Thanks to our continued partnership with Univest Financial, SuburbanOneSports.com will once again recognize a male and female featured athlete each week. The recognition is given to seniors of high character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams or who have overcome adversity. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete (Week of Nov. 15, 2023)
Bri Rocha was looking for her own niche. With an older brother who excelled at soccer and an older sister with a passion for fashion, the Lower Moreland senior found exactly what she was looking for in field hockey. “I started with soccer, but soccer wasn’t my thing,” Rocha said. “Then I did some softball, it wasn’t my thing either. I started field hockey in middle school in seventh grade. It was what the school offered in the fall, and I thought I might as well try it, and I loved it. I liked it because it was a sport no one else in my family did. It wasn’t soccer like my brother, it wasn’t fashion like my sister. It was my own thing.” Rocha’s love for the sport has never wavered, and she will be continuing her field hockey career at the next level at Widener University.
This fall, field hockey became a respite of sorts for Rocha when her mother – Gilberta Rocha – lost her courageous two-year battle with cancer one week before the team held its special Stick it to Cancer Night on Oct. 2. The night honored Rocha as well as longtime LM field hockey coach Carol Lusignea, who passed away in November of 2022, also from cancer. “Her mom was so looking forward to coming,” LM coach Janet Lutter said. “Bri never missed a practice. When her mom passed, it happened to be Yom Kippur, so she was out four days that week and was back that Monday for (Stick it to Cancer Night) with her family. She played great.”
During those difficult days, the hockey field was Rocha’s safe place. “I would go and just play,” Rocha said. “Sometimes it was not wanting to leave the house but also wanting to hang out with my friends. That whole week – it’s crazy how much you miss being on the field. (Stick it to Cancer) was a week after she passed. I went to school that day but ended up leaving during second period. That whole week, you don’t really get much sleep, and I did not want to be in school, so I ended up leaving early and went home. I came back that night for the game, and that was the first night I saw my teammates since everything happened.” A bake sale was part of the night’s fundraising event, The baked goods were wrapped and tied with a green ribbon, which represented liver cancer. “When I brought the cookies home, I took part of that ribbon, and I put part of it on my sneaker,” Rocha said. A reminder that her mother is always with her.
Rocha’s value was underscored when she was away from the team for four days after her mother passed away. “When she was gone, it was evident how much we missed her,” Lutter said. “She’s a leader on and off the field. She said, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to be able to do this.’ I said to her, ‘Actually, not that you want to hear this, but the minute you start playing, it will be an hour-and-a-half when you’re not thinking about it because you’re focused on something else. She said after the first game, ‘I can’t believe that actually happened.’ We went as a team to the funeral. We have a very close family-like atmosphere with our team.”
Rocha’s role on the hockey team was setting up her teammates, and the senior captain did it very well, earning first team All-SOL Freedom Division recognition. Rocha looks to do the same at Widener. “When I visited Widener, I loved the coach, I loved the team atmosphere,” she said. “I also like that it wasn’t too far from home. That way my dad, my siblings and my aunt and all of them can come watch.” Rocha plans to major in education with her sights set on becoming an elementary school teacher. “Even as a kid – I don’t know where it came from, but I always wanted to be a teacher,” Rocha said. “We had my cousins over, we’d play school, and I’d always be their teacher. Then in the middle school and the beginning of high school, I did not want to be a teacher. But it just came back. I started babysitting end of sophomore year in the summer, and that made me want to be a teacher again.”
Rocha participates in Mini-THON at Lower Moreland, and in her spare time, she babysits and enjoys spending time with her family. Family has always been in the forefront for Rocha, whose parents were both born in Portugal. “My dad’s side has family in France, and we’re actually going to France for Christmas,” Rocha said. “I know them, but it’s been ages since I’ve actually seen them. It’s exciting.”
To read Rocha’s compete story, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/bri-rocha-00109878
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of Nov. 15, 2023)
Out of the ashes of a Hatboro-Horsham football program that was fading into oblivion, the fall season that ended with a district playoff loss to Plymouth Whitemarsh will go down as one of redemption. It was the Hatters’ first playoff berth in 17 years. The loss was still a win in the big picture. “That was probably our biggest goal,” said Hatters’ coach Tom Butts, adding that playing an independent schedule negated a league title as a goal. “We knew we could make the playoffs. Literally, in the first meeting we had with the staff and the kids, we laid it out as the main goal. We wanted to get to the playoffs. We followed through on that goal. We pushed our kids this year as hard as I have ever pushed kids since I have been coaching. They brought it every day. They have been fantastic and have done everything we have asked of them. They didn’t complain. They showed up every day and just worked hard for us. It’s been a great experience for everyone involved.”
It would be safe to say that Butts had a lot of skin in the game. He came through the program as a water boy, player and assistant coach before stepping away to coach his own kids and then to coach at CB West – he will always remember the many players whose shoulder pads the program was redeemed upon. Senior Roman Marinucci, a mainstay at defensive end who also played part-time at fullback and tight end. Junior Mason Bynum, the shutdown corner, always covering the other team’s best receiver in an era of spread offenses. And then there is the heart and soul of the team -- senior Jaxson Bumpus, the vintage middle linebacker/fullback who led the team in tackles but whose value went well beyond raw statistics. “His football IQ is off the charts,” said Butts of Bumpus, who was tasked with holding on PATs and field goals and is also a top-shelf baseball player (first baseman, corner outfielder and pitcher). “He gets everyone in position. If there are down linemen not in position, he is moving them around. He has a done a fantastic job of buying into the scheme and understanding it and becoming a coach on the field.”
Bumpus recalls the meeting where the goal of making the playoffs was put on the table. “When they first introduced the coaches, they said the goal for the season was to make the playoffs,” said Bumpus. “That was the expectation for the season. It definitely seemed like something that would be very hard to achieve, and not something that we were sure we could make. As we got more into the season, there was the realization that it could happen.” The players were willing to chase the dream, and the program developed a new culture. “I think it was really with this coaching staff coming in,” said Bumpus. “A lot more people on the team bought in to what we were doing, and we were a lot more determined to do it. I just tried to set an example and just do everything that I needed to do. I was just hoping that everyone would follow.”
While the preseason meeting was the starting point, Bumpus saw the real difference on the practice field. “The realization was, ‘This is kind of different,’” said Bumpus. “It was just from the way they were really getting us coached up. It was just a different feel.” Part of a different feel was more bodies, as the coaches and players worked together to get more players onto the field. Still, it was a battle of attrition, and Bumpus was a 48-minute man down the stretch. “It was definitely tiring at points, but it’s also always fun being out there as much as possible,” said Bumpus, who has been playing football his whole life but still isn’t sure which sport, if any, is in his collegiate future. “I would do anything for the team.”
In the classroom, Bumpus also tackles challenges and has a GPA in the 3.6-3.7 neighborhood. He is looking at majoring in business and/or marketing. Because of his commitment to sports, there isn’t a lot of extra time for school-related activities, but he has volunteered for Special Olympics and helped out with Powder Puff Football. And, if one player in the ultimate team embodied the about-face of the football program, it was the 6-0 and 195-pound Jaxson Bumpus. “He brings it every day,” said Butts. “He’s just a lunch-pail kid. As much as a leader as he is for us and as much as the other kids know he is a leader for us, he is not a super vocal kid. He’s not rah-rah, and that type of thing. But, when he takes command of what we want to do, when we huddle up on defense, you can hear a pin drop when he’s talking. All the kids know he’s in charge out there.”
To read Bumpus’ complete story, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/jaxson-bumpus-00109870
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