A busy first Friday of football and we're spread out across eight different games.

Dorchester 36, New Mission 0 - The Bears looked good in their opener, having little trouble with New Mission which was playing its first ever varsity football game.

Latin Academy 26, South Boston 20 (OT) - LA ran out to a 20-0 lead before host Southie scored 20 straight points to send the game to overtime. The Dragons won in overtime.

Blue Hills 24 East Boston 6 - Host Blue Hills took a commanding lead. Vincent Burton had one touchdown and ran for more than 100 yards.

Hingham 33, Medway 7 - The visiting Harbormen turned a 7-0 halftime lead into a second-half route.

Billy Owens / For the Boston Globe

Brighton linebacker Torry Johnson runs through drills on the first day of football practice on Monday in Cleveland Circle.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

Football is back in Boston.

And Monday's opening day of training camp marked major new beginnings at several city league programs.

Besides being the first day of practice for new coaches at Brighton High, Charlestown High and West Roxbury High, Monday was the first ever football practice for New Mission High.

New Mission secured a football program after it was announced last school year that the school would move from Mission Hill to the former Hyde Park Education Complex.

About 13 New Mission students participated in practice at Ross Field on Monday.

“This is surreal,” said New Mission coach Michael Pittman Forman, who used to coach at Cathedral High in the South End. ”I’ve been in Boston for a while and I’ve wanted to get into the city [league] and coach. It feels surreal and I’m happy for the turnout we have right now. It’s a little low but we should be getting more guys.”

Known for their formidable basketball teams, the Titans looked athletic as they ran through conditioning drills on Monday morning.

“Once we start running with helmets and shoulder pads we’ll see if they are football players,” Pittman Forman said. “I have a feeling it’s going to be great. Everything starts with baby steps and we’re taking baby steps right now. We’ll see how it goes from this point on.”

Over in West Roxbury, another new era of football started as Derek Wright was in place as head coach instead of Leo Sybertz. The 74-year-old retired after the 2007 season only to return for the 2010 and 2011 seasons.

Wright served as Sybertz' assistant for two seasons.

“It was a restless night, the anxiety, now it’s all on my shoulders to be the head guy,” Wright said.

The Raiders junior quarterback David Bertucci said it was strange without Sybertz at practice on Monday.

“But I’ve been with these coaches since I was a freshman and I love them all to death,” he said. “But you can’t really replace a coach Sy, it’s always tough. Coach Wright coached me since JV year so I’ve been under his tutelage. It’s always good working with a coach you’ve worked with before. It makes everything easier. I’m happy they made Coach Wright head coach, I wouldn’t want anyone else to be head coach.”

Bertucci also said it’s a little tough coming back to practice and conditioning because it means summer is over and school is about to start.

“But the football helps to remove that pit [in your stomach] and makes everything better,” said Buertucci, whose father played at Westie in the 1980s and is an assistant for the Raiders. “I’m just happy to be back. I’ve been waiting for this since the last game of the year last year against Brighton. We finished off strong and we have a good group of guys here and we’re hoping to go deep in the playoffs.”

At Brighton’s camp in Cleveland Circle on Monday, longtime Bengals’ assistant Randolph Abraham officially took over the reins from James “Timo” Philip, who retired last year after coaching the Bengals for 30 years.

Abraham played for Philip until 2000 and became his assistant coach after graduating from Nichole’s College in 2004.

“It feels awesome, this is a dream of mine, I’ve wanted to do since I was a student here,” he said. “It’s going to be a grind but I think we’ve got great coaching.”

Last week Abraham joked that he wouldn’t be surprised if Philip turned up at the first day of practice. While Philip was a no show on Monday, Abraham joked that Philip would "hate" how organized practice is.

“He likes to roll with it,” Abraham said of Philip. “Me, I’m the opposite. We’re very organized and precise as you can see. We’re getting a lot done today. It feels like we’ve been here for four hours but we’ve only been here for two. They’re working.”

During the first week of Brighton’s practice last year, Brighton's star tight end Prince Unaegbu suffered a dislocating wrist and played most of the season with a cast on his forearm.

“It feels good, I’ve been waiting all year for this," the 6-foot-6, 240-pounder said. "When I came in today it felt like I was getting ready for a game or something.”

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

The Boston Scholar Athletes program is hosting the POWERADE/AE Pre-Season Nike Sparq Football Combine on Saturday at the Salvation Army Kroc Center in Dorchester (650 Dudley St.).

Running from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., the combine will provide Boston public high school football players with a chance to receive a Nike SPARQ rating, which will allow them to compare themselves to other high school football players. The attendees will also participate in a series of Nike SPARQ training drills.

No more than 25 members of each BPS football team can attend the combine and all students must be academically eligible.

Each athlete will partake in four tests (40 yard dash, pro agility, vertical
jump, and kneeling power ball throw). At the completion each score will be put into
a computer system and the player will then receive a Nike SPARQ rating.

There will also be six stations (agility cones, speed hurdles, speed
ladder, parachutes, power ball, linear speed) with each station lasting between eight to
10 minutes.

An hour of position specific teaching and fundamentals will also be conducted.

For more information contact Chris Rooks at 617-517-4444 or crooks@bostonscholarathletes.org; or Brad Schoonmaker at 617-517-4526
bschoonmaker@bostonscholarathletes.org.

EVENT ITINERARY:

8:00am-9:00am: Registration (handled by BSA staff)

9:00am-12:00pm: Combine

12:00pm-1:00pm: Hydration & Lunch

1:00pm-2:00pm: Nike Sparq Training

2:00pm-2:10pm: Hydration

2:10pm-3:10pm: Position Specific

3:10pm-3:20pm: Hydration

3:20pm-4:20pm: Half Line Drills and Skelly

4:20pm-4:30pm: Hydration

4:30pm-5:00pm Wrap Up

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

Several teams in the Boston Neighborhood Basketball League started their seasons about a week late last week after league officials cracked down on a long-time residency rule that was never truly enforced before now.

