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By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

Hampshire County football teams start their first full week of games on Friday, with five teams in action.The Daily Hampshire Gazette calculated the strength of schedule for each Hampshire County football team this fall. Strength of schedule numbers...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

Five years ago, the UMass football program scheduled a series with a Missouri team that was less than a decade into its membership in the SEC and looking to save some money on its non-conference schedule.Instead of Missouri paying UMass seven figures...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

Separated by five years, Cal and Chris Daskam never thought they’d get the chance to play together.The two brothers, alongside their older brother Clayton, all played football at Belchertown High School. They come from a long line of gridiron...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

For the first time in 21 years, Sean MacDonald’s hulking figure won’t be patrolling the sidelines at Frontier girls volleyball matches. MacDonald retired from the girls program last year after 429 wins, 18 western Mass. titles and 11 state...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

The UMass men’s basketball team will play Providence in 2024, after all.The Minutemen and the Friars on Monday announced a charity exhibition game between the two New England foes on Oct. 26 at 4 p.m. at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence,...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

One step forward, two steps back. Two steps forward, one step back.That’s what it’s been like watching the UMass football team this fall, as the Minutemen’s square-dancing routine has led them to 19 penalties through two games, 14th-most in the...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

At last fall’s Western Mass. Division I championships, Amherst girls cross country barely edged Northampton by three points to win the sectional title. Three weeks later at the MIAA Division 2 championships, the Northampton girls blazed past Amherst...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

The UMass football team travels for its first road game of the season on Saturday, a 3:30 p.m. contest against Toledo in the Glass Bowl. The Rockets beat UMass 41-24 last season in Amherst on their way to an appearance in the MAC Championship Game,...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

AMHERST — When Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams and Greg Desrosiers – who both scored touchdowns for their new teams in Week 1 – transferred away this spring, the biggest question on the UMass football roster was how the Minutemen would replace 87% of their...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

The UMass men’s and women’s basketball teams on Wednesday released their non-conference schedules for the 2024-25 season.The men’s basketball team faces 13 teams in its non-conference slate from Nov. 4 to Dec. 21, including six games against foes from...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

The South Hadley girls soccer team secured a 20-win campaign, a No. 1 seed in the MIAA Division 4 state tournament and a spot in the state championship game last season, but they ultimately came a goal short of their ultimate objective – a state...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

AMHERST — The UMass football team thought they knew what they were getting into.Earlier in the week, Don Brown previewed his defense’s matchup against Eastern Michigan starting quarterback Cole Snyder, who played against UMass two years ago when he...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

AMHERST — For three straight years, the UMass football team has played Eastern Michigan. And all three times, they’ve lost.But the games have been trending in the right direction for UMass, and the Minutemen are favored by 2.5 points on Saturday....

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

AMHERST — There isn’t a single player on the UMass football roster who has opened their season at McGuirk Alumni Stadium.Josh Atwood, Te’Rai Powell, Myles Turner and Gerrell Johnson have been in Amherst for five years and they’ve opened every one of...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

BELCHERTOWN — New Belchertown High School Athletic Director Kevin McNeill might never have held an AD position, but he brings with him years of coaching experience in not just Belchertown, but Hampshire County as a whole.McNeill replaces Jen Gouvin,...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

AMHERST — EA Sports’ long-anticipated college football video game, “College Football 25” finally released in July, and UMass football players wasted little time getting in on the action. The popular game was shelved in 2013 because of disputes over...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

AMHERST — After weeks of spring football, summer workouts and preseason camp, the UMass football team starts its season with a home opener against Eastern Michigan on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. It’s the first time the Minutemen are opening their season at...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

AMHERST — It’s year No. 47 for Don Brown as a football coach, but as the head man for UMass came down the hallway for his season-opening press conference at the Martin Jacobson Football Performance Center, he sounded like a kid ready for their first...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

AMHERST — As UMass continually reshapes its roster in year No. 3 of the Don Brown era, players and coaches both say that the Minutemen will be faster this year than last year.“I’m going to tell you what we do better right now than at any time I can...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

AMHERST — Last season, the UMass football team struggled with injuries at defensive back, something head coach Don Brown said hurt the team.In the offseason, the Minutemen used the transfer portal to recruit a host of defensive backs with lots of...