Prior to Friday night’s 7 p.m. game vs. Merrimack at Holman Stadium, at 6:30 p.m., the Bishop Guertin baseball team will honor the memory of late 1991 BG graduate and baseball player Brian Kinney with a memorial plaque. Kinney died tragically aboard United Flight 179 on Sept. 11 2001.

“It’s because of Brian’s compassion for others, his commitment to excellence, and his love for the game of baseball that he is being honored,” Bishop Guertin officials said in a statement released by the school.

Also, the school announcd the establishment of the Brian Kinney ’91 Memorial Scholarship. The $1,000 scholarship for a Bishop Guertin student will be awarded at the school’s Green & Gold Academic Awards in May.

For more information, or to donate to the fund, visit http://www.bghs.org/briankinneyscholarship.

Familiar face returns

A familiar name in the list of area great coachs and administrators will be patrolling the sidelines once again this fall. Former Merrimack athletic director/football/softball coach Joe Raycraft, at age 71, will be back at it again. Raycraft was recently named as the new head football coach at Merrimack Valley High School.

It’s the latest return for Raycraft, who was last seen in this area coaching Campbell softball a few years ago. His son Bill is the athletic director/head football coach at Windham.

Raycraft, of course, earned legendary status at Merrimack, winning several football titles, the last coming in 1995. The 1992 title team celebrated its 25th anniversary this past fall.

He certainly has had softball success as well, winning titles at both Merrimack and Campbell, the last for the ‘Hawks in 1988 and for the Cougars in 2014.