Report: high school scrimmages

As we gear up for the Labor Day weekend, the high school athletic season is upon us. Pre-season scrimmages in all sports are taking place as coaches are sorting out their respective depth charts. And you can tell by the young kids running the rural local roads preparing for their cross country season that fall is in the air.

Getting back to the depth charts, there are a few golden rules. In football, if you are uncertain at the all important quarterback position and your team has two signal callers starting out the season, BEWARE, your team has no quarterback at all. Make the decision to go with "the guy" who you feel comfortable with. It is a gut decision, but do it now to eliminate confusion with the rest of the team. Just ask Rex Ryan about having two quarterbacks.

The other rule is, if a coach brings up a promising freshman or sophomore to the varsity squad, please play the underclassman or keep her or him on the JV level. Repetition is important to ninth and tenth graders. Playing all the time on the junior varsity level is more beneficial than playing limited minutes on the varsity team.

Here is what I heard over the weekend involving local football teams who had scrimmaged. Shepherd Hill dominated Division one Shrewsbury again in their annual get together in Shrewsbury. Is it me or does Shepherd Hill always volunteer to travel to their scrimmages in all their sports? Dudley is a nice place. Bring those Division one schools to the 01571 zip code once in a while. There is nothing worse than getting on a bus after you scrimmage on a hot August day and traveling 45 minutes in sweaty gear and dying of thirst. Anyway, the Rams usually dominate this scrimmage because Shrewsbury will tell me that they sit in a straight 5-3 defense without any movement, because they do not play an one on their 11 game schedule that runs the double wing offense that Shepherd Hill runs. Go figure. The Rams travel to Shrewsbury again this week as they measure themselves against another Division one program in St. John’s.

Oxford scrimmaged Westboro this past weekend. The Pirates have a new coaching staff in place this year. Here’s wishing the Pirates a good start.

No word on the Bartlett Indians other than the fact that a major rebuild is underway for 2012.

Bay Path scrimmaged Pathfinder and word has Al Dhembe’s team ready to defend their 2011 Super Bowl in style. The Muggett Hillers looked crisp in their scrimmage and gets the nod from this space as the pre-season number one football team in the local area.

I rode by my alma mater, Nichols College, last week and caught a few series of the Bison football scrimmage on Vendetti Field. Nichols was ahead 12-6 at the time.Couldn’t figure out who the opposition was on the fly. Their colors were gold and blue.Could have been Worcester State. Shepherd Hill’s Anthony Wilga is a Bison this year and I recently learned that he was named after Anthony "Tony" Vegnone who was an outstanding offensive lineman, #76, during the glory years at Nichols. Vegnone graduated from Nichols in 1974 and was immediately hired as a business teacher and assistant football coach at Shepherd Hill.Vegnone was the line coach for Leo Biron at the time and coached Anthony Wilga’s father, Gary Wilga, at Shepherd Hill. Vegnone made such an impact on Wilga’s life that he named his son Anthony after Coach Vegnone. Vegnone played on the famous 8-1 Bison team that beat Albany State in a homecoming game in Dudley and their only loss was to Trenton State by a 14-7 score. The New Jersey refs hosted the Bison real good in that game in Trenton. No sour grapes, but fact. Nichols wasn’t going to win in Trenton in 1973. Here’s hoping Anthony Wilga enjoys his football career as much as Vegnone and the rest of the townies did back in the day.