Mosquito threat could impact CHS football

This week is an important one for Canton High School football as CHS Athletic Director Danny Erickson will meet with head football coach Dave Bohane to talk about how the ongoing mosquito threat will impact the timing of evening practices and Friday night games.

State health officials recently raised the town’s risk level for Eastern Equine Encephalitis to “high” after multiple mosquito samples tested positive for the virus. A few years ago, a similar mosquito threat forced the school to move Friday night home games to Saturday afternoon until the first frost in October.

The football team will hold the first practice of the fall season on Monday, August 20, with a meeting scheduled at 4 p.m. and first drills starting at 5 p.m., although the times may be moved up, according to Bohane.

Players will pick up their equipment next week, and a parents’ meeting will be held on August 16 at 7 p.m. in the CHS distance learning lab.

The 2012 football schedule has been released and the preseason slate consists of three games, all at home. The first game is Saturday, August 25, at 11 a.m. against Hanover, New Hampshire, coached by Mike Ivanoski, a former CHS player and 1986 graduate who has recorded 100 wins as a high school coach.

Four days later, Canton will host Dedham on August 29 at 4 p.m., and the final preseason game will be against Hanover (Mass.) on September 1 at 10 a.m.

The Bulldogs are currently scheduled to open the regular season at home on Friday, September 7, at 7 p.m. against Division 2 Super Bowl winner Dennis Yarmouth. Canton will then play two other nonleague opponents: at Quincy on September 14 at 4:30 p.m. and home versus Abington on September 21 at 7 p.m.

With three competitive nonleague games to open the season, the Bulldogs hope to be better prepared for the league portion of their schedule, which includes four games against Davenport Division (small school) foes and three games against Kelly-Rex (large school) opponents.

The large school opponents include Attleboro on the road on September 28, Mansfield at home on October 12, and North Attleboro on November 2.

Small school opponents include Sharon on October 5, at Foxboro on October 26, Oliver Ames on November 9, and at Stoughton on Thanksgiving Day, November 22.

Bohane said the primary goal for Canton this season will be to take the Davenport Division crown away from last year’s surprise champion, Oliver Ames.

“As a rebuilding team, [OA] faced many obstacles and overcame them, including games against Stoughton and Foxboro,” Bohane said. “To win our division, we are going to have to beat them too. It is a very competitive division, including Sharon, which beat us last year.”

Bohane said he will have a varsity team of about 50 players and a 30-member freshman team. The Bulldogs have elected five captains for the upcoming season: seniors Elias Camacho, Justin Rudy, Conor O’Brien, and Shane Nordgren, and junior Matt Bagley.

The team will also soon announce the winner of the Mike Uliano Weightlifting Award, given to the player who has gone beyond the normal routine in the weightlifting program. Bohane singled out the efforts of Frank Powers and Austin Hurley and said a corps of 18-24 players have consistently lifted during the offseason.

As for this year’s key players, Bohane singled out Camacho and Dexter Green on offense with their exceptional running and catching abilities. On defense, Bohane believes he will have an excellent linebacking corps, led by Green, Camacho, Rudy, and O’Brien.

Competing for the quarterback position will be Ian Flavin, Brian Hagen, and Green in an emergency situation.

In other news, Canton completed a 3-3-1 record in the summer area passing league (7 on 7) and were competitive in every game.

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Posted by Mike Berger on Aug 8 2012. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.