The 43-year-old summer basketball league known as BNBL is — like all programs run by Boston Centers for Youth & Families — only for Boston residents because it’s funded by the city and its taxpayers.

But in past years, a player’s residency was only checked if it was challenged by another team during the course of the season. BCYF Director of Recreation, Sports and Fitness Ryan Fitzgerald said the policy was too hard to enforce once the season already started.

So this year BCYF officials required BNBL players to prove residency before the season started by showing a report card, birth certificate or another document that proved their address is in Boston — a process that delayed the start of the season for some teams.

“This is no different from what a lot of programs and leagues in the city require anyway,” Fitzgerald said. “We had many coaches and players and participants in the program voice concerns on the issue so we’ve taken steps to address it and minimize the infractions.”

While Fitzgerald said he hopes the missed games will be made up on off days, many teams and players a still irked.

“It’s very frustrating because I wanted to play basketball and I wanted to be with my team last week when we should’ve started,” Jaleel Bell of the Dorchester YMCA team said after his squad played its first game last Wednesday night at the Perkins Community Center in Dorchester.

“In Massachusetts you’re a Massachusetts player, if other people want to play its OK. We’re all playing basketball, it’s for the youth, we’re not doing anything dangerous, we’re not doing drugs; we’re playing basketball so it’s something positive.”

Dorchester YMCA coach, Andrew Angus agreed that the league should be open to everyone because it helps keeps kids off the streets.

“We also go down there and join their leagues too, it goes hand-in-hand, I think we’re Massachusetts it’s not anything else, we’re all one,” Angus said.

The former BNBL player, who won three MIAA state titles as a player with Charlestown High from 2000 to 2003, said competing against players from outside the city in the summer made him a better player during the school year.

“It kind of made the league a little better with people who come from all over to just play BNBL [from outside the city]," he said. “That’s just bringing different talent inside the city. You’re just playing everybody. So trying to keep it in the city you kind of take away a little bit but it’s what the city wants I guess.”

Fitzgerald, who played in the league himself as a youngster, said he sees both sides of the issue.

“I can certainly see that point of view,” he said. “As a young kid I was excited to play against all competition no matter where it came from. I get that. The only problem is this is a program run by the City of Boston with city resources so it becomes complicated about who we can provide services to.

“For every person that has [Bell and Angus’] opinion there is another one who feels that it should be City of Boston kids and that’s what the program was started for. I’m not saying either one is wrong but as it is currently constituted that’s what we have to do.”

Perkins Community Center coach Eric Bradshaw said the residency issue has been a problem since he started coaching BNBL 20 years ago. He said he doesn’t’ have a problem with cracking down on residency but said that that BCYF should start figuring out who can and can’t play earlier in the school year.

“Every year it’s always been the same thing,” he said. “I don’t know why it took so long to be honest with you but it’s been an issue for 20 years.”

Fitzgerald said they notified coaches and players of the new policy starting in May.

“We feel there was ample amount of time to get this information,” he said. “But I don’t begrudge anyone who had trouble and I certainly understand it takes more work to collect it. … We knew it might be a little bumpy this year. When things are new and different, especially when they were done the same way for such a long time, there are hiccups.

“But I think next year when people are prepared for it I anticipate it to be a lot more smooth.”

One of the league’s founders, Alfreda J. Harris, said she would’ve liked to see the policy shift happen years ago.

“It’s very simple, the program originated 43 years ago and it’s for Boston residence,” said Harris, who is a school committee member in Boston. “The money comes from city of Boston tax payers, it’s always been that way. It’s better to get it clear now than wait till the end of the season when teams lost to teams because they had illegitimate players.

“I think it was a good idea for Ryan [Fitzgerald] to clamp down and get the paperwork in at the beginning of the season.”

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

Dominique Litif-Nelson (right) and her mother Luanne Litif celebrated the unveiling of the new logo for the Boston Neighborhood Basketball League in May. Litif-Nelson won a contest to design the BNBL logo, which was printed on more than 3,500 Reebok shirts before BNBL play kicked off earlier this month. (Photo courtesy of BNBL)

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

Since it was founded 43 years ago, the Boston Neighborhood Basketball League has become an institution among school-aged children and teens. The league has been a signifier of summer in the city.

But unlike most popular sports institutions in the city, the league run by Boston Center for Youth & Families and sponsored by Reebok lacked a logo that truly represented its culture.

That's not the case anymore now that 13-year-old Dominique Litif-Nelson won a contest to design the league’s new logo, which was printed on more than 3,500 Reebok shirts before BNBL play kicked off earlier this month.

“I was astonished, I didn’t know what to say,” said the South Boston resident who is entering the eighth grade at the Perry Schoolof her reaction when she was told that she won this past spring. “I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t even believe what happened.”

For her efforts, Litif-Nelson was awarded a voucher worth roughly $400 that allowed her to go online and design two custom pairs of Reeboks, although she wasn’t able to include her new BNBL logo on the sneakers.

“My design was too intricate,” she said.

The contest was launched after last season and was the genesis of a conversation between the Boston Center for Youth & Families and Reebok.

“The league is so historic and we’re going into our 43rd year,” said Ryan Fitzgerald, the center's director of recreation, sports and fitness. “Over the years the logo has changed or been tweaked for one reason or another.

“There are just so many young people involved in it over the years we just thought it would be cool to allow our young, talented artists a chance to design the logo.”

The center started promoting the contest at schools and community centers across the city in the fall and midway through the school year collected nearly 125 entries. The center and Reebok chose 10 finalists before ultimately unveiling the winning logo in May.

“All ages were welcome as long as they were under 18 and a school-age youth,” Fitzgerald said. “We had cute ones from little elementary students in crayon, then we had more advanced candidates as well. We said all along, if a 6 or 7-year-old did something interesting and something in the spirit of BNBL, working with the Reebok designers, we would use it.”

