The 1996 Boston University football media guide is the first toarrive in the mailbag and a quick look at the roster lists sevenplayers from the NorthWest area, including prized freshmanquarterback Davie Pizzotti of Reading.
Pizzotti is second on the offensive depth chart behind returningstarter Kevin Foley and is ranked, along with redshirt freshman JasonBarnett, as a top prospect. Last year, Pizzotti guided Reading tothe Division 2 Super Bowl championship.
Others on the roster are brothers Jason (senior, wide receiver)and Bryant (freshman, running back) Chisholm of Bedford, sophomoreoffensive guard Kevin Fitzgerald of Burlington and senior offensiveguard Scott Kleekamp of Bedford, sophomore wide receiver Dan Hanafinof Burlington and freshman offensive tackle John McMillan ofBillerica.
Hanafin played in 11 games last year and caught six passes for85 yards and is expected to play a key role in the BU offense thisseason. McMillan, meanwhile, is listed at 6 feet 4, 285 pounds andis labeled a 'new face to watch' on the offensive line.
Boston University opens its season Sept. 7 at St. Mary's inMoraga, Calif.Medford pair to lead UMass-Boston football Senior running back/punter Mike Moreno and defensive tackle RobGrieco, both from Medford, are two of the four players who will becaptains of the University of Massachusetts Boston football team.
Moreno is UMass-Boston's most versatile athlete, and during hiscareer he has played wide receiver, quarterback and tailback as wellas handling the team's punting. He holds 10 school punting records,including the longest (72 yards), most punts in a game (11) andaverage (35.9). Last season, the 5-foot-11, 190-pounder was theteam's second-leading rusher (204 yards) and scored three rushingtouchdowns. He also caught five passes for 27 yards.
Grieco, 6-1, 230, was UMass-Boston's dominant defensive playerlast year and led the team in tackles with 122 and sacks with 6.5.The 122 tackles were just four short of the school's single seasonrecord. Last season, he was the team's defensive MVP.
Both Moreno and Grieco attended Medford High.UMass field hockey ranked ninth in US
Though the start of the season is still two weeks away, theUniversity of Massachusetts Lowell field hockey team is grabbing somenational attention. The River Hawks, under second-year coach KatrinaKing, are ranked ninth nationally in the College Sports Magazine NCAADivision 2 pre-season poll.
UMass-Lowell, 8-10-1 last year, received 28 points in theballoting conducted among a panel of the nation's coaches.Bloomsburg (Pa.) University received all 10 first-place votes andeasily topped the balloting with 100 points.
UMass-Lowell is one of four New England teams ranked in the top10, the others being Sacred Heart (sixth), Bentley (seventh) and St.Michael's (10th).
UMass-Lowell opens its season Sept. 8 at Southern Connecticut.The River Hawks co-captains are senior goalie Kerry Dudley ofHaverhill and junior All-America forward Shannon LeBlanc of Amesbury.Belmont soccer group fights child labor
The Belmont Soccer Association, with almost 1,000 members, hasagreed not to use balls stitched by children and is urging otherleagues to join them in the fight against child labor.
'I don't think our revenues should support children in theseappalling conditions,' said BSA co-president Joe Griffin. 'In someof these environments kids work 10 or 12 hours a day, and weshouldn't be buying products which foster the exploitation ofchildren.'
Belmont's program involves 690 players at the third grade leveland above and another 250 of kindergarten age.
The campaign against child labor has received the endorsement ofthe Boston Area Youth Soccer League, which represents more than25,000 players from 1,200 teams and 60 communities.
The 'Foul Ball Campaign' is being spearheaded in Massachusettsby US Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy, who said the exploitation is especiallyprevalent in Pakistan, where children as young as 3 are stitchingballs for the world market.Here and there
Brandon Forsyth of Lexington teamed with Kerrie O'Donnell ofWestwood to win three junior level ice dance gold medals at the LakePlacid Olympic Center earlier this month.
The competition came from across the United States and Canada.The 16-year-olds won in the compulsory, original and free dancecategories. Forysth and O'Donnell represented the Colonial FigureSkating Club of Boxborough.
Nice touch by the Merrimack Valley Outlaws during halftime oftheir recent home game against Ocean State. The Outlaws retiredjersey number 44 in honor of teammate Kevin Fielding, who suffered abroken leg and other injuries in the season opener. The only downerof the night was the final score. Ocean State 19, Outlaws 6.
Bentley senior running back Joe Cerami of Methuen has been namedto the pre-season Division 2 All-America team by College FootballPreview. The 5-foot-8, 175-pounder averages nearly 9.5 yards eachtime he touches the ball. Last year, he had 1,052 all-purposerunning yards during the regular season and 229 in a post-season winover Stonehill.
Terry Sullivan carded three straight rounds of 71 and finishedwith a 76 for 289 to win the Woburn Country Club championship by awhopping six strokes over Jim Olson. Eleven-time champion JohnKeddie had 301 (78-75-75-73) to finish tied for fourth.
