The SIlver Lake High football team has a bit of a different look this season.

The team which made it to the playoffs in each of the past two seasons, graduated quite a bit of talent and is now working with a younger, less experienced squad.

This time around, the Lakers have just nine seniors on their roster and more than 20 juniors; the issue they face is that not a lot of these players have a ton of varsity experience. Perhaps the biggest unexpected blow was losing their return man Diamani Williams, whose family moved elsewhere.

Right now, it’s unclear who will be the team’s starting quarterback; competition exists between Jesse Miller, a junior, and Ben Lofstrom, a sophomore. What is clear is that the Lakers do have some talent at wide receiver. Two of their captains, Bobby Ohlson and Jake Waters, man the position.

Defensively, the linebacking corps should be a strength for the Lakers. This is because two more of their captains, Marshall Roy and Cam Danahy, play there. Waters also brings experience on the defensive side of the ball, playing cornerback.

However, the Lakers offensive line will be brand new. They lost every one of their starters to graduation which gives opportunities to some other players like seniors Alex Duke, Derek Ingersoll and juniors Will Hesketh and Aidan Crone.

T he Lakers are coached by Chris DiGiacomo, who is in his fourth season with the team. So far, he is 18-15 in his head coaching tenure with the Lakers; last year’s squad finished the season at 7-4.

The Lakers open up their regular season at home on Saturday, Sept. 8 against the North Quincy Red Raiders (2:00 p.m. start time). In all, they have seven regular season games scheduled, not including their annual Thanksgiving day bout with the Pembroke Titans.

PLYMPTON/HALIFAX– On Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018 candidates for federal and state offices will face off in party primaries. In Plympton and Halifax, residents will choose from the following candidates. (In no particular order.)

Democratic Ballot

Incumbent Elizabeth Warren, of Cambridge, is running uncontested for another 6-year term as U.S. Senator.

Two candidates for Governor are running in the primary, Jay Gonzales, of Needham, and Bob Massie, of Sommerville along with their respective Lieutenant Governor candidates Quentin Palfrey, of Weston, and Jimmy Tingle of Cambridge.

Incumbent Maura Healey, of Boston, is running uncontested for another term as Attorney General.

For the office of Secretary of State, incumbent William Galvin is running against Boston City Councilor Josh Zakim, both of Boston.

Incumbents Deborah Goldberg of Brookline and Suzanne Bump of Easton, are each running for Treasurer and Auditor, respectively, uncontested.

Incumbent Bill Keating, of Bourne, is running for Congress again in the Ninth District, and is being challenged by Bill Cimbrelo, of Barnstable.

Incumbent Christopher Iannella, Jr., of Boston, is running for Governor’s Council. Mark Rooney, also of Boston, is running against him.

Senator Michael Brady, of Brockton, is running for another term as State Senator for the Second Plymouth & Bristol District.

For the Twelfth Plymouth District, Kathleen LaNatra, of Kingston and a former selectman there, is running uncontested for State Representative.

Robert S. Creedon, Jr., of Brockton, is running for Plymouth County Clerk of Courts and John Buckley, Jr., also of Brockton is running for Register of Deeds, both unopposed.

The Democrats do not have anyone running for Plymouth County District Attorney or Plymouth County Commissioner.

Republican Ballot

Republicans have three choices for U.S. Senator, Geoff Diehl, of Whitman, John Kingston, of Winchester, and Beth Joyce Lindstrom, of Groton.

Governor Charlie Baker, of Swampscott, and Karyn Polito, Lieutenant Governor, of Shrewsbury, are running for another term. Scott Lively, of Springfield, is running against Baker.

James McMahon, III, of Bourne, and Daniel Shores, of Hingham, are facing off for Attorney General.

For the office of Secretary of State, Anthony Amore, of Swampscott is running uncontested.

Keiko Orral, of Lakeville, and Helen Brady, of Concord, are each running for Treasurer and Auditor, respectively, uncontested.

Peter Tedeschi, of Marshfield, is running uncontested for Representative in Congress for the Ninth District.

The Republicans are not fielding candidates for Governor’s Council, Plymouth County Clerk of Courts or Plymouth County Register of Deeds.

Scott Hall, of Brockton, is running for a term as State Senator for the Second Plymouth & Bristol District.

For the Twelfth Plymouth District, Halifax’s own Summer Schmaling, an Elementary School Committee member, is running against Joseph Truschelli, of Plymouth, for State Representative.