Originally set in front of a generic skyline, Latif-Nelson’s logo was touched up my Reebok designers who incorporated the Boston skyline into it. Fitzgerald said other than the skyline, the logo is Litif-Nelson’ original design.

“She included what basketball meant to her and she included the Reebok logo which is obviously special to us,” Reebok Sports Marketing Basketball Manager Kim Federico said. “It was a great drawing.”

For the last 15 years Reebok has provided in-kind donations to the league in the form of shirts for the players and polo shirts and sneakers for the league’s volunteer coaches.

“Lots of kids wear [the shirts around], they want to show they are part of the league,” Federico said.

Lifit-Nelson, who has been drawing consistently since she was about 4-years-old, was encouraged to enter the contest by the staff at the Tynan Community Center, where she played her first season of BNBL just last summer. She's back for more this summer.

She spent about an hour working on her submissions and ended up entering six logos into the contest.

Inspired by comic book and tattoo art, Lifit-Nelson said she incorporated stars into her logo because she noticed that was a theme in past logos.

“I didn’t know [how good it was], I thought there was other people that were better than me but I wasn’t sure,” she said. “I told my friends and they were like ‘I’m playing BNBL, I’ll root for you.’ They were just like ‘Wow you drew that, I can’t believe you drew that.’ ”

Her mother said she didn’t pass any artistic talent down to her daughter.

“Neither did her father, it must be somewhere down the line, she must be related to somebody — Michelangelo,” Luanne Litif said. “She amazes me.

“She’s just a natural, she’ll just sit down and draw for hours and draw whatever is in her head.”

Both Fitzgerald and Federico said they would like to continue the program for years to come.

“I would love to see it each year and have a new design to be able to include more kids and build a tradition; like some of the NBA players, they have a new shoe each season, let’s roll out a new T-shirt design each season and build some history.

“If we put out it out in the schools we might attract someone not interest in basketball, it doesn’t necessarily have to be someone who plays in the league who can be a winner. Let’s include someone else in the community. It doesn’t have to be someone on the basketball court which is really nice.”

Lifit-Nelson, who hopes to attend Boston Arts Academy next year, said winning the contest hasmotivated her to be more focused.

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

Photo courtesy of John Maconga

Lou Bergholz leaps to make a save for the combined PW Global Advisors/Edgework Consulting team during last year's SCORES Cup at Gillette Stadium.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

The eighth annual SCORES Cup corporate charity soccer tournament returns to Gillette Stadium on Saturday.

The 32-team tournament benefits America SCORES Boston, a non-profit organization that uses soccer to inspire literacy and health in Boston public schools.

The seven-on-seven coed tournament provides corporate soccer teams the chance to show off their skills on the Gillette Stadium turf before watching the New England Revolution play the Seattle Sounders FC.

Each team will play a minimum of three 30-minute games.

Participants also receive an Official SCORES Cup Adidas jerseys, their company logos in the game day program as well as post-tournament activities at Patriot Place.

Some of Boston's largest companies will participate in the event that is expected to raise close to $200,000 for SCORES.

For more information contact Alex Maeder at 617-553-4703 or amaeder@americascores.org. Or you can visit www.AmericaSCORESBoston.org/SCORESCup.

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

The Boston Scholar Athlete program will conduct a free six-week fitness program for Boston public school athletes beginning next month.

The BSA Summer Fit 2012 program will run from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays from July 9 to Aug. 15 at the Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center on Dudley Street in Dorchester.

"BSA Fit is open to every male and female athlete (or prospective athlete) in our schools," according to the BSA's most recent monthly newsletter. "Come and get ready for the fall season with BSA Fit!"

The six-week program will be operated by BSA fitness and training partner, Athletic Evolution.

"Athletic Evolution’s philosophies are to help athletes train the correct way, while always keeping in mind the reason for training," according to the BSA newsletter. "While mastering the skills of a sport is one element of becoming a better athlete; mastering the training techniques for that sport along with the skills will breed ultimate success in sports."

The BSA is also looking for "smart and driven scholar-athletes" to participate in its three-day Summer Zone Program, from July 25-27.

The program, which will take participants to institutions such as Boston College, is free for qualifying BSA Zone members.

"The program offers an opportunity for scholar-athletes to interact and learn together in a healthy and fun environment with emphasis on leadership skills, team building, and reinforcing athlete self-confidence," the newsletter says. "Activities include a ropes course, team activities, mental and physical challenges, in addition to career and life skills training."

Interested Zone members can apply on the BSA website.

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

Billy Owens / For the Boston Globe

East Boston lineman Leo Parnell practices with the South squad at Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood for Friday's Massachusetts Shriners All-Star game. Parnell has excelled on the football field despite being legally deaf in one ear and only having 10 percent hearing in the other.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

WESTWOOD — Most of the players running through the tunnel at Gillette Stadium Friday for the Massachusetts Shriners All-Star high school football game will imagine what it would sound like to enter the stadium as a New England Patriot on an NFL Sunday.

Leo Parnell, however, can only imagine what it feels like.

“You can feel the rumble and the vibrations and you know it’s that time,” said the East Boston lineman who is legally deaf in one ear and only has 10 percent hearing in the other. “When you come out of the tunnel and things start shaking it gets your nerves going whether you can hear it or not.”

Playing without a hearing aid because his was stolen several years ago and his family can’t afford a new one, the three-year starter for the Jets on both lines racked up a mantel full of awards during his senior year.

In addition to naming Parnell one of two Boston Scholar Athlete football players of the year, the BSA also awarded Parnell its Academic Excellence award this winter. Parnell was one of nine players to earn a Courageous Player Award from the Massachusetts High School Football Coaches Association.

Last month, Parnell was one of 34 local players to win the National Football Foundation’s Scholar-Athlete Award.

Parnell, who turns 20 on Friday, said the accolades serve as a reminder of all he’s endured, including scores of ear surgeries that caused him to be held back in elementary school twice. (Parnell received a waiver from the MIAA to play as a 19-year-old this past fall).

