Xaverian coach Al Fornaro feels he’s got enough weapons to feel comfortable getting into a track meet with virtually every team he faces.

Springfield Central might be the exception to the rule.

The teams have met in the postseason in each of the past two seasons and the net results weren’t exactly what Xaverian had in mind. The Hawks were within a score at halftime in both contests only to watch the Eagles erupt in the second half to emerge with lopsided victories.

“We most certainly would not want to get into a track meet with them,” said Fornaro, whose team will host Springfield Central Friday night. “(Former Springfield Central quarterback William) Watson really hurt us in those games with his ability to extend plays with his great escape ability. I don’t care how good your defense is, asking young men to cover for more than five seconds is not a good recipe.

“That being said, they still have a lot of talented young men there. Their quarterback (Jareth Staine) is a freshman and he can deliver the ball, they have two good backs and six wide receivers that almost any other team in the state would love to have.”

Springfield Central (1-1) comes into the game off a 31-14 loss to Iona Prep (NY). Staine has been solid, completing 43-of-70 passes for 432 yards and six scores. The top receivers are Dwayne Early Jr. (13 catches for 161 yards and two scores) and Mattias Barbour (12 catches for 146 yards and three touchdowns), while Preston Longo (14 carries for 99 yards is the leading rusher).

Xaverian (2-0) comes into the game having defeated Everett (33-22) and Bridgewater-Raynham (41-0), Fornaro feels that having Henry Hasselbeck back after a full year in the system has paid dividends.

“We’ve seen marked improvement in Henry,” Fornaro said. “Being his second year, he just has a pretty understanding of what we want to do on offense.”

The game will likely come down to what Xaverian can do on defense as opposed to offense. Having several key players back from last year gives the Xaverian coach more reason for optimism.

“On the back end of our defense, we’ve got three guys back (Jonathan Monteiro, Michael O’Connor, Caleb Brown), so that should help us,” Fornaro said.

Elsewhere on Friday night, BC High looks to remain unbeaten when it travels to Woburn. Duxbury, fresh off a big win over Mansfield, welcomes a visit from a tough Franklin squad. The ISL opens this week and a pair of terrific tilts are on tap for Friday night as Milton Academy is at BB&N and Governor’s Academy hosts St. Sebastian’s.

The headliner on the Saturday docket is Catholic Memorial hosting St. Francis (NY). Other good takes are Billerica at Central Catholic and Lawrence Academy at Belmont Hill.

Chicago Sky guard Dana Evans remembers when her love of sneakers began.

While playing basketball in elementary school, she found herself attracted to “funky colors” that didn’t match her uniform.

“I like to stand out on the court. I’ve always been like that,” she told the Tribune. “My favorite pair that started me on the path of being different was probably customizing my Nike Hyperdunks in all pink.”

Evans’ love of sneakers will reach a new height in the Sky’s final regular-season home game Friday against the Minnesota Lynx at Wintrust Arena. She will debut her Jordan Luka 2 player edition (PE) shoe, “The Intro,” a special colorway made for Evans of Dallas Mavericks star Luka Dončić’s second signature shoe. To celebrate the occasion, the first 400 fans will receive a sky blue T-shirt with Evans’ DE11 logo.

For Evans, the shoe is a dream come true.

“It means a lot because I like to express myself on the court, whether that’s just having my nails, lashes or hair done, and now I’m able to do it through a shoe,” she said. “I’ve always loved shoes. Being able to express myself within a shoe is pretty dope.”

Evans, whose sneaker fashion is documented on the Instagram account DanaEvansKicks, signed with Jordan Brand last year and was the first Chicago athlete — male or female — to sign with the NBA legend’s sneaker imprint.

“Dana overall embodies exactly what we like to see in our athletes,” Jasmine Jordan, a field representative in the Jordan Brand sports marketing division and the daughter of Michael Jordan, told the Tribune.

“When you look at Dana, you don’t think that she’s about to be taking you to the hole and cutting you and pulling back and hitting her jumpers. She’s so skilled and so agile for being so small, and it’s something that stuck out.”

One of more than 10 WNBA athletes signed to the brand, Evans is part of a movement to push women to the forefront of sneaker culture. She believes it’s important for female athletes to be visible within the space.

“To put ourselves out in that aspect is bringing more viewers, and having more eyes on us is important,” she said. ”We’ve talked a lot about that in the WNBA. Just having us being seen means people can relate to us and understand us more through different things.”

New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu’s signature shoe, the Nike Sabrina 1, was released earlier this month. Washington Mystics forward Elena Delle Donne is the only other current female athlete to have a signature sneaker with the brand.

It’s a move Gregory Jones II of G2 Hoops, Evans’ marketing agent, says will have an impact on the league for years to come.

“Sabrina’s shoe is probably going to outpace some of the guys that had their first signature shoe,” Jones said. “It shows that there is a lane in the market for women to have signature shoes and PEs. It gives us the opportunity to say that women in the WNBA can sell sneakers, and what that turns into is being able to pay them more as far as their revenue share in that space.”

In addition to Evans, Sky players Kahleah Copper, Ruthy Hebard and Elizabeth Williams (Adidas), Isabelle Harrison (Jordan), Marina Mabrey (Under Armour) and Courtney Williams (Moolah Kicks) have sneaker deals.

Evans, who is averaging 8.7 points off the bench, said she “fell in love” with the Luka 1 while playing overseas because it’s a comfortable low-top. And now she’s excited to get a pair of the second version of the shoe with details that carry special meaning for her.

The shoe is in shades of pink, Evans’ signature color, and blue. The laces are made to look like DNA strands to represent her family. Evans’ dad, Damon, has said he would switch shifts with his co-workers at a Gary steel mill to see Evans play. The shoe also has the number 23 to signify this year, Michael Jordan and pairs of chromosomes.

On the insole is a cougar head, an homage to the nickname of Gary West Side, where Evans played in high school. She sits in the top five in scoring in Indiana High School Athletic Association history and was a McDonald’s and Jordan Brand All-American with the Cougars before playing at Louisville.

Evans believes West Side was a big part of who she is today.

“Coming from a school in Gary where a lot of people said I wouldn’t make it, a lot of people would talk down on it and say I wouldn’t be able to do it,” she explained. “But I love that I went through so many challenges and obstacles throughout my high school journey because I feel it made me so much stronger. It made me have to fight so much harder to get to where I am, and that will always stick with me.”

The sneaker also features pink pony hair on the upper to reflect her style of keeping her hair laid — an idea that she can be a baller while also looking good.

The tongue has both Dončić and Evans logos, with a Jordan logo on the pull tag. In the shoe’s webbing are lightning to represent her speed, a bull’s-eye for her sharpshooting ability and a heart for her family.

Though the sneaker won’t be for sale to the public, Evans hopes that one day a shoe with her name will be.

“I definitely would love that,” she said. “I think that’s important for the women’s game as well. I think it would be dope for us to be able to sell our own shoes. I think it will do really well if they give it a chance.”

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The calendar is working against the Chicago Cubs.

The Cubs’ postseason hopes could not afford a series loss to the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates, yet their spiral continued Thursday with an 8-6 defeat at Wrigley Field. They have dropped 10 of their last 13 games and lost four consecutive series for first time since May.

The Cubs enter Friday tied with the Miami Marlins for the No. 3 National League wild-card spot, but the Marlins own the tiebreaker.

The Cubs (79-74) went 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left 11 on base.

“That’s not a good team that just took two of three from us — or not our caliber team, I believe — and we’ve got to turn it around,” manager David Ross said. “It’s on me. It’s on the guys in that room.”

“When things aren’t going your way, you’ve got to turn it, you’ve got to make things happen. You’ve got to pay attention to details. We’ve got to focus every at-bat, left a lot of guys on base early on in that game, couldn’t come up with a big hit. The guys kept fighting.”

All areas are of out of sync. When the offense has shown life, the pitching staff and defense can’t put up zeros, and when the Cubs’ arms keep them in games, the lineup struggles to deliver timely hits. The totality of the deficiencies over the last two weeks is the most concerning part and creates skepticism the Cubs suddenly can flip on a switch and get rolling again with nine games remaining.

“I don’t think you make excuses, right? You make mistakes, you’ve got to move on,” Ross said. “You don’t come through in the moments. You’ve got to try to do it with the next one. Guys did that tonight. The bullpen, sometimes things happen and you’ve got to continue to attack. If things don’t go your way you’ve got to be a little bit resilient and try to make the next pitch.

