Hopkinton, Hillsboro-Deering join forces
Roger Brown
nhfootballreport.com
Although Hopkinton and Hillsboro-Deering are rivals, athletes from each school will literally be teaming up this fall.
The two schools have formed a co-op football team with the goal of joining the NHIAA varsity ranks in 2010.
"Right now we have about 56 (players) who have paid the $200 registration fee and we have 15 people doing fund-raising, which is phenomenal," Sam Cavallaro, the team's head coach, said. "What got me motivated is the number of kids.
"We're not officially approved, but both schools have been fantastic. Our plan is to raise enough money to run it for six years. That way money won't be a factor in determining the program's future."
Cavallaro, who coached the Kearsarge Middle School team last year, is no stranger to new programs. He helped two youth football programs -- the Snowbelt League and the Granite State Football League -- get off the ground.
The team nickname will be the RedHawks and an H2D logo (Hopkinton, Hillsboro-Deering) will be on the team's helmets. Cavallaro said he has a full 10-game schedule for the varsity team this fall, and six games scheduled for the junior varsity team.
"What we're doing is playing our varsity against JV teams during the Division V bye week," Cavallaro said. "We're hoping to get 10 JV games."
According to Gretchen Lewis, a volunteer who serves as the program's director of media relations, said there are almost an equal number of players registered from each school. The RedHawks will have a skills assessment day on May 10 and are planning to be the home team for a jamboree in August.
"Neither school has enough money or players to field a team by themselves," Lewis said. "We have really dedicated people who want to make a difference in these kids' lives."
The RedHawks will practice at New England College in Henniker --about a 10-minute drive from each school -- until the program finds a field to call its own.
Cavallaro said one of his concerns this year is making sure there is no animosity between the players from each school.
"That is a concern," he said. "We've assigned each player a player from the other school, and they'll be asked to learn everything they can about that person. We know these kids are rivals in most sports, but right now everybody is really excited."
