Praise from a game official bolstered the Easthampton football team’s case for a MIAA sportsmanship award.
The Eagles, which field players from both Easthampton and Hampshire Regional, received the award Saturday at the Division 4A state championship game in Worcester.
They didn’t find out they had won the award until Wednesday night when MIAA assistant director Peter Smith called Easthampton athletic director Patti Dougherty with the news.
“A referee had nominated us. He had worked a game of ours early in the season. (Smith) said it was unusual to have a referree go on and on about a team with regards to their behavior and their respecfulness,” Dougherty said. “They took that into consideration.”
She then told Easthampton coach Matt Bean, who wrangled up assistant head coach Rick Rogalski and players Cam Brodeur, Tallon Garelli and Camden Kelly. Some players couldn’t attend because of work or basketball commitments since the team found out so late.
“It’s a big part of the kids being student athletes,” Bean said. “(It’s about) the winning and the losing, sure, but it’s most important to give these kids life lessons and turn them into good, young men.”
Brodeur and Garelli were captains this season along with Max Weir and Tyler Perrone.
“As a sophomore captain, it was an honor to receive an award that I had some amount of control over because I’m a captain,” Garelli said. “And it says a lot about how our program is filled with great people, especially our coaches and captains.”
On any other field, Easthampton and Hampshire are rivals. The football program unites the schools on common ground for a common goal.
“We all train with each other all summer long, and we’re all friends with each other,” Brodeur said. “When football season comes, we know we gotta be teammates. wehen basketball comes or baseball, it’s like when good friends do something they’re going to fight extra hard to win.”
It’s Easthampton’s second sportsmanship award during Dougherty’s tenure. The Eagles’ girls soccer team also received one during her first year in the 2014 to 2015 season.
It really says a lot about our kids as athletes and as role models,” she said.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.