Peabody Veterans Memorial High School in Massachusetts is mourning the loss of a student-athlete. 

Freddy Espinal, a 17-year-old wrestler, died last weekend after a medical emergency during a practice, The Salem News confirmed.

Espinal competed through a joint venture between Peabody Veterans Memorial and the Saugus High School wrestling team and the wrestling club RRWC.

Wayne Moda, Espinal’s wrestling coach, reflected on the late teenager’s “larger-than-life personality.”

“I can tell you as his club and high school coach, Freddy was a larger-than-life personality on and off the mat,” Moda wrote in a social media post. 

“He was passionate about his family and wrestling, which he worked incredibly hard at after falling in love with the sport his freshman year. Wrestling aside, I thoroughly enjoyed him as a person, he genuinely made me laugh with his antics and he was committed to his teammates and friends.”

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Brooke Randall, the high school’s principal, informed students and faculty members of Espinal’s sudden death Sunday night. Randall described Espinal as a “kind” human being. 

A pair of shoes on a wrestling mat April 9, 2016, in Iowa City, Iowa.  (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

“He was a kind, young man,” Randall told Boston.com. “He was a talented student-athlete and had an infectious smile.” 

The Peabody Football Boosters said Espinal will remain in their hearts.

“Forever a beloved teammate, wonderful friend and a member of the Tanner Football Family,” the group of community supporters wrote in a Facebook message. “Freddy will be missed terribly by all of us and always in our hearts.”

Prior to wrestling, Espinal was a youth football player. He played high school football his freshman and sophomore years.

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BOSTON (WHDH) – Boston teachers, educators, and paraprofessionals joined a nationwide protest Monday as they held a city wide walk-in as they push for a better contract with the Boston Public Schools. 

Staff gathered at more than a dozen schools before classes started for the day in an effort to educate the community about their union contract on the exact day that federal funding of COVID-19 relief programs ended. 

“Now more than ever our students need support,” said Boston Teachers Union President Erik Berg. “We’re asking that that support be codified in a fair contract that meets the needs of our students and our educators.”

Speaking with reporters, Berg said city teachers are overwhelmed. 

In talks with school district counterparts, teachers are asking for more assistance in the classroom. 

“We think that students with disabilities and our multilingual learners need and deserve the support of an additional teacher in order to thrive in our general education classrooms,” Berg said. 

Adrianne Jordan marched alongside her colleagues Monday morning. She also demanded change. 

“ I have to go out and get two or three jobs just to live here to make a decent living and it’s not fair because the work that I do is not just a job to get up and go,” she said. “It’s to support these kids and their families.”

Jordan has been teaching for over 30 years. She said the current state of the Boston Public Schools is driving teachers out.

“ I’ll wait, I’m Wonder Woman. I’ll wait, I have all the time,” she said. “But do our students have all the time?”

The next round of contract negotiations in Boston is scheduled for Oct. 3. 

7NEWS reached out to Boston city officials for comment on negotiations and did not hear back as of around 12 p.m.

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INDIANAPOLIS — The Pittsburgh Steelers faced an undermanned Indianapolis Colts team that lost their starting quarterback in the first quarter but could not come back to knock off the Colts. The Steelers now have to address these issues at the surface in a game that exposed many flaws that were there for the first three games.

However, here are the three most important things that we learned from this game that the Steelers should look to fix before their game against the Dallas Cowboys:

There is a Linebacker problem

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense faltered at every level against the Indianapolis Colts, but Colts head coach Shane Steichen zeroed in on Payton Wilson and Patrick Queen and went to work. Their run game calls put those linebackers in conflict often, and the quick game that was so effective underneath against the heavy Cover 3 defense spliced and diced the Steelers all game. Pittsburgh had no answer for Steichen’s attack on the linebackers, and he exploited their coverage rules. Part of that is on Mike Tomlin and defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, who need to adjust to that. Steichen especially attacked the Steelers’ push calls.

However, Wilson and Queen struggled to fit the run and had some ugly reps out of their gaps. On top of that, the two players were beaten in coverage a few times by taking themselves out of the play. The Steelers do need to improve at linebacker, and the team really needs more out of Patrick Queen.

The Run Game Issues

The Steelers’ run game outside of Cordarrelle Patterson and Justin Fields is dead. Najee Harris has not been able to get going, and there are a few reasons why, so let me try to break down what the film showed.

For one, the Steelers keep asking Van Jefferson to insert block and dig out safeties. He has been atrocious at this all season, and it is killing the run game. Their schematics have to adjust, or they need to change personnel because Jefferson can not block well, and it is allowing another defender a free rush.

Another is that the Steelers’ splits have started to become predictable. Teams are lining up eight in the box and blitzing a free man off the edge because of their tendencies, but the Colts could no longer do that in the second half when the Steelers started to throw the ball more.

Najee Harris is just not a good fit for this style of running game. You need instant explosiveness to get downhill and maximize yardage, especially on open cut-back lanes. Harris does not have the instant acceleration for that, and that is why Patterson always maximizes what he gets while Harris’ plodding style, that can work in other schemes, falls flat.

Arthur Smith is not doing a good job of putting his personnel in the best position to succeed. They need to do a lot of self-scouting this week.

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