew each other, there was hope that the team really would turn a corner on the development of players and be able to push deep in to the playoffs.

After a one-year dalliance in the WPFL, the Intensity returned to the IWFL.  The higher level of competition would make life difficult for the Intensity in 2007, especially as it learned the vastly different Wing T offense that Griff and Twitch would implement.

Hurting the Intensity’s chances of success in their first year back in the IWFL was the fact that their 2006 WPFL off-season ended roughly 7 months before the first game of the 2007 IWFL regular season, about 2-3 months less time than if they had not switched leagues.

As alluded to earlier, many of the free agents from 2006 did not elect to return to the Intensity in 2007.   The 2007 rookie class was modest in size, but packed a wallop in terms of both quality and longevity. 

The facilities would remain the same, even if it seemed everything else was changing.  A very amiable relationship was growing between the Intensity and both Medway High School and Cornell’s.  Additionally, Lesley Lopes (a teammate of several Intensity players back on the Storm several years before) joined the team in 2006 and brought with her free access to the Brandon Residential Treatment Center Gymnasium in Natick, Massachusetts beginning in 2007.  An indoor facility is all but essential for IWFL teams (in cold weather markets anyway) off-season training.  Such indoor facility usage is normally both expensive and tough to come by from an availability standpoint.  Four seasons later, the Intensity would still enjoy free usage of this gym.

The Intensity would finish the 2007 season with 3-5 record, nowhere near good enough to qualify for post season play.  On a positive note, for the first time since the end of 2004 season, New England would enjoy a “normal” off-season, where there would be no switching of leagues an no extended nor truncated period of time between competitive seasons. 

This stability, along with the return of Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator Bob Twitchell and Offensive Coordinator Bill Griffin would provide the all-important optimism for the upcoming 2008 season. 

Coaches Mark Halloway, Pat McStay, Bill Noyes, Dave Newcomb and Videographer Tom Rousell would not be present on Twitchell’s staff in 2008 in any significant capacity due to a variety of personal reasons.  This substantial decrease in the size of the coaching staff would have it’s consequences and would come to a head by the end of the 2008 season. 

If 2006 was the biggest recruiting year for New England (in terms of sheer volume of players new to the team), then the 2007-2008 off-season saw biggest emigration of players away from the organization. 

Many of the players from 2007, led primarily by the remaining players who lived in geographically afield locales, frustrated with the subpar 2007 season and clearly not believing that the Intensity would make significant progress in 2008, would leave. 

Off-setting this exodus were several promising 2008 recruits, but to say that the 2008 roster was quite different than 2007 is an understatement.

The IWFL introduced the Tier system for the 2008 season.  In short, larger, more well-established and better-funded teams would compete primarily against like franchises, while the franchises with smaller rosters and operating budgets would tend to play more of their regular season games against those other teams resembling them. 

While the locations of IWFL franchises simply did not allow for exclusive within-Tier play, the post-season was a different story, with each Tier having a separate playoff bracket (i.e. no cross-Tier play) and a separate champion for each Tier.

New England posted a 5-3 regular season mark and for just the second time in team history, but now twice in the last three seasons, the Intensity was going to the playoffs!  The opponent would be the Clarksville, Tennessee Fox.  Griffin was unable to make the trip due to he and his wife having their first child.  Coach Twitchell, to his credit, did his best but this game was a very rough outing (the Intensity fell 32-0) and another early exit from the playoffs for the Intensity.  

Coach Twitchell, with his 5-4 effort in 2008, would tie Correia as the all-time winningest Head Coach in Intensity history (8 wins) and his winning percentage (47%, 8 wins, 9 losses) was the highest ever for an Intensity Head Coach to that point. 

After the League’s mostly-successful Inaugural Multi-Tier system in 2008, they would plan to do it again in 2009.

Some areas of focus for the upcoming season would have to be diversifying the offense.  For the three seasons before 2008, the Intensity had roughly a 50/50 mix of passing and rushing yards.  In 2008, only 13% of the team’s offense was gained in the air.  This limitation was painfully evident in the playoff loss versus Clarksville.

Another matter that needed to be addressed would be increasing the size of the coaching staff—no one person can effectively coach an entire team.

Just when it appeared that, for the first time in franchise history, that a Head Coach would break through the two season barrier, Twitch found out that his job was changing his hours such that he would not be able to stay on and coach the team in 2009.  Likewise, Griffin’s job did the same to him and he would not be able to stay with the team for a 3^rd season either. 

Jason Fernald, a football coach with High School and Collegiate coaching experience, agreed to be the next Head Coach of the Intensity.  He would add Peter Brown as his Defensive Coordinator and Peter brought in Jim Callahan to work with the Line.  Additionally, Nuri Barlas, who helped out with game days and media-related activities in 2008 and was eager to enter the coaching world would join the staff as an assistant coach.  Likewise, Eric Shi, a young man eager to get his start as a coach would also assist Fernald, Peter Brown and Callahan. 

This new staff was not finalized until just before the pre-season would begin.  This would put the team at a modest disadvantage with regard to implementing the new schemes and systems, not having any off-season time to lay the groundwork for these changes.

