The Lady Cardinals grabbed their first championship since 2001 as Kiara Tejada (nine kills, two aces) and senior captain Barbara Wilson, who pretty much matched Tejada, had 10 kills, two aces and two digs in the win.

Tejada’s play outside was critical, finding spots in the short game and taking advantage of the Lady Cougars’ defense in the fourth and final game. The sophomore hitter came alive with four of her six kills just as Snowden crept back into things and only trailed by one, 16-15, looking to tie the series 2-2.

But Tejada and two aces from Naisha Marte sealed things up for Madison Park as it pulled away with a 24-17 lead enroute to the third win for the match victory and created the on-court frenzy for the Cardinals faithful.

“Coach just told me what to do, and I just started tipping but when I saw that the set was right, that’s when I started to kill (the ball),” said Tejada. “(Wilson) has really improved since day one with her hitting and is really a leader. To me, I aspire to be like her and hit just like her.”

Wilson, while a senior, is also only in her second year playing volleyball and was credited with the Most Outstanding Player of the Game for the Boston City League championships. Head coach William Harvey credited his young roster for pulling together the surprising victory.

“So, people do not realize that (Tejada) is only a sophomore and both of them are picking up the game really quickly,” said Harvey. “This whole season has been a slow swing, so it just came on at the right time so hopefully it’s going to be with them for the rest of their high school careers.”

In game two, Lady Cougars head coach Kim Molle called a timeout down three points with a sideout to the Lady Cardinals. Molle isn’t sure what clicked but Snowden didn’t make things easy for Madison Park and rattled off six of the final seven points to tie things 1-1 before inconsistent defense and untimely mistakes doomed the Lady Cougars the next two sets.

Playing from behind is usually a strength for Snowden, especially at the net, but Molle felt the pressure of the event may have been a factor.

“I think that we weren’t responding in the defensive way like we could have,” said Molle. “They were doing a lot of shorts and we weren’t picking up the shorts as much as we usually do, and it was just that both teams were equally as good as each other.

“Usually, we come from behind pretty well so I think it was just a lot of pressure, a lot of fanfare for them, and I think they got nervous ultimately and just couldn’t bring that back up. They had the heart, but they just couldn’t make it happen.”

The third and fourth games were tied midway through, but Madison Park was too strong on the outside and in the middle as setter Reishmell Tejada Arias had a game-high 18 assists while Emily Ramirez De Jesus added 16 digs and four aces for the Lady Cardinals. Both are also only second-year players for Harvey.

“I let (Tejada) know after the second set that Snowden was going to pick on her and the only way to stop that is to pick on them,” said Harvey. “Start picking your spots and tip, tip, tip – and when you get that chance – swing.”

The Warriors (6-1, 3-0) didn’t waste any time this week as Martinelli notched his 300th career win in a 35-0 rout over Canton (4-3, 1-2) in a key Hockomock League–Davenport Division matchup before a crowded, pro-Foxboro crowd.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t mindful of winning tonight but I was more mindful that the kids were mindful and I wanted that off their plate,” said Martinelli, who has been coaching for 55 years, with 41 and counting at the helm in Foxboro. “I was nervous about this. I knew Canton coming into it has been playing pretty darn good and they had a purpose to play, and they have some pretty tough kids.”

Playing for the thousands of kids honored to play for coach Martinelli, Brandon Mazenkas-O’Grady had two blocked punt recoveries for touchdowns and Mike Marcucella (6-of-12 for 153 yards, 2 TDs) tossed long touchdowns of 29 and 82 yards in the first half alone as Foxboro was in control after exchanging punts with the Bulldogs to start the game.

Mazenkas-O’Grady did not hide his emotions for his head coach nor the enormity of the day for Foxboro.

“He means everything to me. He’s done so much for just me, kids on the team, he’s always there and so humble, unselfish. Words cannot describe what he means to me,” said Mazenkas-O’Grady. “I was out there trying to do everything for (Martinelli), this game meant a lot to me, especially for what he has done just for me.”

Marcucella connected with Ryan Foley on the 82-yarder on a double move down the left sideline by the sophomore halfback and Foley added to the 28-point second quarter for the Warriors with a 51-yard scamper through the heart of the Bulldogs’ defense with 2:52 left in the first half.

The defense and special teams of the Warriors were the stars with Mazenkas-O’Grady leading the way with the two blocked punt recoveries in the end zone as Trevor Palmer blocked the first one with Canton backed up inside the Foxboro 12.

Mazenkas-O’Grady did it all on his own on the second punt block as the senior defensive end circled back around the bouncing ball and scored from five yards out with 1:39 left and the comfortable five-touchdown lead at the break.

The Canton players congratulated Martinelli after the usual midfield handshake.

“The kids from Canton – they get it. Sometimes you have to play above your head to battle with (Foxboro), but we made our mistakes and didn’t capitalize on a few opportunities,” said Canton head coach Anthony Fallon, who played against Martinelli teams growing up in Canton. “We knew it was going to be a struggle on offense. We gave up one big play, and two big ones on special teams but other than that we fought hard. But that’s why he has 300 wins. Jack has built a great program over there.”

Martinelli is in seventh place all-time in career wins now and still seems spry enough with no end in sight despite starting the journey in Foxboro in 1982.

“All the number means is that I was allowed to do it long enough and the kids take care of the x’s and o’s and the wins and losses – it’s all them,” said Martinelli. “Brandon has been like that all season for me, though he’s been that way, to be honest, since his freshman year. He just makes plays and I know players run away from him, but he still makes plays on the other side of the field for us. He’s one special kid.”

Rain drops, torrential rain, or even a Nor’easter doesn’t seem to have a chance to stop Marques from finding the end zone this season for the undefeated Blue Devils.

Marques is a dual threat as a running back and linebacker for the 6-0 Fairhaven squadron. The junior captain has his sights set on a trip to Gillette after two consecutive first-round losses in the Blue Devils’ most recent state tournament runs.

Marques has been destroying school records since his freshman year. He holds the single season touchdown record with 25 trips across the goal line in 2022, is tied for most touchdowns in a game with five and has accumulated 45 touchdowns with plenty of games left to play.

The 45 touchdowns is already the career Fairhaven scoring record as Marques continues to slice up defenses like the pizza from Galaxy Pizza House down the road on Main Street.

The soft-spoken Marques is a three-sport star for the Blue Devils in football, hockey and lacrosse and has been a full-time starter on both sides of the football since his freshman year. In just six games this season, Marques has 684 yards and 16 touchdowns. On defense, he has racked up six sacks with three forced fumbles. Marques certainly enjoys letting his play on the field do the talking.

“I think my strength is just being really tough (on the field) and having the grit and never wanting to come off the field and always wanting to battle,” said Marques, who has had game-day visits to Brown, Harvard, Boston College and Bryant, with UMass also on the schedule.

Everything hasn’t been cupcakes and candy for Marques as he suffered a torn meniscus in Week 8 of last season, yet continued to pile on the touchdowns through the end of the season and added 10 games for the hockey team before surgery put Marquez out of action until just two months ago.

Marques admits he isn’t mentally 100% over the injury and hasn’t had that signature breakout game yet in 2023. But no one can deny the toughness of the career touchdown leader for the Blue Devils – including head coach Derek Almeida – as Marquez is only halfway through his junior season.

“Justin raises the level of every player in our program, his intensity spreads,” said Almeida, who is in his fourth season at the helm in Fairhaven. “Justin has been a huge part of our success the past three years; he made an immediate impact on our program. I think others have raised their level as a direct result of his play and dedication. He makes an impact in all phases of the game.”

While Marques is nervous about the injury, it doesn’t show as he brings 24-7 energy around the team, gets everyone going, and gets the team level up. The Division 1 college hopeful has everyone following in his footsteps as the lead dive back in Almeida’s triple option offense in the backfield this season.

As the unquestioned team leader, even as a junior, Marques is rewriting the record book as well as lifting the two-time defending South Coast Gold Division champions on his back and hopefully to greater heights. The Blue Devils face Seekonk (0-6) Friday night with the chance to put a stamp on the division this early with wins over Bourne and Case already this season and shift the focus to the long-term goals.

With all the success and potential surrounding Marques, he remains grounded and humble. He doesn’t have to think long and hard about how he has elevated to this level.

“I just have to have a good mentality and I put in a lot of work in the offseason. The continued good mentality is key,” said Marques. “But I have to thank my role models, my parents 100%. Without their support, this isn’t happening.”

NAME: Justin Marques

SCHOOL: Fairhaven High School

AGE: 16

HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 5-11, 220 pounds

POSITION: Running back, linebacker

NICKNAME: No true nickname

FAMILY: Crystal (mom), Bruno (dad), Jordan (older brother), Jackson (younger brother) and Violet (sister).

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: My major accomplishment is making my parents proud and showing them that all their hard work is starting to pay off.

FAVORITE PERSONAL MOMENT IN SPORTS: Definitely beating Dartmouth last year on Thanksgiving.

FAVORITE COURSE IN SCHOOL: English – comes pretty easy.

LEAST FAVORITE COURSE IN SCHOOL: Oh, Math – 100%

FAVORITE PIGOUT FOOD: Definitely some gold fever wings; yes – the 99 Restaurant gold fever wings.

FAVORITE TV SHOW: Last Chance U (Netflix)

FAVORITE MOVIE: The Waterboy (Adam Sandler)

FAVORITE MUSICIAN: That’s a tough one – I like all music genres.

FAVORITE VIDEO GAME: Madden ‘24

FAVORITE SMARTPHONE APP: YouTube, as I’m always watching videos; but you must include HUDL as well.

FAVORITE TWITTER ACCOUNT TO FOLLOW: @FairhavenHigh – Fairhaven High School just to see everything going on at the high school and all the accomplishments from other people around the school.

FAVORITE PRO TEAM: New England Patriots – sadly

The Crusaders were able to end a 17-year losing streak at the hands of Cohasset and stunned the Skippers in a come-from-behind 42-36 overtime victory to remain undefeated.

The contest was the first South Shore League Tobin Division game for each team and set the tone for the rest of the season as Carver claimed the top spot early on.

Carver (5-0; 1-0) trailed by 15 headed into the fourth quarter before Tyler Lennox hit Robbie Anderson for a 29-yard touchdown pass with 6:29 left in regulation. After Derek Lopes hauled in the two-point conversion, the score ended 36-36 in regulation.

Carver only yielded 4.5 points per game entering Friday but showed up when needed as it was able to limit the first overtime series for Cohasset to a 24-yard chip-shot field goal.

It was Carver’s turn and after Lennox had two incompletions in the end zone, he went back to the bread and butter as he found Anderson on a curl route on a third-and-goal from the 10-yard line to send the packed house of Crusaders fans into a frenzy with the three-point win.

“(Cohasset) is a tough team, they threw some stuff at us that I wasn’t really expecting, and our boys pulled through,” said Carver head coach Ben Shuffain. “We were down two scores going into the fourth and our offense had its ups and downs, we actually had to punt many times, but we have the quarterback, Ty Lennox, and the line played great, the defense came through, and we made some adjustments.”

Lennox was chased throughout by the front five of Cohasset but punched the clock with four touchdowns – two through the air and two on the ground – to lead the comeback. The senior captain was electric down the stretch, added to his school-record touchdown and passing records, and finished 21-of-37 for 348 yards.

Coach Shuffain was emotional with the enormity of the win for his program, erasing 17 years of futility against the Skippers in the South Shore League.

“This team just has it, they have the tenacity, and fought through adversity and we hadn’t seen that in the first four weeks, but we saw it in this one,” said Shuffain. “I think the sky’s the limit for this team. I think (this win) is huge for this program, this town, we ‘ve had a lot of struggles lately with some loss, and this team has come together the last few weeks.”