The South Boston native who lives in East Boston also says the awards stacked up in his “parlor” — what he quickly explains is his “old school Boston” way of saying living room — are a forewarning as well, “to make sure I’m always straight and narrow and I’m acting respectful to my peers, at a Shriners game and on other teams I will play on.”

This week Parnell’s Shriners teammates named him one of four captains for the South all-stars.

“From day one he’s been here every single day, he’s been working extremely hard in every single drill that we’ve been doing, he shows how to lead in each play,” Weymouth quarterback Cam McLevedge said during Tuesday afternoon’s practice at Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood. “He’s 100 percent each time. After the whistle he keeps going.”

East Boston coach John Parziale said that’s often because he can’t hear the whistle.
Parnell also has a difficult time hearing the snap count, which offensive linemen are trained to listen for rather than watching the center snap the ball so they can get off the line of scrimmage faster than their defensive counterparts.

Wearing a helmet doesn’t help Parnell’s cause either.

Parziale’s predecessor, John Sousa, moved Parnell from left guard to right guard during his sophomore year because Parnell hears better in his left ear than he does in his right. Parnell also asks his quarterback to shout the snap count more clearly even though quarterbacks often bark it in a low grinding voice so linebackers don’t pick up on it.

A few months after he was switched to right guard, Parnell developed several tactics to make sure he didn’t jump off sides before the ball was snapped.

“The way I line up I have a peripheral of the ball at all times,” Parnell said. “If I don’t understand [the snap count] I just make sure I keep paying attention to the ball. I line up an inch or so off the [center’s] heel. I line up a little bit farther back so when I look forward I can see the middle to the end of [the center’s] forearm and I can always see the ball.”

Parnell had perfected those tactics so well by his senior year that he made 83 percent of his blocks on the offensive line for the Jets, who lost to Blue Hills by a field goal with 3.7 seconds left in the Division 4A semifinals.

The nose guard and defensive tackle was also the team’s leading tackler, collecting 72 tackles, including 22 for a loss and 9 sacks.

“It’s been a big year for him and it’s been good for East Boston in general,” Parziale said.

As accomplished as he is, Parnell is always overcoming obstacles.

Working with a lot of different quarterbacks this week in the Shriners game is difficult for Parnell because the quarterbacks all have different cadences at the line of scrimmage. Nevertheless, Parnell will still start for South coach John Bartlett on Friday night.

Parnell also filled in at left guard during practice this week even though he doesn’t like to play on that side of the center.

“It shows you the type of character he has,” said Bartlett, who is also the Boston College High coach and athletic director. “He doesn’t complain about it. He just goes right after it. He’s a real inspiration to his teammates.”

On top of all his football accomplishments, Parnell also graduated from East Boston High this month.

“I’m like speechless of everything he’s gotten so far,” Parnell’s mother, Margaret Parnell, said of all her son’s awards. “I’m just in shock to be honest with you. It didn’t hit me till he graduated the other day and I started crying and I realized how much he overcame.”
Six months after Parnell was born he had constant ear infections that didn’t subside no matter how many times he had new tubes put in his ears.

After years of suffering, he was eventually diagnosed with cholesteatoma in both ears. An abnormal skin cyst located in the middle ear behind the ear drum, cholesteatoma can cause dizziness, drainage from the ear and hearing loss.

Over the years Parnell has had 15 surgeries, including one to remove a benign tumor that left a large scar behind his right ear and inflamed part of his head.

“The scar was horrendous, it was really bad and he always thought he looked ugly,” Margaret Parnell said. “He also had to become a lot stronger because of that.”
Another surgery temporarily removed the bones in Parnell’s ears.

“I held onto those tiny bones for a year until they could put them back in,” Margaret Parnell said. “It was pretty cool to have his hearing bones in the cabinets.”

Parnell missed so much school that he was held back in both the first and third grades, his mother said. He was often bullied and made fun of for wearing hearing aids on both ears. His hearing loss also affected the pitch and clarity of his voice. He struggled to pronounce some words as well.

“It’s very nerve racking, people are very judgmental and often times associate hearing loss with speech impediments,” Parnell said. “They think you sound funny or illiterate or stupid.”

His mother would tell her son, “‘don’t worry, blow them off, someday you’ll be something’ … I started to tell him how big he was.”

Parnell started to play football for East Boston Pop Warner when he was 12 years old and then for the Clearance R. Edwards Middle School in Charlestown.

Today Parnell shows few signs of being hearing impaired, and amazingly, he said he never had help from a speech therapist.

Instead, he would retreat to his room with his favorite heavy metal albums, namely Godsmack, and teach himself how to talk properly.

“I would sit there and practice doing what they did vocally and singing and watched myself,” he said. “So I kind of trained myself. My family and my mother was very adamant about it too. She would tell me, ‘You have to speak up, you have to speak louder. Slow yourself down’ and I would take hints from what they did as well as practicing in my room myself.

“I got sick and tired of using the excuse that I couldn’t hear anything.”

He also learned how to read lips, something he mostly relies on now since he’s developed shadow hearing, which means he can’t hear what someone says unless he’s looking at their face.

His ability to read lips has been especially important since he’s been without a hearing aid for almost two years. Parnell and his mother said one was stolen while they were camping in New Hampshire and the replacement went missing as well.
Both cost more than $1,000, according to Parnell’s mother.

“It’s disgusting, she said. “I didn’t think there was a big racket out there for them but I guess where there’s a will [there’s a way] … I have five children and each one we pay for out of pocket. We just haven’t had the money to pay for it.”

Parnell has no problem hearing his heavy metal music, which pumps full blast from his iPod and car stereo. The running joke among his teammates and coaches is that the music caused his hearing loss.

“I don’t really care,” he said of annoying people with his loud music. “I have to deal with people when I’m on the train going to work. Everyone has their own flaws. I just try to be respectful. If there’s a crowd full of people at 6:45 in the morning I may not have it all the way up.”