The rookie pool was not as deep as it had been in years past, though with the very high rate of retention that the Intensity had enjoyed in recent years, especially from the 2008-2009 seasons, this was less of an issue than it would have been in the past.  

The IWFL, as previously discussed, would continue their multi-tier system, though with some cross-tier play to ideally minimize the distance teams would have to travel to their away games.  To account for this, the Massey rating system would be used to help determine the top teams for post-season eligibility.  Most Tier II teams, the Intensity included, would have a couple of Tier I opponents on their 2009 schedule. 

Despite the two late-season losses to Tier I teams, New England’s 6-2 mark (the best ever for the Intensity in the IWFL) was good enough to host a playoff game, their opponent would be the high flying passing attack of the Jersey Justice.  The better but still subpar ability for the New England Offense to pass the ball would haunt them yet again.  Despite the O and D lines dominating for the Intensity, New England fell 30-7 before their largest crowd ever at Hanlon Field. 

The 2009 season, arguably the best ever (to that point) was a success for first year Head Coach Jason Fernald.  It was now in the rear view mirror, as the organization now trained its collective eyes on 2010. 

Fernald, Peter Brown, Callahan and Barlas all committed to return for the 2010 season—a big piece of the puzzle set in place for the upcoming season that would ensure stability and provide the opportunity for the all-important maturity of scheme.  Shi, citing personal reasons, would not rejoin the coaching staff for a second season.

As it would turn out, Barlas and the Intensity would part ways during the pre-season.   Fernald, aspiring to add more coaches, convinced Mike Nelson, with whom he coached at Sharon High School years ago, to join his staff.  Likewise, Johnny Johnson, a long-time coach in the Boston area (High School and Semi-Pro leagues) and co-worker of Lesley Lopes came on board in 2010.    

With the coaching staff apparently set, several players “on the fence” about returning or retiring, at the insistence and urging of the staff and their teammates would sign on for 2010. 

Coach Fernald would establish an aggressive off-season training session schedule.  This schedule, unprecedented in franchise history, would be instrumental in both laying the foundation of a more robust passing attack and for brining in players new to the organization sooner. 

Several promising veteran players joined up during the off-season and the rookie class of 2010 had several good athletes that looked to have the potential to make an immediate impact on the team.  In addition to the new/returning veterans and to there were a few players from the 2009 team that were injured or otherwise unable to play that would make comebacks in 2010.  The bottom line, entering the 2010 season, the Intensity has never had more players on it’s roster.

The IWFL wisely elected to continue the Tier system for 2010 and the Intensity would have an all Tier 2 schedule for 2010.  They would go on to have a franchise best 8-0 record in the 2010 regular season, despite numerous distractions and obstacles that included several injuries and the departure of Defensive Coordinator Peter Brown (after just the 2^nd game).  The 2010 season pushed Head Coach Fernald’s mark with the team to 14-4, thereby taking sole possession of the franchise record for wins by a Head Coach by a wide margin.

The regular season culminated in an amazing double overtime win at Erie, Pennsylvania, 27-20.  This win cemented an undefeated record and also clinched a playoff spot for New England.  Unfortunately, they would draw the 2008 Tier 2 Champion and 2009 Tier 2 runner-up Montreal Blitz in the first round . . .  And end up losing that road contest 53-14.  (Incidentally, the Blitz would go on to win their 2nd Tier 2 Title in 2010).  This disappointing end to an otherwise fabulous year served only to motivate the entire organization to work harder and return for 2011 more prepared.

The off-season preceding 2011 saw Defensive Coordinator Mike Nelson have to unfortunately step away from the Intensity due to work-related scheduling conflicts.  Assistant Coach Johnny Johnson was promoted to that position for 2011 and would make an immediate and positive impact.  In fact, when the dust settled and the year ended, virtually every meaningful team defensive statistical record was shattered by the 2011 squad—notably fewest total points allowed and fewest points allowed per game (to date, of course).

While New England benefitted greatly from the addition of Coach Johnson and the return of Coaches Fernald, Callahan and Ellison; due to a variety of factors, the Intensity’s off- and pre-season preparations were a far cry from what they were leading up to the 2010 season (something that will NOT repeat itself moving forward). 

All in all, despite falling short of their goal of hanging a loss on the Montreal Blitz, the Intensity took a massive stride forward in 2011. They beat almost unheard of odds and challenges to make the playoffs for the 4^th straight season (and 5^th time in 6 years), and, more amazingly, advance all the way to the Tier 2 North American Championship Game in Round Rock, Texas. 

While they fell short in that match (losing to the Seattle Majestics), the Blue did notch their first two post-season wins (impressively defeating the Tier 1 Baltimore Nighthawks at home, 25-0, and the massive Chattanooga Locomotion, 20-0, in Tennessee) to secure the franchise’s first-ever Conference Title.

The bitter taste of losing this Championship Game will serve as fuel for the Intensity to put their nose to the grindstone all the more diligently for the 2012 season!!