Cohasset (2-3; 0-1) didn’t back down and had three unanswered scores as the Skippers scored as time expired in the first half on a Will Norgeot catch from hard luck losing quarterback Mike Wildfire that was ruled a touchdown after an official review at the goal line.

Cohasset came out of the locker room and put two more on the board as Norgeot hauled in his second touchdown reception of the game and Liam Appleton added his second 1-yard touchdown plunge of the game for a 36-21 lead with 2:50 left in the third quarter.

Wildfire was step for step with Lennox in the offensive donnybrook going 15-of-24 for 274 yards and three passing touchdowns for the Skippers and head coach Pete Afanasiw knows it’s too early to declare a winner just yet.

“It’s not done, and this will teach you one thing, one win doesn’t mean anything,” said Afanasiw. “Part of their execution was we had opportunities to make plays and we just didn’t make critical plays. We had had a couple of incompletes when we could have extended a drive and one with under two minutes to go.”

Afanasiw lamented the three Skippers turnovers but the costly one was late in the fourth when Camren Allain picked off a pass and ran it back 25 yards to send the game into overtime and essentially give the Crusaders new life and a win over their arch nemesis in the extra stanza.

“When the back is against the wall, they don’t quit. Last year we played Cohasset and went down a few scores and we quit. This team doesn’t quit,” said Shuffain. “They say on good teams coaches lead and on great teams, players lead, and this is a great team. We didn’t stop fighting till the last second.”

But quarterback Tyler Lennox is slowly putting the tiny town and his Crusaders on the map this season in Div. 8.

With only two winning seasons in the past 20 years, Lennox has Carver (4-0) positioned for a postseason run this time as they face Cohasset (2-2) in their home and South Shore League opener Friday night.

Lennox was anointed a starter midway through his sophomore season and has shattered most school passing and touchdown records four games into his senior season.

Coming into this week, Lennox has 4,561 yards in his career with 48 passing touchdowns and 53 total end zone trips. Lennox is just getting started this season with 12 touchdowns, two more on the ground, on only two interceptions on the season.

Lennox still has three quarters of the season left after surpassing all the Carver passing records held since 1991 by Jared Helms, who now has new nephews on the current roster.

Lennox has starred in three sports – basketball, baseball, and football – but parked his baseball career to focus on his love for the gridiron. Lennox talked about the mental aspect of the game and what he can do to improve.

“I thrive on the mental preparation during the week. I watch a ton of film, seeing what defenses have lined up, see what formations they blitz in, what formations they don’t and (defensive) coverages,” said Lennox, who is being recruited by a number of college programs.

“But my weakness would be my speed. Honestly, I’m pretty slow, but I can get out a little, and I could certainly get better at crossing the line of scrimmage and using my legs more.”

After 2 ½ seasons under center, Lennox is unquestionably the leader in the locker room. The town talk has Old Colony Youth Football League kids looking to follow in Lennox’s footsteps and riding the winning wave as he tries to get Carver close to their Gillette Stadium dreams this season.

James Callahan, a fellow senior captain, spoke highly of Lennox’s vocal leadership and getting over the hump with a winning record this season after so many years of futility, including last season’s 3-8 finish.

“He’s been our best leader for two years; we like to rely on him a lot and we know he is really good and can put the ball wherever. If we can give him three seconds, he’s going to make some plays,” said Callahan, who protects Lennox as his left tackle. “Winning is a big chip on our shoulder, and we want to turn it around and Tyler is a big part.”

Turning it around has already started but the big test is the Skippers coming to town; Carver has not beaten Cohasset in 17 years.

“Coming into each week, eliminating my mistakes, and being smart with the ball is what it takes. We now have guys that prepare and want to win as much as I do,” said Lennox. “We go week-by-week, but it’s hard to ignore. You can see the buzz around the team, people know we are legit, but keep our focus week to week and try not to look ahead.”

Cohasset is by far the toughest test for the Crusaders in the first five weeks as the Skippers took North Quincy, a tough Div. 2 team, down to the wire in a 20-14 loss last week. But Carver is firing on all cylinders, averaging 48.5 points per game while yielding an average of 4.5 points on defense.

The run game has improved, the new summer workout program is providing dividends, new coaches on the defensive side of the ball, and it’s finally all coming together as a team with Lennox comfortable at the helm and the huddle.

Head coach Ben Shuffain has taken over the program the past two years after moving his family from Mansfield to embed himself in the Carver culture.

“It’s one big family,” said Shuffain. “Tyler was a junior captain and a leader from Day 1 based on the leadership aspect and his high character shown on the field. He proved it last year, we have a great group of seniors, and Tyler is the voice of the team. The team goes as he goes.”

NAME: Tyler Lennox

SCHOOL: Carver High School

AGE: 17

HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6’0’’; 180 pounds

POSITION: Quarterback – three-year starter

NICKNAME: Ty

FAMILY:  Jill (mom), Scott (dad), Matt (brother), Agnes (nana)

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: South Shore League All-Star last two seasons for varsity basketball; South Shore League All-Star last year for football. Honorable Mention All-State (football) as a junior.

FAVORITE PERSONAL MOMENT IN SPORTS: Winning the South Shore League Championship in basketball in 2022-23. (co-champs with Rockland)

FAVORITE COURSE IN SCHOOL: Gym

LEAST FAVORITE COURSE IN SCHOOL: Math

FAVORITE PIGOUT FOOD: Pepperoni Pizza – I’m a pizza guy.

FAVORITE TV SHOW: Chicago P.D.

FAVORITE MOVIE: The Longest Yard (original; 1974)

FAVORITE MUSICIAN: Drake

FAVORITE VIDEO GAME: NBA 2K

FAVORITE SMARTPHONE APP: NBA 2K

FAVORITE TWITTER ACCOUNT TO FOLLOW: Carver Crusaders Football – @CarverFootball

FAVORITE PRO TEAM: New England Patriots

FAVORITE ATHLETE: Patrick Mahomes

HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A GAME: Watch a ton of film, eliminate mistakes in practice, getting everyone ready to play as a team.

IF YOU COULD BE SOMEONE ELSE FOR A DAY, WHO WOULD IT BE: Coach Shuffain – so I could yell at these guys!

After losing four straight to their Patriot League Fisher Division foe, the Hawks blew the doors off Plymouth South 42-7.

Last season Hanover (4-0) went down 21-0 but marched back to tie things up with 12 seconds left to go on a Ben Scalzi touchdown. But a failed two-point conversion gave the Panthers the win.

In this one, Scalzi didn’t leave anything to chance as the senior captain threw for three touchdowns and no interceptions. Wideout John McDonald pulled down 11 passes for 151 yards, two touchdowns, and added a third score on the ground early in the fourth quarter.

“This is huge because it is our first league game and we are not looking ahead but we knew this was a big one to start league play,” said McDonald. “I think it is just confidence because I know if I get open on my route (Scalzi) is going to put it where it’s supposed to be. I have a lot of trust in him.”

Scalzi found Sebastian Brown on an 11-play opening series to get Hanover on the board at 7:19 of the first quarter on a six-yard crossing route. But Plymouth South was in the game early in the second quarter as the Panthers were inside Hawks territory at the 44-yard line on a Casious Johnson 23-yard scamper.

On the run, Johnson broke the all-time Town of Plymouth schools’ rushing record of 4,400, held since 2014 by fellow Panther Dylan Oxsen, but also – for the second time in as many games against Hanover – Johnson injured his leg on the tackle. Johnson finished the game with 4,423 yards.

“I thought we were going to put something together there down 7-0, so when Casious broke off that long run maybe we could put something together and tie this thing up,” said Plymouth South head coach Darren Fruzzetti. “When Casious went down, it’s next man up, but I told everyone no one is going to cry for Plymouth South. Everyone has had our games circled on their schedule, so we don’t have any real time to feel sorry for ourselves as we now have a must-win next Thursday against North Quincy.”

Hanover put the pressure back on with a 15-play, 92-yard drive that ate up 7:52 of the second quarter and ended with McDonald’s first touchdown connection with Scalzi for 18 yards.

The Panthers (2-2) could not catch a break in the first half as the Hanover defense picked up a loose ball on the kickoff and were set up inside Panthers’ territory at the 29-yard line. Plymouth South could only muster 13 plays from scrimmage in the first two quarters.

Six plays later, the Scalzi-McDonald connection took care of business again as they scored back-to-back touchdowns in less than 40-seconds of time to go up 21-0 at the break.

“At halftime, we just made sure we stayed locked in this time,” said Scalzi. “We didn’t let them come back and let them back in the game.”

More of the same on Plymouth South’s first possession of the second half as dual-threat sophomore quarterback Timmy Durocher ripped off an electric quarterback counter down inside the five-yard line of the Hawks. While Johnson gave it go on a few plays from scrimmage, he was done for the game as a miscue on the next play in the backfield resulted in the second Panthers turnover and a touchback.

Scalzi handed off to McDonald on a three-yard end around to cap off an eight-play drive on the next series for the 35-0 lead early in the fourth quarter to put the game to bed.

Nicholas Kudrikow scored Plymouth South’s lone touchdown on a 68-yard run after running time had started midway through the fourth quarter.

Head coach Brian Kelliher credited his senior captains with their first league win of the season as Plymouth South heads back to the drawing board with their first loss in league play in over two years.

“It all goes to these guys, they go out there and make the plays. When you have a quarterback like Scalzi and Johnny (McDonald) and Vinny (Mancini) with (John) Regan anchoring the line – when you have those guys, they are tough to match up with,” said Kelliher, who is in his first year as head coach of the Hawks program.

The Dragons (2-1) were victorious in a 42-13 win over the Panthers (2-1) in a game where the Panthers seemed uncharacteristically out of sync throughout.

Duxbury quarterback Trevor Jones finished with 123 yards rushing on only 11 carries. The junior signal-caller added another 150 yards passing and finished with four touchdowns, two each rushing and passing to lead the way.

Captain Alex Barlow had 103 yards on only nine carries and scored the opening touchdown of the 3rd quarter to give the Dragons a 35-7 lead with 6:35 remaining.

“Jones, Barlow, and our offensive line did a tremendous job. Our running game is what we try to rely on, and we try to lure them in,” said Duxbury head coach Matt Landolfi. “It was overall a great team win, the coaching staff and the game plan these guys put in was unbelievable and the kids are really starting to practice hard and it’s starting to show up in games.”

Duxbury was stunned in their home opener by Hanover and turned the ship around with two big wins.

Jones called his own number on the first series for the Dragons on a quarterback keeper up the middle from one yard out.

Franklin answered with an 11-play drive as Luke Trinanes hauled in a pass from Justin Bianchetto, who finished 20-of-37 with 173 yards passing and two touchdowns.

The Panthers just were not in tune all game long with multiple dropped passes early on and the dagger seemed to be a 15-play drive that ended on fourth-and-goal from the two with 2:56 left to play in the first half.

But that was it as Duxbury rolled out five unanswered touchdowns as Sam Wien scored on a 13-yard jet sweep, Jones added a 37-yard touchdown, and Zach Falls pulled down a Jones pass after a Wien interception set the Dragons up with 1:08 left to play.

Falls was in stride on a fly route down the right sideline for a wide-open 36-yard touchdown pass with 12 seconds left on the clock and a 28-7 lead into the locker room.

Jones added a fourth-quarter touchdown pass to Adam Barr as the game was well in hand and sophomore Gavin Hammond was a perfect 6-of-6 on extra point attempts.

