MassVarsity

Once again, as the Division 3 West playoffs start, top-seeded Springfield Central enters as the favorite to represent the section in the state semifinals. The Golden Eagles are 7-1, with the lone defeat coming on opening night to Lincoln-Sudbury. Since then, Central has been basically unstoppable, with a 61-34 win over St. John's of Shrewsbury the second week highlighting the run. As Central prepares to face Chicopee Comp this weekend in a rematch of a game the Golden Eagles won, 67-7, earlier this season, we caught up with their coach, Valdamar Brower, on his season to date, his players, and what lies ahead. Here is an edited version of that conversation. MassVarsity: So the last time I talked to you was after the Lincoln-Sudbury game. That was obviously a tough night for you guys, but the next week you turned around and beat a very good St. John's team. What was that like in terms of boosting your team's confidence the rest of the season? VB: That was a great n...

At the beginning of the season, we projected Hopkinton to win the Tri-Valley Large again, as we figured Holliston would not be able to bounce back from its uncharacteristic 5-5 season. However, we could not have been more wrong, as Holliston has been dominant this season en route to a 6-0 record heading into the Division 5 playoffs. On Monday night, we spoke on the phone with Holliston coach Todd Kiley of the toughness of the Division 5 South bracket, his team, and other topics as the Panthers prep for the postseason. Here is an edited version of that conversation. MassVarsity: I remember we talked at the beginning of the season about Division 5 South being such a loaded bracket even before the season, and it seems like it has sort of come true. The top four seeds have a combined record of 24-2. What do you see as you look forward to this postseason run? TK: It's a loaded bracket. We kind of knew that preseason. Even some of the teams that haven't done as well have ...

One aspect of coaching football at the high school level that often gets overlooked is program-building. As we've seen across the state with the rash of forfeits and low numbers, simply getting players to come out for the team can be a problem. But in an age where many are worried about the future of the sport here, there are success stories, so it is important to highlight them where they pop up. That's one of the reasons we reached out to Dedham High coach Dave Flynn. A legendary player for the Marauders in the late 1980s, Flynn served as an assistant at Dedham and other stops before taking over the program in 2011. Last season, Dedham went 6-5 in its first year in the Tri-Valley League Small after a long run in the Bay State Conference, where it was competing against much larger schools on a regular basis. Right now, the Marauders are 5-1 and one of the realistic contenders for a Division 6 state title. We spoke to Flynn Wednesday night and asked him how he was abl...

One of the top teams in the NEPSAC ranks this fall is St. Paul's of Concord, N.H., which is off to a 4-0 start.  One of the key contributors to that team is North Quincy's Nathan Sleiman, who just joined the program this year. We reached out to Nathan to get his thoughts on the team and how his experience has been at St. Paul's so far. Here is an edited version of that conversation. MassVarsity: What prompted you to go from North Quincy High to St. Paul's? How was that transition from a day school to a boarding school? NS: I first began thinking about attending a prep school last year primarily because I wanted to focus more on academics, and to also improve in both football and track.   After visiting   St. Paul ’s, seeing the campus, and meeting the coaches, I knew it would be the best place for me improve both academically and athletically and be successful at the next level.       The transition from a public scho...

In one of the biggest small school matchups of the weekend, Pope John XXIII of Everett came away with a 34-8 victory over fellow Division 8 state title contender St. John Paul II of Hyannis. The win improved Pope John to 6-0 with its season finale coming this Saturday against an improving Matignon/St Joseph Prep program. On Tuesday, we spoke with Pope John coach Paul Sobolewski to gain some insight on the Tigers as they look to maintain their success into the postseason. This is an edited version of that conversation. MassVarsity: It's been a while since I saw you when we were at that practice during the preseason. One of the things we talked about then was numbers at a smaller school. What are your numbers looking like now, and how has it gone throughout the course of the season with that? PS: We topped out, we got it to where we wanted it to be, which is over 30 kids. We've been holding steady at 32 for pretty much the whole season, which is not great, but it'...

On Tuesday, we spoke over the phone with Old Rochester coach Justin Kogler about his 5-0 Bulldogs, who are one of the favorites to come out of Division 6 South this year. Then, on Wednesday, we kept it in Division 6 and called Stoneham coach Bob Almeida to speak about his 5-0 Spartans. Stoneham has been one of the more dominant teams in the state, and is no doubt one of the favorites to make it out of the North bracket. Here is an edited version of our conversation with coach Almeida. MassVarsity: You guys have been winning by a lot in most of these games here. Is this the type of start you were hoping for? BA: Well, it's certainly the type of start we were hoping for. Things have gone really well up to this point. I think we're playing really well on offense and defense. This week, special teams had an impact. But, for the most part, the offense and the defense complement one another. We've got off to great starts when we've taken the ball. We've got the...

MIAA Division 6 is deep this year with quality teams, and right now our rankings have Old Rochester at the top of the heap. Before the season, we spoke to Bulldogs coach Justin Kogler, who told us about the experience he brought back, so we had a good idea of what this team was capable of. We reached out Tuesday afternoon to speak with Kogler again about his 5-0 team as it heads into the home stretch of the regular season. Here is an edited version of that conversation. MassVarsity: We talked a few months ago about your team and how you had a lot of experience back. You guys are obviously playing well. What have you noticed about how you guys have played so far, and what you're doing right that has given you such a boost here? JK: I think, I just got finished going over the stats, our stats so far this year, and I compared them to last year, and it's amazing how much more balanced we are across the board. Last year at this time, we had one kid that was abo...

One of the season's big surprises has been the play of Ashland, as the Clockers enter this week's game with Norwood 4-0. However, it's not the perfect mark that stands out so much as how it has come about. Ashland owns two seven-point wins and two one-point wins. The Clockers earned one of the latter this past weekend with an 8-7 victory over a good Hopkinton team. On Tuesday, we spoke with Ashland coach Andrew Mackay to get a rundown on his team. Here is an edited version of that conversation. MassVarsity: It's been kind of amazing how every single game has been close but you're winning them all. What has this been like for you in terms of being able to win games in this fashion? AM: Well, certainly, it takes years off my life, personally. I think it started a little bit last year. We had a young team, but we had some great senior leaders, and we kind of ended up on the wrong end of a lot of these games. We were in every single game, we played some great...