Cholesteatoma is something Parnell will have to deal with for the rest of his life. He will have to continue to have doctors scrape off the cyst when it grows back every so often and he might have to have new tubes put in soon.

In the fall, Parnell will attend North Shore Community College with the hopes that his grades will improve enough so he can study biology and play college football at a four-year university in a few years. He said both Curry College and Mount Ida College are interested in him and he is also going to look into playing for Gallaudet University, a school in Washington D.C. for the deaf and hard of hearing.

“The schools I narrowed it down to wanted me for both reasons, not just one,” he said pursuing a degree in biology. “I wanted to feel like I was still an everyday student and an athlete at the same time.”

With football on his backburner for the time being, Parnell will make the most of playing his first game at Gillette Stadium on Friday. But he’s trying not to focus on what it will feel like to run out of the tunnel for the Shriners game.

“I can’t even imagine, I don’t even want to know because it’s going to make me so nervous,” he said. “I can’t even imagine how many people are going to be there and the atmosphere and I’m not going to think about it because I don’t want to psych myself out.

“I’m going to go there like a pro player and have the right attitude and focus on the game and kind of take the crowd out of it.”

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

The Boston City League baseball all-star game will return to Fenway Park next month after a short hiatus at Harvard’s O’Donnell Field.

The annual City of Boston All-City Baseball Classic will be at 5:30 p.m. on June 10 at Fenway Park.

The game is organized by the Boston Center for Youth & Families and held in partnership with the Boston Scholar Athlete Program and sponsored by the Boston Red Sox.

The game was held at Harvard the last two years. Three years ago it was scheduled to be played at Fenway but had to be moved to Harvard due to inclement weather. It was last played at the iconic ballpark in 2008.

In the last three years the all-star game has struggled to garner full participation due to a lack of interest, lack of transportation to Harvard or conflicts with graduations and proms.

Boston schools Athletic Director Ken Still said Fenway Park should help remedy participation issues.

“Fenway Park is a lure because it’s Fenway park, you have people coming from all over the world to sit in Fenway Park,” Still said during a telephone interview on Tuesday morning. “To have a chance to play there as a youngster and baseball person, that’s overwhelming.”

Still announced that the game will be back at Fenway during the Boston City League championship baseball game on Monday morning at Boston English High.

On Tuesday morning, he said he hopes the weather cooperates this year.

“[Fenway is] very tough to get but when we’re able to I say take advantage and let’s do it,” he said. “I hope they are able to get on the field and represent."

The BSA’s new Athletic Director, Chris Rooks, said “It’s an amazing opportunity for the kids.”

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

Tuesday's full slate of Boston schools' baseball and softball games has been canceled due to inclement weather, wreaking havoc on the race for the city championships. The softball and baseball city championships are slated for this weekend but mother nature is making it difficult to determine who will be playing.

In softball, East Boston (9-6, 8-0) and O’Bryant (7-5, 7-3) are poised to represent the North conference in the city championships while Latin Academy (9-10, 7-0) and South Boston (9-3, 9-3) and Dorchester (8-3, 8-3) are fighting for the South conference slot.

The forecast isn’t much better for Wednesday, when Brighton and Latin Academy are slated to square off in a baseball battle that could be the key to determining who represents the North conference in the baseball city championships.

In baseball, the top two teams from the North conference qualify for the tournament so
English High is also in the running to make cities.

The top team from the Central and South also qualify for cities. East Boston is looking like the runaway leader in the Central conference while Boston International and Fenway are battling to represent the South conference.

International (8-3, 5-1), which has already had eight or nine rain outs this year, has several conference games to make up this week. They are slated to play a double header against Charlestown on Thursday and back-to-back games against Snowden and Burke on Friday.

Boston International coach Christian Irizarry said he has plenty of pitching to get his team through the nonstop schedule of games.

“I have five arms besides my regular pitcher,” he said. “So for our league we are pretty good in terms of pitching.”

Fenway (9-7, 7-3), which clinched the state tournament for the first time in eight years on Monday, feels like they deserve to be the South representatives in the city tournament, especially because they defeated Boston International, 8-4, on Saturday. International beat Fenway 6-5 earlier in the season.

First-year Fenway coach David Walsh said his team would go to cities if the tiebreak came down to runs scored.

“We would definitely do damage in the cities,” he said. “If we don’t get in at least I know we’re in states.”

If the remainder of Boston International’s league games are rained out, it’s unclear how they will be counted in the standings.

“If I don’t play anyone because of the weather why should [Fenway] be on top?” Irizarry said.

The baseball city championship semifinals will be at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday at English High. The title bout will be on Monday at 10 a.m.

The softball semifinals will be at 11 a.m. at Clemente and Cobe Fields in the Fens. The championship game will be at 10 a.m. on Monday at Cobe Field.

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

Former NBA employee Christopher Rooks started his new job as the Boston Scholar Athletes program's athletic director last week.

Rooks will manage all athletic programs run by the nonprofit organization designed
to support Boston Public School athletics.

“What I’m really excited about is the opportunity to work with the kids, work with the constituents in Boston and grow a program that helps them use the foundation of athletics to improve themselves as individuals, academically as well as in life,” Rooks said during an interview on Tuesday morning.

Founded in 2009 by Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Suffolk Construction CEO and chairman John Fish,  the BSA provides support to all 19 Boston Public High Schools, 157 athletic teams, 3,900 players and 132 coaches.

The program, which was started after the Globe ran a seven-part series on the sad state of the district's athletic program called Failing our Athletes, has also established learning centers for athletes at each of Boston’s public high schools known as the BSA Zones.

“I am excited to have Chris on the BSA team,” Fish said in a statement.  “The
experience and relationships he gained working for the NBA, combined with his
passion for athletics and professional development, will elevate the BSA
athletic program to a whole new level as we work to help Boston’s
scholar-athletes play to achieve.”

