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Jack Kelly agrees to play for Bridgewater State

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Whitman-Hanson Regional High senior Jack Kelly has committed to play football at Bridgewater State University.

“Bridgewater State is a great school for education,” Kelly explained. “My father attended there, and I am going to be a physical education major.

“The coaches who recruited me were in constant communication with me all throughout the season, and immediately made me feel a part of the program. The coaches stressed academics just as much as they did football. College football is a big deal, but they are also preparing us for our careers and to be successful in life.”

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Photo by: Sue Moss

Kelly said he began being recruited by the Bridgewater State coaching staff after the New England Elite Football Clinic at Bentley University in July.

“After meeting them at the camp, the coaches stayed in constant communication through email, text and phone calls throughout the season,” Kelly said. “After the coaches had me up for two games in the fall, that solidified that Bridgewater [State] was the perfect fit for me.”

The 6-foot-1, 205-pound Kelly played two years for the Panthers, having moved to Whitman his junior year from Brockton, where he played his freshman and sophomore campaigns as a Boxer.

This past season, Kelly started at linebacker for the Panthers and recorded 47 tackles, seven for loss, and broke up three passes.

W-H football head coach Mike Driscoll lauded Kelly’s worth ethic.

“Jack was a very, very hard worker,” Driscoll said. “He really attacked the weight room hard last offseason to get stronger and that’s why we moved him to linebacker, because he played some defensive back for us, but he worked so hard in the weight room and got so strong that we knew we had a position for him and he earned it.”

Kelly said his most memorable tilt as a Panthers was Oct. 6 when W-H defeated Plymouth North, 28-24, in the last minute.

“They were a big, physical team, and as a defense we rose to the occasion and got many hard-fought stops in the second half, which allowed us to pull out a huge win late in the game,” Kelly said.

Driscoll said Bridgewater State is landing a hard-working kid, who is going to give it 100 percent every day in Kelly.

“He’s a smart kid, he’s a good kid,” Driscoll said. “They’re getting a well-rounded individual.”

Kelly said the two main facets of being successful at football he learned as a Panther were hard work and preparation.

“At Whitman-Hanson, the entire program bought into offseason workouts,” he said. Not only did it make us bigger, faster and stronger for the 2017 season, but it really brought us together and united us as a team. For me, as a linebacker on defense, coach [Keith] Sweeney had us thoroughly prepared week in and week out with film work and attention to detail every day at practice.”

Bridgewater State, which competes in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference of NCAA Division III, finished 2-8 last season.

“College football will be a big adjustment, going from playing against boys to playing against men,” Kelly said. “However, having played for many great coaches along the way, I will be ready for the next change in my football career.”

Brett Holmes signs with Colby College

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Whitman-Hanson Regional High senior Brett Holmes has committed to play football at Colby College.

Holmes, who has only received two B’s throughout high school and is a member of the Business Honor Society, said the choice came down to finding a school that would challenge himself academically and set him up for a bright future.

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Photo by: Sue Moss

“When I went to other schools, they tended to focus on Brett Holmes as a football player, and how they will make me a better football player,” Holmes said. “When I went to Colby, they emphasized making me a better man as well as a better football player.

“They want to make their players better people and players, rather than just a good football player, and they do so by requiring players to do community service, and mandatory academic sessions.”

The 5-foot-10, 160-pound Holmes was a three-year starter at cornerback and a two-year starter at wide receiver for W-H.

This past season, Holmes, who served as a captain, was a ball hawk on defense, intercepting a team-leading four passes. He also ranked third on the Panthers with 59 total tackles. On offense, Holmes tied for first on the team with 23 receptions and led W-H with 306 receiving yards and five touchdowns.

W-H football head coach Mike Driscoll, who also coaches Holmes on the boys’ indoor and outdoor track teams, lauded his leadership.