Timothy Cruz, of Marshfield, is running uncontested for Plymouth County District Attorney.

Sandra Wright, of Bridgewater, is running again for Plymouth County Commissioner uncontested.

The Republicans are not fielding candidates for Governor’s Council, Plymouth County Clerk of Courts or Plymouth County Register of Deeds.

Libertarian Ballot

The Libertarians are offering one candidate for office, Helen Brady, of Concord, for Auditor. Brady is also running for the office as a Republican.

Where do I vote?

All Plympton residents vote from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Plympton Town House, 5 Palmer Road, Plympton.

In Halifax, all precincts vote 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the all-purpose room at the Halifax Elementary School, 464 Plymouth Street, Halifax. Voter registration for the primaries has closed.

The winners of the primary election races will face off in the General Election on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018.

The Silver Lake High football team has already made it clear who they expect to be among their team’s leaders this season.

Sometimes, teams may wait until the season to determine who those leaders will be, but the Lakers made the decision early. According to the Silver Lake High football Twitter account, the Lakers have already named their captains for the 2018 season. In all, they selected three players: Bobby Ohlson, Cam Danahy and Marshall Roy, all of whom are incoming seniors.

Ohlson, who is listed at 5-foot-11 and 182 pounds, will certainly help the Lakers passing game once again this season; he served as the team’s primary wide receiver last season. 

Danahy, who is listed at 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds, has shined in two sports. Not only has he played well as an outside linebacker, but he is also a key player on the Lakers basketball team.

Roy, who is listed at 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds provides the Lakers with some versatility. An experienced outside linebacker, he is also capable of playing tight end and even long snapping on special teams.

Outside of the three captains, the Lakers will likely receive leadership from the rest of their senior class. What is clear though is that this group of seniors has the opportunity to earn a third straight appearance in the postseason. After all, they made trips to the postseason in 2016 and 2017. In 2016, when this group of seniors were sophomores, the team made school history with their playoff win over Scituate; it was the Lakers first football playoff win since 1980. The Lakers also won a playoff game last season, 20-18 over Dighton-Rehoboth.

According to MaxPreps.com, the Lakers open up their upcoming regular season on Friday, Sept. 9 at home against a Patriot League opponent, North Quincy (2:00 p.m. start time).

HANOVER — The job title and office are new, but South Shore Tech Principal Mark Aubrey, 49, is a familiar face at the school where he has been a teacher or administrator since 1999. Following a lengthy interview process, he stepped up to the principal’s office to succeed Margaret Dutch, who retired at the end of the 2017-18 school year.

“This is where I belong,” Aubrey said. “I’m a believer that, if you’re a good teacher you can teach anywhere, but to be a great teacher you have to be in the right place.”

The son of a Greater Lowell Tech graduate, Aubrey — who was born in Montana while his father served in the Air Force — is a believer in the benefits of a vocational education.

Like his WHRHS counterpart Dr. Christopher Jones, he did not set out after graduating from high school to become a teacher. Aubrey initially wanted to become an architect, but his experience as a youth sports coach made him realize that teaching and connecting

It would be an accurate statement to say that many players from the Silver Lake High baseball team are enjoying success as they play together this summer.

Although Plympton and Halifax do not feature American Legion baseball teams, players who attend Silver Lake are eligible to play for the Kingston Post 387 Senior Legion team–and the results have been positive. At the start of the week, Kingston was 12-8 so far this season, good for fourth place in the District 10 standings.

Last week, the team competed in five games and managed to win three games in a three-day span.

On Monday, July 9, they came up with a 6-3 win over Plymouth. In it, Kyle Haugstad was sharp on the mound, picking up the win. He went six innings, allowed three runs and struck out eight batters. Offensively, Ryan Bellew and Jacob Armstrong shined, collecting three hits apiece.

A day later, they took home a 15-7 win over Orleans. Jake Holmes tossed five innings and picked up the win. At the plate, Haugstad, Bellew, Armstrong and Aidan O’Neill each had multi-hit games. And on Wednesday of last week, Kingston won their game in a completely different manner. This time, they ousted Brockton, 1-0, thanks to a 1-hitter thrown by Armstrong. In the pitchers’ duel, Haugstad knocked in the game-winning run for Kingston on a double.

However, as of the start of the week, the team was on a two-game losing streak. This is because they fell 8-5 to Bridgewater on July 13 and two days later, Sandwich beat them 13-3 in what would be the final game of their regular season.

