Sullivan shines in prep football debut
New school, same success on the gridiron for Jack Sullivan.
Our reigning Daily News MVP from a year ago, the Newburyport native — who was originally committed to play baseball at UMaine — chose instead to pursue a prep year to further explore his college options in both sports. That landed him a fifth year at The Berkshire School way out in Sheffield, Mass., and over the weekend, he made his prep football debut.
Well, safe to say it went pretty well.
Sullivan, a starting running back and free safety, dominated in Bershire’s commanding victory over Portsmouth Abbey, 33-6, combining for 125 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns. After spending the summer on the recruiting trail at a number of showcases, performances like that will only help accelerate finding a college home.
And just as a reminder: Last fall as a senior, Sullivan piled up 1,195 rushing yards, 184 receiving yards and 20 total TDs in leading Newburyport (9-2) to one of the program’s best seasons of the 21st century.
Sirota was everywhere for Clippers
We now have better numbers from Newburyport football’s 12-7 loss down at Canton over the weekend.
Specifically, Eli Sirota did a bit of everything for the Clippers (0-3). The senior hauled in the team’s lone touchdown of the day on a 20-yard pass from Colin Fuller, then on defense led the way with 10 tackles. Both Jack Smith and Tedy Caron had seven tackles in what was a strong defensive showing for the Clippers, Jack Miller had six tackles an a sack, and Sam Craig forced a fumble that was recovered by Tyler Chorebanian.
NBBA registration now open
Registration for grades 1-through-8 is now open for the Newburyport Boys Basketball Association (NBBA) ahead of the upcoming season.
The NBBA provides an opportunity for all boys in grades 1-through-12, who either live in Newburyport or attend school in the city, to exercise, develop basketball skills and participate in structured, competitive basketball games. The season is scheduled to begin in early December, and will run through the first couple of weeks in March.
For registration details, please visit: www.newburyportboysbasketball.com.
Registration for the program’s high school division will open on December 1st.
Captains Corner
Captains Corner submissions are now being accepted for the 2024 fall season. A decent amount have already rolled in, but there are still plenty of local sports teams that haven’t been submitted. Coaches — or parents or the athletes themselves — who would like their captains featured are welcome to submit a photo to kgaudette@newburyportnews.com. Photos should have all captains featured and ideally be in their jerseys.