All fall sports at South Hadley High School have started their seasons with a bang. Football is trying to take back their championship title, and field hockey, cross country, and boys soccer are trying to make a come back from a loss of athletes from the graduated class of 2013. Girls soccer and golf are getting used to a new coach, and volleyball is making due without a home gym.

Since school has started, there have been many exciting events related to sports at South Hadley High School. The football team struggled in the beginning with several hard losses, but thanks to the leadership of Seniors TJ Fitzell and Pat Sears, football has won their first game against Chicopee. Tigers football needs to keep up their enthusiasm and keep fighting. We all want to see them make the Western Mass Division 4 Finals again this year.

Field hockey is getting used to playing with the loss of so many seniors and dealing with some unanticipated injuries. Varsity Field Hockey coach Tara Cole said, “I’m trying to see if we could do a co-op team with South Hadley and Granby next year with the help of Mr. Desautels.” The tigers didn’t make playoffs last year, but did this year by being second in their division.

The girls soccer team has gotten to  know the new Varsity coach, Eric Wood. Jeff Taylor, coach of the JV team says that “both JV and Varsity are doing well this season, again with the lack of players due to injuries, it makes it a challenging season, but nothing they can’t overcome.” Coach Taylor enjoys Coach Wood’s assistance with the team this year, he says, “…he  [Wood] contributes great ideas and suggestions in order to better the team.” Coach Wood isn’t brand new to coaching South Hadley soccer, he coached the goalies last year for the South Hadley Varsity team.

Also, volleyball has had to compromise this year because of our gym being remodeled. This season they have not been able to have any home games and had to hold their senior night at Holyoke Community College’s court. The team has eight seniors and started the season fully stacked. After some tough losses, the team kept pushing towards qualifying for playoffs for a fourth consecutive year.

Overall, South Hadley Tigers need to earn their stripes back this season, everyone wants them to win!