Burnett Vt. Shrine coach
Toolbox
Staff Report - Published: December 4, 2009
Charlie Burnett, head coach of the defeated Division I state champion Essex Hornets, will direct the Vermont team when the 57th annual Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl football game is played in Windsor next August. Ken Sciacca from Kennett High School will serve as head coach for New Hampshire.
The game will be played Aug. 7 at Windsor High School, only the third time in Bowl Game history that the game has been played in Vermont.
"I am humbled to be selected by the Vermont coaching fraternity and the Shrine organization to represent the state of Vermont in coaching the 2010 Shrine team," Burnett said, only weeks after he finished directing the Hornets to a title game victory over Rutland High School. It will be his first head coaching assignment of the Shrine, coming only two years after he became head coach at Essex.
"It is an honor and a privilege to be able to serve such a noble cause of raising money for the Shriners Children's Hospitals," said Burnett, who cold be coaching his own quarterback in the game.
Max Librizzi, who threw 45 touchdown passes this season, was named Gatorade Player of the year for Vermont on Thursday.
For Sciacca, it will be his eighth time on the sidelines in a Shrine Game and the third as head coach, serving in that capacity in 1979 and 2003.
"I have just retired from football and I wanted to coach one more game, this game, for many reasons. First, it's a great cause and second, I will get a chance to coach once more with a lot of old friends. It's always a great event and I look forward to it," he said.
Sciacca brings to the Shrine Game 38 years of coaching experience, first as an assistant coach at UMass-Lowell and then 34 years on the high school level, including 19 as a head coach at four different schools. His overall coaching record is 113-66-2. He is a graduate of Northeastern University, where he played four years of football and was captain the 1960 Huskies. He also holds a medical degree from UNH.
Burnett led Essex to its first championship in football since 1992. He brings 15 years of coaching experience to the game, including one year as head coach at Champlain Valley and the last two at Essex. He has also served as an assistant coach at CVU, Essex and Burlington high schools.
Burnett graduated from Montpelier High School, where he played under the legendary Ron Ceppetelli. He went on to the University of Vermont where he earned a bachelor's degree in history and master's in education. In addition to coaching, he also serves as chair of the social studies department at Essex.
More than 200 players from Vermont and New Hampshire, all graduating high school seniors, have been nominated by their respective head coaches. Screening committees, chaired by the two head coaches, will select the two 36-man teams later this. The two teams are expected to be announced in late January.
The two Shrine teams will again practice at Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, N.H., for eight days.
The game is sponsored by Bektash Shrine Center of Concord, Cairo Shrine Center of Rutland and Mt. Sinai Center of Montpelier.
67