After two weeks of competition, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s football team has chosen the man who will trigger the offense in 2010.

    Sophomore Patrick Orlando (Manchester, MA), who transferred from Saint Anselm after earning Boston Herald All-Scholastic honors as a senior at Manchester Essex High School in 2008, will take the snaps when the Corsairs begin their 2010 season Saturday.Orlando led his team to the Division IV Super Bowl championship as a high school senior. He takes over from (sophomore) Brendan McNeish (Springfield, MA/Bridgton Academy), who started tinal five games at quarterback last season but will begin the 2010 season at wide receiver.

    “After watching the competition during our first two weeks of camp, we have decided that Patrick Orlando will start at quarterback for us this season,” said UMass Dartmouth Head Coach Mark Robichaud. “Patrick and Brendan both had an outstanding camp, and after speaking with Brendan, I decided that we would be a better team with Brendan at wide receiver and Patrick at quarterback.

    “Brendan is arguably the best athlete on our team, and, for the good of the team, he agreed to a position change that will help us have a better offense. Brendan’s selflessnessexemplifies the attitude of our team this year.”

    Sophomore Tom Pereira (Dartmouth, MA/Dartmouth HS/Mass Maritime) will back up Orlando.

     ”Tom was also in the competition,” said Robichaud. “He also had an outstanding camp, and he will serve in a backup role.”

Marching right along, here is our preseason top-10 for Division 2. Complete coverage of Division 2 will be available in Sunday’s Herald.

DIVISION 2

1. Mansfield
2. Methuen
3. King Philip
4. Reading
5. Walpole
6. Wakefield
7. Natick
8. North Attleboro
9. Dracut
10. Franklin

    We’ve gotten started with our Division 1 previews in today’s editions of the Herald. We have a terrific feature on Albert Louis-Jean as well as the Dandy Dozen, Players to Watch, League Overview and League Breakdowns.

Here are the links

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/high_school/football/view.bg?articleid=1278893

ttp://www.bostonherald.com/sports/high_school/football/view.bg?articleid=1278887

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/high_school/football/view.bg?articleid=1278889

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/high_school/football/view/20100903division_1_breakdown/

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/high_school/football/view.bg?articleid=1278892

    The Bay State Games is proud to announce the winners of its 2010 High School Spirit program. After tabulating votes from more than the 8,000 participants of the 2010 Bay State Winter and Summer Games, nine schools, ranging in size from large (more than 1,000 students) to small (less than 500 students), were selected to receive grants to be used to support their athletic programs.

    Following the successful model established by other state games across the country, the Bay State Games launched its High School Spirit program in 2009. The initiative aims to help promote the Games and to reward Massachusetts’ high school athletic departments for their participation. Schools across the commonwealth are divided into three categories according to enrollment, and then more than $5,000 in grants is awarded to the top three participating schools in those categories.

    There is no sign-up for this program, meaning that all schools are eligible. Each participant, aged 6 to 86 are allowed to vote, enabling parents, relatives, and alumni to all have a say in determining which schools receive the grants. Based on this year’s votes, the following schools were named the winners of the 2010 High School Spirit program:

Large Schools (more than 1,000 students)

1. Boston College HS

2. Andover HS

3. Westfield HS

Medium Schools (501-999 students)

1. Belchertown HS

2. Northampton HS

3. Bishop Fenwick HS

Small Schools (500 or less students)

1. Frontier Regional HS

2. Matignon HS

3. St Mary’s of Lynn HS

     Here is a look at the preseason top-10 poll for Division 1A. Don’t forget to pick up the Friday Herald as we begin our comprehensive look at the high school football scene with our Division 1 preview.

Also, check our our first installment of Hot Shots, something we’re expecting to turn into a weekly feature.