Now, the team’s focus will be on the playoffs and await the news of who they may face either this upcoming weekend or at the beginning of next week.

WHITMAN — Less than a month before his death from cancer on May, 15, 2013, Dr. John F. McEwan was thinking of the pain of others in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, assuring their friends and loved ones that faith would help see them through a dark time.

Such events, much like chronic illness “remind us that life is precious and our lives can suddenly change in a moment … you do have the opportunity to evaluate what is important in your life and how you choose to spend your time,” he and his wife Margaret wrote in an email to family and friends on April 20, 2013 — five days after the attack.

An organ donor, he wanted to share that life with others after he was gone, just as he had in his career in education. At first, the family was told that his cancer made that impossible, but a call from the New England Organ Bank advised them that his corneas could and would be used to help two blind people — who could now see the world through his eyes.

“This was the final gift of John’s legacy,” Margaret P. McEwan wrote in a May 18, 2013 email.

It turned out to be a premature coda to that legacy.

Those emails, written faithfully — in every sense of the word — to help inform and bouy the spirits of others during the illness faced by the retired Silver Lake and W-H superintendent of schools, have been used as the framework of a new book by his widow, “Every Day Is a Gift: A Couple’s Cancer Journey,” [201 pages, trade paperback, 2018 SDP Publishing ISB 978-0-9992839-8-1 eBook ISBN 978-0-9992839-9-8], for which she shares author credit with him. The book is locally available at Duval’s Pharmacy in Whitman as well as online through Amazon Books, Barnes & Noble and SDP Publishing Solutions.

“It all started because he was working at W-H and he had so many people … interested in his progress that I sent out emails the entire time he was being treated,” Margaret said in an interview at her home Thursday, June 21. The emails were frequently passed along to friends the initial recipients thought might be interested in reading them. Several people who read the emails later urged her to consider writing a book.

“People were very interested in knowing how things transpired,” she said.

The title is a nod to an inspirational sign John had received as a gift from his Administrative Assistant Michelle (Kelley) Lindberg while he worked at WHRSD.

“When I was trying to think of a title for the book, I thought, ‘That was always our philosophy,’ because we felt very fortunate in our marital relationship,” Margaret said. “That’s the way he was.”

John was diagnosed with Stage 4 melanoma in 2008, when he had a spot on his scalp examined. While not a textbook “outdoorsman,” he did like working in his yard and never wore a hat when doing so, Margaret said.

“John always said ‘Things don’t happen for a reason — you find a purpose for why things happen.’ I finally thought that maybe I wrote all these emails so that I could compile them and make a book about his journey,” she said. Also included in the book are letters he wrote to W-H staff even before his diagnosis, to illustrate his long-held positive outlook to readers.

“He really believed that you really needed to do what you could in order to bring joy into other people’s lives,” Margaret said.

John McEwan began his career as an English teacher and later as a principal at Silver Lake Regional High School, W-H superintendent from 2001-09 and the first lay president of his high school alma mater Cardinal Spellman.

“It was something he took great pride in being able to do because he was very committed to trying to give back,” she said of the Spellman position.

Initially given a prognosis of six months to a year, John lived for five years in his cancer battle and never stopped working until his health forced him to give up the Spellman presidency in March 2013.

They had also done the traveling they had planned for their retirement years — to China, Rome and the Amalfi coast, a Baltic cruise, the Canadian Rockies and Yellowstone — during his illness.

“We attribute that to fortunate proximity to hospitals in Boston where they do clinical trials,” she said of her husband’s long-term battle.

When she got to work on the book, Margaret had one main request to the publisher, referred by her friend, Kathleen Teahan, whose book, “The Cookie Loved ’Round the World,” they published: “Do not edit the emails.” John was an English teacher, she reasoned, and if he dangled a participle — leave it dangling.

She said people who knew John say they hear his voice in his writing. Her accompanying narrative took about a year to write, submitting it on his death anniversary of May 15, 2017 with the goal of publication this May 15 to mark his fifth anniversary year, and was successful in reaching that goal.

“The idea was to provide other people with hope and give purpose to whatever their journey is,” she said. “You hope that in living your life — even if it’s under a cloud — you can find joy every day. … It’s work, but he always said you can choose your attitude.”

The book is also a gift to the couple’s grandchildren, who were very young, the oldest being 8 and 6, when John died so they could get to know their grandfather.

