Haverhill

WHAV to Broadcast Haverhill Hillies Football Home Opener Saturday: How to Listen Live

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Get ready for some football, Haverhill! Once again, 97.9 WHAV FM is the city’s home for live Hillies football broadcasts, home and away, beginning Saturday with Paul Ryan and Tommy Morgan. They’ll be bringing play-by-play action each week from kickoff to the final whistle. Both Ryan and Morgan bring a wealth of pigskin personality to the airwaves, as Ryan is a three-sport star athlete from Haverhill’s class of 1971. Color commentator Morgan quarterbacked Haverhill High’s team during his tenure, graduating in 2013.

Haverhill

Former Hillie Feran Joins Haverhill High Athletics Staff as Girls’ Varsity Swim Coach

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A former Hillie comes home. After 30 years and more than 325 career wins leading the brown and gold girls’ varsity swim team, Coach Rick Battistini is passing the torch to his former swim athlete Meghan Feran as she assumes the top coaching position in his stead. Director of Athletics Tom O’Brien made the announcement late last month, bringing Feran on board three years after she coached athletes during the Olympic Trials. The owner of SOLO Aquatics, Feran swam competitively at Springfield College, where she was a four-time NEWMAC All-Academic selection, O’Brien said. During her time at Haverhill High, she swam four years, was captain of the team and named to the MVC All-Conference Team her senior year.

Haverhill

Junior Hillies Football Practices Kick Off This Week: What to Expect from the HHS Sports Feeder Program

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Listen to the full interview below. With the start of Haverhill’s new school year two weeks away, the city’s youngest gridiron greats are already hard at work honing their skills through the Haverhill High School new football feeder program known as the Junior Hillies, HHS football coach Tim O’Connor tells WHAV. Joining WHAV’s “Win for Breakfast” last week, O’Connor, who also teaches at Haverhill High, said the program for seventh and eighth graders was a long-held hope of his, as it fosters the sense culture of team and academic responsibility necessary at the high school level. O’Connor, who sits on the board of directors, did recognize the challenges associated with a team of middle school students, saying, “It’s very fluid, the emotions, on a daily basis.”

Practices currently take place at the Haverhill High School fields on Monument Street and will transition to Riverside Park after Labor Day, O’Connor said. For its first year, Junior Hillies has 55 students signed up. The team is a member of the 18-team Northeast Junior Football League, planning to play eight games: Four home games in Haverhill and four away games in other communities.

Haverhill

Pentucket, Salem, N.H., High to Use Haverhill’s Trinity Stadium for Fall Home Football Games

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Two area high schools, Salem, N.H., High and Pentucket Regional High School, plan to use Haverhill’s Trinity Stadium for home football games in the fall, WHAV has learned exclusively. Haverhill High School Athletic Director Tom O’Brien confirmed the news to WHAV, stating the city was pleased to be of assistance. “We’re happy to help,” O’Brien said, “We would hope another school would do the same for us in this situation.” O’Brien also emphasized how busy the Lincoln Avenue stadium may be in coming months, saying, “There could be a weekend with three home games this fall.”

The Salem High School superintendent’s office told WHAV the Salem Blue Devils are expected to play five games at Trinity Stadium, due to construction at the school’s Grant Field during the football season. Pentucket Regional did not return multiple requests for comment about their reason for relocating to Trinity. Salem’s first home game is scheduled against Londonderry, N.H. on Saturday, Sept.

Haverhill

Legion Post 4’s O’Brien Calls Players ‘Best in Years’ as Team Wraps Up Championship Play

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Hear the interview below. If you ask American Legion Post 4 baseball coach Larry O’Brien, the 2019 team that just wrapped their regular season run 15-2 is one of the best he’s seen in his career on the diamond. In an interview with 97.9 WHAV FM this week, O’Brien—who works alongside co-manager and pitching coach John Trask—told morning show host Win Damon the 16 boys on the team gelled exceptionally well on and off the field. “We had probably one of the best teams we’ve had in years and one of the best I’ve coached. The boys wanted to play baseball.

Haverhill

Haverhill YMCA Gymnasts Rank in National Competition

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Thirteen gymnasts representing the Haverhill YMCA recently at a late June national competition in Dells, Wisc.,with seven participants placing in the top 10 nationally, YMCA Regional Executive Director Tracy Fuller tells WHAV. Neveah Paradis placed in the top 10 in five categories, while Brooklyn Blais did so in four. Stella Stephanos, Elise Mayer, Kaelyn Mazzaglia placed in the top 10 in three categories each, with Mazzaglia taking first place in the vault competition. Additionally, Jianalyse Vega and Haley Goudreault each scored in the top 10 in one event.

Haverhill

Haverhill Police Beat New England Patriots 15-13 in Weekend Softball Game

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It’s another W for the HPD! The Haverhill Police Department softball team chalked up a victory on Saturday against the New England Patriots during this year’s celebrity softball classic, walking away winners after the annual match with a final score of 15-13. WHAV was the only media outlet at the game as Haverhill Police standouts Officer Matthew Marshall, Officer John Orsillo and Sgt. Thomas Howell helped the first responder team beat the Super Bowl champion Patriots, led by Max Lane and Steve DeOssie. Rounding out the police team were Officers Nicole Donnelly, Brittney Birch, Kevin O’Brien, Carlos Arriaga, Bryan Bailey, Kevin DeCarvalho, Ryan Connolly, Justin Graham, Kevin Tracy and Daniel McDonald.

Haverhill

Whittier Tech Varsity Softball Coach Begin Celebrates 200th Win: ‘Belichick of the Team’

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Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School’s Cheryl Begin is celebrating a major milestone on the softball diamond this spring: Her 200th win. Now in her 14th year as varsity softball coach, Whittier head of security Begin is riding high in the role her coaching peers and players say is similar to that of another famous Massachusetts coach. “Cheryl is like the Bill Belichick of the Whittier softball team,” Athletic Director Kevin Bradley explains of Begin, who many of Whittier’s 14 players see as a surrogate mother. “Success is no surprise to me. It’s not just about what she does on the field, it’s about what she does off it too.