What the 2019 high school football season had in store for Riverhead was a curious mystery of sorts. The Blue Waves had never played in Suffolk County Division I before, so in making the jump from Division II, they were plunging into the unknown. READ
The smiles and laughs were as plentiful as the tennis balls on the Riverhead High School courts during Tuesday’s practice. Some players were even dancing and singing. READ
Looking back, William Burkowsky said he wishes he had played football throughout his high school career. He grew up playing PAL with many of his current teammates on the Blue Waves. READ
For the most part, you win some, you lose some in high school football. Riverhead experienced both a big win and a big loss on Saturday. READ
Even now, five years later, when Riverhead coach Cheryl Walsh-Edwards looks at Katie Goodale, she still sees the face of the young blonde girl who tried out and made her field hockey team as an eighth-grader, the youngest player on the team. “I look at her now, she looks mature, but her face still looks the same,” said Walsh-Edwards.
Walsh-Edwards recalled talking to Goodale’s father back then and telling him, “She’s going to be on varsity and she’s going to play.”
Goodale hasn’t stopped playing since. The five-year varsity starter is the team’s longest-serving player. My how time flies. READ
Riverhead High School athletic trainer Chris Hildebrandt had one final pickup to make after Saturday’s football game. As athletic director Brian Sacks climbed into Hildebrandt’s golf cart at Coach Mike McKillop Memorial Field, Sacks joked that he had a cramp.
The wisecrack drew some chuckles and smiles, but the issue of leg cramps was no laughing matter. Least of all to the Blue Waves. READ
Continual pressure has a way of wearing down a defense, like water pounding against a dam wall. First small cracks begin to form, then bigger cracks and then, finally, the dam bursts. READ
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A Greenport man who prosecutors said knowingly sold heroin laced with fentanyl that caused a fatal overdose in Riverhead was acquitted of second-degree manslaughter Thursday. READ