“We have to make some evaluations, do some things better, and obviously wasn’t happy with the execution either. We looked unprepared and didn’t look like ourselves,” said Franklin head coach Eian Bain, who was without the veteran presence of running back Mike Davide. “Flat-out we were out-coached, we did a bad job preparing, we clearly didn’t do a good job and that starts with the head coach.”

The calm, cool former Hawks wideout is back under center for a second season after being forced into action when former starting quarterback Michael Landolfi left Hanover for Lawrence Academy after the 2021 season.

Scalzi had never played quarterback at the varsity level until last season, yet went on to throw for just under 2,800 yards with 27 touchdowns and then added another 535 yards on the ground with five rushing touchdowns.

Scalzi led the Hawks to a 9-3 record in his first season and was roughly three minutes away from a trip to Gillette Stadium before Milton rallied to a 32-30 victory in the Div. 3 semifinals.

“Last year was a huge opportunity for me with it being my first year starting at quarterback, but I learned a lot,” said Scalzi. “There’s always room for improvement. Every day we are just getting better, and we just have to stay focused day-by-day.”

Scalzi continued to climb the day-by-day ladder as Hanover stunned Duxbury 28-18 on the road to open the 2023 season. That broke Duxbury’s 12-game winning streak and handed the Hawks their first-ever win over the Patriot League Keenan Division juggernaut dating to 1996 (0-11 overall).

Scalzi finished with 236 yards passing along with three touchdowns and added one on the ground.

Head coach Brian Kelliher is in his first season with Hanover and thinks Scalzi, along with a slew of returning starters, has the Hawks in position to go far this season.

“He walks with an air of confidence when he enters the field, he’s just extremely calm but confident in his abilities and he doesn’t force anything,” said Kelliher. “He just takes what they give him and if a mistake happens, he rebounds very quickly but he’s just a calming influence out there.”

Scalzi feels with the returning group of starters that Hanover is poised for another shot at getting to the Div. 3 Super Bowl.

“Our starters have a lot of experience from last year and they are all very talented, I have a bunch of weapons, and hopefully I can get them the ball,” said Scalzi. “Duxbury has been big forever and we knew when the schedule came out that we had to start preparing and game-planning. It was such a huge win for the program.”

Next up on the road show for Scalzi is Hingham (0-1) which will test the Hawks to remain unbeaten on the season before some home cooking against another non-league opponent, Stoughton.

Then the fun begins for the 6’3 senior signal-caller as Hanover travels to Plymouth South for the Patriot League Fisher Division opener for both teams. The Panthers (1-0) were one of only three teams to beat Scalzi last season, but Kelliher isn’t looking too far into the future.

“We have a great group coming back and now obviously (Scalzi) is a huge part of that so we’re just trying to do what we talked about all offseason… we’re not worried about the end of the year, we were just worried about week one,” said Kelliher. “That was our whole preseason list, let’s worry about Duxbury, and now they’re over and we’re just going to worry about Hingham. We can only take what is in front of us.”

Scalzi isn’t waiting for the right opportunities for Hanover, he’s creating them on his own.

—

BEN SCALZI PROFILE BOX:

NAME: Ben Scalzi

SCHOOL: Hanover High School (Hawks)

AGE: 17

HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6’3’’, 205

POSITION: Quarterback

NICKNAME: B-Scal

FAMILY: (Father, mother, brothers, and sisters) – Father, Jeff; Mother Allison; Brother Aidan; Sisters; Caroline and Claire

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Two-sport Varsity Athlete at Hanover – also a senior captain on the basketball team

FAVORITE PERSONAL MOMENT IN SPORTS: Quarterfinal win last year vs. Walpole. Game sent us to the semifinals, high scoring game (40-37 win for Hanover).

FAVORITE COURSE IN SCHOOL: History

LEAST FAVORITE COURSE IN SCHOOL: English, definitely English

FAVORITE PIGOUT FOOD: Shrimp and Pasta

FAVORITE TV SHOW: Breaking Bad

FAVORITE MOVIE: Rudy

FAVORITE MUSICIAN: Drake

FAVORITE VIDEO GAME: Call of Duty – Black Ops 2

FAVORITE SMARTPHONE APP: TikTok

FAVORITE TWITTER ACCOUNT TO FOLLOW: Hanover Football – @HanoverFball

FAVORITE PRO TEAM: New England Patriots

FAVORITE ATHLETE: Justin Fields

HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A GAME: Don’t really have a true routine but just make sure I stay hydrated.

IF YOU COULD BE SOMEONE ELSE FOR A DAY, WHO WOULD IT BE: Elon Musk

Needham didn’t make it easy on itself but outlasted Lincoln-Sudbury, 14-13, in a non-league slobber knocker of a game. In an old-school, smash mouth style battle, the Rockets (2-0) posted their second impressive home victory over a quality opponent.

Everything came down to the final seconds as Needham dominated on defense most of the game, but two touchdowns in the final six minutes gave the Warriors (1-1) the opportunity to tie or go for two with 17 seconds left in regulation.

“We executed the way we wanted to. We wanted it to come down to the last possession right there and that was kind of the way the game had been going back and forth,” said Lincoln-Sudbury head coach Jim Girard. “It was kind of a tale of two halves as they sort of dominated the first half, but I thought our defense played great in the second half.”

Girard went for the win with the game on the line, but quarterback Cooper Tarantino’s pass fell just short of the goal line as he was hit by senior Dave Curtis, after Curtis initially missed the sack, to preserve the one-point victory for the Rockets.

“You just have to just keep going, just keep dogging out, so yeah, I mean our defensive unit is amazing out there and they carried us. I’m glad to be a part of it,” said Curtis. “Man, just get gritty, don’t give up and have each other’s backs. That’s what coach has been preaching – it’s called ELO, love each other – so if you’re just playing for the guy next to you, you just gotta get down, get gritty, make that tackle, make that play, make that block, and do whatever you need to do to win.”

Needham quarterback Josh Morant tossed two touchdowns in the second quarter. The senior signal caller hit Ben Schreiber on play-action rollout to his right for an eight-score after fullback Jake Reiser broke free for a 41-yard run to set up the Rockets with a first-and-goal with 11:05 on the clock.

On the next series, Morant hit Tate Hoffmeister in stride on a screen on the third play from scrimmage and Hoffmeister did the rest with a 38-yard catch-and-carry after breaking multiple tackles down the sideline for the 14-0 Rockets lead with 6:50 left in the first half.

The Rockets’ defense only allowed two yards of total offense in the first half.

“We’ve got some amazing athletes and you know coach (Tony) DiCicco took it over from me this year and I think he’s done a good job,” said Needham head coach, Doug Kopsco with a laugh. “These guys are hungry, they love each other, they worked their butts off for four quarters. They really are one of the best defenses we’ve got around here in Needham.”

Lincoln-Sudbury finally found the end zone on a 14-play drive aided by two brutal penalties that ate up the final six seconds of the third quarter and exactly half of the fourth quarter. Tarantino plunged ahead on a quarterback dive on fourth-and-one and cut the deficit in half, 14-7, with six minutes remaining.

On the next Warriors possession, Girard decided to punt with 3:32 on the clock after a false start moved the Warriors into a fourth-and-eight from their own 39. Armed with three timeouts, the call looked genius as Jake Leverone picked up a loose ball in the backfield and the Warriors were set with first-and-10 from the Rockets 26.

Five plays later,  Charlie Barringer hauled in a fade route from nine-yards out but the Warriors came up just short on the two-point conversion try.

Barnstable came to town and spoiled the head coaching debut for Jermaine Wiggins with a 49-14 rout over Brockton at a packed Rocky Marciano Stadium.

Aiden Kundel was spectacular under center and finished 16-of-23 for 284 yards, throwing three TDs while adding two rushing touchdowns and 54 yards on the ground. The senior quarterback had a successful two-point conversion as the cherry on the Red Hawks’ winning sundae.

“We play like a family, and we just kept switching things up and a lot of motions, a lot of shifts, just a lot of stuff to keep them on their toes,” said Kundel.  “We have we have a lot of plays where they give me free range to pick what I want to do, and I trust in my brothers, and we got it done.”

In the first half alone, Kundel had a hand in all the Red Hawks’ scores. Kundel was a perfect 5-of-5 on the first drive of the game for 85 yards, which finished with a wide-open post route from Kyle Cogswell in the middle of the end zone.

Kundel added his second passing touchdown on the next series to Chevy Shakespeare on a 19-yard curl route without a Brockton defender to be found.

Brockton tried to keep things close as freshman quarterback Jayden Campbell scored up the middle on a quarterback keeper out of the playbook of Philadelphia Eagles’ head coach Nick Sirianni to cut the deficit to 13-7, but Kundel was just getting started.

Kundel added the hat trick through the air with a 53-yard fly route for Shakespeare’s second touchdown of the game and the Barnstable wagon was red hot heading into the half with a 28-7 lead. The Red Hawks had a 282-94 disparity in total offense for the first two quarters.

Wiggins made no excuses for the way his team played. Wiggins stressed that his team had opportunities, it was only game one of the season, but wouldn’t lay the blame on an inexperienced roster.

“There were a lot of mental mistakes, you know they’re a good football team, take nothing away from Barnstable. You make that many mistakes and they took advantage of the opportunities. We made a lot of mistakes, made a lot of mental errors and that’s what led to guys running free all over the field,” said Wiggins.  “I think that … we just, we just made mistakes. These kids had opportunities and we made mistakes. You know we’ll do a better job of coaching them up. It’s on us, we gotta make sure we get them doing the right things and understanding their assignments so we as coaches will do a better job.”

The second half was no picnic for the Boxers either as Barnstable scored on a 12-play drive capped by Kundel’s fifth touchdown – a seven-yard scamper on a broken play in the backfield.

On the very first play from scrimmage for the Boxers, Tajardo France took an interception 44 yards to the house and the Red Hawks were sitting comfortably with a 42-7 lead with 6:48 left in the third quarter. France added a rushing touchdown on the next series to put the game to bed in the final seconds of the third quarter.

“We just said, you know, we’re going to prepare as hard as we can for every situation, and we went over everything, and the kids just continue to work hard and they’re playing for each other,” said Barnstable head coach Ross Jatkola. “We have a ton of respect for everyone we play. (Brockton) is going to be a very, very good football team, they have some really good pieces, and they start a freshman at quarterback who we have a ton of respect for, but we didn’t expect (the outcome) but they have some really good pieces to start their program.”

Competing in the fourth annual A Shot For Life Pitchers Challenge, Gaffny placed first in two of the three games to determine the winner and set the pace early on.

Gaffney was first in the nine-hole challenge and her first-place finish in the final bowling pin accuracy challenge earned her the top score of four points to easily take home the bronze glove trophy for 2023.

Scoring for the Pitching Challenge is like golf with the lowest score from each game combined for the winning score, as Liana Danubio (Norton) placed second with 10 points and Jaleila Aupont (Bishop Fenwick) rounded out the top three slots (13).

Sharlotte Stazinski (Walpole), last year’s Pitchers Challenge winner, was amazing again in fourth place with 17 points while Sara Shaff (Nobles & Greenough) and Sarah Brody (Newton Country Day) tied for fifth with 18 apiece.

“I came in with the mindset that it’s not about winning but it’s just about the morals of the foundation and really just coming here and having fun,” said Gaffny, a three-time Merrimack Valley Conference first team All-Star. “It’s just about raising money for cancer so I’m very grateful I got to be a part of this amazing foundation. Winning is just a bonus.”

The big news before the event for A Shot For Life was announcing the partnership with the Boston Red Sox Foundation as the Red Sox organization sponsored the uniforms worn all weekend for the high school stars.

This past weekend’s events included a baseball pitching challenge along with home run derbies in both baseball and softball and is just another facet of Mike Slonina’s and the ASFL charity’s efforts to raise money for the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center.

