November 23, 2021 Submitted by Thomas E. Hoffman
Just one week after beating Bridgewater 35-6 to claim their fifth Super Bowl title in six years, the Hingham Raiders 8th grade football team proved they are champions off the field as well.
Over the past two years members of the team participated in Hingham’s 50 Flags Program and in doing so, earned $ 1,000 for the program. The players volunteering included “Mighty” Mark Donlan, “Action” Jackson Kennedy, Jack “The Diesel” Daley, Wyatt “The Riot” Averett, Charlie “Stay In” Shape, Eli “’s Coming” Melendes, Matt “Griff” Griffin, Myles “Of Smiles” Melanson and Will “Haggs” Haggerty. The boys decided as a group to allocate the funds three ways. In addition to funding a Hingham Youth Football registration scholarship for a player that otherwise could not afford to play, they also are donating $ 420 to South Shore SNAP to buy footballs for SNAP kids playing SNAP flag football next year. The third donation is being used to buy gift cards for SNAP’s gift bag program for needy veterans in Hingham and surrounding towns. The boys announced the donation at the team banquet held Thursday, November 18th. The other big announcement at the banquet is the team learned that for the third year in a row, their coaching staff was named the best looking in the 102 team Old Colony Youth Football League.
Just two days later, 12 players and 4 coaches worked diligently for two hours doing a massive cleanup of leaves, branches and some trash at Fort Hill Cemetery. The boys were all amazed to see first hand the graves of those that lost their lives fighting in the Revolutionary War. Following their efforts at Fort Hill, they then drove to Lynch Field and were joined by another ten teammates to help reorganize and store all the equipment at the field house. The day ended with a great experience where the boys and coaches were treated to subs and drinks at Jersey Mike’s in the Lincoln Plaza.
In addition to learning the value of community service, the boys had plenty fun away from their video games!