With Labor Day coming early, Crimson Tide fall sports teams reconvene sooner this year

Everett High School regular season games begin only days after the Sept. 1 holiday

By Joe McConnell

Football gets going on Aug. 15
The unofficial end of summer is always Labor Day weekend, but this year that seminal moment on the calendar comes early. To be precise, Labor Day is on Sept. 1, and so it affects everything from cutting short vacations to beginning high school fall sports practices several days earlier than the normal startup date.
Football players will report to coach Rob DiLoreto on Friday, Aug. 15. DiLoreto takes over for Justin Flores, who was on the job for two years after he replaced DiLoreto in 2023.
DiLoreto, an Everett native, is thrilled to be back in a program that he loves so much. He grew up in it as a player, and later became an assistant coach for several years, before being named the head coach for the first time here in 2020, the COVID year, which turned everything upside down, and as a result, the fall season was moved to the spring without playoffs. But once playoffs resumed in the fall of 2021, he was able to guide the Tide back to the postseason, and then repeated that successful script in 2022. He obviously wants to return to that glory in 2025.
But first, with the early start to the regular season (Friday, Sept. 5, at home against Greater Boston League rival Medford), scrimmages have also moved up, just eight days after the first day of practice.
The Crimson Tide boys are scheduled to scrimmage Catholic Memorial and former Everett Super Bowl coach John DiBiaso on its West Roxbury campus on Saturday, Aug. 23, at 2 p.m. Six days later, they will be at St. John’s Prep in Danvers to take on the Eagles in another scrimmage on Friday night, Aug. 29, at 6 p.m. These two warmups will certainly get them ready for the home opener against aforementioned Medford the following Friday night under the lights at Everett Memorial Stadium.
The Everett football players have been engaging in weight-lifting and speed training drills this summer to prepare for the upcoming season.
“I’m very proud of the off-season training that our players have been putting in,” said DiLoreto. “Many of our players have also attended one-day football camps at colleges and universities in the area, including among others Boston College, UMass Amherst, Merrimack College, Central Connecticut State, Norwich.”
DiLoreto’s message to the team this year is very simple. “We are going to work tirelessly to defend the honor, legacy and proud tradition of Everett Crimson Tide Football,” he said.
Having already scheduled top-notch scrimmages against Catholic Memorial and St. John’s Prep will only help DiLoreto’s squad to properly prepare for the upcoming season.
Claudy St. Juste, Robbie Riobe, Erick Brown, Duane Sigsbury, Jason Portillo, Malik Love, Gerell Boyce, Carol Manuel, Jay Holt, Peter Forte, Jay Holt and Sid Shresta are DiLoreto’s assistants for the upcoming campaign.

Practices are early for everybody
The other Everett fall sports teams are in the same predicament. They will begin their practice season on Monday, Aug. 18. Cross-country has a little bit longer to get ready for the regular season. Their first meet won’t be until Tuesday, Sept. 10, at home against Medford.
The field hockey team has only one home scrimmage on the schedule, and it will be against Methuen on Monday, Aug. 25, at 7-Acre Park, before the regular season begins on the road against non-league Lowell on Thursday, Sept. 4, at 5 p.m.
The Everett golfers will kick things off with a tri-match against Revere and Malden also on Sept. 4 at Stoneham Oaks, beginning at 4 p.m.
The boys soccer team has four scrimmages on tap – Beverly at 7-Acres on Friday, Aug. 22, at 10 a.m.; Pioneer Charter School of Science also at 7-Acres on Tuesday, Aug. 26, at 4 p.m.; Northeast Vocational at 7-Acres again on Wednesday, Aug. 27, at 4 p.m.; and finally East Boston on the road to face the Jets on Friday, Aug. 29, at 9 a.m. They will then begin the regular season at home against non-league Lowell on Wednesday, Sept. 3, at 7-Acres, starting at 5 p.m.
The girls soccer team will participate in the Medford Jamboree on Sunday, Aug. 24, against Haverhill at 11 a.m. and Waltham one hour later at noon. They will also scrimmage Pioneer Charter School of Science two days later on Aug. 26 at the Madeline English School, beginning at 4 p.m. The regular season starts on Wednesday, Sept. 3, against host Lowell at 5 p.m.
The girls volleyball team will be taking part in the Malden Jamboree on Friday, Aug. 22. They will then scrimmage East Boston at East Boston High School on Thursday, Aug. 28. The regular season will then get underway for them at Lowell on Wednesday, Sept. 3, at 4:30 p.m.