Rooks spent more than 11 years working for the NBA. He was most recently a senior manager
for player development who was responsible for the creation and administration
of athlete life skills programs, transitional workshops, awareness and prevention seminars and professional development resources.

“I come from a background of business development and player development,” Rooks said. “For the last six years I worked in the player development department where our role was to work with teams, players and our partners to try to benefit the personal, professional and social development of our players."

Rooks said his background in the NBA will help him build rapport with the BPS student-athletes.

“One of the things we wanted to make sure that the [NBA] understood is that the fame and the popularity of both [the players] and their sport kind of obligates them to take a position in social responsibility because of so many people who are looking up to them,” Rooks said. “It’s one of
the things we really pushed hard was that guys do more in the community so they can
be seen because of the impact they have."

At the BSA, Rooks will be responsible for building long-term local and national
relationships as well as providing leadership, strategic direction, management
and coordination for all aspects of the BSA’s athletic program. Rooks will
also be responsible for the development of relationships with the BSA’s current
and potential markets along with increasing the program’s athletic support for
players and coaches.

Rooks received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Ohio State in 1994 and he earned his master’s degree in sport administration in 2000 from OSU. Rooks replaces Evan Davis, who is currently the chief operating office at the Sports Legacy Institute.

“I’m really excited to be here working with the quality staff at BSA, the folks at BPS athletics and our athletic community here throughout all of Boston,” Rooks said.

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Cat Calsolaro, Globe Correspondent

A stellar outing by Brandon Ruiz set up O'Bryant (2-5) for its second straight win, a 7-0 triumph over City League rival South Boston Wednesday afternoon.

Ruiz, the Tigers' junior ace, pitched his best game of the season, earning his first win in three starts. He allowed just one hit and struck out nine in the complete game.

The Tigers backed up Ruiz with a strong performance at the plate. Center fielder Michael Mejia led the way, going 3 for 3 with two doubles. The senior drove in four runs, including two in the bottom of the sixth on a bases-loaded single.

The win comes on the heels of a 7-0 victory over Burke Tuesday. The Tigers attempt to continue the hot streak Thursday at Latin Academy.

Pavel Dzemianok for the Boston Globe

The high school boys got off to a fast start in the Boston Athletic Association Scholastic Invitational Mile on Sunday morning.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

Ben Groleau is hitting .500 lifetime at the boys’ Boston Athletic Association Scholastic Invitational Mile.

Running the race — which loops around Boylston and Newbury Streets before finishing on the Boston Marathon’s finish line — Sunday morning for the fourth straight year, the Framingham High senior had a winning time of 4 minutes, 27.2 seconds. The race features two athletes from each city or town along the Boston Marathon course.

“That was rough,” said Groleau, who also won the race as a sophomore. “Coming into it I knew it was going to be a hard field, I knew I was going to have to take it out early, but man I didn’t know I had [that kind of kick] in me. I’m excited. I guess experience paid off a lot.”

Groleau said he was surprised to win by such a large margin. Justin Keefe from Newton North (4:39.7) finished second and Tim Bolick of Hopkinton (4:40.4) was third.

“You can’t get caught up behind anyone right off the bat,” Groleau said when asked about what he’s learned from running the race in the past. “On a course with this many turns, you get boxed in way too much on the corners so you have to take it out. I knew that going in, so I jumped in front at the beginning of the race and I figured I’d let those guys figure it out.”

In the girls’ race, Newton North sophomore, Evelyn Heffernan, won with a time of 5:23.1. Shelby Aarden (5:24) of Hopkinton was second and Melissa Lodge (5:24.8), also of Hopkinton, third.

“It was great,” Heffernan said. “The crowd is incredible and they are really helpful. There are people all around and they just push you through the whole thing and it’s great.”

A freshman, Aarden was running the race for the first time.

“I was trying to keep up with the leaders,” Aarden said. “At the end I had some more energy so I went ahead, I passed one or two in the final 100 yards.”

The morning also featured a boys’ and girls’ middle school 1-kilometer race. Zachary O'Leary of Ashland won the boys’ race in 2:54.5, ahead of John Lara of Boston (3:00) and Thomas D’Anieri of Wellesley. Leah Metzger of Newton won the girls' race in 3:35.9, ahead of Piper Higgins of Wellesley (3:43.3) and Nicole Anselmo of Natick (3:44.5).

“I was really nervous so I just decided to go out and have fun,” Metzger said.

O’Leary said, “John Lara caught me at the end of the first lap; I had to pump through it. I couldn’t feel my legs. The first lap I had to pump it. Then I said to myself ‘I have to kick it in.’

"I can't feel my legs right now but it was worth it."

In the high school boys’ race, Newton North’s Keefe didn’t have enough kick to eclipse Groleau. Keefe was running the race for the first time.

“I was hoping for the win but what can I say, he has the most experience,” Keefe said of Groleau. “He’s a strong kid. I’ll get him later in the season.”

Justin A. Rice can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

The six Boston Marathon runners raising money for the Boston Scholar Athlete Program have received words of encouragement from friends, family and colleagues during training.

But they never expected a pep talk from Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino.

“This weekend is marathon weekend, I want to congratulate the runners who are running the Boston Marathon for the Boston Scholar Athlete Program, I’ll be watching you,” Menino said during the first-ever Boston Scholar Athlete Zone Party on the floor of the TD Garden on Tuesday night.

The gala raised $1.9 million for the program which has established a dedicated, staffed learning center for athletes inside each of Boston’s 19 public high schools. The program was co-founded by Menino and Suffolk Construction CEO and Chairman, John Fish.

“That was great, I didn’t expect that at all," BSA Academic Associate Colin Campbell said. "To have him recognize us meant a lot to us. Even though it was at such a big event, where people are putting a lot more into it than we are to fund raise, and [for him to] recognize us along with everyone there to support our program overall was great.”

