Excited to kick off another busy fall season as Rhode Island high school football is back
Summer vacation is over. It’s time to get to work.
Sunday is high school football eve. While most — if not all — teams have held informal training sessions or competed in passing leagues, Monday marks the first day they can officially practice as a team. It won’t be long until programs hold fully padded practices. Games will follow even faster.
It’s a bittersweet time for me. If we ranked seasons like a football poll, summer is the unanimous No. 1 and it’s always sad to see it go. I enjoy coming off the adrenaline-fueled end of spring and going right into relax mode, charging my batteries for another exciting year of high school sports.
This school sports year will certainly be different, mainly because it’s the first season that will have some semblance of normalcy since — ready for this — the fall of 2019. That’s crazy to think about. We wrapped up the 2019 fall season and nearly got through the 2019-20 winter season before COVID hit.
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Going into this fall, it’s behind us. It is refreshing and it would be nice to have a season in which we don’t have to think about masks or tests or staying six feet apart.
I’m excited about that. I’m excited to not have to constantly think about how COVID could affect anything and everything. I’m ready to cover the games.
And that’s what we’re going to do.
The 2021-22 season was a resounding success. Interest in high school sports was never higher and people craved content. The Providence Journal responded in a way it had never done before. There was an abundance of game coverage, features and stories that found eyeballs in ways that exceeded expectations.
Readers embraced the idea. It was one of the craziest years of my professional life and now the goal is to be bigger and even better this fall.
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You can expect the same intensity and passion in our football coverage, starting Monday with the Top-10 Storylines heading into the fall season. On Friday nights, I’ll be on the sidelines somewhere covering a game. I’ll be at games on Saturdays as well.
My Top-20 Power Poll will be released every Tuesday morning prior to the RI Sports Media Top 20 poll being released that afternoon. That’s pushed back a day, but with good reason.
Last year, I picked our Top Five Performances of the Week and gave them to you in order. This year, it’ll be different, as our newest football feature will have you, the readers, vote on who should be named Player of the Week.
On Monday, I’ll post the five nominees and why they were chosen. A poll will be posted and readers will vote. We’ll announce the winner on Thursday or Friday morning. The vote will be for Journal subscribers only, so as I close all my social media posts, subscribe, subscribe, subscribe.
My weekly picks column will return as well. We’ll also have plenty of football features in the coming weeks, including full breakdowns of each team and each division and we'll name our 2022 Providence Journal Preseason All-State Football Team, which is set to be released on opening night.
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If you’re wondering about the other sports, stop.
Our game coverage Monday-Thursday will be focused on fall’s other sports. We have plans to include an Athlete of the Week feature, voted on by the readers, as well.
We’ll lead into fall sports with a preview story from each sport, as well as a list of athletes whom you’ll want to watch in their respective sports this fall.
Our goal this fall is no different than that of the teams that will take the field. We want to be better than we were last year and, to do that, we’ll try to be better than we were the day before. You’ll find plenty of content on The Providence Journal website and there will be a bounty of additional content on social media as well.
I’m excited for it all. I’m excited to get back to work covering the state’s athletes, seeing games, meeting new people and doing everything else that comes with it. On Monday, I’ll be ready to get started.
But first, I’m going to enjoy every ounce of summer and free time I have before things really get crazy.
All-State QB makes college choice
Dean Varrecchione, La Salle’s All-State quarterback, made his college choice last week and it’s no surprise that the left-hander will be heading to a Division I program after he graduates next spring.
On Wednesday, Varrecchione took to Twitter to announce that he has verbally committed to Robert Morris University, a Football Championship Subdivision program that recently joined the Big South — the same conference in which Bryant University plays.
It’s the first domino to fall in what should be a big recruiting year for Rhode Island high school football’s senior class. Varrecchione’s teammates, Jamezell Lassiter and Justin Denson, have Division I offers, as do St. Raphael’s Moses Meus and Cumberland’s Patrick Conserve.
Skippers’ soccer star commits
North Kingstown’s Connor Froberg, a two-time Providence Journal All-State first-team selection, also has made his college choice official.
On Aug. 5, Froberg posted that he intends to attend and play soccer next fall at the University of Rhode Island. Seeing Froberg stay local wasn’t much of a surprise. His uncle Kyle coached at URI before taking the head job at Rhode Island College.
Durand finds a new home
Hendricken three-sport All-State star Brandyn Durand made a surprise announcement on social media last week.
Durand had signed to play baseball at the University of Kentucky but on Tuesday posted on Instagram that he had decommitted from the program and would be playing baseball for Chipola College, a JUCO program in Florida.
There was no reason given, but the transfer portal may have played a role in the decision.
In June, Kentucky signed Hayden McGeary, who had played for Division II Colorado Mesa University the previous three seasons. McGeary’s numbers in the spring at CMU were impressive — a .481 batting average, a 1.061 OPS, 35 home runs and 79 RBI.
Transferring to Chipola gives Durand an opportunity for more playing time and a chance to showcase himself to bigger programs and professional scouts. Additionally, Durand will be eligible to be drafted each of the next two seasons whereas, if he stayed at Kentucky, he’d have to wait until after his junior season.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Rhode Island high school football is back as COVID protocols fade
