AMHERST — Amherst Regional offensive lineman Cenai Collins and Jack Nagy ate at Chipotle with Amherst hockey player Eli Slovin the Thursday before the football team’s season opener against Agawam. The Hurricanes blew out Agawam to start 1-0.
So they went back the next Thursday. Amherst took out East Longmeadow on the road.
“We kept winning, and we kept doing it,” Nagy said.
It’s one of a few rituals or superstitions for the undefeated Hurricanes (11-0), who face Swampscott (9-3) in the Division 5 Super Bowl at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Gillette Stadium.
They always park in the same parking spot and order the same fillings in their burrito bowls. Collins gets no rice no beans, chicken, Carne Asada, hot salsa, lettuce cheese and sour cream. Nagy goes for double chicken with heaping piles of rice, sour cream and hot salsa. It’s lots of white rice, double barbacoa, a little bit of hot salsa, lots of corn and lettuce for Slovin. They all add chips and a cup for water then sit at the same table.
“That’s an important part,” Collins said.
Thankfully there are three Chipotles within a 15-minute drive of Gillette Stadium. The Hurricanes will stay in a nearby hotel Friday night before Saturday’s early afternoon kickoff.
Quarterback J.B. Mills has joined in on some of the Chipotle runs but lacks perfect attendance. The senior has his own superstition, though. He’s worn the same mouthguard for every game. That’s despite losing it on the practice field and finding it six times throughout the season.
“It takes some thorough cleansing to clean it off because it’s kind of just sitting there on the field for a few days. I’ve become attached to this one mouth guard. I’ve got to have it,” Mills said. “I haven’t played a game without it yet. The thought of using a different mouth guard, I can’t handle that.”
Hurricanes coach Chris Ehorn Jr. didn’t follow any superstitions during the regular season but picked one up for the playoffs. Bitterly cold temperatures for the Western Massachusetts semifinals and championship forced him to wear a skeleton face mask on the sidelines. The weather was warmer for the state semifinal, so Ehorn nearly left the mask at home.
“We’re scoring 50 and allowing eight (points) per game, I’m keeping my mask on,” Ehorn said. “That was my one thing, I can’t take my mask off.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.