Besides Campbell, Nicole Reither of Swampscott, Michelle Nielsen of Falls Church, Va., Kate Hensley of Quincy, Joseph Cappellano of South Boston and Liz Collins of Boston are the other BSA or Suffolk Construction employees running.

So far they have raised about $23,000 for the BSA.

“Every one of the runners for our team has a connection to BSA which is unique,” Campbell said. “I think that’s something you don’t see in a lot of other charity teams. They don’t have that connection. So for us explaining BSA [to donors] has been great."

Each runner has a month after the marathon to raise a minimum $5,000 or the difference comes out of their pocket. And in these tough times many charity runners have had a hard time finding donors to reach their goals.

Joseph Cappellano, a senior facilitator for BSA who works with athletes at Boston Latin School, said it can be tough to raise money since they all know each other and are all raising money for the same cause. But he also said they’ve come up with creative ways to raise money such as conducting a March Madness bracket.

“Most of us have reached [$5,000] or are close but obviously our goal is not to stop at $20,000 but go beyond it,” Cappellano said.

The South Boston native said his friends and family are receptive to helping Boston Public School athletes.

“As soon as I tell them we’re trying to revamp high school sports in Boston they are kind of like ‘I wish they had that when I was there,’ ” he said. “So people are very, very receptive.”

Another challenge is the fact that while the group trains together, Hensley is the only one with marathon experience.

“It’s interesting, we were all athletes in high school and college and we all have old injuries and they start to come back to haunt you,” Cappellano said.

On Monday, the group plans to start the race together and then branch off as the race progresses. They hope to all run under four hours.

“It’s a little up in the air,” Cappellano said when asked what time he is shooting for. “Before Tuesday would be nice.”

For more information on the BSA runners, go to their fundraising website.

Justin A. Rice can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Hannah Becker, Globe Correspondent

The Boston City League track teams were in action on Thursday’s rainy afternoon as the city schools competed in a dual meet at White Stadium in Dorchester.

Nine girls teams and nine boys teams came out to compete in the second meet of the season.

The boys’ results were highlighted by a tie between East Boston and Latin Academy at 52 points. O’Bryant picked up the most points in the meet with 72 in a win over West Roxbury, who collected 13 points. O’Bryant also defeated Brighton 61 to 39. Madison Park picked up 58 points in a win over Charlestown (nine points) and West Roxbury lost their second match-up with 12 points to Brighton’s 43. South Boston defeated New Mission 47 points to 34 points.

O’Bryant picked up wins in three events, including both relays. The Tigers won the 4x100 in 50.70, over a second ahead of second place finishers South Boston. They also took the 4x400 relay in 4:40:00, 10.1 seconds faster than Madison Park, which finished second.

The Tigers’ third win came in the 800-meter, which Patrick Powell finished in 2:17.70.

Also picking up three wins was South Boston, who controlled the field events. Carson Passes won the discus, throwing for 99 feet and 11 inches. Tony Nguyen took home the shot put with a distance of 37 feet, 5.5 inches. The Knights’ third victory came in the 400 meter, where William Arrington finished in 55.2 seconds for a full three-second victory.

Madison Park, East Boston and Brighton each picked up victories in two different events to help bolster their point totals.

Boston Latin Academy, who won the Boston City League indoor track championship this past season, finished in the top three in six of the 15 events, including a win in the 1-mile from Sonny Finch who finished in 5:25.40.

West Roxbury and Madison Park took the jumping events with the Raiders’ Jonas Ogaus taking the long jump at 18-feet 1-inch and the Cardinals’ Kevin Bevnardez winning the triple jump at 35-feet 2-inches.

In girls’ action, Brighton picked up the largest point total of the afternoon with a 67-18 win over West Roxbury. The Raiders also picked up a loss to O’Bryant, 60-18. O’Bryant’s second win came with a 52-46 takeover of Brighton. Latin Academy defeated East Boston 54-44 and New Mission/English defeated South Boston 49-19. The biggest margin of victory came in Madison Park’s 40-8 defeat over Charlestown.

O’Bryant’s Adrienne Thornton, the state record holder in the 20-pound throw and defending New England champion in the discus, won the discus throwing for 120-feet, 3-inches.

Latin Academy won six events on the girls’ side including both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. Each of the four individual events won by the Dragons was claimed by a different athlete, marking the team’s depth.

Brighton took three events highlighted by Jaquasia Anderson’s narrow defeat of New Missions Akkeia Dickerson. Anderson finished in 26.3, just three tenths of a second ahead of Dickerson. Brighton’s Esther Hkwah won the long jump at 15-feet 1-inch and also won the 100 meter hurdles as the only female racing.

New Mission, Madison Park, South Boston, and East Boston each had a winner in one event.

Justin A. Rice for Boston.com

Boston Scholar Athlete program founder and Suffolk Construction CEO and Chairman, John Fish, speaks at the first-ever Boston Scholar Athlete Zone Party at TD Garden on Tuesday night.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

The first-ever Boston Scholar Athlete Zone Party was held on the floor of the TD Garden Tuesday night. The gala benefited the two-year-old program that has established learning centers for athletes at each of Boston’s 19 public high schools.

“The Boston Scholar athlete program believes there is a link, a proven link, between athletics and academic achievement,” said BSA founder and Suffolk Construction CEO and chairman John Fish.
.
Fish and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino collaborated to create the BSA after the Globe ran a seven-part series on the sad state of the district's athletic program called Failing our athletes.

“The mayor called me about two and a half years ago and said, ‘John we have some challenges with the Boston Public Schools athletic program, I think we can make a difference by putting some additional resources and putting some advice and guidance into it,’” Fish said. “That’s all our team needed to hear was [that we had] an opportunity to work with Boston Public Schools and [Superintendent] Carol Johnson.

“As a result of that phone call we are sitting here tonight and we’re impacting over 4,000 high school athletes in the city of Boston.”

The program — which also provides uniforms for more than 157 teams, skill clinics, all-star games and banquets for 13 sports — has kept 92 percent of its participants eligible to play their sports and has increased SAT scores by an average of 150 points, according to Menino.