“Brett was an amazing leader, he does everything right off and on the field,” Driscoll said of Holmes, who was the Panthers’ Patriot League Scholar-Athlete recipient. “His hard work rubbed off on the other players and he showed the younger guys that hard work pays off. Colby is getting an amazing-student athlete, with first-class speed, a work ethic that is second to none and a winner.”

Holmes, who was a league all-star this past season, said his most memorable game as a Panther was his final at Dennis M. O’Brien Field – a 21-14 victory over Marshfield on Nov. 10. He hauled in three passes for 64 yards and a touchdown and came away with an interception in that one.

“Marshfield was fun because it was my last game on the field I had been playing on my entire life, and we were playing a top program that honestly thought they were going [to] roll us,” Holmes said. “Everybody on the team played great, and it was just a fun experience to be playing on that field with my friends for the last time. The sub-20-degree wind chill wasn’t too fun though.”

Holmes said the main lesson he learned during his tenure at W-H that he hopes to carry over to the collegiate level is just hard work.

“W-H taught [me] that you have to work for whatever you want, on the field, off the field, anything, you have to go and work for it,” he said.

Colby, which competes in the New England Small College Athletic Conference of NCAA Division III, finished 1-8 last season.

“Right now, I’d be quite the undersized defensive back, but if I can put on some muscle it’ll help,” Holmes said. “I expect to succeed by just doing whatever the coaches ask me to do.”

Holland commits to Trinity College

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Whitman-Hanson Regional High senior Riley Holland has committed to play football at Trinity College.

“I looked at what school is going to give me the best chance to get a good degree, mixed with the best chance to play high-competitive football and Trinity fit both perfectly for me,” Holland said.

The 6-foot-2, 285-pound Holland was a four-year starter on W-H’s offensive line. He spent his first two seasons at left tackle, before shifting over to center, where he was tabbed a two-time Enterprise All-Scholastic. This past Thanksgiving, Holland set a school record with his 44th consecutive start.

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Photo by: Sue Moss

During his four seasons on the offensive line, the Panthers’ rushing attack saw an immense amount of success — accumulating 9,339 yards and 102 touchdowns.

On the defensive side of the ball, Holland, who manned a post on the defensive line since his sophomore campaign, totaled 144 tackles and 4.0 sacks over his high school career. Holland, a captain this past season, is also a two-time Patriot League Keenan Division All-Star on the gridiron.

W-H football head coach Mike Driscoll, who just concluded his seventh season at the helm of the program, said Holland is the best all-around lineman he has ever coached.

“Riley brought a toughness to the offensive line and an overall understanding of the scheme [which] was huge on game days,” Driscoll said. “Riley will get to work right away for Trinity and it will not surprise me if he starts next year, he will help them big time.”

At Trinity, Holland will be reunited with former W-H trench-mate Matt Evans, whom he spent two years with on the Panthers’ offensive line.

“Knowing someone there and being able to talk to him about the school and the chances you get was definitely something that I enjoyed throughout the process,” Holland said.

Holland said his best moment playing for W-H, which boasted a 25-19 record during his time there, was on Thanksgiving of his junior season, when the Panthers came roaring back from a three-touchdown deficit to defeat Abington, 29-28.

“Being down 21-0 and coming back to win that game, that was huge,” Holland said.

Trinity, which competes in the New England Small College Athletic Conference of NCAA Division III, finished 8-1 last season.

“I just want to go into camp next summer and compete as early as I can,” Holland said.

Season Review: ‘Getting closer’: Panther football focusing on growth beyond scoreboard

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GAINING GROUND: Wide receiver Brett Holmes runs the ball vs. Abington in the Panthers’ 23-12 Thanksgving game loss. He notched four catches for 21 yards and a touchdown. / Photo by: Sue Moss

The direction of the Whitman-Hanson Regional High football team continues to trend upward as it heads into the offseason.

For the third straight season the Panthers boasted a 7-4 record and made a trip to the postseason, falling in the first round.

