A starter at Buckingham Browne & Nichols since eighth grade, midfielder Thomas Porell is committed to Notre Dame. (Adam Richins)
For Jack Pappendick and Thomas Porell, one of the benefits of playing on the Buckingham Browne and Nichols varsity team as eighth-graders was having older players to look up to.
Older players like Max Ewald, who was starting as a freshman.
That spring was a baptism by fire, predictably. Playing in the Independent School League and going up against some of the top Division 1 college prospects in the nation -- and spotting them three and even four years of physical development -- the Knights went 2-15.
“We were going out there,” said assistant coach Mike Derrenberger, “and trying to slug it out with (opposing) rosters that sort of resembled Division 3 college teams.”