“Baseball and softball are zero sum games – either the pitcher is going to be happy or the hitters are going to be happy. They, both can’t leave happy,” said Slonina. “These players fundraise for months leading up to this, so that’s why we created the pitchers challenge as a way to compete, it’s safe on their arms, and if they don’t have a great day – it’s not a bad experience. Everyone can have personal highlights throughout the day.”

Overall, with the baseball events included, A Shot For Life tallied just under $90,000 in donations for cancer research.

All of it hits home for the Gaffny family as Brigid’s grandmother is a breast cancer survivor and recently, they lost a family member to ovarian cancer.

“It really means everything to me, everyone has a smile on their face supporting each other, and all of the organizers really do genuinely care about us and the cause,” said Gaffny. “So, it’s really nice to be a part of something that is so amazing. It really does mean a lot to me and my family to be able to be a part of this.

But regardless of the sport, the results are always rewarding.

In the fourth annual ASFL Home Run Derby, Phoenyx Silva of La Salle Academy in Providence took home the engraved bat trophy as the junior outlasted 16 other top competitors from the New England area – with most players heading to or entertaining Division 1 colleges soon – at the New England Baseball Complex.

The first round had a shorter fence for bigger total numbers, but the competition gets tough as you move through the three rounds of play and the fence distance moves back as well. First round brings the top eight scorers to the second round.

In the second round, it is head-to-head competition with the four winners advancing to the finals to face off against each other. Silva had rounds of 46, 13, and won the event with 10 dingers in the finals to knock out the No.1 seed, Camryn Cloonan, 10-9.

Cloonan, a 2026 middle infielder for Dighton Rehoboth, was the final competitor and had five home runs at the timed break in the round. Cloonan ran out of gas and fell just short of tying Silva in the final minute of her second series in the final round.

“The past two days have been great and it’s great to be a junior in 2025 (class) and just want to wish luck to everyone else this season,” said Silva, who can return next season to try for the back-to-back crown. “I have some offers and it’s great to get calls, texts, and emails. This has been a great experience.”

“I expect (Phoenyx) to excel, she is one of the top athletes in New England,” said her derby pitcher, and dad, Dave Silva. “On our way here, she said ‘I don’t really care if I lose’ but as soon as the first swing happened – she is looking at me saying ‘Pitch better…pitch better. Don’t lose this for me…’, so it took two seconds for the competitor to come out,”

Rounding out the top eight hitters were Bella Bourque (Taunton), Brooke Aldrich (Taunton), Kylie Hogan (Tyngsboro), Angie Moroz, (Governors Academy) Allie Gill (King Philip) and Bella Mara (Saint Paul). Moroz placed third with eight long balls in the final round while Gill rounded out the final four group.

Slonina started hosting basketball events to raise money when his mother was diagnosed with a potentially malignant tumor in 2011. The various events now support Tandem CAR T-cell therapy at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center.

Slonina has expanded his outreach programs to football, hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and an entire weekend dedicated to baseball and softball with the Home Run Derby along with a pitching challenge for the non-hitters.

“We’ve really grown substantially the last few years and baseball and softball were our first test into new sports after we were a basketball program for so long,” said Slonina. “This is what really gave us the confidence that we could do football, soccer, hockey, and lacrosse. All the things we now do and now exist.

But eventually, all great things come to an end.

On Sept. 8, the Green Wave’s home opener, Jim Kelliher will be the first head coach in the history of Massachusetts high school football to mark 50 consecutive years at the helm of a program.

But it will also mark the beginning of the end of an amazing era, as the Abington living legend announced to his team on Friday that 2023 will be his final season for the Green Wave.

“Coaching at my hometown, coming back to my hometown, being here as long as I have has been an absolute dream. It really has been, and I contribute that to my players first before anything else and then my coaches,” said Kelliher. “I’ll miss the preps for games, practices, in the locker room after the game with the camaraderie and it has been an absolutely amazing ride.”

Coach Kelliher has been a part of the fabric of Abington High School for over 60 years as he is a graduate of the school and served as an assistant coach under Walter Paster before taking over the Green Wave program in the fall of 1974.

Kelliher sits fourth all-time in the state with 305 wins, trailing the late, great Armond Colombo’s 316 wins for Brockton. Kelliher has five state titles, with his first championship in 2002 and the last coming in 2019. In 2012, Kelliher ran the gauntlet as his team went undefeated (13-0) en route to his third Super Bowl title. All of this at one lucky school, Abington.

Thousands of players have come through Kelliher’s program, and it is tough to find one person who talks about the excerpts on the field. Kelliher’s impact off the field cannot be measured and is what everyone lights up to talk about when referencing ‘coach Kel.’

Ed Reilly has been on the sidelines with Kelliher since 2001 as an assistant but was also the tough-love head coach’s starting quarterback in the late 1980’s along with being a water boy at age 8 dreaming to play for the icon.

Reilly was emotional when asked what impact Kelliher had on him and his family after over 40 years as a player, parent, and coach. In fact, Reilly’s dad was the first of four Reilly quarterbacks to sit under center at Abington.

“He still has the same energy, more energy than I do, more energy than any of the coaches do. There have been some random times where he had to miss practice for various reasons and we can tell that we just don’t have the same energy that he brings,” said Reilly about Kelliher never missing a beat. “One of his things is being a gentleman and he is the true definition of it and it’s the things that he does off the field which I will remember the most.”

Kelliher didn’t miss much in the last five decades as he can be seen all year round at his players’ basketball games, National Honor Society inductions, and he’s probably been to more weddings and funerals for his players’ families than anyone in town. Always there to lend a caring, gentle hand during good times and certainly rough times.

Kelliher has certainly calmed down a stitch with age, but his aura and laughter remain the same as players today and yesteryear still love and respect him. Each Abington player still will run through walls to just get a jersey and a helmet under his program in the tiny South Shore town.

When you think of Abington, you think of coach Kelliher, even from an outsider’s perspective. Coach Scott Pifer, who has been with the Green Wave for 11 years, wouldn’t change a thing.

“He took me in like a father figure as I was in Quincy High School before this. Most of these guys came from Abington, played for him, and I originally am from Ohio, so it was important to me with a young family to feel welcomed,” said Pifer. “Coach did just that and now my oldest son Matthew is a freshman and it’s great that he gets to coach my oldest. (Kelliher) is Green Wave football, he’s an institution, and GWP football is all him.”

Football is family to coach Kelliher and you don’t need to look any further than coach Reilly himself. His son Eddie Jr., in his second year of college at Clemson, played under center for coach Kelliher and now coach Reilly’s other son, Michael, gets to shine in his junior year as the fourth generation starting quarterback this fall in Kelliher’s final season.

“I was always on the sidelines of every single game, and I was also a waterboy for coach as it was always a dream of mine to play for him someday. I would even go to the practices to aspire to be what coach has made me today, and now that I am, it is kind of amazing,” said Reilly.

“Looking forward to the last year playing for him and trying to get him out on top. I haven’t really processed it, but I’m just in awe. I mean 50 years and his last one is going to be with me? It’s going to motivate me even more.”

Dreams seem to be the theme as coach Kelliher walks into the sunset and contributed to many players’ dreams along the way. Maybe dreams do come true in Green Wave country, and it is all because coach Kelliher made Abington his dream. Kelliher was humble and continually pointed to his current and past coaching staffs and players for all his success.

In the now-annual All-Star game leading up to the Shot For Life Challenge this Saturday, the Blue and White All-Stars split contests between the best high school shooters in the New England area.

Shot For Life founder Mike Slonina basked in the glory of the event and the organization he started has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Dr. Curry Research Lab on the campus of Massachusetts General Hospital in honor of his mother, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor back in 2010.

“We fund trials in tandem CAR-T cell therapy. I started this at 17 when my mom was diagnosed, and while she is OK, we do this for the families that don’t have access to the best therapies,” said Slonina. “This (game) gives the athletes an opportunity to go up and down in our logo and our relationships with the athletes are important. This is just a prelude to the big event.”

The event the All-Stars primarily participate in is the Shot For Life Challenge when the winner is named the Best Shooter in Massachusetts. If these games were any indication of what’s in store this Saturday at Starland in Hanover, the basketball aficionados are in for a treat.

In the girls’ game, the Blue Squad jumped out to an early 20-13 lead behind Wachusett’s Mary Gibbons, who was 3-of-3 from three-point land in the first eight minutes. While the Navy Academy commit was outstanding early on, it was all Kaelyn Carroll the rest of the way as the Tabor Academy sophomore drained 31 points along with 11 rebounds in the 92-69 rout of Team White.

Molly Donovan (St. George’s) tied things up for Team White at 34 but Carroll finished out the half with the next six points for the 40-34 halftime lead and the Blue All-Stars never looked back.

Megan Olbrys participated in this event when she starred at Norwood, but the sophomore Villanova star continues to give back to the organization and was the winning head coach for the Blue All-Stars. Olbrys was poetic on the meaning of the game and the weekend event.

“Being a part of this whole organization for almost four years now and being a part of this game last year, it obviously runs a little deeper for some people,” said Olbrys. “After going to college and being able to come back and give back year after year is just a great opportunity. With Mike and his family, the support we are giving with anything and everything is always a good way to share.”

In the nightcap, the game was much closer down the stretch as Austin Hunt, a Harvard commit for next season, finished off the game with a thunderous dunk to give the White All-Stars a 139-135 victory over Team Blue.

Hunt finished with 22 points with numerous highlight-reel dunks and acknowledged the true meaning of why he – and the entire group of outstanding athletes – were on the court.

“It’s fun to get together with a bunch of guys that are all high-level basketball players and do something great for your community and something to raise money for a good cause,” said Hunt. “All of these guys are going to play at the next level, and while it’s an All-Star game, everyone shares in the event, shares the ball well, and plays with a good pace and we try to have fun.”

Team Blue had Rivers tandem Ryan Altman (Rivers) with 26 points and 12 rebounds, while point guard Jay Jones took over in the second half and finished with 24 to make the Red Wings proud.

But the real eye-opener for the Blue All-Stars was Jake Blackburn with a game-high 32 points. The Worcester Academy 6-foot-4 wing finished 10-of-15 shooting from downtown in the loss, with many from NBA range.

Alex Berry (St. George’s) added 18 with five rebounds and four assists while 6-foot-6 teammate Ryder Frost of Beverly (Phillips Exeter ’25) finished with a team-high 26 points with six treys and two big free throws down the stretch to seal things up for Team White with 21.6 left in regulation.

Lexington (25-0) finished off an improbable unblemished run to the finals with a 5-0 shutout over Division 1 juggernaut Brookline moments after the girls picked up their state title on the same duPont Tennis Courts on the campus of MIT.

The Warriors (23-1) were also unbeaten coming into the contest and were winners of three of the last four state titles, only losing to Acton-Boxboro in 2022 with no recorded winner in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Joel McCandless was a 6-3, 6-2 winner over Deven Devaiah in No. 1 singles play, while Arindam Bagga made easy work of Peter Khudyakov, 6-3, 6-3. But it was No. 2 Rudr Malayya who held court in a 6-4, 3-6, 10-6 thriller over Dhevin Nahata to help Lexington capture their first state tennis title since 2014.

In doubles, Aahan Mehra and Rohan Reddy were victorious in a 7-5, 6-3 straight set win over Ravin Bhatia and Kiran Bhatia while Naveen Kothandaraman and Gavin Ohler sweated out a 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 win over Owen Eskey and Jacob Kapusta to complete the startling five-match rout.

