High School Football All-Stars

Text and photos by Steev Riccardo

Hello Sports fans!
Now that we are more than a week removed from a great high school football season, it’s a good time to reflect and appreciate some of the fantastic individual performances of the past season.

Shepherd Hill’s magnificent 10-3 football season was highlighted by several huge individual performances. There are so many players that made heavy contributions to the Rams incredible super bowl run that it’s hard to single out only a few, but we have.
 

You have to start with quarterback Drew Ravenelle (above), who as the team’s leader, made his presence felt in nearly every game and also has the numbers to go along with his tremendous leadership qualities.  The senior co-captain was 17-27 passing with 402 yards and five touchdowns and also rushed for 575 yards, scoring ten touchdowns

The Rams’ incredible backfield senior co-captain Brad Picard and junior Jake Gelb also get the all-star nod from us.  Picard had 747 yards rushing with six touchdowns, while Gelb had 958 yards with ten touchdowns.

Chris Dutting was one of the best defensive players in Central Mass and some might say was the Rams’ most valuable player.  Dutting gave his team so many intangibles and also scored four touchdowns. He also had an incredible game against Doherty in the playoffs that ranks among the all-time best.

Lastly for the Rams is Matt Petrelli, who anchored his team’s line play and showed outstanding leadership all season long.

The Bartlett Indians may have fallen a bit short on their expectations as a team this year, but it had nothing to do with the individual efforts of their big three.

Junior Alex Givins-Perry did it all for the Indians this season. Despite missing two games due to injury, “AGP” still had 1359 yards rushing to go along with 16 touchdowns, not to mention his incredible play at the linebacker position. With a year left, things are only going to get better for Givins-Perry.

When the Indians needed a big catch this year, quarterback Ricky Spooner knew where he had to throw the ball – to Akeem Belnavis. The senior co-captain made some excellent plays this year which resulted in 15 touchdowns for the Indians.

Pictured above, and only a sophomore, Bartlett’s Neil Flanigan has a chance to be a very special football player. This year he played tenacious defense all season and sparked the green whenever they needed a big stop.

The Oxford Pirates may have been 1-9 this year, but every team that they played will tell you that the orange and black played hard in every game.

Sophomore quarterback Matt Faucher had a very good season for the Pirates and showed just how tough he is.  His eight touchdowns led his team and he is only going to get better in his next two years.

Tyler Barrie is a superb two-way player and he could help any team with his relentless style of play.  The senior receiver had three touchdowns and also played very well in the Pirates secondary.

The official Central Mass all-star team will be announced on December 26 and don’t surprised to see some of the above-mentioned guys on that team. These are all excellent football players.

Dave Marrier/Bartlett Girls JV: Congrats to Bartlett girls junior varsity basketball coach Dave Marrier who won his first game as coach of the jayvee team with a 16-15 win over Bromfield last Friday night.  The Bartlett girls were led in scoring by sophomores Catherine Heckler and Ashley Iwanski, who had six and five points respectively in the Indians victory.

Marrier had coached at the St. Louis school in Webster for the past six years, the last five for the jayvee team, 5^th and 6^th graders.  He is also the junior varsity girls soccer coach at Bartlett.

Rocco DiStefano: Bartlett 2012 graduate who just completed his first season playing football at Springfield College has added another bit of history to his already impressive resume.  Rocco made the Springfield College varsity track team as a walk-on. Way to go Rocco, we are not surprised!

Emily D/Oxford Track: The View From the Sidelines first Athlete of The Year Emily “The Sweet Assassin” Dawidczyk begins her final season of Indoor track as she and the Oxford Pirates will be in Northbridge on Wednesday, December 12, at 5:30 for a SWCL track meet.  

Until next week, see you on the sidelines! Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with any sports news and check out the new View From the Sidelines Facebook page with exclusive photos and news at https://www.facebook.com/ViewFromTheSidelines