We need your help to report on all of Rhode Island's fantastic spring sports
Break out the shorts. Spring has shoved winter into a locker and unleashed its glory on the state. The sun is shining, the weather is warm and you can go outside again without wishing you lived somewhere much further south.
The spring sports season is a full go and, while those first couple of weeks of practice and games were a little iffy, it looks like we've turned the corner this past week. Those April showers (we do need May flowers) have spoiled a couple of days, but things are only going to get better as we move on.
As for high school sports, we’re back to a full spring schedule for the first time since 2019. Writing that sentence is probably as crazy as reading it.
A lot has happened since then, including how The Providence Journal is attacking its high school sports coverage.
Our deadlines in 2022 are different than they were three years ago, so getting daily box scores in print the next day isn't happening. We’ll get back to this in a minute.
Because agate copy is taking a back seat, this frees up a lot of my time to cover games. As I’ve written in the space previously, I don’t mind completely abandoning my family — my kids will usually be in tow — to go to a high school game. There are some circumstances that will make it so I won’t be able to — after all, I am a softball dad — but I plan to go to games and to find stories all spring long.
More time to cover games
Some of this content will make it in print the next day, some of it won’t.
It will all be online at ProvidenceJournal.com and, as I’ve been saying for the last eight months, if you want to read them, you know what you have to do. (If you don’t know the answer, you need to learn more about social media.)
Bill Koch is going to be out and about as well. He wrote a terrific story on South Kingstown’s Ben Brutti and you can expect to see him at baseball games throughout the season. Bill covered the Red Sox, so having him help with high schools is like having my good friend, Jake Gyllenhaal, direct a school play.
South Kingstown's Ben Brutti: Meet one of Rhode Island's hottest young baseball prospects
Now while we will be covering more games — and I didn’t even mention our world-class photographers going out to shoot games that we cannot be at — what goes on at events we can't attend still matters.
We rely on our coaches for so much and this spring is no different. We want — no, need — coaches to call in or email the results. The Journal has switched over to an internet-based phone service, so we’re able to take calls again at (401) 277-7340.
Getting these results matters. If we’re able to get a steady volume of games reported to us, we’re able to write up daily recaps and the “Top 5 Performers of the Week” features as we did with soccer and football in the fall and basketball in the winter.
While printed box scores are gone, you can still find them on our website. A link is pinned to the top of our high school sports page. Can’t miss it — promise.
When we switched to emails (thanks, COVID), we didn’t get last spring’s results reported with the frequency of the past. We’re hoping everyone can go back to the phone system and we can get back to producing the state’s best high school sports content.
If coaches who have been emailing PJSports@ProvidenceJournal.com want to continue to email results, that’s fine. However — and this is a big however — we need those emails to contain more detailed information so we can do proper write-ups. We want to know who had the big hit, when the game-winning goal was scored, whose match clinched the winning point or if a player had a great defensive night on the court.
I hope coaches read this and get back to the phones. I look forward to answering them and getting the info for that game. You’d also be surprised at what kind of information you can gather in a 3-5 minute phone call and sometimes those lead to the best kinds of stories.
I look forward to writing as many of those as possible. Spring is here, I’m in a genuinely happier mood and it’s only going to get better as the weather gets warmer – unless my golf games continues its rapid descent. Then there’s gonna be problems.
From 401 to the FBS?
With the recent success of Kwity Pate and Xavier Truss, seeing players move from Rhode Island to the FBS level of college football isn’t out of the ordinary. What’s happening to Naeshaun Montgomery is.
If you don’t know the name, you’re pardoned. Montgomery played freshman football at Hendricken last season but he’s the only player from the state with a Power 5 offer.
Montgomery — a 6-foot, 155-pound receiver — picked up an offer from the University of Maryland due in part to his play in a tournament with Breakthrough Elite, the 7-on-7 travel team run by Westerly High School coach Stanley Dunbar.
The sad news in all of this is that we won’t get to see Montgomery play varsity football here in the Ocean State. He’s moving to Florida and will play for Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach.
Montgomery will have more visibility playing down South. Additionally, Tovani Mizell, one of the top running back prospects from the Class of 2024, transferred to the school last fall, meaning scouts from some of the top programs in the country will get a chance to see him play.
Rhody recruits
On Thursday, St. Raphael All-State defensive back and punter Andre DePina-Gray announced he would be staying home and will play football at the University of Rhode Island next fall.
URI has been plucking the state’s top home-grown talent during this recruiting year. Classical All-Stater Marquis Buchanan signed with the school last December and teammate Tosin Akinsulire joined him as a preferred walk-on.
Recently, Hendricken defensive lineman Adabayo Adeyemo — who only started playing football last spring — announced his commitment to the school, as did high school teammates Gabe Franco and Kamalie Pemberton. North Kingstown All-State lineman Nathan Field also is a URI commit.
The Rams also added former La Salle All-Stater Nick Lombardo, who opted out of his commitment to the U.S. Naval Academy and could be seen in action during spring practices.
URI also is active with a few of the state’s top underclassmen. The Rams offered Hendricken’s Rushaune Vilane — a second-team All-State selection last fall — as a freshman and offered La Salle All-State running back Jamezell Lassiter, as well as La Salle wide receiver/defensive back Justin Denson.
Bryant also plucked some talent from the state. Narragansett running back Reider Fry, Westerly wide receiver Luke Marley and La Salle linebacker Jameson Jarvis are all headed to Smithfield to play for the Bulldogs in the fall.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI high school spring sports: Coaches don't forget to report games