“Not expected, not at all. Expected 3-2 one way or the other, a dogfight. Our team had more seniors, maybe the experience pulled them through – couldn’t tell you – we knew some positions we had a chance of winning and others we had a chance of losing but to see the outcome that happened? I don’t know where that came from,” said Lexington head coach, Chris Pugalise. “(Malayya) is our only freshman and he was kind of a huge part of this. I knew (Malayya) was going to start but I couldn’t tell you where but he battled for his position.”

The rest of the starters were seniors this magical season for Pugalise and none more special than McCandless, who is headed to Rhode Island College in the fall to play for the Anchormen.

The Warriors had beaten the Minutemen in either the North Sectionals or the State bracket the past three tries and in fact, McCandless was playing for more than just himself in his match. The “Brookline problem” as Pugalise jokingly referred to the Warriors was a stickler for quite some time for McCandless and his family.

His sister, Kyra, already picked up her own state title belt with their victory moments before over Lincoln-Sudbury, but McCandless pointed to the family lineage, especially his brother Kyle, who is currently playing tennis at Cal Tech, as motivation to pull down the state chip.

“I was playing for a lot of people today. My father (Michael) and my grandfather (Victor Zue) came out on Father’s Day to watch me play. My brother, for several years and the hardest worker I’ve ever seen, didn’t get a shot at a state championship so I was playing for him to take one home,” said McCandless as his brother preceded him and the only year they would have crossed paths was erased in the pandemic season. “One of us has been on the team for the past seven years with one as the COVID year and would have been our cross-over year. So this is big for us and I truly feel this is a win for the both of us.”

In a rematch of last year’s state final, Lexington proved to be the better team for the second season in a row and now can claim back-to-back titles for the first time in school history. The Minuteman now own three state tennis championships, with one back in 1975.

No. 1 and No. 2 singles stars Diya Patchamuthu and Kyra McCandless cruised to match victories to pace the Minutemen from the start.

Patchamuthu secured a 6-1, 6-1 win over Emily Naum while McCandless was one better with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Lia Swire for straight set victories as the sophomore tandem set things up nicely for Lexington head coach Chance Fechtor.

“Very dominant and like you saw, (McCandless) barely gives up games and they are both anchors for the team,” said Fechtor. “Realistically, everyone has to pull their weight because you never know when they are going to have a bad day. But to know we have that strength up top gives everyone else a little more confidence.”

Lexington was equally impressive with the sweep in doubles as Jessica Dai and Kiki Reddy defeated Nina Gill and Asha Nagel, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5), while Aashna Sahani and Sally Choi took straight sets with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Heather Naum and Camille Butters.

The Minuteman avenged their only regular season loss of the season against top-seed Boston Latin as they edged into the finals with a 3-2 semifinals victory to spark the now two-time defending champions in the end.

Dai credited the team camaraderie and sticking to the season-long game plan built by coach Fechtor for their recent success.

“The main thing is everyone is so supportive of each other, and we had a ton of moments, like ‘What if this player is injured’ and ‘What are we going to do with our lineup,’ but a lot of everyone thinking together,” said Dai, who is one of two senior captains along with Sahani.

“We focused on how we were going to put our best foot forward and challenge ourselves. I know for Boston Latin in the semis it was a really tough match and we thought about changing things up, but we wanted to try again, put everything we can (into it), because we knew we could do it.”

Delaney Moquin tossed a one-hit shutout and struck out 10 as the Lakers blanked Middleborough 3-0 in a regular-season battle that had some playoff atmosphere between the two South Shore juggernauts.

Moquin struck out five of the first six batters she faced and only allowed a clean single to Mackenzie Conlon in the bottom of the third with two outs.

“I can’t say enough about Delaney. For a young team, we opened up some people’s eyes,” said Silver Lake head coach Tony Pina. “(Delaney) is a sophomore in name only, has the poise of an upperclassman, the focus of an upperclassman, and there were times she was down 2-0 or 3-0 in the count and got strikeouts or fly balls. She has exceeded expectations; she is only getting better.”

The Lakers (14-1, 12-0 in Patriot League play) finally got to Sachems starter Cassidy Machado with all three runs coming in the pivotal sixth inning.

Sam Waters led off with a single and promptly stole second base to put the pressure on the Middleborough defense in a scoreless tie and no outs. After a Madyson Bryan walk, Moquin helped her own cause with a one-out game-winning single to knock in Waters.

Nina O’Neil followed Moquin with a two-run double on a 3-and-2 pitch from Machado to the right-centerfield gap. O’Neil’s two-bagger chased Machado out of the game after 98 pitches and was all Silver Lake needed.

Eva Jenness came on in relief for Middleborough to keep things close and retired all five batters she faced with three coming via the strikeout.

The loss for Middleborough (12-2, 7-0 in South Shore League play) is its second loss in a row after dropping a 1-0 thriller to Greater New Bedford Vocational Tech, but Middleborough head coach Dan Sylvia knows these are the games he wants on the Sachems’ schedule.

“This is what we want, and this is what we need. We just came off a four-game schedule where we ran through it and we needed a good test, and this was a good test,” said Sylvia, who is in his fifth year at the helm for the Sachems. “When you face good quality varsity pitching and you face New Bedford Voke – you are going to get a quality opponent every single time you step on the field. This one – we had one poor inning, defensively we could have done a couple of different things, and I think we could have still been in the game.”

Silver Lake now owns a 10-game winning streak with its lone loss coming April 13 against Apponequet. In fact, the Lakers just ran somewhat of a gauntlet with three games back-to-back-to-back – all wins for Pina.

“For a team with two seniors, two juniors, seven sophomores and a freshman – to come here against a team like that – and just give themselves a chance all game and that’s what we talked about. Our highs don’t get too high, and our lows don’t get too low,” said Pina. “We have to be able to weather storms and at the end of the game – we will be there.”

Both teams came in undefeated on the season as the Tigers (9-0, 8-0) outlasted the Warriors (10-1, 7-1), 3-1, in what turned out to be a pitchers’ duel.

Sam Lincoln picked up the win with a complete game three-hitter while first-year hurler McCoy Walsh finished with 10 strikeouts after the big game jitters got the best of her early in the game.

All of Taunton’s runs came off the bat of Ava Venturelli as the Louisville-bound outfielder crushed two home runs in her first two at bats to give Taunton the 3-0 lead after three innings of play. Venturelli’s first blast was a two-run shot that cleared the 220-foot marker in center field with no problem.

Venturelli followed it up with her second homer on a 2-2 pitch to left center that was also a no-doubter in the third inning to give Lincoln all the support necessary for the win.

“The kids came energized to play and when they are up, they play well as a team. It was a true, entire team overall win defensively, offensively and I think they all did great,” said first-year head coach Michelle Raposo, who took over the helm for the defending Division 1 state champions. “Sam did a great job holding her composure all game, she didn’t get some of the calls, but she came back and fought hard and buckled down when she needed to.”

After the second home run cleared the fence, Walsh also settled down and retired ten of the final twelve batters she faced along with getting Venturelli looking on a called third strike. Only a single in the fifth and a four-pitch walk in the sixth prevented Walsh from being perfect the rest of the way.

“This was definitely her first big game, but Taunton just has such a formidable lineup. Their one-through-nine plus they probably have three on the bench that could come in at any time and hit,” said King Philip head coach, Kate Fallon-Comeau. “I couldn’t be prouder of (Walsh), and I really think she did get stronger as the game went on. She got more confident in her changeup and the good news is (we) will be hungry, they are going to work hard.”

Lincoln cruised into the seventh with a one-hitter inside the circle allowing only one runner to reach scoring position in the second inning on a wild pitch.

But King Philip did not fold up the tents and loaded the bases with one in top of the seventh as Ava Kelley singled, Charlotte Raymond doubled, and Taylor Regan reached on a hit by pitch.

Lincoln took a deep breath after plunking Regan and was able to induce an RBI groundout by Maddy Paschke and the junior hurler recorded the final out to end the game with her ninth strikeout.

“Anytime we play KP it’s a great game and at the end of the day, and the score is on our side, it’s a great win,” said Raposo. “We are focusing on the little things we need to work on and defensively we had a big turnout today. This was a big win for us especially against a great, competitive, never-ending King Philip team that doesn’t give up very easily.”

In Hanover, the students could very well become the teachers, as the girls’ junior sports stars are putting on their own MasterClass in how to take care of business on and off the field, court, and arena.

The Hawks have a stuffed roster of 15 juniors, most of them multi-sport athletes as well as captains for their squads, who own a combined 4.47 GPA.

What is the phenomenon that makes these girls so special?

“This group is so special due to their work ethic in all aspects of their high school experience. Hanover has witnessed many teams with high levels of talent, but the teams were unable to achieve their potential,” said Scott Hutchison, the director of athletics. “This group of student-athletes lead by example — with the highest work ethic — while putting team success at the forefront of individual success.”

Mental health is often overlooked in high school athletics. As a student-athlete, but even more so just as a teenager, this collection of young women who excel make it even more amazing in the new era of COVID-19 along with the myriad of issues teenagers face daily to just fit in.

Natalie Mutschler and fellow junior standouts Eva Kelliher, Erin Condon, Katelyn Farrell, Sophia Foley, Madison Kapur, Ayla McDermod were a part of Hanover’s state soccer championship run last fall. Along with playing soccer, Mutschler is a captain in girls track and girls indoor track and accumulated four indoor track records this season. Mutschler will also be a state title contender for the heptathlon this spring.

“With rule changes in sports and online learning at school, it was a huge adjustment for everyone. I believe that my biggest struggle was my time management in and out of the classroom. Constantly balancing (everything), volunteering and spending time with family and friends was hard for me to manage it all and prioritize,” said Mutschler.

“Through these experiences (with this group), I better learned how to manage my time and commitments in my junior year and that has given me much success in the classroom and on the field. Surrounding myself with helpful and supportive teammates, coaches and teachers helped me tremendously and impacted me positively in a mental and physical aspect.

“The mental health aspect of being a student-athlete, especially growing up in the COVID world, has been tough on many people. For me, I think that it has been hard, but I am so lucky to be surrounded by great teammates and females that are going through the exact same thing.”

Along with being a captain for the state soccer champs, Kelliher also captains the ice hockey team along with playing lacrosse in her spare time. Kelliher is also a National Honor Society member and credits the associations she has with the rest of the young female athletes who walk in the same shoes.

“Being a student-athlete has been a challenge at some points because you want to make sure you are giving your best to all of your commitments,” said Kelliher, who is hoping to follow her passion for playing lacrosse into college.

“I think that surrounding yourself with positive relationships in both an academic environment and on athletic teams has been a very big contributor. The peer pressure of blowing things off in school or sports doesn’t hold much weight with me because I try to stay focused on my goals. So, sometimes I need to make compromises but know that they will be worth it in the future.”

The future is extremely bright for Mutschler and Kelliher and their teammates across multiple sports, especially in soccer with all seven of the juniors mentioned returning next season to defend their title.

Condon is a tri-captain on the ice-hockey team, softball and soccer teams, Farrell and Kapur run alongside Sophia Foley in track and indoor track, with Foley as captain and Fisher Division MVP for the soccer team.

“The mental health aspect of being a student-athlete surrounded by social media can be difficult. Many student-athletes put lots of pressure on themselves in order to be the best at everything they do,” said Foley.

“However, thinking that you need to be the best at everything can be very mentally exhausting and cause many to lose interest in what they used to love the most. Finding that balance is very important as a student athlete as it takes less toll on your body and mental health.”

Isabella Almeida (cross country, track, dance), Katherine Baldinelli (field hockey, softball, indoor track), Mary Kate Flynn (cross country, basketball), McKenzie Foley (dual captain in field hockey and softball), Caitlin Fortuna (field hockey, track, ice hockey), Maren Hines (field hockey, lacrosse, indoor track), Paulina Leskow (volleyball, tennis, gymnastics), and Katherine Radzik (field hockey, lacrosse, indoor track) round out Hanover’s star-studded juniors.

