Bundled up in a brown topcoat and a ski cap, Hershgordon, the lead sports anchor at WHDH-TV 7 News in Boston, got right to work after the Pats edged the Denver Broncos, 10-7, in a blinding snowstorm that seemed to catch everyone — from players to sideline reporters to TV viewers — by surprise.

After leaving the warmth of the press box to watch the game’s tense final moments from a tunnel at field level, he managed to land an exclusive with Patriots All-Pro punt returner Marcus Jones. But it was his interview with Grammy-winning rapper Cardi B — who is in a relationship with Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs — that caught fire on social media, collecting over 2 million views on the 7 News Instagram account.

“As a reporter your head's always on a swivel,” Hershgordon said. “I think that’s one of the great things I learned during my time at Quinnipiac. When you’re down on the field or in the locker room, you’re a sponge. You’re trying to relay to the fans whatever you can from the unique vantage point that you have. So I’m always thinking about, What interview can I get? Who can I bring to our audience? You always want to shoot your shot.”

As Hershgordon plied his craft with a microphone, another Bobcat, Ethan Hurwitz ’24, MS ’25, tapped away at the keyboard. A Patriots beat reporter for On Sports Illustrated and a news writer at WHDH, Hurwitz continues to deliver the kind of beyond-the-box score reporting that was his signature as sports editor of The Chronicle.

And while he was not on-site for the AFC title game, nor will he be traveling to Santa Clara, California, to cover the big game in person, there is no shortage of storylines to delve into ahead of the Patriots’ matchup with the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX — a rematch of their memorable clash in Super Bowl XLIX.

While it all might feel maddeningly familiar for most football fans, a deeper look reveals a Patriots squad that would seem to have more in common with the franchise’s first championship team in 2002 than any triumph that followed, said Hurwitz, a native of Norfolk, Massachusetts, who grew up rooting for the team.

“The other Super Bowls were legacy builders. They’re now used in debates about whether [quarterback Tom] Brady was the greatest at what he did, or if [former coach Bill] Belichick was better at what he did,” Hurwitz said. “I think if the Patriots win this year, it will cement them as a historically great franchise, not just a franchise that was great under two guys.”

Hershgordon, a native of the Philadelphia suburb of Upper Dublin Township, spent his formative years as a student journalist covering some of the most celebrated Bobcats teams. As a junior in 2016, he served as the sports director at Q30-TV and covered the men’s hockey team’s second Frozen Four berth. And as a senior the following spring, Hershgordon chronicled the women’s basketball team’s thrilling run to the Sweet 16.

Professional stops at TV stations in Wisconsin and Rhode Island got him acclimated to the NFL beat. But having the confidence to ask Patriots coach Mike Vrabel a question amid the hoopla of Super Bowl Opening Night, as Hershgordon did on Monday, is the result of all those early reps under pressure.

“I definitely attribute those big-time experiences I had as a student to my success in being able to handle big-time events now,” Hershgordon said. “The analogy I use is if you want to be the shortstop for the New York Yankees, you need to take 500 ground balls per day so that you’re 3,500 ground balls better by the end of one week. … It's no different when you're covering sports. If you want to be a great anchor and reporter, get those reps from freshman year on — you're going to be hundreds of reps better by the time you're a junior or senior.”

Hurwitz also benefited from covering some heady times in Bobcat Nation. He was one of the editors behind The Chronicle’s instantly iconic “Win-nipiac” headline that was splashed across the front page after the men’s ice hockey team beat Minnesota in the 2023 national championship game. And he later wrote a fascinating feature about the search for the stick used by Jacob Quillan to score the overtime game-winner in the title game.

His greatest hits on the Patriots beat follow a similar pattern of pulling at unexpected threads and weaving them into memorable tales that transcend Xs and Os. This past season, Hurwitz interviewed the sculptor behind Tom Brady’s 12-foot statue at Gillette Stadium; chatted up Patriots receiver Pop Douglas about his custom soda release at Avery’s Beverages in New Britain, Connecticut; and profiled the Ghanaian artist who escaped from forced child labor in his home country and painted the cleats of Patriots tight end Hunter Henry as part of the NFL’s “My Cause My Cleats” initiative.

The Patriots are making their NFL-record 12th Super Bowl appearance, 11th under the stewardship of owner Robert Kraft. But it comes on the heels of consecutive 4-13 seasons. Hurwitz knows there’s value in covering peaks and valleys. But the peaks are certainly more fun.

“I think when you look at it from a journalistic side, it's fun to cover winning, but it also can be just as beneficial from my perspective to cover losing,” Hurwitz said. “That's where you can really learn who people are. But it's obviously a lot more fun to win. People are more willing to talk and the region gets excited. I’m lucky. I grew up a Pats fan, so it’s exciting to be able to contribute in some small way to how people in the area consume the team.

Elsewhere on the bustling Super Bowl media circuit, Toni Wetmore, MS ’25, spent the week interviewing players for GALvanize, a community media organization founded by former NFL sideline reporter Laura Okmin that's billed as "a sisterhood of women empowering women." The group offers media training to NFL rookies at various events throughout the year and specializes in helping players access their vulnerability. "Our motto is, 'Who you are, not what you do,'" Wetmore said.

One of Wetmore's favorite interviews from a busy week was with Patriots safety Richie Grant, who spoke about his admiration for his mom and all the other strong women in his life. Another one of her subjects, Yale football alum Khalid Cannon, was moved to tears while discussing his upbringing as a child of an incarcerated parent.

"This experience has been so rewarding," said Wetmore, who recently started a new position as a sports reporter at KBZK-TV in Bozeman, Montana. "I don't think it's quite hit me yet — where I am and what I'm doing. I think it's something I'll be able to reflect back on. I'm very grateful for the opportunity."

Super Bowl LX between the Patriots and the Seahawks is set to kick off at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.