Friends Will Be Foes Friday Night

When Stoughton junior Adam Leonard breaks the huddle and lines up at offensive guard this Friday night, he’ll be staring at his lifelong friend, Oliver Ames senior middle linebacker Alex Tepper.

And, when the OA offense takes the field, Tepper, also a tight end for the Tigers, will go up against Leonard, Stoughton’s middle linebacker.

Leonard and Tepper’s fathers are also lifelong best friends, their friendship spanning more than 30 years. Both Jim Leonard and Rich Tepper grew up together in Stoughton and the two families frequently socialize. Jim is three years older than Rich, but the two met in their teens and have been friends ever since.  

Adam said he has heard tales of his dad and Alex’s dad squaring off in one-on-one basketball games. Fathers like sons, all competitive.  

Adam and Alex have played a handful of pickup basketball games as well, but the two have never gone head-to-head in any organized sport, and have never squared off with this much at stake.

If Stoughton beats the Oliver Ames football team this Friday night in a much-anticipated clash between the Davenport Division foes, the Black Knights will and earn a playoff berth.

However, if the Tigers win, they go into Thanksgiving with the inside track at winning the Davenport and earning the division’s lone playoff berth. If OA beats Stoughton, the Black Knights will have to beat Canton on Thanksgiving and hope Sharon upsets OA in order to claim a playoff spot of their own.

“It’s going to be crazy,” Adam said of Friday’s game. “Nothing’s as big as this.”

“This is a playoff game for both of these teams,” Alex said. “This is the biggest game I’ve ever played in.”

The friendship isn’t just Jim and Rich and Adam and Alex. Jim and Rich go out together with their wives; Madison Leonard, Jim’s oldest child, is friends with Alex; Adam is friends with Alex and Joey Tepper, a freshman football player at OA. Jim’s youngest child, Olivia Leonard, has Rich as her godfather.

Adam and Alex talk about football, but not about OA-Stoughton. Adam said they will sometimes exchange scouring reports on common opponents.

The dads talk a lot of football. Rich said he and Jim talk every Friday night and Saturday morning about their son’s games.

Jim and Rich attend sports games for Stoughton and OA to support each other’s kids. Rich said if Stoughton wins on Friday, he’ll be there to support Adam in the playoffs, and said Jim will do the same if OA advances.

They have sat together at these games, and they’ll probably sit together for the playoff games, but they won’t be sitting together Friday night. The rivalry is too intense.  

“It’s tough to go up against your best friend and your best friend’s son,” Rich said.

“As a parent I’m looking forward to it,” Jim said of Friday’s game.

Both said they hope their son comes out on top, but hope both Adam and Alex stay injury-free.

“When they’re at each other’s weddings, they will be able to talk smack about who won,” Rich said.

On the field, Adam and Alex are key parts of their respective teams, and both have made key plays this season.

On fourth down in the second overtime of Stoughton’s game against on Oct. 14, Adam made the play on defense to end the game, giving the Black Knights a . He burst through the West Springfield offensive line, got in their quarterback’s face, and forced a hurried throw, with the pass falling incomplete.

Alex showed his strength in on Sept. 16. On a third and 15, he caught a pass about 5-yards shy of the first down, broke a tackle, and dragged a pack of defenders over the first down line. Just a couple of plays later, he hauled in a touchdown reception. Alex added seven tackles on defense in that game.

Adam described Alex as “massive.” Alex is 6’2”, and almost 250 pounds—that’s NFL size. Adam is listed as 5’11”, 185 pounds.

Who is the better linebacker?

“We’ll have to see,” Adam said.

“I don’t know how to answer that,” Alex said after a long pause. Alex said he has the edge in experience, but Adam is “every bit as talented.”

“He’s like another younger brother,” Alex said of Adam.

“Alex is a little bigger, but Adam should be able to hold his own,” Jim said. “It’s a good challenge for Adam—Alex is one of the better middle linebackers in the league.”

Because of their positions, the two literally figure to butt heads throughout the game.

“It’s going to be good; [there’s] going to be a lot of hitting,” Adam said.

Adam said he will have “mixed emotions” going up against Alex on Friday.

“It will be something I think about,” he said. “[But] I’m going to focus on what I have to do, not just [Alex].”

“I’m going to have a good time with it,” Alex said. “I’m going to talk to him [during the game]; I’m going to have fun with it.”

Jim and Rich won’t be sitting together Friday night, but regardless of who wins, expect the phone to ring Friday night and Saturday morning, and the two dads to talk football, this time about how their sons went head-to-head.