McDermod joins Kelliher as a captain on the lacrosse team and tag teams with Mutschler as a captain on the indoor track crew with an indoor record of her own.

Mutschler said many of her peers are working towards the next level in academics and athletics and push and pull for each other — especially in the classroom.

“The Hanover community is very supportive of academics and athletics.  To have such a high percentage of highly motivated, highly competitive, unselfish student-athletes from one class has been extremely enjoyable to support,” said Hutchison.

“The group epitomizes the characteristics of educational athletics and deserve recognition for their hard work and positive choices, as do the families for fostering these characteristics in a time when so many people choose to focus on individual achievements.”

The BABC kickoff showcase at the Hale Family YMCA was a three-game sweep that featured BABC 11th graders taking on the NJCAA Region 21 All-Stars and the MIAA All-Seniors in a doubleheader, along with 10th graders taking on MIAA underclassmen.

In the opener, BABC 11th graders jumped to a 20-8 lead en route to a 100-79 victory as the team never trailed despite only six available players able to suit up.

A 59-33 halftime lead quickly evaporated as the NJCAA squad’s Tony Palavra (Quincy College) hit four of his five three-pointers. The Quincy Granite sophomore trio of Palavra, Derek Williams, and Tyler Victor cut the lead to 12 midway through the second half.

But long-time BABC leader and head coach Leo Papile calmed the waters.

“The 40-minute game had an effect,” said Papile. “We were happy with our effort and execution, so the execution was phenomenal. We got more particular in our half court sets deeper into it and we made a couple of big shots.”

Duane Thompson (Putnam Science, CT; Randolph, MA) had 22 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists as the junior was joined by Putnam Science teammates Oswin Erhunmwunse (18 points; 11 rebounds) and Ben Ahmed (13 points; 11 rebounds).

Anthony Daley (St. George, RI) dropped a game-high 24 points with seven three-pointers for BABC.

In the sandwich game, the underclassmen from Eastern Mass High Schools kept things much closer for the first 20 minutes before running out of steam and size in an 82-59 loss.

Rodrigo Dos Santos scored all 13 of his points in the first half to keep things close for the BABC 10th graders as they held a slim 42-37 lead at halftime.

Hunter Matteson showcased his inside-out game with some nifty moves in the paint and hit a three-pointer for seven first-half points while Taunton’s Troy Santos hit two three-pointers.

Tyler Catoggio (Bridgewater-Raynham) and Peter Gellene (Catholic Memorial) both were excellent off the bench for Bridgewater-Raynham head coach Doug Alves as each finished with nine points.

“Definitely great opportunity for these guys as they have the potential to play at the college level. So it’s an opportunity to play against some Division 1, scholarship level guys, size, athleticism, to see how they measure up,” said Alves, who is in his ninth year with the Trojans.

But 6-foot-9 Collins Chidera (Putman Science) was too tough to handle inside and finished with a game-high 22 points with six rebounds and five assists. Ninth-grader Alex Egbuonu (Lawrence Academy) chipped in 13 points and five rebounds while eighth-grader T.J. Allen (St. Sebastian’s) added nine points from the point guard slot.

The BABC crew saved the best for last as things were dicey down the stretch. The MIAA All-Seniors made things interesting in the final five minutes, but eventually BABC came out on top with a 64-56 win.

Trailing 25-23, the All-Seniors went ice cold in the final 4:50 left in the first half as Daley polished off a 13-0 run with back-to-back three-pointers on three-of-four shooting from behind the arc. Daley’s sharp shooting along with Thompson (16 points) gave BABC the 35-25 halftime lead. The BABC size and up-and-down offense gave the All-Seniors fits as the seniors had zero field goals in the final five-plus minutes of the first half.

Seniors’ head coach Matt Vincenzi (Pembroke) changed up the defensive tempo in the final minutes and it worked. The point guard tandem of Isiah Michel (Randolph), who led the team offensively with nine points, and Marius Canery (Lawrence) provided just enough pressure in the backcourt to cut the lead to four, 58-54, with 1:16 left, but the team just ran out of time.

“I wish we got after them a little bit earlier, but we were just adjusting to their size and figuring out their rotations and learning our kids’ strengths,” said Vincenzi. “Leo came up to me at the end and said, ‘No team has ever defended’ like we defended. So, hats off to the competitive nature of the kids we had.”

Papile praised his group’s endurance.

“We could see why all those (senior) kids were great high school players. The NBA All-Star game should take some notes because that was a real game out there,” added Papile. “We were just hanging on with fumes — we were on the ropes.

“We decided to play the college guys first because of the physicality, if we played those guys second, it would have also been a problem as they would have beat us up. So we got a pretty good look, nine days of training camp, come in, and get a couple of Ws”

No.14 Reading upended the No. 11 Wamps, 1-0, as junior goaltender Chris Hanifan posted his second shutout of the Division 1 tournament with 25 saves for the Rockets at a jam-packed Zapustas Ice Arena. Braintree (14-7-2) held a 25-15 shot advantage in the end but could not find the back of the net as the Rockets advanced to the Final Four.

Reading (14-7-1) will face Xaverian for the right to advance to the state finals.

The lone goal came in the opening minutes of the third period as Matty Fichera took a gorgeous cross ice pass from Mark Boyle at 1:30 after two scoreless periods of hockey.

The faceoff was the second of the period in the Rockets’ end and after Fichera fumbled the faceoff clear, he found Laz Giardina and the first line for head coach Mark Doherty was off to the races. Giardina fed Boyle racing in the neutral zone as Fichera filled in the left slot.

Fichera took the cross-ice pass as he slid on his backside for the game-winner to send the rowdy Rockets faithful into a frenzy.

“We made a great rush far side to Boyle, Laz was crashing net and I was wide, right to me, beautiful pass by Boyle,” said Fichera. “Awesome being the 14th seed and being in the top four right now.”

Braintree lost 18 players from its Elite Eight roster last season when it lost 3-2 to eventual 2021-22 state champion St. John’s Prep. Head coach David Fasano wasn’t thrilled with the loss for his Bay State League champions for the second year in a row in the final eight, but put things in perspective.

“Not too many people thought we were going to be back (to the Elite Eight) in January when we were 4-3-1. So, I give kudos to our seniors, our leaders, our captains, and our assistant captains,” said Fasano. “We made some personnel changes, lost our starting goalie the first week of the season, so it’s been a successful season.”

Braintree defeated the Rockets 4-2 back in February but after being pulled in a game down in Falmouth along with the loss in Canton, Hanifan has righted the Rockets’ ship just in time with outstanding play in net for the state tournament run and Reading now has a chance at a D1 state finals appearance.

“Things weren’t going great, things kind of culminated in Falmouth, so after that he’s gotten some good guidance. Quite frankly – he’s worked himself out of it with hard work, competing, because he is a good goalie,” said Doherty, who is in his 14th season with the Rockets. “We persevered, we do have a lot of seniors, and it does help when you go to difficult environments.”

In reference to the outstanding defense of the Rockets, who have only allowed one goal in three state tournament games, Doherty feels like this team is ready to roll into the Final Four.

“Again, we have a lot of seniors back there, but I’d like them to play even better though,” joked Doherty. “They … are strong, they can move people, and they generally transition pucks pretty good, So, combined with Hanifan, we are in pretty good shape.”

Brown had a flair for the dramatic with his 100th win of his short career as he took down the 285-pound title in an 8-2 decision. Brown’s thrilling victory was over Rhode Island state champion Joe Church (Bishop Hendricken). The match went down to the final 90 seconds before Brown ensured the hand raise.

This was Brown’s first All-New England first-place finish as the two-time Division 1 Massachusetts champion placed third as a freshman last season.

Brown (56-0) remained undefeated on the 2023 season. He held a slim 3-2 advantage after Brown cut Church loose after a surprise break on a quick takedown into the third period.

Brown had a slight advantage down the stretch as the sophomore knew a thing or two about his opponent coming into the finals. He defeated Church 10-0 back in January at the Colter Abeley Classic in Middletown, Conn., and while Church made significant adjustments on Browns’ underhooks, the sensation dug deep down and dominated in the final 1:20 of the third with five unanswered points.

“(Church) is a tough kid, he’s a great wrestler but I tried to wrestle my match. This feels great,” said Brown. “I just had to trust what my coaches taught me and to trust what I do and stick with my stuff. Just tried to keep a good stance and not try to do anything stupid and hold onto the lead.”

With the win, this is the first New England champion for the Lions since 2008 in the 135-pound division. Brown said he was humbled to be even mentioned in the same breath as Tim Rich and the legacy of the Chelmsford program.

“We haven’t had a New England champ or even finalist since Timmy Rich so this is a huge accomplishment for Thomas and shows all the work he puts in and shows the other guys that it’s possible they can do the same,” said Chelmsford head coach Chris Piscione.

Other notables were Shawsheen Tech’s Sidney Tildsley, who took the top spot at 138 with a pinfall over Jaeckez Mendez (East Hartford, Conn.) at 2:27 while Algonquin’s Rafael Knapp outlasted Isael Perez (Hope, R.I.) in the 170-pound bracket, 10-8, in the most exciting match of the finals.

Not to be denied was Central Catholic’s Nathan Blanchette for back-to-back New England titles at 182 with an 8-4 hard-fought decision over Spencer Fine (Bishop Hendricken).

The win gives Blanchette another shot at Nationals and when asked what his expectations were moving forward, Blanchette didn’t mince words.

“Man, that (finals) was the toughest. (Fine) is a dog and fights hard. We saw each other last season too,” said Blanchette. “We don’t go to tournaments to lose.”

Also with a very inspiring run was Emmett Logan (Lowell) in the 106-pound division. Logan came up just short of the title to take second place in a major decision loss (12-4) to Raekwon Shabazz (Xavier, Conn.). Logan, a freshman who also placed second in All-States, has a bright future with the Red Raiders’ program.

St. John’s Prep had the best finish as a team with a second-place finish after taking down the team title in 2022. The Eagles (82 points) were chasing eventual winner Ponaganset of Scituate, R.I., which finished the tournament with 143 points.

Rawson Iwanicki (160) won his second New England chip with a 7-3 decision over and Brent Nicolosi (Haverhill) in an All-Massachusetts final while Alex Schaeublin (113) added a second-place medal to head coach Manny Costa’s trophy chest in an extremely successful season on the mat.

“Iwanicki was the returning champ, he’s been undefeated three years in a row, so it’s a nice way to finish his career. Alex had a tough loss in the finals but you make the New England finals at 58-0, so how can you be upset about that? We knew Ponaganset was going to win it, they were loaded, had so many guys, but we’re happy with second,” said Costa. “I didn’t think we would be top five let alone place second so we are happy with that.”

Tewksbury’s Jack Callahan also had a fantastic tournament. He finished second at 126 pounds.

Lizzy Newman led the way with 19 points and 11 rebounds for the double-double as the Panthers had four of their five starters in double digits in a balanced effort.

Newman had 12 of her points come in the pivotal third quarter as Katie Peterson (15), Bridget Leo (12), and Chloe Fales (10) all contributed to hold off the Lions.

“It really opened up (in the third) and that’s the nice thing when you have multiple tall kids and you can move around. It opened up for everyone to do a little more,” said Franklin head coach John Leighton.

Speaking of opening up, Franklin came out roaring with an 11-0 run to start the first quarter and then had an 8-0 run to start the second quarter. But some tough shooting in the first half allowed Newton South to hang around.