“We know it’s working, so let’s come together to reach even more of the young people in our city,” Menino said.

Menino said while Fish defers credit he actually deserves most of it.

“I can remember the day he came to my office after it was reported [in the Globe] about the athletic programs in the Boston Public Schools, he came with the idea and he said ‘I’m going to make sure we have a program in Boston that works both scholastically and athletically for the young people in our city,’” Menino said during the event. “John worked at it, he put his resources behind it and built a great team.

“We wouldn’t be here without the foundation John set up, the Suffolk Red and Blue foundation. … enough can’t be said about this great program. This is a true public private program that is helping the Boston Public School students excel in the classroom, on the field and after graduation.”

West Roxbury High senior football and basketball player Muller Mirville said his GPA increased from a 2.0 to a 2.6 after attending the Zone.

“As of right now it’s getting higher and higher,” he said. “The Zone is a place where people that were in your footsteps help motivate you to become in a position that they are in, which is successful. The experience tonight went well; I see the people that are helping me out and are funding what’s helping me become a successful person.”

BSA Executive Director Rebekah Splaine Salwasser said some of the students in the program have increased their GPA from 1.0 to 4.0.

“And all have improved their chances of graduating from high school by 28 percent as members of our program,” she said. “Tonight we are here to honor the commitment that all these young people have made to improving their opportunities for success.

“All of us in this room contributed to that opportunity. We must continue to work together to provide structured, enriching, sustainable academic and athletic support for our youth."

She said the program is beginning to change the culture of athletics in the district.

“Together with our partners we are starting to see an increase in school and community pride and a renewed sense of confidence," she said, "particularly with our young female athletes.”

Justin A. Rice can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Zac Vierra, Globe Correspondent

In the fall, senior left fielder Mitchel Francois runs track for South Boston. The speed paid off for Francois on Tuesday as she legged out a two-out infield single in the bottom of the seventh inning to drive in the winning run as South Boston defeated Brighton, 15-14, in softball.

With the score tied at 14, junior Syndey Cunningham hit a leadoff single then stole second. After a popup, senior Katrina Hernandez walked. Cunningham and Hernandez then had a successful double steal.

“We ran the bases really well today,” said South Boston coach Mary Linehan. After a strikeout, Francois stepped to the plate. She hit a slow roller between the pitcher and the first baseman.

“When the pitcher got the ball she was going to throw to first but Mitchel was already there,” said Linehan. “She hustled right down the line.” Cunningham scored easily on the play as the Knights walked off with the win.

The game went back and forth for the first few innings, with the Knights taking a 12-7 lead after four innings. Brighton then stormed back with a five-run top of the fifth to tie it.

Senior Eileen Soto came in to pitch for South Boston in the fifth and after struggling in her first two innings, settled in and worked a scoreless top of the seventh, giving the Knights momentum for the bottom of the inning.

“It was a good game by both teams,” said Linehan. “Both teams didn’t let up.” South Boston (2-1) will play Snowden on Wednesday.

By Liz Torres, Globe Correspondent

The Boston Scholar Athlete Program announced the official girls and boys basketball rosters for the second annual Dr. Joseph D. Warren Memorial Boston City League Basketball All-Star Game.

The All-Star game, which will be held Saturday, March 31 at Northeastern University's Cabot Center, will feature 61 student-athletes from Boston Public Schools split by the North and South.

The girls' game is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. Saturday. Here is the rosters:

Girls North

Boston Latin Academy: Virginia McCaughney, Julia Rosario; Charlestown: Sara Centeio, Shannon Simpson; East Boston: Maria Delvecchio, Marta Chacon; Fenway: Tajanay Veiga Lee, Kayla Cox, Julissa Ross; Madison Park: Krystal Edwards, Khiyana Isaac, Amber Edward; Snowden: Jovanna Sandifer, Tania Ortiz; South Boston: Elaina Wright McCarthy, Daitannah Smith.

Girls South

Brighton: Amy Bernardez, Shantal Solomon; Dorchester: Shyla Fitzpatrick, Kymesha Kelley; English: Trayana Mair, Timilia Lattimore; O'Bryant: Araion Bradshaw, Raven Kelsey, Kiana Daley; Burke: Briana Hooks; New Mission: Tianna Johnson, Jazala Laracuente, Tiffany Williams; West Roxbury: Marissa Sarette, Makayla Williams.

The boys' game is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. Saturday. Here are the rosters:

Boys North

Boston Latin Academy: DeVaughn Riley; Charlestown: Tyrese Hoxter, Rony Fernandes, Omar Orriols; East Boston: Travon Moore, Kyle Jimenez Fox, Zack Gattereau; Kenny Ramos Fenway: Jonathon Roman; Madison Park: Rayshaw Matthews, David Stewart, Dakim Murray, O'Shea Joy; Snowden: Paul Maurice; South Boston: Alexander Brown.

Boys South

Brighton: Jerard Mayes, Decorsie James, Tre Downman, Malik James; Dorchester: Jedaun Langston; English: Kwame Townshend, Bryanne Toney; Community Academy of Science & Health: Josh Baptista, Anthony Ware; Burke: Charles Slayden; New Mission: Leroy Hamilton, Isshiah Coleman; West Roxbury: Sterling Brown, Freddie Oliveira; O'Bryant: Wesley Ogebeveon.

Boston Public high school student-athletes were chosen by their coaches.

The event is sponsored by Boston Scholar Athletes and the Boston Center for Youth and Families.

By Zuri Berry, Globe Staff

In Week 7 of the high school football season, No. 1 Everett beat BC High, Billerica came back from a deficit to beat Haverhill in double OT, and in the city South Boston inched closer to a Boston North title. See the highlights and more in this week's edition of The Huddle.

For past episodes of The Huddle, go to boston.com/huddle. Subscribe to The Huddle in iTunes (video). (Also available in audio only.)