Published July 31, 2020

Wakefield resident Joe Rivers, a 2020 graduate of Bishop Fenwick High School, will be attending Holy Cross in the fall where he will remain a Crusader for the football team. Rivers will be studying economics at Holy Cross.

Rivers was a standout two-way player for Fenwick, playing linebacker on defense and RB/WR on offense. He will play strong safety at Holy Cross.

Rivers, a member of the National Honor Society, is a two-time Catholic Central League football All-Star, a Boston Herald All-Scholastic, a Shriner’s All-Star team member, and the second player in the history of Fenwick football to be named a Grinold National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete. Rivers was the school’s male representative as the Catholic Central League’s Student-Athlete of the Year.

“My favorite memory at Fenwick was defeating Stoneham my senior year in the Div. 6 North finals and advancing to play Ashland in the Div. 6 Super Bowl at Gillette Stadium. Although I was injured and unable to play in the Super Bowl, we had a great season and I will definitely miss my teammates and coaches.”

River transferred from Malden Catholic after his sophomore year. During his junior and senior seasons at Fenwick, Rivers collected over 1,000 yards of total rushing and receiving yards along with 13 touchdowns. On defense, he totaled 192 tackles and 10 sacks.

“I am very thankful of my parents, coaches and teammates, each of whom was instrumental in helping me achieve my goal of playing Div. 1 college football.”

Holy Cross went 7-6 last season under head coach Bob Chesney. They were champions of the Patriot League, going 5-1 in league play.

Fenwick head coach and Wakefield resident Dave Woods: “Joe is a phenomenal student-athlete. We were lucky to have him here at Fenwick. He brought a tremendous amount of leadership and enthusiasm to our team. He was multi-talented on both offense and defense. Joe was an absolute joy to coach. He did anything we asked of him and always put the team first, even when he was injured and unable to play in the Super Bowl he still came to practice every day and helped coach up the younger kids.

“It was tough for Joe to sit on the sidelines at Gillette and not be on the field with his teammates, but he handled it with such class, it was humbling to watch him interact with his teammates and support them even though he couldn’t play. I think that’s a credit to his parents Bob and Kris. Joe is an exceptional athlete and it will be fun to watch him play at Holy Cross.”