TIMMY MURPHY HIT THE ICE for the first day of hockey practice.
And it was impossible to ignore the obvious as he glided on the freshly cut sheet at the Hallenborg Pavilion.
With a large hinged brace on his right knee, each stride felt awkward. His right leg was noticeably heavier than his left.
“My leg was huge,” Murphy recalled.
After experimenting with a handful of prospective braces, he found the one that was the most tolerable to make it through the winter with a torn PCL and MCL that he sustained in the fall on the gridiron.
Murphy, adhering to Billerica’s new double-wing offense, carried the ball up the middle in an October clash against Methuen. An opposing player fell on his knee. He knew something was wrong.
It was only the following day when he eyed a doctor advising him to undergo surgery to repair the injury.
“I was crushed,” Murphy said. “They were like, ‘You should definitely just go get surgery and do it now.’”
While not required, surgery is recommended as the best form of treatment for PCL tears. While Murphy’s season on the football field was already over, the three-sport athlete understood his team’s goals for the winter and spring seasons.
So he took the physical therapy route. And Billerica won two state championships.
THE HOCKEY AND LACROSSE state titles that Murphy helped deliver to Billerica were two of seven state championships that the Indians would capture in the 2024-25 school year.
The Billerica girls track and field program netted the triple crown, as a cross country state title in the fall set the table for consecutive track and field state championships in the winter and spring. Meanwhile, the cheer squad garnered titles in the fall and winter as the hockey and lacrosse teams raised banners of their own.
What was perhaps the most successful season across the state yielded 13 Merrimack Valley Conference titles and seven state titles.
This fall, Murphy will return to the football turf with a rare opportunity: to win three state championships in three different sports in one calendar year.
If the Indians were to raise some hardware at Gillette Stadium come December, it would certainly place Murphy in rarified air. Winning one state championship, never mind three, is an arduous task.
But the wins and losses have spoken for themselves in the growing trophy cases in Billerica High. Since COVID, athletic director John Magliozzi has noticed an increased level of enthusiasm within the student-athlete body.
“Honestly, coming out of COVID, our kids have just responded so well to getting back acclimated to everything we have to offer,” said Magliozzi, who took over as the athletic director in 2017 and is a graduate of BMHS.
Billerica’s new state-of-the-art high school, which opened its doors in 2019, also paved the way for updated athletic facilities. Pair that with a class of student-athletes hungry to return to competition, and it was the perfect storm for participation numbers — and success — to gain momentum.
“Between the facility and a little bit of winning, it gets a little contagious,” Magliozzi said. “So we’ve been kind of excited about that.”
Timmy Murphy, a star player on the Billerica High boys hockey team last winter, was a key player in Billerica’s run to a state title. He netted 16-30-46 for the Indians. (Courtesy photo)
MURPHY IS THE TYPE OF ATHLETE that Magliozzi considers to be Billerica’s “lifeline.”
The three-sport athlete not only provides the player with the tools to be successful in a myriad of sports, but it simultaneously fills rosters of driven and competitive individuals who want to win.
In an age where the club sports landscape is touching nearly every corner of the youth sports circuit, it is becoming increasingly unpopular for students to take up three sports in high school. However, Billerica has been able to avoid that narrative.
“If one or two of them decided to not play and specialize (in one sport), it would hurt the depth chart, and then they would miss out on a different experience,” Magliozzi said.
Billerica’s hockey and lacrosse squads were loaded with dual and tri-sport athletes. Their depth was their calling card.
However, that’s not to take away from the challenge of being involved with a sport in all three seasons. Murphy, who is also a three-sport captain, has learned how to maintain a balancing act.
He plays lacrosse during hockey season and spends his summers perfecting his craft in all three sports. Just this past summer, he played both lacrosse and hockey, all while coordinating lifts with the football team and competing in seven-on-seven matches.
“Obviously, it’s a wicked big commitment,” Murphy said. “Even with school, you’re up late at night doing all your homework trying to get good grades. It’s taught me a whole lot of discipline, especially leadership, and just how much work you need to put in to be your best in every area of your life.”