“It’s easy to blame, but I don’t think it’s a group that points fingers. I don’t do that. Like I said, it’s on us.”

Julian Merryweather’s presence as a stabilizing force in the bullpen earned him the “unsung MVP of our team” moniker from Ross over the weekend. Through all the injuries the pen has endured, particularly the loss of veteran Michael Fulmer and closer Adbert Alzolay to the injured list, Merryweather earned trust to receive the game’s highest-leverage moments over the last few weeks.

So when Merryweather experienced his worst outing in two months during the ninth inning Thursday night, minutes after the Cubs pulled within a run after a three-run eighth, it represented a death knell. He surrendered multiple runs in an outing for the first time since July 19 on top of a two-walk game, which last occurred before the All-Star break.

The three runs the Pirates scored off Merryweather served as a double-whammy when Dansby Swanson’s two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth merely cut the Pirates’ lead to 8-6.

Swanson’s home run and RBI single in the seventh to get the Cubs on the board helped him bounce back from an awful start to Thursday’s game. He left seven runners on base through his first three at-bats, grounding out with runners on the corners in the first, striking out with the bases loaded to end the fifth and hitting a one-out flyout in the fifth without advancing the runners on first and second.

Adding to Swanson’s early woes: a fielding error in the third that led to two unearned runs off right-hander Kyle Hendricks.

“At some point for myself personally, I just get so pissed off that it kind of helps me in a way, and that definitely happened tonight,” Swanson said. “The first five or six innings just weren’t very acceptable, and it’s something I take accountability for. But there’s obviously a reason you play nine innings and there’s a chance to make an impact at any point in time and unfortunately we fell short tonight.”

The Cubs get another crack at a losing team this weekend when the Colorado Rockies arrive for the final Wrigley series before closing the season on the road next week against the Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers..

Tensions will only increase. The vibes were understandably not good Thursday as fans watched the Cubs offense try to rally from an early 3-0 deficit and get derailed by bad pitches, missed strike calls and the elusive clutch swings.

“Sometimes trying harder and trying to do more actually works against you and being able to soak in moments and be grateful for the opportunity, that can take a little bit of pressure off,” Swanson said. “Like, doing the thing of ‘I’ve got to get this done’ to ‘I’m going to’ and just having a little bit of a switch in mentality.

“But there’s so many guys in here that care and that obviously want what’s best for this group and want to win and they’re doing everything in their power even at this stage of the year working really hard to make things happen. And we believe it’ll start to flip in our favor.”

The Cubs were in control of their playoff future two weeks ago when the Arizona Diamondbacks came to town. They will only have themselves to blame if they fail to take advantage of the opportunity.

“It is a sense of urgency, we do have to play good, we’ve got to throw up wins that’s how we’re going to get the postseason,” Ross said. “We’ve got to win baseball games. This is a big-boy league. There’s big boys in there. They’ve been up against adversity all season long and answered the bell. That group’s not going to shy away from a challenge, like, I don’t worry about that.

“They’re going to bring it every single game. Sometimes it’s going to work out, it hasn’t lately. I’m not worried about the mentality of that group ever.”

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MILFORD — When Nick Araujo was in youth football for Milford as a seventh grader, the now-senior kicked his first field goal in an organized game. It came against Mansfield, and Milford reached the 25-yard line, from which the coach had the confidence to kick with Araujo.

“Believe it or not, it just sailed through,” said Araujo, who added, “and had a good amount of leg, too.”

Since coming to the high school, Araujo has been the team’s kicker since his freshman year. But that is only the beginning of his contributions to the Scarlet Hawks. He has started at linebacker since his sophomore year. Last year, he was the second running back to Romeo Holland. And now Araujo starts at running back, strongside linebacker, kicker, and punter.

But more than just the sum of his positions, Araujo represents an example of the ascent of Milford football. In many ways, he is the quintessential Scarlet Hawks football player: big, tough, hard-nosed, and smart.

“You give me a team full of Nick Araujos and I’d be a very happy coach, and probably win a lot of football games, for sure,” Milford coach Dale Olson said. “I know they tease him that Nick should have his hand on the ground playing offensive guard. I think in a lot of programs, Nick probably would as a 6-foot, 230-pound guy. Here, we’re just blessed that we can use him the way we use him. He’s a talented kid.”

And Araujo has showed off that talent in a myriad of ways already this season. A captain, he has carried the ball 12 times for 219 yards and two touchdowns, and kicked field goals of 45, 41, and 26 yards. He does not look like your typical kicker, but he gets the job done.

“I think a lot of people are pretty surprised (when they see me),” Araujo said. “You look at other teams, all of the kickers are (180 pounds). They’re not too big, and they’re only kickers. When you look at me, I’m just a pretty big dude out there kicking the ball.”

Over this past summer, Araujo won a kicking competition at a University of Alabama camp.

“The competition was unreal down there,” Araujo said. “Kids from everywhere were flying in. I was talking to people that flew in from New York, some close to here. When I finally kicked that 54-yard field goal (to win it), it was just a relief. I was filled with excitement.”

And while he says he enjoys kicking the most, Araujo excels on offense and defense, too. Olson said teams try the same strategy when he is carrying the ball.

“They try to tackle him low,” Olson said. “He’s thick in his lower half. Nick made a conscious effort this offseason to trim up, get rid of a little of the baby fat. He actually increased his speed. It shocked me, when we scrimmaged Springfield Central, he took off on a 50-yard run, and there was nobody catching him. To see that, against Springfield Central, with the speed that was on the field … Listen, get a 230-pound back at the second and third level, there’s not too many kids that want to tackle that when he’s at full speed.”

Araujo has both individual and team goals he wants to accomplish this year. Milford made the Final Four in D2 the last two years, but has not made it to Gillette. This year, the Scarlet Hawks have a chance to make some noise in D3.

“Our team goals are to get over that final hump,” Araujo said. “For the last two years, we’ve only made it to the Final Four. We fell short. So we’re trying to get over that hump. My personal goal is to kick in college, and try to rush for over 1,000 yards this year.”

NAME: Nick Araujo

SCHOOL: Milford

AGE: 18

HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6-0, 220

POSITION: Kicker, running back, linebacker

NICKNAME: Kicker

FAMILY: (Father, mother, brothers and sisters) Robert (dad), Maureen (mom), Abby, Anna, Jillian (sisters)

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Rookie of the year sophomore year

FAVORITE PERSONAL MOMENT IN SPORTS: Longest field goal 52 yards against Attleboro last year

FAVORITE COURSE IN SCHOOL: Spanish

LEAST FAVORITE COURSE IN SCHOOL: Math

FAVORITE PIGOUT FOOD: Cheeseburger

FAVORITE TV SHOW: All American (Netflix)

FAVORITE MOVIE: Ted

FAVORITE MUSICIAN: Don’t have one, just hip hop

FAVORITE VIDEO GAME: Madden

FAVORITE SMARTPHONE APP: Snapchat or Twitter

FAVORITE TWITTER ACCOUNT TO FOLLOW: @AdamKurkjian

FAVORITE PRO TEAM: Patriots

FAVORITE ATHLETE: Justin Tucker

HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A GAME: Eat, then Power Nap, sit and relax, don’t listen to music

IF YOU COULD BE SOMEONE ELSE FOR A DAY, WHO WOULD IT BE: The Rock

CAREER AMBITIONS: Law enforcement or criminal justice

In 2006, Paste magazine put Fleetwood Mac at No. 83 on its list of 100 Best Living Songwriters. Not Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie or Lindsey Buckingham at No. 83, but the all three bundled into a single slot at the tail end of a long list dominated by dudes.

Now any list like this is purely subjective, but, c’mon? Really? Lumped together the members of Mac can’t make the Top Ten? Stevie can’t even crack the Top 50 on her own?

For decades, these lists — often led by Rolling Stone — have tried to turn the subjective opinions of male writers into an objective truth about the superiority of male artists. As Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner made clear this week, too many men can’t listen to female artists without thinking, “Oh, this is fine, but it sure ain’t Dylan or Jagger or Springsteen or ZZ Top or…” (Earlier this week, Wenner told a New York Times reporter that women and people of color weren’t “articulate enough on (an) intellectual level” to discuss rock ‘n’ roll).

