Sports 04-08-2015

Elam takes office as new Pop Warner President

by Cary Shuman

Craig Elam has begun his tenure as the new president of the Revere Junior Patriots Pop Warner football and cheerleading organization.

Elam, who has been a coach and board member, succeeds Marc Tango as president of the popular youth sports program.

Elam’s wife, Melissa, has been a highly successful cheerleading coach, leading the ‘C” squad to successive national championships at the Cheer Championships at ESPN’s Wide of Sports Complex in Florida.

Craig Elam and the board met Monday night to continue plans for the 2015 season. Board member Tracy Sullivan said that registration will be held in early May and preseason practices will begin on Aug. 3.

The football teams and cheerleading squads are looking forward to having their games played at the newly constructed Harry Della Russo Stadium on Park Avenue.

“We’re expecting a big turnout this season,” said Sullivan. “We hope boys and girls will want to be part of our teams and our organization. Everyone is excited about the new stadium as our home.”

Murphy’s Boxing host card April 10 in Melrose Hall

Murphy’s Boxing is back for round 2 of “The Memorial Series” with a stacked card of highly-anticipated bouts between some of professional boxing’s most-promising contenders. The Memorial Series’ second fight night will again take place at the Melrose Memorial Hall with funds benefiting the Claddagh Fund on behalf of Massachusetts Fallen Heroes.

 The Memorial Series Part II rings the opening bell Friday, April 10, 2015 at 7:30pm. Headlining the evening’s main event will be Welterweight prospect and Framingham, MA native Danny “Bhoy” O’Connor (24-2, 8 KO’s) as he takes on Columbus, Ohio’s Michael Clark (44-12-1, 18 KO’s) over a 10-round bout. The card will also feature a series of sensational bouts highlighting the area’s hottest prospects. The Memorial Series Part II is following its highly successful inaugural event this past February where the Memorial Hall was filled to capacity.

For tickets and more information, please visit www.murphysboxing.com or call 310-344-2293.

RhS sports Roundup

“Play ball” Monday for RHS baseball, softball

The Revere High baseball and softball teams finally will get to hear the umpire instruct them to “Play ball” after four weeks of weather-induced frustration when they take to the field Monday afternoon (April 13) against Northeastern Conference Large Division rival Lynn Classical.

Coach Shawn Brinkley’s Patriots had been scheduled to open their season this past Saturday against non-league foe Everett, but Conigliaro Field was far from ready after the last of the 108.6 inches of this winter’s snowfall finally had disappeared. Instead, Brinkley and his crew cleaned up the field and did what they could to get it into playing condition.

With their home field ready to go, the Patriots scheduled a trio of scrimmages — the first of the season — for Monday with Woburn and today (Wednesday) with Chelsea. In between, Revere was set to make the short trek over to the East Boston High turf field yesterday (Tuesday) for a scrimmage with Winthrop under the lights at 7:30. Winthrop, whose own field was used as a snow dump by the Winthrop DPW and thus still is under mountains of snow and debris, rented the Eastie field for the scrimmage.

Brinkley will place the opening-day game ball for the encounter with Classical in the right hand of senior captain Noah Jaynes, who figures to be the Patriots’ ace for the coming season. Jaynes is one of three RHS captains for the 2015 campaign, with four-year starter Jake D’Angelo and junior Danny Murphy also sharing the leadership roles.

“We’re still working on some pieces of our starting lineup as we enter this week’s scrimmages,” said Brinkley. “We’ve been confined to practice in the fieldhouse until this week, so we expect we’ll get a better feel for where the boys will fit in when we get outside.”

The Patriots’ uniforms will feature tributes to long-time legendary RHS baseball coach Al Blasi, who recently passed away. “Blasi” will be inscribed on the back of their caps and “AB” will appear on the arms of the players’ pullovers.

In addition, there will be a ceremony prior to an upcoming game (on a date to be announced) to mark Blasi’s decades-long contributions to the RHS baseball program.

After Monday’s opener with Classical, which is a home game, the Pats will make the short trip to Lynn English next Wednesday.

As for the defending Division 1 North and NEC champion Lady Patriot softball team, coach Joe Cicarello’s squad will play at Lynn Classical’s Breed Middle School field in their 2015 season-opener Monday. Revere then is slated to host Lynn English next Wednesday at the St. Mary’s parish field, which once again will serve as Revere softball’s home field while the city’s new softball complex is under construction.

Cicarello and his crew played a scrimmage Friday with Malden on a makeshift diamond on the high school turf field (which normally is used for soccer and lacrosse). “We paced-off the base-paths, put down a home plate, put up a backstop, and played a game,” said Cicarello. “We had to do what we could to get outdoors.

“We’re still in the process of figuring things out,” added the coach, “but what has been nice to see is that girls who mostly were on the bench last year are ready to step up into starting positions for us this year, and we have a number of good freshmen, which is the sign of a strong program.”

Cicarello said his team is aware that everyone they face will be gunning for the Lady Patriots in the coming season. “We can’t rest on our laurels,” said Cicarello. “We have to be ready to amp up our intensity level right from the start of the season.”

Cicarello, who weeks ago postponed what would have been his team’s scheduled four games this past week when it became apparent that the snow was not going away anytime soon, was hoping to get in a pair of scrimmages this week against Everett and Austin Prep prior to Monday’s opener.

RHS boys lacrosse team open season

The Revere High boys lacrosse team inaugurated the RHS 2015 “spring” sports season last Friday, dropping a 12-5 decision to Lynnfield. The Patriots, who are under under the direction of new head coach Steve Magno, then came out on the short end of a 10-4 encounter with Swampcott.

“The team is very young. Out of the 26 players on the roster, 20 are freshmen and sophomores,” said Magno. “We are also very inexperienced.  Captain Dan Redding is the only current player on the roster to play all four years and is the only remaining player from the inaugural 2012 team.  Many of the ‘veteran’ players only have a year or two of experience.  We still have many basic fundamental skills to develop and that is tough to do at the varsity level.  Our players are working hard on and off the field each day to develop these skills.

“As of right now, we are pleased with the development of our defense: Anthony DeStefano, Mike Dellorfano, Julian Giraldo, Nick Smith, and Cody Jeglinski,” continued Magno. “We are still working out the bugs on offense.  We struggle with making the transition from defense to offense resulting in many unsettled defensive situations.  Newcomer Benit Sejdiu has been productive at scooping groundballs and finding the open man.  Eddie Sullivan and Dan Muller lead the scoring production with captains Steve Noel and Richie Damiano starting to hit the back of the net.  Sophomore goalie David Sinatra is starting to heat up.  He has been tested often in the first two games and needs to find his confidence.  He has demonstrated that he has the skills to be a great goalie as demonstrated by his play in the second half of both games.”

The Patriots are scheduled to play at Lynn Classical Monday and at Winthrop next Thursday.

The Lady Patriot lacrosse squad was set to open its season yesterday (Tuesday), hosting Winthrop on the RHS turf field. The Revere girls, who also are headed by a new coach, Karen Atkinson, then will entertain Gloucester Friday and travel to Salem next Wednesday.

The RHS boys and girls tennis teams had been hoping to get their seasons underway this past Monday with Beverly, but the courts at neither school were playable. Both teams will hope to start their season against Salem today (Wednesday). They then are scheduled to face Lynn Classical Friday, Medford Monday, and Lynn English next Wednesday, with the boys at home at the Gibson Park tennis courts and the girls away for all four of those matches.

The RHS boys and girls outdoor track teams are shooting to open their season next Wednesday (April 15) with a meet at Manning Field against Lynn Classical.