The walls of Arturo Salce’s bedroom are covered in posters of Patriots legends and memorabilia.
A fifth-grader from Hopkinton, he’s always loved football, and he currently plays on the offensive and defensive lines for the Kearsarge Wildcats, the youth football program nearest to him.
He said he’s worked a lot on improving his footwork and accountability and on learning how to effectively use his energy. Nico Freites, one of Arturo’s best friends, is a defensive tackle next to him, and together they love terrorizing the offensive line.
Arturo has played some tight end, too, but what he really enjoys is being a defensive end. “I think football is my favorite sport,” he said.
He wants to be like Rob Gronkowski or one of the Bosa brothers, and his wish to one day play on a high school team — the first step to becoming like one of his idols — is as close as ever.
On Friday morning, Bishop Brady and Hopkinton received an official stamp of approval to form a co-op football team in the fall.
Arturo’s dad, Dominic, is as excited as his son.
“If the people are selfless, and the team is selfless, and they realize that what they have to do and what the components are to run a successful program, I think they will all come together,” Dominic Salce said. “Football brings in crowds, football brings in community.”
The new team is coalescing at a crucial time for both schools. Bishop Brady called their season off last year and Hopkinton hasn’t fielded a team since the end of their co-op with Hillsboro-Deering in 2023.
Both communities wanted football back. Bishop Brady’s long legacy of football excellence left a void, and after the breakup of the RedHawks, Hopkinton kids like Arturo had no options to play football after middle school.
Putting the team together
When Bishop Brady football didn’t field a team during new Athletic Director Aaron House’s first season, he set a helmet down on his desk.
There, it stayed as a reminder. A reminder and a motivator to bring football back.
House and Hopkinton Athletic Director Dan Meserve have played distinct roles in the development of the team.
Meserve had tried to find other local programs to co-op with before, but none of the options worked out. When Brady folded its program, it made sense to collaborate; House reached out, and they got to work.
House described Hopkinton’s Meserve as the steady hand throughout the process. Meserve navigated the ins and outs of NHIAA rules and committees to keep the initiative moving. House said he’s the one to get people fired up.
They both stressed that they will be tempering their expectations. Going from no football into Division III competition will be a big jump for their student-athletes.
“I think as we get into the summer, the end of the spring and into the summer, more and more will start to filter out about it,” Meserve said.
The key, in House’s eyes, is getting everybody on board. The kids first, then the parents, then the alumni and the whole community. It’s about building for the future.
“The legacy and tradition piece is important. You want to honor, obviously, where the program has has been. At the same time, though, you know you’ve got to turn the page,” he said.
Coaching Homecoming
The Hopkinton-Bishop Brady co-op is bringing in a familiar face to lead the fledgling squad, at least on the Hawks’s side.
New head coach Evan Jacobsen graduated from Hopkinton in 2020. He was a member of the Hillsboro-Deering-Hopkinton RedHawks for all four years of his high school career and later an assistant coach for the team.
“The important part of sports ensures you want to play to win. But there’s also the part about sportsmanship, the part about working hard and teamwork, and all the attributes that you look at with sports and say, ‘This is what we want our kids to get out [of it],'” Meserve said of Jacobsen’s leadership.
“He gets it,” he said.
Football has led Jacobsen up, down and around in all sorts of positions. More importantly, he’s young and has a long-term vision for what he wants the program to become.
The former RedHawk played on the defensive line for Norwich University in Vermont and later enlisted in the National Guard.
Upon his return to New Hampshire, he coached with the RedHawks and went on to help New England College start up its football program as an offensive assistant.
Most recently, he was the defensive line coach at Goffstown High School under Coach John Preston and he was an assistant for the Hopkinton boys’ hockey team with Coach Liam McNicholas.
“It was a phenomenal experience. And when I saw this opportunity open up back where I graduated from, in a brand-new program, I threw my name in the hat,” Jacobsen said.
He’s no stranger to co-ops or programs in their infancy. He’s currently looking at filling his coaching room with like-minded coaches.
What to expect in year one
As a hockey and lacrosse player left without a fall sport last year, Bishop Brady’s Chase Thomas is chomping at the bit to play football.
Chase picked it up in his freshman year and played through his sophomore season. The program’s shuttering was heartbreaking.
“I had gone to camps over the summer, I had probably done the most work I put in for a sport at the time,” he said.
When he first heard rumblings of the co-op program, Chase was fired up. At a recent lacrosse game against Bishop Brady, that’s all the two teams talked about — playing fall football.
He said he can’t wait to be playing alongside them.
In terms of logistics, according to Meserve, the team will play home games at the National Guard Field in Pembroke this fall.
With all green lights ahead, they will go through a name and branding selection process that folds in opinions from both schools’ communities.
It’s still a long road ahead, but the summer will be in full swing soon, and the highly-anticipated project is just beginning.