Wenner and his peers should listen to everything on Nicks’ new boxed set, “Complete Studio Albums & Rarities.”

On Saturday, at her show with Billy Joel at Gillette Stadium, Nicks will play the hits, oh so many hits: “Dreams,” “Rhiannon,” “Landslide,” “Gypsy,” “Stand Back,” “Edge of Seventeen,” and, fingers crossed, a duet with Joel on “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.” But Rhino Records’ 16-LP set “Complete Studio Albums & Rarities” offers so much more than a single setlist.

There are too many gems to dig up here so start with just four, four you won’t hear at Gillette but should spend time with, especially if you think ranking Nicks (with or without Mac) on any list at No. 83 is a crime.

“Outside the Rain”

For fans of Nicks’ ’70s work with Fleetwood Mac (read: nearly everyone) and fans of Tom Petty’s early ’80s sound (read: also nearly everyone). On this deep cut from her solo debut, 1981’s “Bella Donna,” Nicks’ voice rises to a shout right on the word “change” as she sings, “Maybe you thought that I’d never change/But you know I’m changing, you’re wrong.” That perfect rasp, climbing from resignation to defiance, rises right as the Heartbreakers’ guitars and keys crescendo.

“I Sing for the Things”

“You say I have everything/Well, I’m living on dreams and chains/But I sing for the things money can’t buy.” Good God, this is an amazing opening line to a song. But wait, it gets better! On this little lost mid-tempo ballad from 1985’s “Rock A Little,” in a tender whisper that pulls you in close, she sings, “I’ll take off my cape for you/I’ll take down my hair for you/Anything you want me to do, my love.” The track never builds, never climaxes, never cheapens its intimate magic with bluster or big production.

“Trouble in Shangri-La”

Those who choose to see Stevie as a gypsy, witch, mystic, siren, dryad, fortune teller, high priestess, dark princess, and/or grand rock goddess will love her title track from her 2001 album. It’s just right for spinning in scarves and shawls of lace, chiffon, and velvet. The song finds a welcome space between her folk singer roots and new millennium electronica as earthy guitars mix with pulsing synths.

“Soldier’s Angel”

A burning stomp of a song. This dirge from 2011’s “In Your Dreams” features Lindsey Buckingham on guitar and vocals, but it doesn’t sound like Mac. It’s closer to a seething Neil Young or simmering Led Zeppelin. Like “I Sing for the Things,” “Soldier’s Angel” never gets cheap. It resists pop, resists sweet turns while relishing framing a meditation on battle with raw vocals and guitar.

Of the many stories of the CIA’s Cold War efforts against Russia, “Neither Confirm Nor Deny” stands out for its larger-than-life-sized James Bond  flavor.

In 1968 a nuclear-powered Russian sub sank with its 98-man crew in the Pacific.  In ‘69 the CIA hatched a seemingly impossible idea: They would build a ship with a hollow interior, equip it with a “grabber” that could go to the ocean bottom and carry the sub back into the ship and uncover many Russian secrets.

The ship was finished in 1973 with a cover story that it was owned by the notoriously eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes. He was deep-sea oil drilling.

Unfortunately, by 1975 with the ocean retrieval in progress, major upheavals shook the secretive agency: In the fallout from Watergate, CIA secrets were no longer secret.

CIA black ops crimes were being exposed by legendary newsmen Jack Anderson and Seymour Hersch.  When the newsmen got hints on the CIA and the Russian sub, the Agency pleaded they not reveal anything.

“Neither Confirm Nor Deny” presents the extraordinary story with newly filmed revelations from the operatives in charge.

Hank Philippi Ryan, longtime local Channel 7 investigative reporter, was then a journalist at Rolling Stone and fought to get the government to release information.

“The documentary is an unbelievable tour de force in point of view,” she said in a phone interview.  “A total immersion in history that’s incredibly resonant now because it’s this intersection between the public’s right to know and the government’s right to keep a secret.

“It was amazing to see all of us who played a role in this incredible event that very few people know the whole story about. No one had ever really put together the whole picture of what happened.

“And,” she continued, “isn’t it interesting how this was covered up for so long? How the government got away with hiding this absolutely incredible story about the CIA secretly raising a sunken Soviet nuclear sub from the depths of the Pacific Ocean?

“This whole riveting, amazing, jaw-dropping story of secrecy and intrigue and censorship — and the battle between the public interest and the government’s right to keep the secret — no one has put it together like this before.

“There are people in this documentary that I have never heard speak before. People who played a role in the history that I was part of.

“It’s amazing because you don’t know it’s history when you’re in it. This was a brilliant way to reveal to me what really happened in a situation that I thought I knew through and through.”

“Neither Confirm Nor Deny” is available on Apple TV and Amazon

Joe Biden has long made a meal out of his blue-collar credentials – his working class family in Scranton, hard times when his father struggled to find work. He’s also waved the union flag high, telling an audience in June that “I meant what I said when I said I’m going to be…the most pro-union president in American history. And I make no apologies for it. “

So why is former President Donald Trump planning to visit striking UAW workers in Michigan next week, and not Biden?

“Trump scooped us. Now if we announce we’re going, it looks like we’re just going because of Trump,” a national Democratic strategist told Politico. “We waited too long. That’s the challenge.”

As they say, you snooze, you lose.

It’s not just that Biden has so far stayed away from Michigan (East Palestine, Ohio knows how they feel), but the White House is dithering over sending any top tier officials there.

On Tuesday, the administration scrapped its plan to have two Biden aides head to Detroit this week to help both sides after union officials complained about it.

It’s a far cry from the his actions during last year’s fractious battle between rail companies and workers. Biden signed legislation in December that blocked the U.S. railroad strike before it could happen. The move angered workers.

“Joe Biden blew it,” said Hugh Sawyer, treasurer of the Railroad Workers United.

Granted, a railroad strike would have devastated the economy, but the United Auto Workers strike isn’t exactly small change.

Gabriel Ehrlich, an economic forecaster at the University of Michigan, told CNN he estimated $440 million worth of income would be lost nationally if all the UAW members strike for two weeks. If the strike lasts eight weeks, he estimates a $9.1 billion hit to incomes nationwide.

If all UAW workers at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis strike for 10 days, it would cost the US economy $5 billion, according to estimates by the Anderson Economic Group.

Then there’s the domino effect of layoffs across related businesses, lost tax revenue and higher car prices.

It’s big enough to warrant input from the White House. Or barring that, input from a former president running to retake his post.

Unfortunately for Democrats, Biden brought his own sandbags to trip over this time. The president’s Inflation Reduction Act set out to juice the production and sales of electric vehicles, the crux of the UAW strike. As the Associated Press reported, some in the UAW fear the transition to EVs will cost jobs because electric vehicles require fewer people to assemble. Brittany Eason, who has worked for 11 years at the Ford Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, said workers are worried that they’ll “be pushed out by computers and electric vehicles.”

But Biden loves EVs, and he’s tight with General Motors CEO Mary Barra. She’s led the auto industry in embracing his electric vehicle agenda and has visited the White House repeatedly.

While Biden tries to walk on both sides of the street, the strike continues, and Trump is getting ready to make his presence known in Michigan.

Who knows what he’ll say, but one takeaway is clear: He’s the one taking the trouble to show up.

Joe’s blowing it.

Unless stopped, the Department of Veterans Affairs is set to knock over a domino that may drastically harm veterans’ health care and then spread to the general community.

In a cost-cutting measure on track to take effect early next year, the VA plans to sever a critical link between veterans and medical facilities by significantly slashing reimbursements for the ambulances that transport them. Today, many veterans rely on ambulances for transportation because they are staffed by emergency medical technicians trained to monitor their medical condition.

Too many veterans simply do not have the financial resources or the support network necessary to arrange and pay for transportation to a medical facility where treatment is provided. Confronted with costs that run into thousands of dollars, many or our neediest veterans may simply forgo receiving care.

Veterans in rural areas will be most affected because a disproportionate number of our service people come from rural places where a trip to the hospital is far more challenging. Rural areas have experienced an epidemic of hospital closures over the last 30 years — more than 130 hospitals have closed since 2010 — as overall population density has decreased. As a result, a trip to hospitals and medical facilities has become longer, more expensive and more difficult for veterans and other residents.

Should the VA move forward with its plan and cut ambulance reimbursements, making that same trip to the hospital will become much more difficult, if it happens at all. Should payment become a barrier to use ambulances for veterans, ambulance companies will likely be forced to contract their service offerings, exiting rural areas that are no longer profitable and decreasing service in urban areas.