And despite navigating the constant obstacles of his injury, Murphy posted 16-30-46 en route to Billerica’s magical run to the TD Garden that culminated in a thrilling 3-2 double overtime triumph over Canton.
BILLERICA IS a hockey town.
When you stroll into the Hallenborg Ice Pavilion — perched directly adjacent to Billerica’s high school and turf field — the banners hung from the rafters paint the picture.
Billerica’s history is riddled with success on the ice. But it was perhaps the 2024-25 Billerica boys hockey team that rejuvenated the proud program.
Billerica hauled in three straight state crowns from 1975-77 while netting 22 league titles in 29 years until its dominant run concluded in the early 2000s. When Nolan Dawson lit the lamp on Causeway Street — causing a mass of Billerica supporters to explode out of their seats in unison — it ended a 48-year drought of a state championship in the program.
The Indians’ season, from start to finish, had all the makings of penning a new chapter of Billerica hockey lore. Rolling into the Division 2 state tournament with an 18-1-1 record, Billerica stormed to the state finals after edging Tewksbury in the semifinals to complete the season sweep against its neighboring rival and punch a ticket to the title game.
Billerica edged Canton in a double-overtime thriller at TD Garden to capture the state championship in March for the first time since 1977. (Courtesy photo)
It was one of the many subplots of Billerica’s emergence to the top of the hockey mountain. In a regular season game against the Redmen in January, Billerica rallied to a 5-2 win to mark its first victory against the MVC foe since 2018. Then just a month later, Billerica downed Tewksbury again — this time at the Tsongas Center in overtime as Ryan Johnson sent Billerica dancing to Boston after Tewksbury knotted the game with 0.9 seconds left in regulation.
Murphy was one of the many catalysts on Billerica’s deep roster as a junior under head coach Jim Egan.
“He has been a relentless hard worker for our hockey program and has been a major contributor to our success,” Egan said. “I am looking forward to seeing Timmy carry out his journey this year and see the everlasting positive impact he’ll have made on others here at BMHS when he walks through those doors next spring.”
And faced with more adversity under the bright lights, Billerica overcame two deficits on Garden ice to deliver one final exciting win for the town.
“Throughout the whole season, we kept gaining more and more attention,” Murphy said. “I feel like it kind of made Billerica a sports town again.”
WHEN SHAWN THERIAULT is out in public in Billerica, it doesn’t take long for someone to pick him out as the school’s first-year football coach.
It’ll spark a conversation about Theriault’s teaching roots at the Marshall Middle School, and excitement about the upcoming football season is apparent in every interaction.
When sports are woven into the identity of Billerica, that type of conversation becomes commonplace — even for a newly-minted coach who hasn’t even coached his first game yet.
“You want to be around kids that care and you want to be in a community that cares,” Theriault said. “It just brings a whole other level of energy and excitement.”
Theriault is set to replace Duane Sigsbury, who amassed a 76-41 record in 11 seasons while obtaining five MVC titles, on the sidelines this fall. Theriault brings coaching experience from Andover, Westford Academy, Danvers and Framingham State.
A year ago, Billerica enjoyed a solid 5-3 regular season to earn the No. 2 seed in the Division 3 state tournament. The Indians were ultimately eliminated in the quarterfinals. Despite a young and somewhat inexperienced group of players Billerica will be expected to lean on this fall, Theriault isn’t worried about the commitment he’ll receive from his team. Not in Billerica.
“The culture here is already established,” he said. “This isn’t one of those deals where you have to come in and change things, the way the attitude is, or the way the kids are, or the expectations.”
Billerica has always been a sports town. Magliozzi, a former BMHS athlete, hasn’t seen anything change within the town’s passion for sports.
“It’s what our kids do — it’s part of our culture,” Magliozzi said. “We all grow up with a basketball hoop in our driveway and a set of Wiffle Ball and bats in the garage.”
As a result, the entire community has bought into Billerica’s teams. Both the hockey and lacrosse squads received escorts from the police and fire departments after their wins. A sign displayed on Boston Rd. congratulated the hockey team in the weeks after its victory at TD Garden.