Maddy Genser, who is headed to Colby next season as a two-sport athlete, finished her outstanding high school career with 19 points for the Lions. Genser, who is a 1,000-point scorer and Dual County League MVP, led Newton South with tough play on both ends, added six rebounds along with five assists, and kept things close at the halftime break, 24-23, despite the hot start from Franklin.

“Maddy had an insistence on doing it her way. This was a kid that was told she had to specialize in one of the two sports she is playing. Her decision to say, ‘No, I’m going to do it my way’ has been really important to our success,” said Newton South head coach Joe Rodgers. “They executed better than we did in more situations and we did not shoot well from the free throw line so they deserve credit, they did what they needed to do to win the game.”

Peterson led the first-half effort for the Panthers with 11 points to keep Franklin out in front of the pack but Newman and senior captain Bridget Leo came alive after the break.

Senior Tatum Murray (18 points) hit a three-pointer to get the Lions back within one, but after Leo scored on a runner in the paint, the senior captain found Newman inside on the next possession for the traditional ‘and-one’ three-point play as Franklin extended the lead, 35-29, with 4:27 left in the third.

In the fourth, Fales took an offensive charge on Murray to swing the energy back to Franklin again. Leo snapped a three-pointer on the other end to give the Panthers the double-digit lead back, 52-42, midway through the final stanza and for the first time since the opening 11-0 run in a game the Panthers never trailed.

Despite shaky shooting from the charity stripe for both teams throughout, Franklin hit 8-of-9 from the free throw line down the stretch to keep Newton South from getting back into the game.

The five-time Kelley-Rex Division champions in the Hockomock League made the Round of 8 last season, but will have to face No.2 Bishop Feehan, 72-29 winners over Plymouth North, in the Round of 16 for Franklin to try and get back.

“The hoop seems a little smaller sometimes in the playoffs. Give (Newton South) credit, but I thought the foul shooting at the end was the key,” said Leighton. “They tried to change the tempo of the game but we made enough shots in the end to win the game. Lizzie played a great game … I knew what she could give me and did a wonderful job in the second half.”

Javonah Coston scored 14 of her 19 points in the second half of the semifinals but saved her best for last as the freshman sensation netted 29 points, with 26 coming in the second half of the Boston City League championship, in a 66-52 victory over New Mission (13-9) at Madison Park.

Coston’s efforts included the final eight points of the third quarter along with 10 rebounds for the double-double to put the Bears (17-5) up big, 49-27. The win gives Andrews his first Boston City League title in his 10-year tenure at the helm for Tech Boston.

“Javonah put a ton of time in, she works with us, and works additional time with workouts and training and if I’m being honest – those things shine,” said Andrews. “The thing that was exciting for me was the shift that we made was around defense. We used the transition and (Javonah) got a lot of the layups from her teammates.”

It was touch-and-go in the first quarter as Jourdan Ferreira hit the first three of the game to put the Titans up in the first few minutes. Both teams seemed a little anxious around the rim as plenty of opportunities fell short as Tech Boston squeaked out a 10-8 lead after the first eight minutes.

Andrews dialed up the other side of the ball and the defense of Empress Nordeus, who was just as good on offense with 21 points, and Kenisha Delva created havoc around midcourt. Ferreira hit her second three-pointer inside two minutes to go to the break for New Mission but Nordeus matched it on the other end, as the Bears broke out to a double-digit lead, 29-17, with 1:34 left.

“Congratulations to Tech Boston as they earned this and worked their tails off. It’s a great program, good coach, and this was an up-and-coming thing for them and for anybody in the city – this should not be a surprise,” said New Mission head coach Brandon Wilbur. “Tough day for us, tough day shooting, we had some opportunities but I think the consistency piece is what we lacked.”

The pivotal quarter was the third with an 11-4 opening run as the Coston show was on full display. Nordeus had 13 in the first half but became the facilitator for Coston, who worked hard for every point in the paint.

“We knew this year that we had to come through and win and we may not have won all of our games but we fought to the end,” said the senior Nordeus. “We knew this was a must win. I tried my best on defense and offense and as long as we do both and work hard on both ends of the court, we are good, we came out and got it.”

Coston finished the third quarter with her own personal 8-0 run to end the third stanza. A 19-point third quarter for Coston alone put things and the championship trophy to bed for Tech Boston.

Tamia Darling, another up-and-coming freshman in the BCL, did her best with 12 of her team-high 25 points in the fourth quarter trying her best to keep the Titans in things but the game was well in hand with an all-around effort for Andrews and his squad.

“When we started this year, the vision was mine and they trusted me. Now they know what I’m going to say, they have a little coach in their head, so all I was doing was reminding them of things I’ve been saying,” added Andrews. “That’s the hope with coaching as I’m coaching myself out of a job because at some point all of these girls will be athletes some place else. So a lot of my reminding in coaching was to stick with the fundamentals, stick with the concepts, stick with the basketball IQ and that’s one thing our team has in spades.”

The pool sharks are back.

The Wildcats finally knocked Wayland off the pedestal last season after their superfecta of state title victories and continued their dominance this year.

Weston outpaced the field by more than triple digits with 326 points to grab back-to-back Div. 2 Swimming and Diving State Championships at Zesiger Sports Center on the campus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Their recent nemesis, Wayland, finished a distant second with 213 points as Weston swept the relays, also, for the second year in a row.

“I thought we had a chance coming into (the state tournament) to win but I had no idea we would swim like we did. It’s very rare that you have a meet like this where it just clicks for just about everyone,” said head coach Jim McLaughlin. “After winning that medley relay – which we were not sure about at all, and then the two free, we won that – really did build momentum.”

The snowball effect of win after win began with the 200-yard medley relay as Nico Frangioni, Nate Whitworth, Evan Hoaglund, and Austin Chiocca picked up the first-place victory to start things off and Weston never looked back.

Max Nelson (200 free) and Hoaglund (50 free) followed up as Weston jumped out to a 115-to-66 lead after three events over their closest competitor at the time, Mystic Valley Regional Charter.

Nelson wasn’t finished for the Wildcats taking the top spot in all four events he entered. The Babson-bound senior scored the top spot on the podium in the 100-yard butterfly as well as one of the legs of the final two relays of the meet in the 200-yard freestyle and 400-yard freestyle.

In fact, Nelson combined with Frangioni, Hoaglund, and fellow senior Nick Cross to set a new meet record of 1.25.60 in the 200 freestyle, originally held by the 2014 Wildcats squad, but just missing out on the state record of 1.25.15 set in 2016 by Westford.

“This (win) means a lot, this is my second year on this team, and I’ve had a great time swimming with these guys,” said Nelson. “We had a crazy crew of seniors last year that we lost. At the start of the season ,we were unsure if we were going to be able to win this meet, but thanks to our great coaches we all got a lot faster and dropped some great times.”

McLaughlin was all smiles throughout and credited the five seniors he lost in the program in 2021-22 as they set the tone to bring the Wildcats back to prominence and the winner’s circle.

“Last year we had one of the best classes we’ve ever had graduate so we were looking at this year thinking, ‘Boy, we’re going to have a lot of work to do’,” said McLaughlin. “And for these guys – they are amazing leaders – and to do what we did (here) and finish like we did is incredible.”

Mystic Valley Regional Charter (176), Longmeadow (149), and Duxbury (132) rounded out the top five teams in the final results.

The Scarlet Hawks sent 12 competitors out of the 14 weight classes to the state tournament and rolled to the team title for the second year in a row with a combined score of 187.5 to capture the overall team championship.

Michael Boulanger (126) led the way for the back-to-back champions with a first-place victory while Hayden Kaye-Kuter made quick work of the competition in the heavyweight division with a first-round pin to end things on a high note for Milford.

Kaye-Kuter advances to All-States with a bevy of other Hawks to try and avenge his lone loss of the season against Chelmsford’s Thomas Brown. In total, 10 wrestlers qualified to compete next week at All-States at Reading High School.

Derek Marcolini (106), Aiden Baum (113), and Ryan Donovan (152) each took second-place flags home for the Scarlet Hawks to round out the team title.

“We had a lot of kids that had good seeds because of the schedule that we wrestled. We wrestled the best schedule we could find and I just think that made our team ready to compete,” said Milford head coach, P.J. Boccia, who also wrestled for the squad back in 1996, the last time Milford won the state title until the past two years. “Not surprised too much with the top guys but with Boulanger being a sophomore, how calm he wrestles, he just wrestles like he is a senior as if he has been there before.”

Second place went to Minnechaug as their top-ranked trio cruised into the finals in three different divisions. Cam Ice (138) won first place with a 7-0 decision over Cyrus Jones, who was the Division 2 Central Sectional winner out of Sharon. At 145, Elliot Humphries also took down a first-place finish for the Falcons with a 9-1 decision over Luke Connolly (Northeast Metro Tech/Bishop Fenwick) to take home the top spot while Calvin Stiles, top-ranked in 160, came up just short to King Philip’s Colby Cloutier by pinl.

The Falcons were not done as they placed second in two more divisions. In a bit of a surprise, eighth-ranked Liam Meeker also reached the finals at 170 but it was Billerica’s Dominic Bastianelli who claimed the title with a 12-5 decision.

In the 182 final, Milton’s top ranked Mason Pellegri sent the host crowd home happy as he became a two-time state champ with a quick pin over No.3 seed Sam Dean (Minnechaug) as Pellegri won at 170 last season.

Overall, the Falcons sent seven wrestlers to the tournament – five to the finals – with both being school program records.

“(Pellegri) is a beast but more importantly for Sammy he avenged two losses in the semifinals against kids who beat him in the last month and came back and made the adjustments,” said Falcons’ head coachJake Strohman, whose team finishes with the second-place divisional state trophy in back-to-back seasons. “Always the bridesmaid – never the bride. Milford is a great team, all the kids are very respectful and losing to them – it always hurts – but it’s a good team to lose to and a great reason to keep pushing.”

Rounding out the top five teams were Bridgewater-Raynham in third place with 121.5, Sharon (110) took fourth place, and fifth place went to Montachusett with 100 points.

Milford finished 27-0 in dual meets, won state dual meets, sectionals and now add the divisional state title to the trophy chest in 2023. But Boccia and company are not finished yet.

“Hayden lost at Lowell in the finals to (Brown), so we will see them next week and we are looking forward to the rematch,” added Boccia. “This year we seem to put everything together. We had some really good teams in the 70s and 80s but in my opinion, this is the best team Milford has ever had.”

With time running down, DeBarros called a timeout in a 57-57 tie against non-divisional rival St. Mary’s of Lynn and called Fontes’ number despite the guard only having three points all game.

Fontes delivered the game-winning three-pointer with 14 seconds left as the Boxers ripped through a nine-point halftime deficit for the come-from behind 61-57 victory over the defending Division 3 champion Spartans (7-4).

Brockton improved to 7-4 on the season with their fourth win in a row as DeBarros and his offensive magic eight ball proved to be correct in the nick of time.

“Jordan Fontes has been our guy and he just has the confidence. I just told (the team) we are going to drive and if they try and help out, Jordan is going to be open,” said DeBarros. “Guys don’t really know who he is but now the secret is out and that’s the problem! But I’m really proud of him because he didn’t play a lot as a junior and right now he’s grinding, sacrificing minutes, and leading as a great teammate.”

The Spartans settled into a man-to-man help defense on the inbound play and once the ball was reversed, Cameron Monteiro took advantage with a cross-over at the top of the key to get into the paint as the defense collapsed.

Monteiro hit Fontes clean in the left corner for the open three-pointer and the late dagger for the Boxers.

