Coach Lee Carlson is starting to get it going over at Braintree.

One of the themes of the 2023 season was the resurgence of the Bay State Conference. Milton won a D3 state title. Walpole was in that final at Gillette. Weymouth had a strong season. Needham made the D1 Final Four. Natick gained some nice wins along the way.

But don’t forget about Braintree, which beat Milton on Thanksgiving and had some other quality wins along the way.

Carlson has the Wamps pointed in the right direction, and some players worth keeping an eye out for.

The player everyone should know about is James Curry. A 6-foot-1, 235-pound running back and linebacker, Curry turned in a dominant junior season, and should be even better as a senior.

He was hampered a little bit with an elbow injury, but had surgery after Thanksgiving.

When you watch Curry’s film, he reminds you of a lot of the great players in the 1990s, all 6-1, 230 pounds, and a beast at both running back and linebacker. The only difference is Curry might be even a little faster than those old greats.

“I think you hit the nail on the head,” Carlson said. “I would describe him as a throwback-style football player. There’s not much frills about him. You look at him, he doesn’t have all the armbands, the tape, all the accessories that everyone is wearing nowadays. Just kind of out there to play some football.”

Teams would take different routes to defending him.

“A lot of other coaches complimented him on how good he was, how tough he is to play against,” Carlson said. “What teams ended up having to do was put seven in the box and try to cover our receivers man to man with four players. Oftentimes, just because of the back that James is, we would run in those situations anyways knowing that we’d be outnumbered. Just try to get him one on one with anybody, thinking that that was going to be a win. What that would do for us is open up the passing game.”

There isn’t a consensus on what side of the ball Curry fits on the next level. There is some CAA interest right now.

“It kind of depends. Everyone seems to want him, depending on how high the level, the position starts to veer toward the defense,” Carlson said. “He’s being looked at all over the board from Division 1, Division 2. I think his heart is in offense. But I say that knowing that the kid’s a football player, and if he had to, he’d play offensive line. I think the higher-level coaches project him more as a linebacker because of his size-speed combination. He’s probably like a 4.5 guy, and Division 1 running backs now are all 4.4s and faster. So I think he projects more as an outside linebacker. He’ll probably play a lot more defense now that he’s fully healthy. But I don’t know, I’d have a hard time not handing that kid the football.”

Curry should have a monster senior year.

Another class of 2025 player to watch is Sean Canavan, a 6-6, 225-pound wide receiver and tight end.

“He’s the guy that really complements our run game,” Canavan said. “You put too many guys in the box, he’s a mismatch for any DB in our league at 6-foot-6.”

Quarterback Garoid Stones (6-1, 185) is also a threat as a kicker.

“One of the stronger kids on the team,” Carlson said. “He can kick 40-plus-yard field goals pretty regularly.”

Senior captain Dave Pressman (5-10, 200) is a guard/defensive end who was an all-league selection in 2023.

“He’s a tough, athletic, pulling guard,” Carlson said.

Kevin Dang (6-3, 255) is a three-year starter on the lines.

Class of 2026 defensive lineman and guard Demetres Holley (6-0, 250) came on toward the end of the season.

“He was living in the backfield those last four weeks for us,” Carlson said.