By Christopher Tremblay

Sports Staff Writer

When Hopedale golf coach Jim McCallum decided to hang up his golf shoes, it left a very large vacancy, but people close to the program had an idea who they wanted to fill the vacancy.  

Brett Boyd had played under McCallum for six years, two as a team captain while attending the Hopedale Jr / Sr High School.

Following his graduation from Hopedale in 2000 Boyd ventured across the state into Amherst where he attended the University of Massachusetts. Unfortunately the Minutemen had no golf program.

After returning home, the Hopedale native coached basketball at Dover-Sherborn, football and softball at Franklin, softball at Hopedale and, for the last eight years, had been the golf coach at Stoughton.

As soon as he had heard of McCallum’s retiring leaving an opening, multiple people were contacting Boyd to throw his hat into the ring, but the Hopedale alumni had a lot going on and didn’t know if he could handle it.

“Originally I was finishing my second master’s degree at the University of Cincinnati, while working as a teacher in Stoughton so I was hesitant to dive into the situation at Hopedale,” Boyd said. “But the more that I thought about it the more I realized that I couldn’t pass by an opportunity to go back to Hopedale and coach.”

Living in town would allow Boyd to continue to work in Stoughton and still have enough time to get to Hopedale to coach and still be home for dinner at a reasonable hour. Friend and fellow Hopedale Coach, Jay Rojee, was an instrumental part of pushing the issue to get Boyd back home. 

“Getting that phone call was great, full of excitement,” he said. “I was thrilled to be back in town, knowing what we have with this program and being a hometown guy that bleeds Raider blue. I was back to where it all began.”

Coming into the season as a new coach Boyd, who has been part of the Hopedale Country Club for the past 30 years, knew what he had in terms of talent taking to the links this fall. He said he was already familiar with senior captain Lucas Levasseur and as the summer went on, he eventually was able to meet the other team members.

“This season I have set some lofty expectations for this team,” Boyd said. “We have lost a couple of big pieces, but what we have returning was the bulk of the team’s success.”

The new Blue Raider Coach went on to say that they are looking to go out and win the (Dual Valley Conference) league title, then taking the districts which should then give the team the best opportunity to move into the States. 

Leading the Blue Raiders to accomplish those goals will be senior captain Levasseur. The senior, who will be teeing off as Hopedale’s number one golfer, will lead the charge on the course, but off it as well. He is an excellent role model who plays with character and is nothing short of spectacular. He has reached out to college coaches hoping to play golf on the next level.

Behind the captain, senior lefty CJ Kivlehan will be swinging the clubs in the second spot. Over the summer Kivlehan worked hard and attending numerous Massachusetts Amateur and Junior Tournament with some of his teammates to elevate their game. He too is aspiring to play golf on the next level.

Rounding out the top three will be freshman Colin Haynes, who according to the Coach doesn’t look like a freshman as he is tall and mature beyond his years with a really solid game. He will be looked upon to post some low scores to help provide the team with help.

“He is a junior Hopedale Country Club member (his father is a long-time member) so he has been around the game since a young age,” the Blue Raider Coach said. “He continues to work on his game as he has a natural love for being on the course as much as possible.”

Two other golfers Boyd will be looking to expand their game this fall will be brothers Carter (senior) and Trevor (sophomore) Lachiatto.

According to the Coach, the two are both experienced golfers that were not necessarily called upon to score last season, but that’s going to change this year. The Lachiattos’ roles will be different this year and Boyd will be looking for them to score and elevate their game and help the team overall.

Hopedale is planning on having another successful season within the DVC and the coach is rather confident that as far as outside courses go, the golfers are familiar with them. 

In addition to the team having high expectations, Boyd has inserted a tougher non-league schedule this year with the purpose of giving the players as idea of what type of battle they’ll face down the road.

Hopedale’s non-league schedule will include the likes of Dover-Sherborn, Grafton, Shrewsbury, and Milford.

“Golf is an individual sport, but you are only stronger together as a team. Boyd said. “We all need to play to that caliber of play throughout, while the others need to step up here and there if we are to be successful.”