The start of the high school football season means that fall is arriving and the nights will soon be cooler as autumn begins officially Wednesday, September 23. Head coach Sean Driscoll and his Vikings will make their debut Saturday morning at Miller Field (the game was moved from Friday evening because of concerns about the West Nile Virus) and we anticipate a good crowd on hand for the opening- day encounter. We were on hand for Media Day Saturday as the football players and cheerleaders had their photographs taken for the yearbook. It was a great day as optimism builds for the coming season.
We were happy to see former Viking standout Robert Nimblett, who has returned to the program after serving as a high school football coach in New Hampshire. Nimblett was an excellent receiver who won the prestigious Irving P. Alexander Award following his senior season. We were overjoyed to hear Robert reminisce about catching passes from Mike Mason and Robert calling Mike “one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time” in WHS history.
Robert is the son of Jim Nimblett, who was the long-time loyal assistant coach on Ron Spinney’s girls basketball coaching staff. The two men worked so well together, building up the WHS program to where it was year-in and year-out a contender for the Northeastern Conference championship.
Robert no doubt became enamored with sports at a young age and remembers the dedication his father displayed as a coach and a mentor to his players. Robert is now back in his hometown and the WHS football players will benefit greatly from his knowledge and experience. We’re glad that Sean Driscoll reached out to Robert for a position on his staff.