As a former major general and an Air Force and Army veteran, I was taught along with my fellow soldiers to leave no one behind. To move ahead with this cut would likely have the effect of leaving many thousands behind. Confronted with a cost they can ill afford, our heroes may choose to delay or put off the care they require. The same may happen throughout the communities that lose ambulance services when the remaining alternatives are insufficient or too costly for many.

The cuts must be paused and a study must be conducted to explore the real effects on veteran health and the likely impact to ambulance service in rural and urban areas. And, most importantly, state and local governments throughout the U.S. must be engaged to determine if shifting this federal responsibility for care from the VA to local and state responsibility is even possible.

We will not abandon our veterans, and so we will not let this occur without insisting on full transparency and, ultimately, a rock-solid guarantee that veteran health care will not suffer any ill effects.

This crisis in the making is happening now, and the cuts are scheduled to take effect at the end of February. We can and should let our federal lawmakers know we oppose this.

William Enyart is a retired Army major general and a former Illinois U.S. representative./Tribune News Service

“Let me tell you something New Yorkers, never in my life have I had a problem that I did not see an ending to – I don’t see an ending to this. This issue (i.e. the influx of migrants crossing the Mexican border into the U.S.) will destroy New York City,” said Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams. New York Governor Kathy Hochul, also a Democrat, let out a similar cry for federal assistance.

More than 110,000 illegal immigrants have entered Adams’ city in the last several months. They came from the Mexican border in a surge due to America being unable to secure its own borders. Adams projects that as many as 10,000 per month will be entering the city.

Over 1.5 million estimated illegal immigrants have skirted around border security on President Joe Biden’s watch. Their whereabouts are unknown.

About 5.8 million have been caught and relocated throughout America as so-called “asylum seekers.” Deportation numbers have not been disclosed, however.

One of the causes of the Roman Empire’s fall was its inability to secure its territories and borders. Do we care to learn from history?

Sometimes I think that Biden is handling the border situation in a very sinister and calculative way.

Other times I believe he is just being overly kind to others. But generosity should start at home. Many Americans – including some veterans – are living on the streets, while some illegal immigrants are put up in hotels and given three meals a day.

Then there are other times when I think the administration is just grossly incompetent.

But I never think of Biden doing anything out of ignorance. He is a skilled politician, though old and distracted by family issues.

In politics, Biden has made his own “luck.” For example, to ensure his being able to stay in office once nominated for president, he picked the only candidate who literally had the least relevant experience for vice president – Kamala Harris. Great job security for Biden. This choice makes his impeachment less likely.

Then he gave Harris the most difficult domestic task of all: border control. Yet she didn’t have the tools or authority to properly address the problem. And she performed as he knew she would. She made statements and demonstrated her commitment to solving the issue, but did nothing. This only added to what people already thought about her to begin with, and in a warped way, it elevated Biden. As a result, her poor polling numbers make it easier for him to remove her from the ticket before the 2024 election.

If defined as having prior experience in one or more of the most “relevant” prior positions – representative, senator, governor, ambassador, cabinet member – her four years as a senator, with half of that time spent running for president or vice president, Harris would rank near the bottom of the 49 past vice presidents.

Biden knew that.

Back to my original dilemma: Is Biden allowing the migrant surge at the border to change the political makeup of America so that Democrats can win the electoral college for decades to come?

Let us remember, Democrats win with a divided white population’s vote and 90+%t of Black Americans voting Democrat. On the presidential level, the Democrats have failed to carry the white vote for nearly 50 years. Amazing.

Conversely, after the Civil War nearly every Black American voted for Republicans. Why? Because then President Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, had freed the slaves.

It was the same reason Republican Ulysses S. Grant, the general that won the war to free the slaves, won the White House twice after the war with sizable electoral college victories.

Is Biden trying to become Lincoln to the migrants? Is he granting them the American way of life so they will reciprocate for decades by voting against those bad Republicans, while voting for the soft-hearted Democrats? Maybe.

If that was the case, the Republicans screwed up those plans by sending illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities and states – locations like Chicago, New York City, Washington, D.C., and even Cape Cod – places that Republicans could not win even if their candidate were Mother Theresa.

America should say thank you to Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Biden ignored Republicans on this problem, but when Democrats like Adams and Hochul started “crying uncle” …well, let’s see what happens next.

It is not hard. No other president has handled the protection of our borders worse than Biden. If you want to help Americans and not play politics, simply “close the border.” Stop the flow of people, pure and simple. On Thursday, the Biden Administration announced that the  Department of Defense is providing additional military personnel – on top of the 2,500 steady state National Guard personnel – to support the Department of Homeland Security at the border. That is the first step to fixing the overall immigration problem.

I am sure Russia, China, India, Israel, and all the major powers around the world are quietly laughing at us. It is truly embarrassing that the most powerful country in the world has allowed more than 7 million people to just “walk right in.”

Is Biden incompetent or is he the shrewdest politician in America’s history? Sadly, both may be true.

Gary Franks served three terms as U.S. representative for Connecticut’s 5th District. He was the first Black Republican elected to the House in nearly 60 years and New England’s first Black member of the House. Host: podcast “We Speak Frankly.” @GaryFranks/Tribune News Service

Named after the San Francisco-adjacent city, “Fremont” is a bit of a wonder. Shot in black-and-white and featuring dialogue delivered in a PTSD-and-displacement-trauma monotone, the film tells the story of a young woman named Donya (outstanding newcomer Anaita Wali Zada), who served as a translator in Afghanistan for the U.S. Army (a rare profession for an Afghan woman) and has been separated from her family and ended up alone in a strange U.S. city, in this case Fremont.

During the day, Donya goes to nearby San Francisco, in part to get away from Fremont’s Afghans, where she works in a small factory producing fortune cookies for area Chinese restaurants. Her coworkers include Joanna (a noteworthy Hilda Schmelling), an American singleton with piercings and a cowboy boot earring on the lookout for blind dates. Also on hand is the silent Fan (Avis See-tho), who writes the fortunes on a laptop and wields a paper cutter to get the printed versions ready to be baked into the cookies. If this sounds a bit absurdist, it is, and I like it.

Donya has been having trouble sleeping and wants to get sleeping pills. Thus, she co-opts the appointment of her motel neighbor Salim (Siddique Ahmed) and shows up at the therapist’s office, demanding to be treated. The therapist Dr. Anthony (Gregg Turkington) has trouble getting through to Donya at first. To the tune of Mahmood Schricker’s marvelous, alternately jazzy and ethnic score, Dr. Anthony asks Donya questions about her family and experiences as a translator. Donya is not forthcoming. But we gradually learn more and more about her. That she wears a tunic with a label that reads “Handmade Fortune Cookie” makes us wonder if she might be the fortune cookie.

Donya eats every day in the same restaurant, where an old restaurant worker with dyed hair, who might be a prophet, offers her advice and watches a long-running Afghan soap opera with her. Donya lies awake in a spare, single bed and when she passes a Bruce Lee mural in the street, Lee’s words, “Be Like Water,” appear to relate to her. Optimist Joanna sings a karaoke version of ’70s folk song “Just Another Diamond Day.” Dr. Anthony talks to Donya about “courage” and ”displacement” and becomes another patient, reading passages from Jack London’s “White Fang” aloud and weeping.

If this makes “Fremont” sound offbeat, I assure you it is. Making her screen debut, Wali Zada is a natural. When Donya is promoted to writing the messages in the fortune cookies, and makes a sudden, sarcastic remark, it’s electrifying. A personality is emerging from a long dark night.

“Fremont” is about getting to know a person and wanting that fictional person you have just met to be happy. The film itself is salutary, designed to blow the cobwebs out of your ears. Donya’s hair literally comes down. Salim even suggests that she seek a non-Afghan love interest. Donya accepts what she thinks is a blind date in Bakersfield and borrows a car to get there. On the way, she stops at a repair shop to check the oil and meets a soulful mechanic played, of course, by Jeremy Allen White of TV’s “The Bear.” The blue-eyed mechanic seems to recognize Donya. Their longing buzzes in your ears. Will these two orphans of the storm fall in love? We can dream that they will.

