WHAV (https://whav.net/category/sports/)
Note: This event has been cancelled. The Girls’ Lacrosse team at Haverhill High School is presenting its 12th annual Haverhill Athletics Comedy Night to benefit the school’s athletic program. The comedy event provides opportunities to bid on Red Sox, Patriots and Bruins memorabilia. Proceeds from the bids, along with ticket sales, go towards the program. The event takes place Friday, March 13, 7 p.m., at DiBurro’s Function Facility, 887 Boston Road, Haverhill.
Grace Efosa, a senior at Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School, yesterday was awarded a full scholarship to attend Providence College next fall. Efosa accepted a four-year basketball scholarship to Providence College, a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 school that is awarding only two full scholarships this year. “It’s still unbelievable that I got a scholarship for Division 1, especially since I haven’t played for that long,” Efosa said. “It’s a great feeling.”
Efosa signed her acceptance letter in Whittier Tech’s gymnasium, while sitting at a scoreboard table in front of a crowd of her peers. Sitting beside her was her mom, Esosa Omorodion, brothers Angel, 11, Yuki, 15, Junior, 16, and sister Ebe, 12.
A state lawmaker from Westport on Tuesday pitched his bill that would prohibit tackle football before eighth grade as a way to protect children from brain injuries, while opponents countered that it would infringe on parental decision-making. “Increasingly, science is telling us that hits to the head are bad, and that the sooner they start, the younger you are when they start, they worse it is for you,” Rep. Paul Schmid told the Public Health Committee, according to the State House News Service. Schmid’s bill would prohibit children in grades seven and below from playing, practicing and otherwise participating in “organized tackle football,” with flag football and other non-tackle varieties still allowed. Schools, leagues or other entities that violate the prohibition would be subject to a fine of up to $2,000 per violation, with penalties increasing for subsequent violations and for “serious physical harm” to participants. The bill is cosponsored by 16 other representatives in addition to Schmid—six Republicans and 10 Democrats.
Members of the Haverhill High School cheerleading squad came together to pay tribute to their friend and fellow athlete Jordan Rankin as the Hillies faced off against Chelmsford Saturday at Trinity Stadium, with the girls wearing red ribbons in their hair and offering cheers of “We love Jordan” in memory of the 17-year-old ahead of the first anniversary of her death Sept. 25. Hillies past and present packed the stands for the afternoon game wearing red, a favorite color of the teen’s, as a way to remember the lacrosse and field hockey standout who tragically lost her life in a car accident minutes from her home last fall at the intersection of Liberty and Crystal Streets in Haverhill. Jordan’s parents, John and Cindy Rankin, along with her neighbor Christina Firek, attended the game, sitting near the students. In a conversation with WHAV after the game, Firek called the show of support for her childhood best friend “humbling.”
“It’s amazing, because I’ve known Jordan her whole life, but everyone in high school knew her a different way.
Coach Tim O’Connor’s Hillies hope to bounce back from last week’s 34-14 loss against St. John’s Prep this weekend with a Saturday afternoon game against the Chelmsford Lions at home, and WHAV is broadcasting all the action live only on 97.9 FM. “Voice of the Hillies” Paul Ryan and color commentator Tommy Morgan kick off coverage starting at 2:30 p.m. before the players take the field at 3 p.m. In addition to interviews and play-by-plays, the pair will also host a post-game show from Trinity Stadium. Haverhill High School football on WHAV is sponsored by Andy DiPietro’s Climate Zone, Brian S. Dempsey Insurance Agency, Duffy’s Diner, Attorney Gerard LaFlamme, NRT Bus, Simmons Plumbing and Heating, Smith Motor Sales of Haverhill and Wingate Residences at Haverhill. Can’t catch the game on the radio?
Haverhill High School’s unified sports program seeks athletes to take part in their basketball and track and field fall teams ahead of the first practices on Oct. 1, organizers tell WHAV. Sign-ups are done online and once a roster is created, a welcome email and schedule will be sent to all athletes and their families. Sanctioned by the Special Olympics, Unified Sports is an inclusive sports program that brings together students with intellectual disabilities and partners without disabilities to team up together for training and competition. More information on Haverhill High’s program is available by calling Matt at 978-420-1936.
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.
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.
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.