IT WAS THE NEXT DAY after Billerica’s hockey state championship game, and it was also the start of the lacrosse season.
Boys lacrosse head coach Ryan Nickerson offered the handful of hockey players reporting for lacrosse tryouts a few days off before shifting gears to another sport.
Murphy and the rest of his teammates didn’t take all of them.
“Our coach was nice enough to give us a day or two to get used to it, but we hit the ground rolling right after,” Murphy said. “It just showed how much we wanted it, because we knew we could do it again for lacrosse.”
And Murphy’s injury only fared worse on the turf than it did on the ice, as the constant running applied more of a strain to his hurt knee.
During the first week of practice, Murphy insisted on running a few miles on the track to feel it out. Nickerson had to tell him to stop.
“Timmy decided to run miles around the track during practice until I had to step in and stop him,” Nickerson said. “That’s the work ethic and commitment Timmy brings to a team, and it’s no surprise that he was a huge part of two state championships.”
Murphy said he played “for everybody else” in both the hockey and lacrosse seasons. That dedication didn’t go unnoticed by his peers. Nickerson said Murphy is the definition of a hardworking, blue-collar player with one of the strongest moral compasses he’s ever seen in an athlete.
“He embraces the dirty work that often goes unnoticed, yet still found ways to make the difference time and time again,” Nickerson said.
Billerica would proceed to roll to a state title, winners of 22 straight contests after dropping the season opener to Lincoln-Sudbury. A narrow 17-16 win over Reading in the state championship game put the finishing touches on a season that has been years in the making. The victory marked the program’s first state championship since 2001.
Billerica capped off a dominant season with a 17-16 thriller over Reading in the state finals. (Courtesy photo)
In 2022, Billerica dropped a 9-8 heartbreaker in double overtime at the hands of Longmeadow in the state finals. The next two seasons, Longmeadow ousted Billerica twice more in the Elite 8.
Better yet, Billerica’s impressive season yielded an 11-10 win over Longmeadow in the regular season.
Murphy said the experience from hockey only paid dividends on the lacrosse field, especially in close games when the difference was made in the details.
“Knowing what we did from hockey, I think everyone had the experience and was able to share it with the rest of the team. I feel like that really, really helped,” he said.
Murphy was a key cog in Billerica’s team, earning second-team all-conference honors.
AS THE LACROSSE TEAM was basking in glory at Mass Maritime Academy, a Billerica dynasty had been recently cemented.
Earlier in June, the girls track and field program captured its third state championship of the 2024-25 athletic campaign with a romp at the Division 3 state championship in Westfield.
Earning 92 points, Billerica cruised to the finish line 48 points ahead of runner-up Westboro to take the crown. The convincing win marked Billerica’s second outdoor title in the last three seasons just months after taking their third consecutive indoor championship.
In the fall, the Billerica girls cross country squad took home the Division 1C state title. That’s three straight state crowns in one athletic season.
And all three teams are composed of primarily the same group of student-athletes, creating seamless transitions between seasons.
“That’s one of the reasons they’re so good, is just the consistency of their training,” said girls cross country head coach Cullen Hagan. “Every season, every year, they just get better and better.”
The Indians will look to kickstart another successful season on the cross country course this fall, returning the entirety of their top seven runners from last fall in Gianna McGowan, Hartlie Siegal, Kylie Donahue, Caitlyn Donahue, Madelynn LaRosa, Emma Ausilio and Anna Rossini.
As Billerica opened its doors in its new high school in 2019, eighth graders were included in the new development. Of Hagan’s top seven runners, McGowan and Siegal were the only two distance runners to not start their journey in the program in the eighth grade. The youth movement has helped mold a powerhouse.
“They’re probably amongst the best in the state as a group of tenth and eleventh graders,” Magliozzi said.
At last season’s state meet, McGowan captured the individual title in 18:44.15, followed by Kylie Donahue in third (19:42.5) and Caitlyn Donahue in fourth (19:43.02). Ausilio, LaRosa and Siegal rounded out the top 21 finishers in a field of 121.