Directed and co-written by London-raised Iranian Babak Jalali (“Radio Dreams”), “Fremont” is like an immigrant tale written by Flannery O’Connor. It has purity, complexity and mystery and characters as enigmatic as heck. Balali understands the wonders unlocked by a genuine world globe. The film is also astronomical. Salim tells Donya that the stars in the U.S. “move” at night, while the stars in Kabul “always stayed the same.” Sometimes, moving is good. Yes, I know; it sounds like a fortune cookie.

(“Fremont” contains mature themes)

“Fremont”

Not Rated. In English, Dari and Cantonese with subtitles. At the Coolidge Corner Theater.  Grade: A –

Barney Ross might not ring the same bells as Rocky Balboa or John Rambo. But one has to give Sylvester Stallone credit for embodying (and creating) yet another character for him to bring to life on screen for his fans to enjoy in his impressive dotage (we can also now count Stallone’s Dwight “The General” Manfredi of “Tulsa King,” an invention of the tireless Taylor Sheridan).

Ross is the de facto leader of the elite mercenary group known semi-jokingly as the Expendables. They are often former SAS or Special Forces fighters-turned-guns-for-hire. In this, the fourth installment in the less-than-acclaimed series, Stallone returns along with series regulars Jason Statham as Brit Lee Christmas, Dolph Lundgren as reformed drunk Gunner Jensen and wrestler Randy Couture as Toll Road. Among the newcomers are Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson as Easy Day, Megan Fox as Christmas’ romantic partner and fighter Gina, the amazing Thai action star Tony Jaa (“Ong Bak”) as Decha and Andy Garcia as CIA higher-up Marsh.

After a James Bond-style opening sequence, featuring rockets, bombs, armor, 50-caliber machine guns, lots of knife stabs in the throat (this film’s favorite move) and dead bodies piling up, Barney takes Christmas to a strip club where he lost his favorite (skull) ring in a thumb-wrestling match to a bouncer named Jumbo Shrimp (Mike Moller), Christmas finds that he has been once again been tricked by Ross. Soon, Marsh arrives to tell the team that they must track down a briefcase full of detonators that will be used to explode a nuclear device and start World War III. Unfortunately, this plot sounds a bit too credible. The detonators are on a ship headed for Russia.

“Expendables” movies are anarchic music to the ears of fans of such venerable film series as “Die-Hard,” “Lethal Weapon,” “Terminator,” “Delta Force” and more. These “Expendables” movies are the 1980s revisited, and they revisit the 1980s using 1980s-period actors. Previous “Expendables” cast members have included Bruce Willis and Chuck Norris. (Warning the Vin Diesel/Mattel “Rock “Em, Sock ‘Em” robot movie is back on the front burner after the smash hit “Barbie”).

The “Expendables” fans don’t need much in the way of plot, although we are told that the stand-in for the Bond movies’ baddie Ernst Stavro Blofeld this time around is a character known by his or her code-name Ocelot. The workable screenplay for this latest entry is by Kurt Wimmer (“Ultraviolet”), newcomers Tad Daggerhart and Max Adams takes us to Libya and Thailand, although scenery is not important here. What the “Expendables” fans want from new-to-series director Scott Waugh (“Hidden Strike”) is action and bloodshed, and they get those elements in spades in “Expend4bles.”

But what they also get are some admittedly amusing running jokes about the advanced ages of some of our heroes, especially Stallone. While his delivery is not exactly rat-a-tat-tat, Stallone knows how to (man)handle a laugh line. Fox’s long, flowing hair seems like a liability in hand-to-hand combat and her lipstick gets such close-ups it should be listed in the credits. She is absolutely fearless about being this film’s sex object, another throwback to the ’80s. “Expend4bles” knows what an AK-47 is supposed to sound like. Like the (vintage) song over the end credits says, “The Boys Are Back in Town.”

(“The Expen4bles” contains extreme violence, profanity and gruesome images)

“Expend4bles”

Rated R. At the AMC Boston Common, AMC South Bay and suburban theaters.  Grade: B

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde did not hide his rooting interests after watching the Tampa Bay Rays rally for an afternoon victory against the Los Angeles Angels.

“We just came up a little short,” Hyde quipped, as if he or his players had any role to play in the Angels blowing a late lead to the team chasing Baltimore in the American League East.

Come Thursday night, Hyde could have described his actual team’s outcome the same way. The Orioles came to life in the eighth inning to even their series opener with the Cleveland Guardians, only to surrender three runs in the next half inning in a 5-2 loss. Paired with the Rays’ victory, Baltimore’s lead in the division race fell to 1 1/2 games, with the club’s magic number remaining at seven.

The loss continued an uncomfortable trend for the Orioles (95-58) as the postseason approaches. In 20 September games, they have gone undefeated in the 12 contests they have scored at least five runs, scoring three or fewer in their other eight games and losing each. Baltimore hasn’t won with fewer than four runs since Aug. 12.

All three runs in the game’s decisive frame belonged to Cionel Pérez, who hadn’t allowed an earned run over his past 23 appearances but hit the first batter he faced before allowing a walk and a single to load the bases. Jacob Webb entered and walked in run. Then, after the Orioles got a force out at the plate, Bo Naylor blooped a ball to right field, with it falling for a hit as second baseman Adam Frazier’s attempt at an over-the-shoulder catch with his back to the infield was unsuccessful. Frazier had to range 105 feet to make the catch and covered the distance, while right fielder Aaron Hicks, who missed the past two games with a hamstring cramp, needed to go 113 feet to his left but managed to jog only 94.

Runners advanced one base each on the flub, with a run-scoring groundout following. After another walk from Webb, Hyde called on his third reliever of the inning and fifth of the game, with José Ramírez flying out to the warning track off Mike Baumann to end the inning. Since Baltimore clinched a playoff Sunday, its bullpen has surrendered 12 earned runs over 13 1/3 innings across four games.

“We’re in a tough stretch, and a lot of these guys have thrown, and a lot of these guys have thrown more than they’ve ever before,” Hyde said. “Cionel has been absolutely excellent for us this whole second half, just been lights out, and just for me, he just had an off night, and that possibly could have been fatigue or whatever. Webby sucked it up. We were just trying to get through that inning somehow maybe just giving up one, and three balls not hit very hard. Unfortunately, they scored three runs there. But just the way our games have been the last week, our guys have had a lot of appearances, and so I give them a ton of credit for getting out there and trying to get big outs for us.”

Baltimore got its first two runners on in the ninth against Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase but was unable to capitalize, as Gunnar Henderson flew out to left field to end the game.

For much of the night, it seemed the two runs Cleveland (73-81) plated in rookie starter Grayson Rodriguez’s fifth inning would be the difference in the game, only for the Orioles to even it with their own pair three innings later. Pinch-hitter Heston Kjerstad continued his strong start to his major league career with a single, and after Ramón Urías pinch-ran, Adley Rutschman and Ryan O’Hearn doubled around an RBI groundout from Anthony Santander.

The Orioles otherwise did nothing with their scoring chances. Right-hander Hunter Gaddis, making his first major league appearance since late August, retired Baltimore’s first eight hitters before Jordan Westburg drew a 13-pitch walk. Henderson worked another free pass before Rutschman singled off Gaddis’ right leg for the Orioles’ first hit, but Santander flew out to leave the bases loaded. A one-out double from Rutschman in the sixth also went to waste.

“Disappointed in our at-bats, honestly, early in the game,” Hyde said. “I just thought we made some quick outs, and we normally don’t. We didn’t really work the count very well. It became a bullpen game, which is not easy, and they have a good bullpen. So give our guys credit for coming back and scoring two there and bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning off a guy that’s got great stuff. But we didn’t do anything early offensively to kind of help us out.”

The story was similar for the Guardians early. They put multiple runners on in three of Rodriguez’s five innings. A double play got Rodriguez out of a first-and-third, no-out jam in the second, and he stranded a pair of two-out runners in the third. But after striking out the side in the fourth, Rodriguez issued a leadoff walk in the fifth, and a pair of one-out singles from Steven Kwan and Ramírez plated a run. Kwan then scored on Josh Naylor’s sacrifice fly.

Cleveland fouled off 37 of Rodriguez’s pitches Thursday, the second-most foul balls an Orioles pitcher has allowed in an outing since pitch tracking began in 2008. More than half the 73 strikes Rodriguez threw were batted away, driving up his pitch count in an otherwise effective outing.