“I told them, ‘We’re not going to focus on the last game, we’re going to focus on the seven wins that they had and they showed improvements,’” W-H head coach Mike Driscoll said. “We’re getting closer.’’

That last game Driscoll is referring to is the Panthers’ 23-12 loss to Abington on Thanksgiving — which for the first time all season, W-H didn’t hold a lead.

Although it may appear the team is stuck in neutral, it certainty is not. In W-H’s losses last season, it wasn’t always competitive as one came by over 30 points and two were dealt to it by 20 or more points. The other came by 11 points. The Panthers lost all four games by a combined 91 points, a number that dropped significantly this fall.

This season, in their Week 3, 23-9, defeat against Duxbury — a game in which W-H held a brief lead (7-0) — it was a six-minute span in a game that spiraled out of control for the Panthers. Three weeks later, the Panthers were driving on Hingham to win the game, when junior signal caller Ethan Phelps got banged up, forcing him to head to the sidelines, where he watched them fall, 28-21. Against Stoughton in the first round of the playoffs, the Panthers led by nine at halftime, but were held scoreless the rest of the way, resulting in a 30-21 loss. Against Abington, despite not maintaining a single advantage, the Panthers still only trailed by one, 13-12, at halftime.

“We see the improvements,” Driscoll said. “We’re certainly a better football team this year than we were last year. I think we’re moving in the right direction. The season could have been totally different if we could have finished off some of those games.”

The Panthers, despite their inability to close things out in those contests, still flashed grittiness in a few nail-biting wins. In their season opener, it was a late Phelps score in the waning minutes, coupled with a goal-line stand with two seconds remaining, that pushed them over Plymouth South, 23-18. On Oct. 6, Phelps took a QB keeper 60 yards to pay dirt with 50 seconds remaining as the Panthers edged Plymouth North, 28-24.

One constant in W-H’s comebacks was Phelps, who was one of several then-sophomores to assume significant roles for the Panthers last fall. In his second campaign under center, Phelps rushed for over 1,400 yards yet again and found the end zone 18 times. However, it was his enhanced passing game that made him more of a threat this season as his completion percentage rose nearly two percent and his touchdowns doubled to 14 as he passed for over 1,000 yards for the second straight season.

“He worked hard to become a better passer, and he’d like to throw the ball every down, [but] we like to run it first,” Driscoll said. “He’s got that it-factor and he can take it to the house from anywhere on the field. The thing with Ethan is he’ll continue to work at it and get better and we’ll have our talk and see what he needs to improve on, but he’s just a very talented young man.”

On the receiving end of 46 percent of Phelps’ completions were fellow juniors Jacob Nixon and Rian Schwede as the two combined for 42 receptions, 511 yards and five scores. Out of the backfield, juniors Brendan Frawley (78 carries for 447 yards, 2 TDs) and Mike Connors (80 carries for 484 yards, 3 TDs) put forth solid seasons. Connors also spearheaded the Panthers’ defense with his team-leading 104 tackles, a number he nearly doubled from last season.

“Mike Connors is on another planet,” Driscoll said.

Driscoll also noted he was pleasantly impressed with the play of junior linemen Quinn Sweeney, who led the team in sacks, and Ryan Trongone.

“Quinn Sweeney started every game for us at right tackle, [and] we weren’t sure if he was going to be able to play offense, but he was fabulous, so wasn’t Ryan Trongone, [a] two-way lineman for us,” Driscoll said. “Two guys who really stepped up to the plate and had great seasons.”

While the junior class garners much of the attention for W-H, Driscoll reiterated it was his senior captains – Hunter Dunn, Riley Holland and Brett Holmes – that kept the club together.

“They work hard, they [lead] by example in school first, in the community and out on the football field,” the seventh-year Panthers head coach said. Driscoll said despite his club not being where it wants to be just yet, it’s getting close.

