With high school football practices set to kick off Friday, there are always a slew of story lines to follow during the regular season. Here are a bunch of them that the Boston Herald will be keeping its eyes on.
• Rob DiLoreto returns for a second tour of duty as the Everett football coach. Here’s hoping that the hierarchy does their job and allows DiLoreto to do his thing in the proper manner. Up north, Acton-Boxboro turns to Billy Waters in hopes of turning a program around which has struggled in recent years.
• Needham was one of the best stories of the 2024 season. The Rockets relied on a group of talented players who decided to stay home and they were rewarded with a trip to the Division 1 championship game. Many of those stars graduated so it will be interesting to see what happens there this year.
• In Div. 2, the race is on to see who can slow down the Catholic Memorial juggernaut. The team with the best shot just might be Bishop Feehan, who has ramped up their program in recent years in terms of talent and scheduling. That being said, it will take a monumental effort to take down the Knights.
• There is little question that Div. 3 is the deepest division in terms of talent. With the new realignment, the Div. 3 field now consists of Barnstable, King Philip, Marshfield (all of whom were in Div. 2 last year) to go along with traditional powers North Attleboro, Mansfield, Reading, Milford and Walpole.
• Has Scituate overtaken Duxbury as the top dog in the Patriot League? While it might be premature to write off the Dragons, the Sailors have certainly entered the conversation. Scituate defeated Duxbury in the Div. 4 Super Bowl for the second time in four years.
The good news is the teams will do battle on the only place which truly matters and that’s on the playing field. Scituate travels to Duxbury in the second week of the regular season in what should be a marquee game on the docket.
• Archbishop Williams entered the spotlight when highly-touted freshman quarterback Hudson Garrity announced he will be attending the Braintree-based school. Garrity already has Div. 1 offers and you know the Bishops are salivating to incorporate him into their gameplan.
• Fairhaven enters the 2025 season looking to replace one of the most productive backs in recent years in Justin Marques. Marques ended his career with a state-record 110 touchdowns to go along with 5,514 rushing yards.
• Matt Triveri’s Mashpee team has overcome serious injuries the past few years and remained one of the better teams in Div. 7. It will be interesting to see what Triveri has up his sleeve this fall in hopes of returning to Gillette.
• Nashoba Tech has been inching closer to the top of Div. 8 under Danny Kelly. Could this be the year they knock the door down and advance to the title game? They have an interesting game on the docket on Sept. 26 when they move up six divisions to take on Catholic Memorial.
• Tabor Academy has been stealing the limelight in the Independent School League since Jeff Moore took over two years ago. The Seawolves have brought in an impressive array of talent and have made it to a NEPSAC Bowl in both seasons.
They have done everything with one exception – beat BB&N. The Knights have shown that they have no intention of relinquishing their spot atop the ISL with a pair of wins over Tabor Academy (63-43 and 28-22). Speaking of BB&N, it will be strange not seeing Bo MacCormack in their lineup. A four-year standout, MacCormack established a state career record as he scampered for 6,699 yards.
• Highly-successful coach Jim O’Leary leaves Governor’s Academy after 15 years seasons to take over at Noble & Greenough. Luke Boria steps in for O’Leary at Governor’s.