“Just not attacking like I wanted to,” Rodriguez said. “Obviously, wasn’t very efficient. Some walks there, a lot of foul balls. Really just need to do a better job of being in the strike zone and attacking the hitters.”

In 12 starts since returning to the Orioles’ rotation out of the All-Star break, the 23-year-old has a 2.66 ERA. He had a 7.35 ERA in his first 10 major league starts to prompt a demotion to Triple-A.

“Definitely in a better mental space than I was the first time I was up here,” Rodriguez said. “This second go-round really just feels more like baseball.”

Orioles at Guardians

Friday, 7:10 p.m.

TV: MASN2

Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM

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Dear Abby: My husband and I are expecting our first child this year. I moved to the United States a few years ago to be with him. His family is mostly absent from our lives. I have tried to make an effort with my in-laws, but it’s always met with failure. They make excuses, so we have come to accept that we see them only during holidays. It has put a strain on our marriage.

Now that I’m pregnant, and this is her first grandchild, I thought my MIL might like to spend more time together. Unfortunately, the joke is on me because she’s now criticizing me for taking time off work because morning sickness was tough on me. She has made hurtful comments to my husband that have now caused him to treat me with little respect or compassion. I am depressed and wonder if I made a mistake by marrying him and getting pregnant. It takes a village to raise children, and we do not have a village behind us. It sometimes feels like my husband isn’t behind me, either. What do I do? — Expecting in Indiana

Dear Expecting: Sit your husband down and tell him you need him to stand beside you — and stand up for you — in the months ahead. When you do, you will see exactly the kind of person you married. You can’t control your in-laws, so accept that they will likely not be a large part of your lives. (If they are as you have portrayed them, that could be a blessing.)

Make friends with other new and expectant mothers who may be a source of emotional and practical support in the adventure upon which you are embarking. Remind yourself that you are capable and you will get through this, as you will with other challenges life presents to you. You may think right now that you won’t be able to handle a new baby without the help of your family or your in-laws, but you may find out you are a lot stronger than you think.

Dear Abby: Is there a rule of etiquette for changing seats in a bar setting? I enjoy going out to eat occasionally and, when I do, I like to sit at the bar and eat while having a drink. It seems lately, more often than not, I’m asked to move down a seat or two to accommodate another two or three people. Depending on my mood, I may or may not do it. Since this happens to me quite frequently, I am declining more and more often.

Either way, I think it’s rude to ask a stranger to move just so the other party can have enough seats. By the way, I have moved out of courtesy if I am not eating, but to ask me to move while I’m eating is unacceptable. Your thoughts? — In Place in Kentucky

Dear In Place: I realize that some people may not agree, but I don’t regard politely asking someone to move down a couple of stools at a bar as an unforgivable intrusion. The gracious response to that request would be to accommodate the larger party, as long as you are not required to move away from the bar. I would have no problem doing it.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com

Dover-Sherborn found the end zone once and that was enough.

Garrett Webb’s 42-yard TD pass to Brian Olson early in the fourth quarter gave the Raiders (1-2) a hard-fought 7-0 nonleague football victory over Sharon.

Elsewhere, Colin Rodriguez threw three TD passes as New Bedford rolled to a 33-6 victory over Attleboro. … Five different players scored as Abington (3-0) defeated Silver Lake, 33-0. … Vinny Mancini rushed for 105 yards and two scores as Hanover (3-0) handled Stoughton, 35-7. … Kayden Mills scored five times in the first half as Arlington (2-1) outscored Brookline, 52-21. … Jake Cullen passed for 217 yards with three touchdowns and added 79 yards with a score on the ground to lead Westford Academy to a 26-20 win over Belmont. … Anderson Pineda ran for two touchdowns and caught another, pairing with Georgio Gioldasis’ three total touchdowns to power Whittier past Dracut, 50-24. … Vinny Mancini ran wild for a pair of touchdowns on 105 yards, combining with Ben Scalzi’s two total touchdowns to lead Hanover over Stoughton, 35-7.

In the Greater Boston League, Jack Lombardo threw for one score and ran for another as Medford (2-1) defeated Revere, 14-6.

During Friday’s game between Greater Lawrence and Salem (6 p.m. at Greater Lawrence), the host school is seeking to raise money for the ‘Joe Andruzzi Foundation.’ JAF is an organization which provides financial assistance to patients/families who are battling cancer. Those interested in learning more can do so at www.joeandruzzifoundation.org.

FIELD HOCKEY

Behind goals from Emma Cross and Bobbi Serino, as well as strong defensive effort to withstand a rally, Danvers (6-0) beat Masconomet 2-1 for the first time in three seasons as Northeastern Conference foes. … Sophia Ciciotti notched another hat trick for Swampscott (5-0) as it rolled past Marblehead, 5-0.

In Catholic Central league action, Jordi Higgins finished with a hat trick and two assists as Bishop Feehan rolled to a 7-1 win over Bishop Stang.

In Patriot League action, McKenzie Foley finished with a hat trick as Hanover (3-2-1) blanked Plymouth South, 5-0.

In the South Coast Conference, Megan Smith (3-0) scored a hat trick to fuel Case in a 5-1 win over West Bridgewater.

Offense erupted for St. John Paul II in a 5-1 Cape and Islands League win over Sturgis, as Avery Crapo posted two goals with an assist, Kaylee Anthony dished three assists around her score, and Mia Curley also buried two.

A hat trick from Maggie McCready gave Canton all the offense it would need, but Shannon Lane had two more as part of a 7-0 Hockomock League win over Milford. … Izzy Chamberlain’s goal proved the game-winner, as Kathryn Ferguson (eight saves) and the Foxboro defense held off nine fourth-quarter corners from King Philip to secure a 3-2 win.

Sophie Glavine’s hat trick led a big day of scoring for Lexington as it defeated Woburn, 8-1, in Middlesex League action.

BOYS SOCCER

In the Patriot League, Noah Gutierrez scored twice as Marshfield edged Scituate 3-2. … Mike McNabb recorded a goal and an assist to lead Hingham to a 3-0 victory over Quincy. … A pair of goals from Wil McManus combined well with a goal and assist from Colin Blake, pacing Pembroke (4-0) in a 4-0 win over Whitman-Hanson for the program’s 35th straight win.

Kaik Reis netted two and Kenny Correa had a goal with two assists as Framingham (2-0-1) beat Walpole 4-0 in Bay State Conference action.

GIRLS SOCCER

Emilee Dunham netted a hat trick as Rockland (2-2) blanked South Shore League opponent Middleboro 3-0. … Freshman Hannah Morse scored twice as Norwell blanked Cohasset, 3-0.

Isabella Vena tallied the lone score in a defensive battle, helping Central Catholic (5-0) edge Tewksbury 1-0 in Merrimack Valley Conference action.

In a Cape and Islands League matchup, Karah Deveau and Kiki Pigo Cronin each finished with a goal and an assist to lead Monomoy past Dennis-Yarmouth, 4-0. … Addison Cheney showed out with three goals and an assist, while Ella Cheney and Raegan Dillon each added two goals with an assist for St. John Paul II in a 7-1 win over Nantucket.

Agapi Kouvlis scored twice and added a pair of assists as Southeastern (3-0-1) defeated South Shore Charter, 6-1, in nonleague play.

Claire Murray’s hat trick powered a big offensive day for Hingham, beating Patriot League foe Quincy 6-1. … Emmie Rush scored twice and added an assist pairing with Abby Chambers’ two goals to propel Plymouth North (1-2-1) to a 5-0 shutout win over Plymouth South.

VOLLEYBALL

Maggie Elie surpassed 1,000 career assists for Rockland, highlighting a 3-0 nonleague win over Sandwich. … Taylor Lacerda posted 10 kills and seven digs to help lead Franklin to a 3-0 sweep over Bishop Feehan. … Else Richards posted a career-high 10 kills along with 12 assists and six aces, pacing Essex Tech in a 3-0 sweep of Georgetown.