The writing process also helped Margaret grieve and she had Dana-Farber’s Director of Bereavement Services Sue Morris, PsyD, and IMPACT Melanoma Executive Director Deb Girard read advance copies for feedback on the book.

“Margaret captures the essence of living well with cancer,” Morris said. “A must read for families and clinicians.”“I believe anyone finding themselves on the cancer journey can identify the roads that Margaret and John traveled together and find tidbits of solace, grace and hope to journey down their own roads,” Girard wrote.

W-H named its performing arts center in John’s honor in 2014. Margaret McEwan holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in food and nutrition, was a registered dietitian and first female vice president of Shaw’s Supermarkets, from which she retired as vice president of corporate communications in 2004.

Frank Rabuffetti of Boy Scout Troop 39 proposed his Eagle project to the Halifax Board of Selectmen at Tuesday’s meeting.

His project involves taking out some fencing at the blacksmith shop and replacing it with a new one. Rabuffetti said he will remove the shrubs growing underneath and around the old fence before putting up the new fencing.

After removing the shrubs, Rabuffetti plans to add mulch. Selectmen Chair Kim Roy asked if any new shrubs will be added. Rabuffetti said he will only mulch as it will be lower future maintenance for the town.

The Halifax Board of Selectmen unanimously approved Rabuffetti’s Eagle project. He will start at the beginning of July and hopes to finish by the middle of July. Rabuffetti turns 18 in August, so this will allow him to get his Eagle project done beforehand.

Town Audit Team Hired

The Board of Selectmen hired Wakefield, Massachusetts based Powers and Sullivan LLC as Halifax’s financial audit firm for the next three years.

Firm partners Craig Peacock and Frank Serreti previously interviewed with a financial team appointed by the Board of Selectmen. Roy said this was the final step after the financial team picked from three finalists.

Peacock said their firm tries to do more than conduct the standard financial audits. Rather, he said, his firm tries to improve efficiency and help the town learn something. “As a firm, our goal is to add value,” Peacock said.

According to Peacock, a large part of adding value is how the business conducts itself. He said they have never missed a deadline and described Powers and Sullivan as “self-contained.” Peacock said Powers and Sullivan stays “self-contained” by bringing their own resources such as laptops and internet routers.

Selectman Troy Garron asked who in the South Shore Powers and Sullivan has worked with since Peacock said the firm is often in the area despite being a North Shore based firm. Peacock said Powers and Sullivan has worked with Lakeville, Carver, Abington, Plymouth, and Marshfield. Roy said she was pleased with this and some of Cape Cod towns the company works with because some of the communities are benchmark communities Halifax uses for comparison purposes.

As far as managerial contacts, Peacock will be the town’s onsite partner and work directly with the audit team. Peacock said he wants this process to have an open dialogue and said all comments the audit team makes will go through a draft process to make sure the team’s assessments are accurate.

Peacock said, “We will never blindside the town with comment. We’re here to work together.”

Halifax Establishes Zoning Bylaw Committee

Given the lack of a solution at Annual Town Meeting regarding the bylaw surrounding multifamily homes, the Halifax Board of Selectmen decided to establish the Zoning Bylaw Committee.

When speaking about starting the committee, Selectman Thomas Millias said, “Let’s clean up the language. Let’s present something that makes sense.”

The committee is set-up to be a nine member committee with a required five member quorum. Some of the members include Millias, Planning Board Chair Gordon Andrews, and Dan Borsari from the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Andrews said he is looking for input from the general public. The committee currently has seven members, but said he is hoping two people want to step up to be a part of the process.

Halifax Elementary Siding Repair Update

The contractor working on making siding repairs at Halifax Elementary School sent a proposal request to the town citing the need to repair termite damage.  Seelig said the damage is old and the school does not have any current problems with termites.

Other News

• The fireworks committee still needs volunteers for afternoon and evening activities. The fireworks are this Saturday, so call the Board of Selectmen’s office for more information on volunteering.

• The Board of Selectmen approved a $14,000 contract for Vertex to oversee the removal of aspestos as part of the school repair project.

• Roy is meeting with Plympton Selectmen John Traynor and others from Plympton to continue discussing a potential intermunicipal agreement between Plympton and Halifax involving Fire/EMS services.

The next Halifax Board of Selectmen meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 10.

Open session begins at 7:30 p.m.