Click here to see the video

DIVISION 1A POLL

1. Gloucester
2. Westford
3. Acton-Boxboro
4. Barnstable
5. Taunton
6. Bridgewater-Raynham
7. Lynn Classical
8. Lynn English
9. Weymouth
10. Lincoln-Sudbury

    Each week, we will feature a student/athlete in our newest segment called “Hot Shots”. Please feel free to let us know what you think here at dventura@bostonherald.com.

    http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/high_school/football/view/20100902hot_shots_week_1/srvc=home&position=2

    Thanks to a loyal Brockton fan for the following tidbits. The Brockton scrimmage against Bridgewater-Raynham has been pushed to Marciano Stadium and will played tomorrow (Thursday) at 4 p.m.Also, Brockton’s captains are #20 Albert Louis-Jean and #44 Trevon Offley

The Triple EEE rage is upon us. Here are some of the changes which were reported to us.

Pembroke at Carver, 1 p.m. (September 18)

Norwell at Pembroke, 4 p.m. (September 24)

Duxbury at New Bedford, 1 p.m. (September 25)

North Quincy at Pembroke, 4 p.m. (October 1)

    Here we go with our fifth annual look at the Divisions. We will start with a preseason poll of the top 10 teams in Division 1 and add a division each day leading up to next Friday’s kickoff. Once the season gets started, we’ll go back to our traditional Weekly Super Seven and Monday Morning Recap, two of our more popular segments.

For those who have seen the Herald roaming around with video equipment, I’ve been told that we are launching “Hot Shots” tomorrow, a video montage of a high school star or stars. Among the schools we have focused on in the early going include West Roxbury, Catholic Memorial, Xaverian, Reading, Billerica and Mystic Valley with a few others on the docket. As soon as they put it up, I’ll provide a link.

If things go well, I am planning on conducting a live online chat next Monday evening from 7-9 from the High School Insider website. We had a fairly successful session last year, though folks preferred to have it at night. Stay tuned for future details.

As for the newspaper portion of our high school coverage, the game plan is to start running previews in this Friday’s paper. We will dedicate two pages each day to each division, including a feature, Dandy Dozen, other players to watch, a playoff breakdown as well as a league overview. The coverage will be capped off by the 18th annual Preseason Sweet 16 poll on Friday, September 10.

Feel free to comment at dventura@bostonherald.com.

DIVISION 1

1. Xaverian

2. Brockton

3. Everett

4. BC High

5. Billerica

6. Catholic Memorial

7. Chelmsford

8. Central Catholic

9. St. John’s Prep

10. Malden

Here are some of the places on the South Shore where you can find games being broadcast with Mike Logan handling the bulk of the duties.

SEPT. 10   TAUNTON @ D-Y, 7 p.m. (www.mwlsports.com)

SEPT. 17   BROCKTON @ TAUNTON, 7 p.m. (WARL/1320am-www.mwlsports.com)

SEPT. 18   MIDDLEBORO @ C-C  1 p.m. (WVBF/1530am-www.mwlsports.com)

SEPT. 24   DURFEE @ TAUNTON, 7 p.m.  (WARL/1320am-www.mwlsports.com)

OCT.    2   TAUNTON @ DUXBURY, 1 p.m. (www.mwlsports.com)

OCT.    9   EVERETT @ TAUNTON, 4 p.m. (WVBF/1530am)

OCT.  23   TAUNTON @ BARNSTABLE, 5 p.m. (WARL/1320 am-www.mwlsports.com)

OCT   29   TAUNTON @ NEW BEDFORD, 7 p.m. (WARL/1320 am-www.mwlsports.com)

NOV.    5   DARTMOUTH @ TAUNTON, 7 p.m. (WARL/1320 am-www.mwlsports.com)

NOV.  12   B-R @ TAUNTON, 7 p.m. (WARL/1320 am- www.mwlsports.com)

NOV.  25   TAUNTON VS. COYLE-CASSIDY, 10 a.m. (WVBF/1530 am-www.mwlsports.com)

NOV.  25   QUINCY/NORTH QUINCY, 10 a.m. (WBNW/1120 am-www.mwlsports.com)