THURSDAY’S SCORES

BOYS CROSS COUNTRY

Carver 27, Sandwich 28

Lynn Classical 25, Revere 38

Somerville 19, Lynn English 44

GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY

Billerica 15, Lawrence 50

Lynn English 25, Somerville 30

Revere 19, Lynn Classical 45

FIELD HOCKEY

Acton-Boxboro 7, Westford 0

Apponequet 0, Old Rochester 0

Bishop Feehan 7, Bishop Stang 1

Canton 7, Milford 0

Case 5, West Bridgewater 1

Concord-Carlisle 4, Lincoln-Sudbury 2

Danvers 2, Masconomet 1

Dighton-Rehoboth 0, Nantucket 0

Hanover 5, Plymouth South 0

Lynnfield 3, Beverly 0

Malden 2, Peabody 2

Malden Catholic 1, Waltham 0

Oliver Ames 5, Attleboro 0

St. John Paul II 5, Sturgis 1

FOOTBALL

Abington 33, Silver Lake 0

Arlington 52, Brookline 21

Chelsea 20, Roxbury Prep 0

Dover-Sherborn 7, Sharon 0

Hanover 35, Stoughton 7

Holbrook/Avon 34, Atlantis Charter/Westport 22

Medford 14, Revere 6

Minnechaug 30, Wachusett 13

New Bedford 33, Attleboro 6

Plymouth North 21, Pembroke 20

Westford Academy 26, Belmont 20

Whittier 50, Dracut/Innovation 26

GOLF

Apponequet 251, West Bridgewater 309

Arlington 49, Watertown 23

Bishop Feehan 210, Cardinal Spellman 109

Bishop Stang 215, Sandwich 147

Bridgewater-Raynham 119, Durfee 111

Brookline 85, Braintree 64

Hingham 218, Quincy 262

Hopkinton 257, Dedham 283

Nantucket 253, Sturgis East 315

Newburyport 142, Rockport 131

North Quincy 260, Duxbury 235

Norwood 253, Dedham 283

Pembroke 255, Whitman-Hanson 257

St. John Paul II 244, Sturgis West 291

St. Mary’s (L) 200, Archbishop Williams 193

Stoneham 45.5, Wakefield 26.5

Tyngsboro 37, Lunenburg 17

Wellesley 118, Natick 113

Weston 41, Waltham 31

Winchester 50.5, Arlington 21.5

Xaverian 220, Malden Catholic 235

BOYS SOCCER

Ayer Shirley 4, West Boylston 0

BC High 2, Catholic Memorial 0

Burke 2, Latin Academy 1

Central Catholic 4, Tewksbury 1

Cohasset 6, Abington 4

Dartmouth 4, Bridgewater-Raynham 1

Duxbury 1, North Quincy 0

East Bridgewater 1, Sandwich 1

Essex Tech 1, Newburyport 1

Framingham 4, Walpole 0

Greater Lowell 3, KIPP Academy 2

Hanover 0, Silver Lake 0

Haverhill 2, Methuen 2

Hingham 3, Quincy 0

Holliston 2, Dedham 1

Lowell 3, Chelmsford 1

Marshfield 3, Scituate 2

Medfield 1, Medway 1

Millis 1, Norwood 1

Monomoy 2, Dennis-Yarmouth 1

Nantucket 1, St. John Paul II 0

Nashoba 2, Marlboro 1

Nauset 6, Sturgis West 0

Needham 6, Braintree 0

Norwell 1, Randolph 0

Pembroke 4, Whitman-Hanson 0

Pentucket 1, Triton 0

St. John’s Prep 2, St. John’s (S) 2

Somerville 4, Medford 1

Stoneham 1, Wilmington 1

Tri-County 4, Atlantis Charter 0

Wakefield 2, Melrose 1

Weymouth 2, Milton 0

Xaverian 5, Malden Catholic 0

GIRLS SOCCER

Boston International 2, Madison Park 0

Braintree 0, Needham 0

Bridgewater-Raynham 1, Dartmouth 0

Brookline 3, Wellesley 2

Chelmsford 1, Methuen 1

Central Catholic 1, Tewksbury 0

Dedham 4, Holliston 1

East Boston 5, Burke 2

East Bridgewater 5, Sandwich 1

Georgetown 3, Ipswich 1

Latin Academy 6, Winthrop 3

Lynnfield 2, North Reading 1

Malden 2, Peabody 2

Manchester-Essex 3, Rockport 0

Marshfield 3, Scituate 2

Masconomet 0, North Andover 0

Medfield 3, Medway 0

Millis 0, Norwood 0

Milton 1, Weymouth 0

Monomoy 4, Dennis-Yarmouth 0

Nauset 6, Sturgis West 0

Newburyport 5, Essex Tech 1

Norwell 3, Cohasset 0

Pentucket 1, Triton 0

Plymouth North 5, Plymouth South 0

Revere 5, Chelsea 0

Rockland 3, Middleboro 0

St. John Paul II 7, Nantucket 1

Somerville 5, Medford 0

Southeastern 6, South Shore Charter 1

Tahanto 2, Oakmont 0

Wilmington 2, Stoneham 1

GIRLS SWIM

Tewksbury 94, Central Catholic 76

Wakefield 88, Arlington/Watertown 81

VOLLEYBALL

Boston English 3, Tech Boston 0

Brookline 3, Wellesley 1

Burlington 3, Watertown 0

Canton 3, Milford 0

Diman 3, West Bridgewater 2

Duxbury 3, Plymouth North 0

Essex Tech 3, Georgetown 0

Franklin 3, Bishop Feehan 0

Hamilton-Wenham 3, Newburyport 1

Ipswich 3, North Reading 0

King Philip 3, Foxboro 0

Lynnfield 3, Triton 2

Mansfield 3, Taunton 1

Mashpee 3, Carver 2

New Mission 3, Madison Park 0

Norwell 3, Randolph 0

O’Bryant 3, East Boston 2

Rockland 3, Sandwich 0

St. Mary’s (L) 3, KIPP 0

Somerset Berkley 3, Bishop Stang 1

Stoughton 3, North Attleboro 2

Weston 3, Old Rochester 0

Winchester 3, Arlington 0

Woburn 3, Lexington 1

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde did not hide his rooting interests after watching the Tampa Bay Rays rally for an afternoon victory against the Los Angeles Angels.

“We just came up a little short,” Hyde quipped, as if he or his players had any role to play in the Angels blowing a late lead to the team chasing Baltimore in the American League East.

Come Thursday night, Hyde could have described his actual team’s outcome the same way. The Orioles came to life in the eighth inning to even their series opener with the Cleveland Guardians, only to surrender three runs in the next half inning in a 5-2 loss. Paired with the Rays’ victory, Baltimore’s lead in the division race fell to 1 1/2 games, with the club’s magic number remaining at seven.

The loss continued an uncomfortable trend for the Orioles (95-58) as the postseason approaches. In 20 September games, they have gone undefeated in the 12 contests they have scored at least five runs, scoring three or fewer in their other eight games and losing each. Baltimore hasn’t won with fewer than four runs since Aug. 12.

All three runs in the game’s decisive frame belonged to Cionel Pérez, who hit the first batter he faced before allowing a walk and a single to load the bases. Jacob Webb entered and walked a run in. Then, after the Orioles got a force out at the plate, Bo Naylor blooped a ball to right field, with it falling for a hit as second baseman Adam Frazier’s attempt at an over-the-shoulder catch with his back to the infield was unsuccessful. Frazier had to range 105 feet to make the catch and covered the distance, while right fielder Aaron Hicks, who missed the past two games with a hamstring cramp, needed to go 113 feet to his left but managed to jog only 94.

Runners advanced one base each on the flub, with a run-scoring groundout following. After another walk from Webb, Hyde called on his third reliever of the inning and fifth of the game, with José Ramírez flying out to the warning track off Mike Baumann to end the inning.

Baltimore got its first two runners on in the ninth but was unable to capitalize, as Gunnar Henderson flew out to left field to end the game.

For much of the night, it seemed the two runs Cleveland (73-81) plated in rookie starter Grayson Rodriguez’s fifth inning would be the difference in the game, only for the Orioles to even it with their own pair three innings later. Pinch-hitter Heston Kjerstad continued his strong start to his major league career with a single, and after Ramón Urías pinch-ran, Adley Rutschman and Ryan O’Hearn doubled around an RBI groundout from Anthony Santander.

The Orioles otherwise did nothing with their scoring chances. Right-hander Hunter Gaddis, making his first major league appearance since late August, retired Baltimore’s first eight hitters before Jordan Westburg drew a 13-pitch walk. Henderson worked another free pass before Rutschman singled off Gaddis’ right leg for the Orioles’ first hit, but Santander flew out to leave the bases loaded. A one-out double from Rutschman in the sixth also went to waste.

