Staples HS football team honors fallen classmate at season opener

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The Connecticut high school football season kicks off this weekend, while one local team continues to grieve. Staples High School played its first game of the season Friday night in Westport, just two days after the death of classmate Max Harper. The 18-year-old was killed in a dirt bike crash Wednesday night on Old Hill Roads. Athletic director VJ Sarullo says while Harper wasn’t a member of the football team, he was an avid supporter of "Wreckers" athletics. “Great kid, popular kid,” Sarullo says. “He would’ve been up in that student section tonight as part of the super fans cheering on the Wreckers. The school honored Harper with a moment of silence prior to the start of the game, and the football team will wear helmet stickers in his honor for the rest of the season. “We want to make sure that we honor him in the right way,” Sarullo said. "