Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir out for 2009-10 season

New Leadership's Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir who is a freshman at the University of Memphis on a full basketball scholarship is out for the 2009-10 season due to a torn ACL. Here's the video of the story from abc40.

Agawam pounces early with defeat over Northampton

Agawam scored three quick touchdowns in the first quarter ignited by a 65-yard TD pass from senior quarterback Kevin Fruwirth to junior running back Tesfaye Bihonegne as the Brownies rolled to a 40-6 win over its AA conference foe.

Northampton continues to struggle now 0-6 on the season and 0-4 in the conference.

Check out the full game recap in today's Republican.

Chicopee backs Eddie Green and Raheem Kelly-Reid pace 27-8 football win over Putnam

Senior running backs Eddie Green and Raheem Kelly-Reid ran for a combined 312 yards and scored two touchdowns as Chicopee paced itself past Putnam 27-8 in a Suburban League match-up at Szot Park Friday night.

Chicopee improved to 4-1 overall and 4-0 in the league. 

Click here to read the full recap.

Monday Afternoon Quarterback Week 4

This week's topic features defense.

The Springfield Republican's Russ Held recaps key defensive plays that led to wins.

Highlighted plays

Casey Blachard's blocked punt for Pioneer Valley Regional who came from behind to beat Ware, 20-16.

Quarterback D'Shane Smith intercepted an intended touchdown pass as Central held on to defeat Westfield 34-26.

Jacory Gonzalez had an interception at the Holyoke 1 yard line with 52 seconds to play to seal the deal for the Purple Knights as they upset Agawam 21-14.

I covered the Central/Westfield game. You can check out the game recap here.

Monday Afternoon Quarterback Week 3

The Springfield Republican's Russ Held highlights the Commerce Red Raiders this week as they picked up its first win since the 2007 season.

After an 0-2 start, Commerce won 9-7 over city rival Putnam.

Other topics include streaks and Longmeadow is nowhere to be found this time.

The honors go to Frontier Regional (3-0) who holds the longest active winning streak in Western Massachusetts with nine dating back to last season.

And if you missed it, here's my recap of the Agawam vs. Taconic game from last Friday.

The Brownies were 45-14 winners in a game that took two and a half hours to play.

Monday Afternoon Quarterback Week 2

The Springfield Republican's Russ Held has the second installment of high school football happenings across the state in Monday Afternoon Quarterback.

Some tidbits

In Western Mass. Longmeadow got trounced by St. John's of Shrewsbury 42-12 in its home opener.

In Eastern Mass. No. 1 Everett fell to Dracut 48-14.

Along with Longmeadow, Westfield, Agawam, Central, and Minnechaug all lost on the same weekend for the first time in decades.

Tyler Hood and Athol top Pathfinder

PALMER - Senior wide receiver Tyler Hood scored three touchdowns and intercepted two passes as Athol powered by Pathfinder Regional Vocational 39-7 in independent football action Friday night at Saint Joseph's Field. 

Hood (five receptions, 63 yards) caught two touchdown passes from senior quarterback Eric LaFountain (102 yards passing, three TDs) and ran for a score.

To continue reading click here.

Western Mass. high school football coverage

I've honestly completely forgot about this blog, but since I'll be covering high school football again this season for The Springfield Republican, I'll be sure to tack on some notes from my respected games.

All of my recaps will be posted on here as well.

Every Monday, school's editor Russ Held will recap the week in "Monday Afternoon Quarterback," in The Varsity Voice high school blog. The same article will be printed in Tuesday's paper.

Looking forward to another good season.

If you're looking for Eastern Mass. football coverage, check out Boston.com's high school sports blog.

The Boston Globe Scholar-Athlete Awards

Today The Boston Globe held its Scholar-Athlete Awards at its headquarters in Dorchester to honor and feature 14 Boston Globe/Richard Phelps Scholar Athletes all of which received $3,000 college scholarships.

Other honorees included the Globe Male and Female Athletes-of-the-Year for the MIAA and NEPSAC schools as well as the Globe/Will McDonough Male and Female Athletes-of-the-Year for public schools.

You can check out school's editor, Bob Holmes' article for a list of all of the winners. 

L-S wins first state crown with 3-0 sweep over Prep

Lincoln-Sudbury had to wait a year, but it was worth it.

After falling in last year's boy's volleyball state title game to St. John's Prep, the Warriors got a nice filling helping of revenge at Ashland High School as they swept the Eagles 3-0 for its first ever state crown.

Click here to read the Globe's Sapna Pathak's game story and check out the Boston Herald's Bruce Lerch's coverage (we have to be a little bit fair).

Congrats to L-S, lets see if they can defend its crown next year.