The story was similar for the Guardians early. They put multiple runners on in three of Rodriguez’s five innings. A double play got Rodriguez out of a first-and-third, no-out jam in the second, and he stranded a pair of two-out runners in the third. But after striking out the side in the fourth, Rodriguez issued a leadoff walk in the fifth, and a pair of one-out singles from Steven Kwan and Ramírez plated a run. Kwan then scored on Josh Naylor’s sacrifice fly.

Cleveland fouled off 37 of Rodriguez’s pitches Thursday, the second-most foul balls an Orioles pitcher has allowed in an outing since pitch tracking began in 2008. More than half the 73 strikes Rodriguez threw were batted away, driving up his pitch count in an otherwise effective outing. In 12 starts since returning the Orioles’ rotation out of the All-Star break, the 23-year-old has a 2.66 ERA.

This story will be updated.

Orioles at Guardians

Friday, 7:10 p.m.

TV: MASN2

Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM

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The following is the complete, unedited text of the memo sent statewide from the Massachusetts Department of Criminal Justice Information Services on access to RMV records:

Dear Chiefs, Agency Heads, and CJIS Reps:

Please be advised, pursuant to Chapter 81 of the Acts of 2022, the Work and Family Mobility Act (“WFMA”), and the Office of the Attorney General (“AGO”) Regulations 940 C.M.R. 37.04, the RMV is prohibited from providing access to records or information provided by or relating to an applicant for the holder of a Massachusetts license under G.L. c. 90, §§ 1, 8, and 8B, including personally identifying information and communications between the applicant and the Registrar of motor vehicles, unless required by federal law or where such access is authorized by regulations promulgated by the AGO.

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In accordance with the WFMA and AGO Regulations, unless provided with a lawful court order or judicial warrant signed by a judge appointed pursuant to Article III of the United States Constitution, a federal grand jury or trial subpoena, or as otherwise required by federal law, CJIS user must restrict the access to, and dissemination of, the following:

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The third week of school got off to a rough start at the Murphy K-8 School, with parents notified of a brawl in the hallways Monday afternoon.

“This afternoon, a physical altercation occurred between a few students during a class transition, which may have been witnessed by members of the school community,” reads a letter from the Principal Courtney Sheppeck to the Murphy community sent Monday. “School staff immediately responded and worked to de-escalate the situation.”

The Dorchester school’s letter indicates the incident involved students in the middle school but does not specify the number or ages of the children or whether there were any injuries.

Neither Boston Police nor EMS were called in response to the incident, according to BPS spokesperson Max Baker.

The students involved in the fight “could face disciplinary action in accordance with the BPS Code of Conduct,” the letter continues. The Code of Conduct states students may be suspended for assaults causing physical injury unless necessary for self defense.

Medical decisions regarding student injuries are made by on site by the principal and school nurse, according to BPS safety protocols.

“As you know, the Murphy K-8 School, like all schools in the Boston Public Schools, focuses on fostering a safe environment for every member of our community,” the letter reads. “We always welcome your ideas and suggestions about how we can continually work towards achieving that vision.”

The letter states the update aligns with the school’s “commitment to open communication and transparency” — a frequently brought up source of frustration for parents in the district and area of improvement identified in the recent evaluation of the superintendent’s first year on the job.

The Patriots made another investment in the quarterback position by signing quarterback Will Grier off of the Bengals’ practice squad Thursday, according to a source.

In a corresponding move, the Patriots are placing cornerback Marcus Jones on injured reserve with a torn labrum, according to a source. He’s forced to miss at least four games.

Grier was selected in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the Panthers out of West Virginia. He spent the 2021 and 2022 seasons with the Cowboys, who the Patriots play in Week 4, before being cut in August. He signed to the Bengals’ practice squad after clearing waivers. He joins Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe on the Patriots’ 53-man roster.

Jones suffered his injury in the first half of Sunday’s Week 2 loss to the Dolphins. The team is left with cornerbacks Christian Gonzalez, Jonathan Jones, Myles Bryant, Shaun Wade and Ameer Speed on their 53-man roster and William Hooper, Breon Borders and Azizi Hearn on their practice squad.

Top Democrats on Beacon Hill said Thursday afternoon that they reached an agreement “in principle” on a tax relief bill that has sat idle in some form for more than a year, pledging to file the legislation and take it up next week.

Tax relief talks were first scrambled last summer after a once-obscure law known as Chapter 62F required state officials to send billions back to residents in the form of tax refunds. Lawmakers this year ushered a new bill into private negotiations in June after both the House and Senate passed competing versions.

In a joint statement, House Speaker Ronald Marinao, Senate President Karen Spilka, and Ways and Means Co-Chairs Rep. Aaron Michlewitz and Sen. Michael Rodrigues said they were “thrilled to announce that an agreement has been reached in principle that reconciles the differences between the House and Senate tax relief packages.”

“We look forward to filing and taking up the conference report next week, which responsibly implements our shared goal of making Massachusetts more affordable, equitable, and competitive,” the group said in a statement.

Details of the compromise were not immediately available Thursday evening but more details could surface next week when lawmakers file the bill.

Both bills varied on a few key issues, with the House lowering the short term capital gains tax from 12% to 5%, a pro-business move that the Senate did not take a swing at. Gov. Maura Healey has backed lowering the short term capital gains tax.

The Senate increased the authorization for the low-income housing tax credit by $20 million and increased the cap for the Housing Development Incentive Program, a move the House agreed with, but in a different legislative vehicle.

The House and Senate both proposed excluding estates valued up to $2 million from the estate tax, but fine details varried. The competing bills increased the earned income tax credit, the senior citizen circuit breaker, and the rental deduction.

The two legislative branches also took different approaches to reforming Chapter 62F, with the House proposing future tax rebates be paid in equal amounts to all residents regardless of how much they paid into the system.

The Senate proposed requiring monthly tax collections reports from the state comptroller compared to the likely annual cap on tax collections.

Any deal the House and Senate reach and pass will head to Healey, who filed a tax relief bill of her own earlier this year.

Taunton athletic director Mark Ottavianelli is well aware of the referee shortage in the Commonwealth and is doing his part to help the cause.

Taunton High School has offered a Sports Officiating Class at the school in hopes of enticing younger males and females to consider officiating. Much like any other course at the school, students receive grades for the class as well as from RefRaps, an officiating educating system. As of now, there are 20 students enrolled in the course.

“There were two reasons why we started it,” said Ottavianelli, who explained the initiative at Thursday’s MIAA Board of Directors meeting. “The first is that it provides students an opportunity to become officials, which will hopefully help with the officiating shortage. Secondly, being an inner city school, it gives our kids an opportunity for employment, a chance to make some money.”

Ottavianelli credits Chris Green, a community liaison for the Taunton Public Schools and an assistant basketball coach at the high school.

“This was Chris’ idea from the start,” Ottavianelli said of Green, who starred for legendary boys hoop coach Mike Rubin at East Boston in the mid-1980s. “He’s the events manager here at the school when we do rentals. He saw an opportunity and asked why we couldn’t have some of our kids officiating the events.”

Ottavianelli knows all about officiating at an early age, having done games while a student at the former Southeastern Massachusetts University (now UMass Dartmouth).

“It was better than working for a living,” Ottavianelli said with a laugh. “Not all of us can play at the college level and fewer at the pro level, so this was a way to stay in a sport you loved as a kid and make some extra money.”

Prior to the start of the MIAA Board of Directors meeting, there was a ceremony in which one of the rooms was renamed the Gaine Conference Room in honor of longtime MIAA executive Bill Gaine. Gaine spent 42 years with the organization in a variety of different roles, the most recent being the executive director before retiring two years ago.

In other MIAA Board of Directors news, the committee voted unanimously upon MIAA executive director’s Bob Baldwin recommendation to approve the constitution for another year. Baldwin pointed to what he felt were positive movements made toward the overall structure and followed up with the comment: “if we don’t stand for something, we stand for nothing.”

MIAA assistant director Jim Clark said progress was being made toward revamping the MIAA website. He said the organization is working with Gravity Works, a web company based in Michigan. One of the selling points is that Gravity Works are being used by seven different state associations that are aware of the MIAA needs.

MIAA associate executive director Sherri Bryant provided an update on state final and semifinal venues. Her goal is to get the best possible sites and have them announced in advance, pointing out that field hockey will be played at WPI, football at Gillette and volleyball at Worcester State.