“I’m very proud of this team,” he said. “I’m very happy with the way that the seniors handled things and I’m very happy with the way we’re moving.”

Holland to start record 44th game

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Offensive lineman Riley Holland will record an historic 44th consecutive game after the first snap in Thursday’s Thanksgiving classic vs. Abington. / Photo by: Sue Moss

Whitman-Hanson Regional High football senior captain Riley Holland is one snap of the pigskin away from making history.

This Thanksgiving, when Holland assumes his post in the heart of the Panthers offensive line — at center — with Green Wave defenders breathing down his neck, he will have started his 44th-consecutive game on offense, which is a school record.

“It’s a huge accomplishment for me,” Holland said. “I came in and I never really expected to start as a freshman.”

It was with good reason that Holland didn’t expect to assume an everyday role at the varsity level during his first year of high school, because it was rare a freshman even made the team in the first place. However, Panthers head coach Mike Driscoll said it was during the summer – just a few months before Holland was set to embark on ninth grade – when ‘this kid’ kept showing up to offseason lifting sessions. Driscoll had no idea who it was at the time, but he knew he was going to be on his team.

“I talked to the freshman coach and told him, ‘You’re not going to be able to get him, he’s just too big and strong, he’s going to have to play right away,’” Driscoll said.

Holland spent his first two seasons at left tackle for the Panthers before being shuffled to center – where he would remain throughout his career. Holland said the move was a tough one, but it was necessary to assure his team’s success.

“Having to move inside and learn a new position, blocking schemes from a different point of view of the offense, and everything, that was kind of a big obstacle to get over,” Holland said. “But I had to do it.”

Driscoll described Holland, who makes all the Panthers’ line calls, as more than a just a player on the gridiron.

“He brings a presence about him that the kids know when he’s there, just kind of that coach mentality that they got to be on their game with him, but they respect him,” Driscoll explained. “He’s light when he need to be light, but when Riley’s serious, everybody knows it’s time to get serious. He’s a great leader on and off the field.”

It was that leadership that played an integral role in helping the Panthers engineer a 21-point comeback to shock Abington, 29-28, last Thanksgiving.

“Time after time he was 15, 20, 30 yards down field making blocks down the field, to get us back into that game,” Driscoll said. “He was a huge part of that.”

School record aside, Holland said he has one goal when all is said and done with this Turkey Day.

“I’m the only one left in the program that’s lost on Thanksgiving and I don’t want anyone else to have that feeling,” Holland said.

Panthers return to postseason play

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PLAYOFF-BOUND: Quarterback Ethan Phelps looks for an open man downfield in the 43-20 win vs. Silver Lake. / Photo by: Sue Moss

The Whitman-Hanson Regional High football team is back in the playoffs for the fourth straight season.

“I’m very proud,” W-H head coach Mike Driscoll said. “They worked hard in the offseason, they worked hard in season, so they expected it. We’re just happy [with] what they’ve done so far.”

The Panthers are fresh of what Driscoll coined their best game of the season, a 43-20 win over Silver Lake. In the tilt, W-H (5-2) didn’t punt once, and the defense didn’t allow a touchdown until the third quarter, when it was a 35-6 game.

But, the playoffs present a different challenge and W-H certainly knows that. The Panthers have been subject to a first-round exit each of the past three seasons. Last fall it was North Attleboro which ousted W-H from the playoffs. In its two campaigns prior, Driscoll’s squad entered as the final team in, which is no easy task.

“I think a lot of it comes down to just match-ups, and we haven’t had good matchups for us,” Driscoll said. “Last year we had to go into North Attleboro as a young team, and that’s intimidating. We were the eight seed [two] years in a row so you’re not going to get much luck there.”

This time around, W-H which is boasting its best record since 2004, will enter the Division 3 South Sectional tournament as the No. 5 seed and will face off against No. 4 Stoughton at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27, at Brockton High’s Marciano Stadium.