The Billerica girls track and field team completed the clean sweep with an outdoor state title last spring after capturing crowns in the indoor and cross country seasons. (Courtesy photo)
The success only snowballed, resulting in a state title in the indoor season. Hagan’s young distance group was yet again on full display, as Kylie Donahue netted a second-place finish in the two-mile (5:04.77) and a fourth-place bid in the 1,000 meters (3:06.15).
The spring yielded a similar story, with both Kylie Donahue (second in the mile and two mile) and Caitlyn Donahue (third in the mile) pacing the Indians to more hardware. That’s a lot of winning.
“I don’t think they know much else,” Hagan said. “They’ve been really good since they’ve come in. It’s just kind of expected that they’re going to be good.”
Nyrah Joseph, a senior in last year’s program who is set to run at UMass Lowell this year, will be a sizable loss as Billerica looks to recreate its success from a year ago. But Billerica’s depth is stronger than ever.
“I think our seven through 12 would beat our top five from like two or three years ago,” Hagan said. “It’s just so deep — we’ve never really had this much depth or this kind of quality of a group. It’s really exciting.”
The same formula has transformed Billerica’s cheer program into a perennial power.
After the Indians won their first state title in the winter of 2019, Nicole Viselli’s squad has rattled off 11 straight state victories. Yes, 11, hauling in two titles each season from 2019-2024, with the exception of COVID in 2020. After taking the state championship last spring, Billerica is striving for another piece of hardware this fall to keep the streak alive.
“We just created this mentality that was creating a family culture, and everyone worked so hard to want to be a part of the BMHS cheerleading family,” Viselli said.
The influx of talent from eighth-grade participation has only strengthened the program. While Viselli had initial reservations about the idea of eighth graders being on the same team with seniors, she quickly realized the long-term benefit of welcoming a new class of student-athletes into the fold.
“I find that they have matured a lot faster,” she said. “They’re now on the same teams and working for the same common goals as those older, veteran kids that are seniors and juniors and sophomores, and they look up to those kids and they now want to be those kids.”
Billerica will be going for its 12th straight state title since 2019 this fall, a streak that originated in 2019 between the fall and winter seasons. (Courtesy photo)
It ultimately created an environment that was that much more competitive, pushing cheerleaders of all ages in the program to fight for a roster spot. Last year, a total of 55 cheerleaders reported for tryouts, with the varsity squad fielding 23 and the JV squad fielding up to 20. And while many of the team’s most talented athletes also compete on club teams, they have remained committed to Billerica.
“They are choosing to give up their weekends, and they are choosing to give up their social life, and they’re taking on more of a responsibility in cheerleading in joining as many teams as they can,” Viselli said.
THE SUN IS SHINING on the turf at Billerica High.
The football team, which got a head start on the 2025 season by opening practice last Friday, is firing on all cylinders at practice on Tuesday.
Murphy — still sporting the brace on his right knee — is the only player suited up in pads who was a member of both the hockey and lacrosse teams last season. He’ll look to complete the clean sweep this fall, with a rare opportunity to capture three state titles in three different sports in the same calendar year.
The month hasn’t even flipped to September yet. But Murphy can see the same blueprint that was visible with his hockey and lacrosse teams.
“We have such a good group of guys this year,” Murphy said, a wide receiver and safety. “Everyone’s so bought in — everyone’s so close. It’s wicked special. I think we can definitely do it again.”
As for his injury, his leg is feeling better, and he’s getting used to lugging the brace around with him as he takes every step. He’s already reached the pinnacle of the high school athletic world on two occasions. But it’s the same kid, with a mentality cut from the cloth of Billerica’s identity, who is willing to put it all on the line for the name on the front.
“That’s how we win most, if not all, of our games,” Murphy said. “Everybody pushes through injuries, cuts, scrapes, bruises — it’s just what we do to win. We’re not always the most skilled or the most talented, but we’re always willing to outwork and out-grit all the other teams.”
And the only thing weighing him down will be the two rings shining on his fingers.
Timmy Murphy is a senior captain on the 2025 Billerica football team. He plays wide receiver and safety. (Jason Cooke / Valley Sports Daily)
