Page 10 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, March 22, 2019 Greater Boston League reforms with four NEC teams By Steve Freker T wo years ago history was made when it was announced that the venerable 60-year-old Greater Boston League (GBL) was ceasing operations and the four remaining teams – Everett, Malden, Medford and Somerville – were joining the Northeastern Conference (NEC) on a four-year pilot basis. The addition of the four GBL teams to the NEC made it the largest league in the state, with two eight-team divisions, 16 teams in all. Recently that history changed when the votes of just fi ve NEC high school principals led to the breakup and ending of that shortlived merger. Five schools voted through their principals to end the relationship, one short of a required twothirds majority, as the numbers were 7-5 in favor of keeping the “GBL teams” in the NEC. A second vote, by an 11-1 margin, just this past Friday, was made by the NEC to let the “GBL Four” out of their agreement eff ective at the end of this school year in June, instead of in 2021. In another twist, Revere High will also leave the NEC and join the GBL Four to form, for now, a five-team GBL moving forward this fall. The only added tenet is that Revere will stay a member of the NEC in football only for the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Voting against the GBL teams, essentially ending the relationship, were Beverly, Danvers, Lynn English, Marblehead and Winthrop. The four GBL teams were not allowed a vote, so these fi ve schools ended a 16-team league. Some of the reasons that unoffi cially came out of the meetings were “travel time” and “competitiveness of GBL teams.” However, the school with, by far, the longest distance to the GBL schools, Gloucester, voted to keep the GBL teams in the NEC. Gloucester’s Athletic Director, Bryan Lafata, was quoted in the Gloucester Times newspaper stating that distance between Gloucester and the GBL teams was not a negative factor, nor were competitive issues of any concern. “I feel bad for those schools because I felt they met the requirements they asked for them,” Swampscott Athletic Director Kelly Farley said of Everett, Malden, Medford and Somerville in a recent newspaper article, saying, “They met our expectations.” “We looked at a lot of things,” Lynn English Athletic Director Dick Newton said. Lynn English voted to end the GBL teams’ existence in the NEC. “We looked at the integrity of the league. The way the league was set up, we’d only play the traditional NEC teams every four years. We didn’t want it that way. We wanted to play traditional NEC teams, not traditionLike us on Facebook advocate newspaper Facebook.com/Advocate.news.ma Aluminum Everett er 10 Everett Ave., Everett 617-389-3839 Owned & operated by the Conti family since 1958 • 61 Years! “Same name, phone number & address for over half a century. We must be doing something right!” Owned & operated by the Conti family since 1958 • 57 Years! family since 1958 • 60 •Vinyl Siding •Carpentry Work •Decks •Vinyl Siding ears! •Free Estimates •Fully Licensed •Roofng •Free Estimates •Carpentry Work •Fully Licensed •Decks •Roo ng n • Fully Insured •• Replacement Windows Replacement Windows www.everettaluminum.com g Now’s the time to schedule those home improvement projects you’ve been dreaming about all winter! Everett Aluminum al GBL teams. We’re not the GBL, we’re the NEC. We want to play NEC teams. That was a key factor in our school voting no. We like playing 100-year-old, traditional rivalry games.” Lynn English Principal Thomas Strangie had twice voted “no” in previous attempts by the GBL to come into the NEC. These new reasons cited by the Lynn English representatives did not exist at that time. Medford High School Athletic Director Bobby Maloney said that as soon as the NEC made it clear the relationship would not continue, the GBL teams wanted a quick exit. “No one wants to play where they are not wanted,” Maloney said, noting that if the NEC had not voted itself to “release” the GBL teams, they would have independently petitioned the MIAA for the same move anyway. Sources say that the newly reformed GBL is actively pursuing other schools to increase the size of the league. “We’d like to have three more schools join us for an eightteam league,” Maloney said. Schools mentioned by sources include Cambridge, a former GBL school now four years into the Dual County League; Chelsea, a former GBL team which last played in that league in 1989 and is now in the Commonwealth Athletic Conference (CAC); and Saugus, a charter member of the NEC. MHS spring season begins with preseason practices, tryouts By Nick Toscani day, April 1. Malden High School varW ednesday was the first offi cial day of spring and Monday was the fi rst day of preseason for the Malden High School athletic teams. Nearly 300 student-athletes are signed up to participate in spring sports, according to Malden Public School Director of Athletics Charlie Conefrey. “We have gotten some strong turnouts by student-athletes for every sports team this spring so far,” Conefrey told The Malden Advocate. “We are looking forward to a lot of competitive games and matches this spring and hope a lot of our teams can work toward earning spots in the postseason.” The preseason is longer for some teams more than others with the fi rst team to open regular season play being Coach Dan Jurkowski’s varsity boys’ volleyball team, which plays on the road at Billerica High School on Monsity boys’ and girls’ outdoor track teams open their season on Tuesday, April 2. The Golden Tornados will compete against Somerville at Della Russo Stadium in Revere at 4:00 p.m. The Malden High School boys’ track coach is David Londino and the girls’ head coach is Jayson Payeur. Varsity girls’ lacrosse, coached by Jessica Leggett, opens its regular season on the road at Dracut High at 4:00 on Wednesday, April 3. Varsity boys’ lacrosse, coached by second-year head coach Jason Copithorne, will open its regular season at 11:00 a.m. on the road at Arlington High School stadium versus nonleaguer Arlington Catholic. The Malden High varsity softball team, coached by third-year head coach Julie Grillon, will open its season on Wednesday, April 10 on the road at Melrose High. That game will be played at Pine Banks Park at 4:00 p.m. Malden High boys’ and girls’ tennis also open their regular seasons on April 10. Varsity boys’ coach Mark Gagnon’s Golden Tornados take on Triton Regional in a home match at Amerige Park in Malden at 4:00 p.m.; the varsity girls’ tennis team will be on the road against Triton in its season opener at 4:00 p.m. Malden High varsity baseball’s season opener will be at 4:00 p.m. on the road at Lawrence High. A week later, Malden will host the 7th Annual Christie Serino Memorial Baseball Tournament at Maplewood Park in Malden on Friday and Saturday, April 19-20. Also participating are Greater Lawrence Tech, Somerville and East Boston. Malden High baseball is coached by Steve Freker, now in his third year of his second time holding the post. He formerly coached with Malden High baseball from 19851999. Spring!
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