The Black Knights, who hail from the Hockomock League Davenport Division, finished their regular season campaign at 5-2. A 28-24 triumph over Catholic Memorial in Week 3 was by far their most impressive win. Stoughton’s last loss came two weeks ago at the hands of North Attleboro, 35-21. It was the Red Rocketeers who ended the Panthers’ playoff run last season in first round of the Division 2 South Sectional tournament.

“They got a good team,” Driscoll said of the Black Knights. “They fly around on defense [and] their offense is very methodical. Their running backs are good, they have a huge tight end, and defensively they create some match-up problems for us, but I think it’s going to be a classic game.”

Since the MIAA switched to a new playoff format at the outset of the 2013 season, the Black Knights, who are coached by Greg Burke, have made it past the first round each time – which included a trip to the Division 3 state semifinals in 2013.

Driscoll said the key to this one is going to be unfamiliarity.

“When you play these teams over and over again in the league, they tend to know you, and will take away something, or will try to,” he said. “This is a little bit different match-up so teams are just going to come out and do what they do. It’s going to come down to who makes the plays during the game and who’s going to make the plays.”

LEANING ON PHELPS

W-H is going to rely heavily, like it has done all season, on the legs and arm of junior dual-threat quarterback Ethan Phelps, the repertoire he has built with his receiving corps, the steady presence of junior running back Brendan Frawley and the two-way leadership of senior Riley Holland if it’s going to upset Stoughton.

The winner will advance to play the victor of No. 8 Walpole (2-5) at No. 1 North Attleboro (6-1) in the South Sectional semifinals next week.

“I finally feel like we’re where we need to be,” Driscoll said. “We’re probably a year away, but we can be competitive in this, and I like the matchup. I think its two really even teams. If we do what we do, we’ll be pretty good in this tournament.”

Matt Evans commits to Trinity College, football team

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Hardworking, tough, and intelligent is how Whitman-Hanson Regional High senior Matt Evans describes his uncle, now he gets the chance to follow in his footsteps on the gridiron.

It’s not often that a child gets to turn on the television and say, “Hey, there is my uncle”. But, for Evans that was the case.

Throughout his childhood, Evans grew up admiring his uncle Matt Tower. Tower stared on the Boston College Eagles from 1998-2001.

“I was just a little kid watching him, but I thought it was the coolest thing ever,” Evans said. “That’s probably where I first fell in love with the game and I owe him that.”

Now, the 6-foot-3 Evans will be making his own mark at the next level, after announcing his commitment to play football at Trinity College in the fall. Evans, a three-year varsity player, contributed on both ends of the ball as a center and defensive end for the Panthers.

“Trinity is a good fit for me because college is supposed to set you up for a good career for the rest of your life and I believe Trinity will do just that,” Evans said.

Evans, a Whitman resident, has amassed some incredible feats during his time at Whitman-Hanson. Evans has been tabbed a WATD Player of the Week, an Enterprise All-Scholastic, been a part of the boys’ basketball team’s record-setting run, and will compete in the Shriners All-Star Football Classic.

Evans said his proudest moment on the field for the Panthers came during their 41-12 win over rival Abington, their first win over the Green Wave since 2011.

“The turkey that day seemed just a little bit better than usual,” Evans said. “I had a crowd of 15-20 family members cheering me on so that goes to show the support from them.”

Whitman-Hanson Regional High football head coach Mike Driscoll said he hopes one key aspect of Evans’ daily grind rubs off on his younger players heading into next season.

“Hard work in the offseason leads to results on the field,” Driscoll said.

As he prepares for the fall, Evans said he isn’t doing anything out of the ordinary and is just following his routine that has gotten him to this point.

“I’ve just been continuing to go to the gym and workout for next season to prep my body for college football,” Evans said.

Evans added he couldn’t have gotten to this point without guidance from many important people.

“I just want to thank my coaches, my teammates, and of course my parents for supporting me playing football and giving me memories that will last forever,” he said.