Good morning!
Last week the undefeated Frontier Regional School football team hosted Springfield International Charter School in a pivotal Intercounty-South matchup on Senior Night. Special programs were printed with a full page photo of each senior who was suiting up for his final regular season home game.
In the press box, longtime PA announcer Dave Blanchette introduced each player as he ran through a gauntlet of buglers, drummers and clarinetists and into the arms of waiting mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles and grandparents. Nor did Blanchette forget to honor the two Class of ’26 band members.
Out on the far side of the north end zone, the Bulldogs were feeling the chill night air and waiting for the festivities to end. Not far away, an Amtrak blew past them en route to Springfield, Hartford and points south.
The clash for first place was a contrast between a well established program and one still in its infancy. Located off Boston Road near Springfield College, 576 students are enrolled in grades 8 through 12 but this is only the school’s fourth year of football. Its coach, Matt Belanger, played at Chicopee High School and coaches “for the love of the game.”
Dressed in clean white pants, jerseys and helmets with dark blue lettering, the Bulldogs looked imposing during warmups. They were big and fast and the skill players showed deftness throwing and catching the ball.
Asked to name the team’s best players, a young Bulldog assistant paused for a moment and said, “Everybody really.”
True perhaps, but while the Bulldogs relied on individual efforts the Red Hawks played smashmouth defense and used a well-rehearsed and choreographed offense to tame the Bulldogs, 38-20.
The band, the games, the hundreds of fans and the weekly cookouts at Sharon Melnik’s house is why football embodies school spirit like no other.
“Our parents’ group is everything to the team,” said coach Scott Dredge. “Specifically Sharon Melnik and her daughter Kate and husband Keith James who’s one of my assistant coaches.
“Sharon has opened her home for the past few years and hosted team dinners that we call our family meals. They’ve been hosting as far back as when I played with [her son] Daren. Other parents have helped with monetary contributions and preparing dishes to serve. It definitely takes a village.”
At this writing Frontier had one regular season game left on the schedule. Dredge and his assistants Brian Ravish, Dan Cleary, Brian Delaney and James are anxious to see who they’ll play in the tournament. “Our hope is to be in the top 8 so we can host at least one game,” he said.
The brackets and seedings will be announced on Sunday. As of Thursday Frontier was 7-0 and ranked sixth in the MIAA power rankings. If it remains status quo the Red Hawks would host David Prouty of Spencer which was 7-0 and ranked 12th.
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My Deerfield Academy classmate John Lacey was a Yankees fan. His dad Bud was the team’s meteorologist, and after Bud died John got to wear the World Series championship ring the Yankees gave him in the 1950s.
After he graduated from Deerfield John went to Amherst College, and from there to Harvard business school. We kept in touch, mostly next to the barrel of beer in Delta Kappa Epsilon’s basement.
John wasn’t as devoted to Deerfield and Amherst as he was to his daughters, Morgan and Brooke. After the girls were named captains of their high school swim team, his license plate said “2CAPTS.”
John was 73 when he passed away last winter, but his memorial service isn’t until Friday at Johnson Chapel. In March his cousin Anne Yeager wrote to explain why they waited until the eve of the Amherst-Williams game: “It’s a long time from now, but it is very John and what he explicityly asked for.”
So be it. Go Jeffs, and so be that, too.
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Franklin County native and well-known sportscaster Marty Tirrell was arrested in Iowa last month for allegedly swindling investors in a year-long ticket-flipping scheme. On Oct. 16 a federal grand jury convened by the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Iowa handed up an 11-count indictment against Tirrell, and he was arrested four days later.
“Investor monies provided to Tirrell totalled several million dollars,” the indictment alleged, “and the four Victim Investors sustained a combined loss exceeding $1,500,000.”
Bilking people was Tirrell’s modus operandi until 2015 when eight former friends and associates testified in federal court they’d been swindled out of more than a half-million dollars.
Tirrell was sentenced to four years in prison but was released after 2-1/2 years. He returned to Des Moines where he set up a broadcast website, did a podcast and went to Gamblers Anonymous meetings. Not long ago an acquaintance said he noticed Tirrell’s footwear.
“Gucci sneakers,” he said. “Thousand dollar shoes. Nothing changed.”
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SQUIBBERS: Beginning last night through Nov. 22 the UMass hockey team has two games each against Cornell, Maine, Boston College and Providence. Six of the eight will be at the Mullins Center. … Red Sox fans lusting to have free agent Pete Alonso at first base next season might want to heed what Joel Sherman wrote in the NY Post: “The sport does not like righty-hitting, righty-throwing first basemen who lack athleticism/defense and are in their 30s.” … The Athletic reports that Fall River native Craig Albernaz turned down managerial offers from the White Sox and Marlins and stayed with Cleveland until the Orioles came calling. … Through the first five games of the World Series, the Dodgers batted fifty points under their regular season average from .251 to .201, while the Blue Jays fell off by only six points from .267 to .261. … Shohei Ohtani reached base nine consecutive times in Monday’s 18 inning marathon. He’s magnificent, but somebody please give him a personality. … 89-year-old southpaw Sandy Koufax stayed for the entire 18 innings on Monday. … The Missouri Tigers ran 33 more plays from scrimmage than Vanderbilt last week but lost to the Commodores, 17-10. … Mike Francesa speculated that Lamar Jackson didn’t start for the Ravens because he was miffed at management. “They named Lamar the starter before they talked to Lamar, and that got Lamar mad and said he wasn’t playing.” … The Arizona Fall League is experimenting with an automated check swing system. … The SEC Channel’s Paul Finebaum reports that 47 FBS coaches make at least $5 million a year. … Borrowing a line from Phil Musnick, the UMass football team’s newest player is Owen Eight. … Mollie Walker writes in the Post that Rangers center Noah Laba left the Minnesota Wild game for five stitches on the outside of his mouth and three inside of it yet barely missed a shift.” Walker covered UMass hockey for the Daily Collegian. … The Post now refers to the NBA as the National Betting Association. … The Omaha hockey team’s only giveaway this season was magnet schedules to the first 500 fans on opening night. … Frontier running back Garrett Dredge has received scholarship/financial aid offers from D-II St. Anselm and AIC and D-III schools including Hartwick, Westfield St. and Fitchburg St. “As of right now St. Anselm is his first choice because it fits him academically and athletically,” said his dad, the coach. … That reminds me of the old saw about Division III schools offering financial support based on need — how much the coach needs you.