The Spartans led most of the game and held a 28-23 lead at the halftime horn behind four-of-four shooting from behind the arc from senior guard Anthony D’Itria, who finished with a team-high 14 points for St. Mary’s.

The Spartans 2-2-1 full court press defense also had Brockton out of synch on offense and the shooting just wasn’t there for DeBarros and his squad early on.

“Honestly I think guys just settled down and every team is going to press us because we start off slow and we are just always trying to rush,” said DeBarros. “We talked about it at halftime and we said, ‘Guys we just have to calm down, pass side-middle-side and look up, and from there – just play basketball’.”

As hot as D’Itria’s shooting was in the first 16 minutes, the offense took a 180-degree turn out of the lockers as the Boxers figured out the press just in time and creeped back in with excellent bench play from seniors Brandon Bennett and DJamell Dos Santos Cardoso Alves.

The Spartans extended their largest lead of the game to 11, 36-25, to open the second half but back-to-back three pointers from Liedson Mendes Fortes and Monterio cut the deficit to five.

It was the hustle play of Bennett and two of his seven points on the night that gave the Boxers their first lead of the game since the opening minutes, 38-36, with just under two minutes to play in the third.

“We were not knocking down shots in the second half and that was the difference in the game,” said St. Mary’s head coach David Brown, who correctly identified the Spartans shot 1-of-8 from three-point land in the second half. “Brockton played well, they knocked down some shots, and they shot much better than I’ve seen them on film.”

The Spartans were on life-support as Bennett’s only three-pointer of the game gave the Boxers a 47-41 lead, with 7:01 to play in regulation.

Bennett’s bucket capped off a stunning 22-5 run from midway through the third quarter to the opening minutes of the final stanza.

But St. Mary’s wasn’t going away as Nick Sacco and David Brown (nine points; four assists) came alive down the stretch. Sacco, who finished with 13 points along with nine rebounds, kept things active in the paint for the Spartans while Brown got to the line and tied things back up to set up the theatrics for Brockton.

Brown, coming off an injury from the football season, logged his first serious minutes of the hoops campaign for Coach Brown, his dad.

“David played against Randolph and Burke with limited minutes, so this was the first time on the court with full minutes. We aren’t going to survive many games with him scoring nine points and Omri (Merryman) scoring three, so we must learn from this game and there is a reason we play this great of a schedule.”

St. Mary’s held the rebounding advantage 27-23 for the game, but it was the final minutes that caught up with the Spartans as DeBarros was not afraid to go deep into his bench. Ten players grabbed important minutes for the Boxers as the kick outs off the offensive glass paid off in the fourth quarter as Brockton avenged last season’s 61-48 loss at Lynn.

“St. Mary’s is a great coached team and defending champs, boys and girls, great program overall. We knew this was going to be a test but talked about being home and not losing at home and just having that pride,” said DeBarros. “We are very fortunate and can go 10 and maybe even 11 deep and I keep telling these guys to trust each other. We tire teams out and I think in the end, (St. Mary’s) got a little tired and fatigued.”

But whatever they are serving at the Flynn household in Hanover seems to be the recipe for success.

The Hawks have been blessed with a lineage of Flynn siblings, with Mary Kate Flynn being the latest in line of competitors to take the field, court, and track for Hanover. She is a junior captain for the girls’ basketball team and is their defensive stopper and emerging as a dual threat on the offensive side for the Hawks.

Flynn represents the sixth member in the family tree and is dominating with 11.3 points, 15.2 rebounds and 4.6 blocks per game for the 8-2 Hawks. She also is a captain for the cross country team and plays softball in the spring for Hanover.

“Her sisters were great athletes, loved the game of basketball, and all four were my top players. For Mary Kate, growing up with them and watching them has been great. This is because her three older sisters have all been through the system and know the expectations,” said head coach Brian Fisher, who is in his 18th season as the Hawks’ head coach. “Any time you think of Hanover in recent years you think of the Flynn’s as they have had huge impacts on my program.”

Mary Kate has shoes the size of Montana to fill as each of her brothers and sisters have tried to ‘one up’ each other as they complete their four years in Hanover and move on to the next level.

“This is that time of year when everyone is home from college, coming to my games, and we talk about the recaps at dinner,” said Flynn. “Everyone is giving their feedback on what I can do better and what I do well on the court and I love having them.”

Oldest sister Stephanie was a three-sport captain at Hanover in cross country, spring track and basketball. Stephanie parlayed her four years into an Ivy League hoops career at Columbia University.

Patrick and Liam, Mary Kate’s two brothers, were captains in football and basketball. Patrick led both squads to state championships in 2016 as the Hawks captured their first state football title in 40 years. He went on to play football at the University of New Hampshire and was named captain for the Wildcats his senior season, while Liam led Saint Anselm in tackles in 2022 with a career-high 64.

“We have a court in the backyard and play one-on-one, or three-on-three with the family and, yeah, it can get competitive,” said Mary Kate.

She then laughed when thinking about the nature of the pick-up games and thinks she will be in some hot water with the family.

“Patrick seems to think he is the best but he’s just the oldest brother and has the height advantage, maybe not the most skilled,” she said.

Erin broke the college athlete mold and followed Liam to Saint Anselm to focus on academics. Erin was an amazing leader for the Hawks as a three-sport athlete for cross country, basketball and track, as sister Emily was not far behind. Emily, like Mary Kate, excelled in cross country, basketball and softball for the Hawks and currently laces up for Babson head coach Judy Blinstrub and the Beavers as a sophomore forward.

“Emily and I are the most competitive as we are the closest in age and skill, but I’m more of a post player and Emily is more of a shooter. We often train together and do one-on-ones together and she – and Patrick – can get on my (sports) nerves from time to time,” said Mary Kate.

Not to be left out of the scrum is David, the head of the table for the Flynns, as he shined on the baseball mound for Rollins College just a few years back.

“My dad has the most insight on what to do better, but he can be picky, which I appreciate. Growing up – he coached all the travel teams and we all bond over how competitive we were in middle school and with travel teams,” said Mary Kate. “We are always bragging about who won more and it’s easy for my dad to get in on the conversation as well because he coached everyone.”

So while Flynn is following the family legacy in Hanover, she is still blazing her own path. As a defensive stalwart, the 6-foot power forward-center pulled down a career-high 31 rebounds in an early-season contest.

Fresh off their eighth win on Tuesday night – a 55-35 rout over Silver Lake – Flynn (16 points, 12 rebounds, five blocks) continued her amazing season. Coach Fisher knows Flynn is the last in line for the talented family but can be also the final puzzle piece for a long run in the state tournament.

“Our defense has been our staple all season so if we continue to play the defense, our offense feeds off it and we can be a huge threat to anyone,” said Fisher.

For now, the work isn’t nearly complete as Mary Kate is the last to paint the finishing touches for the Flynn tribe and the Hanover legacy she will leave behind. But it also sounds like Flynn is bringing the family values on the court as well.

“Being so young as a team, we’ve done really well. The team chemistry is very constructive when it comes to criticism,” added Flynn. “We have close friendships, team dinners all the time, and we are supportive of each other. I really believe this will help us go far this season.”

In a key Kelley-Rex Divisional battle, Franklin remained unbeaten on the season in a 61-53 victory over league rival, Taunton (4-2; 3-1). The junior forward was dominate with a game-high 34 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and added four assists to lead the Panthers, who improved to 5-0 on the season and 4-0 in the division.

“(O’Leary) is excellent, scores at all three levels of the game and he’s just a real difficult matchup. He made some tough shots and he is just an exceptional kid,” said Franklin head coach, C.J. Neely. “Taunton is a tough team, we knew it was going to be a battle, they have been playing great all year, and we got a chance to watch some of their film.”

The Tigers were up for the challenge early on as Taunton jumped out to a 9-0 lead on precision shooting from Chris Perault and Christian Lamour-Voley (10 points; 8 rebounds). Perault was 2-of-3 from behind the arc in the first few minutes and finished with 16 points as the Tigers jumped out to a 14-8 lead after the first quarter.

“I didn’t want to burn the timeout, I thought about it, but I thought we were playing a little tight and we had a couple of turnovers,” said Neely. “It was uncharacteristic of us and we didn’t take care of the ball early in the game and I figured we would settle down. Tough start and surely not how we drew it up”

It was O’Leary who settled things down in the paint with 10 of his 12 points at the break in the second quarter. But it was Bradley Herndon who seemed to be the game-changer off the bench.

The junior guard did not fill the bucket with points, as he finished with four in the game, but after checking in at the five minute mark, Herndon’s vigor was palpable with four rebounds, three steals and two assists all in the last half of the second quarter.

Credit the entire Panthers’ defense as they limited a Taunton team that came into the game scoring 65.8 points-per-contest.

“I thought his energy changed what we did on the defensive end of the floor. We are an aggressive defensive team and I thought that we were playing passive. He got a couple of steals, got our emotions going, and I thought the other guys fed off that emotion and we were finally able to buckle in finally on defense,” said Neely. “So unselfish, gets in there and creates for his teammates. He can finish at the rim too so it is pretty nice to have a guy like that coming off the bench.”

With four lead changes in the second stanza, O’Leary and Herndon capped off the half as O’Leary hit a baseline buzzer-beater to give the Panthers the locker room lead, 26-21.

“What we wanted to do with our spacing was to take it to the rim and then take it to the rim again,” said Taunton head coach Charlie Dacey. “When we get the spacing, you just run your stuff. We tried to run our stuff.”

The offensive set’s with the Tigers in a weave as the top of the key looked for the mismatch worked early on but the persistence on offense was abandoned in the third quarter.

Franklin put together their own streak to start the half with an 8-1 advantage before Dacey could secure a timeout for the Tigers. Back-to-back three pointers from Andrew O’Neil and Justin Allen gave the Panthers their first double-digit lead, 34-22, at the 5:50 mark of the third.

But Taunton didn’t fold up the tents in the fourth. With Franklin leading 47-38 going into the final eight minutes, Troy Santos, who matched Perault with a team-high 16 points, led a chaotic comeback with two three-pointers and a floater in the paint to get the Tigers within five, 58-53, with 15.9 seconds left to play.

Franklin seemed to fall into a prevent-offense on their own and Taunton took advantage in the final three minutes of regulation with multiple turnovers.

“(Santos) can be a little streaky and that’s the case (here), so you have to ride with him when he’s not-so-hot because chances are he will get hot,” said Dacey. “At that point – you just play and we have enough speed ‘when you just play’. But the reverse of that is (the ball) gets fired up from all angles. We are trying to preach patience because if nothing else you must be patient and you just can’t play the street game. You get annihilated.”

Santos and the Tigers just ran out of time and O’Leary, who tired at the free throw line down the stretch, hit enough from the charity stripe to fend off Taunton.

O’Leary finished 10-of-13 overall from the free throw line and Coach Neely was quick to point it out.

“Would have been nice to see him finish off some of those free throws at the end,” joked Neely. “He has such a great post-game which is a lost art in the modern game and his footwork and eyes create.”

“Santos is just a stud so you know you’re going to have to deal with him but he has some other good players around him this year and their athleticism – especially on the boards – is a challenge,” said Neely.

—

But a play-action, championship-record pass was the difference early on as the Lions (11-2) roared to a 29-6 victory over No. 3 St. Bernard’s (11-2) in an all-Central Massachusetts final Friday at Gillette Stadium.

The win is the first-ever Super Bowl title for the Lions since the state championship format started in 2013, but the third title in school history, with Central Massachusetts titles in 1988 and 2012.

After a scoreless first quarter, quarterback Luke Foley tucked in a second-and-seven designed run off left tackle on the Lions’ own nine-yard line and found Connor Muldoon in a one-on-one battle in the middle of the field. Foley tossed up a 50-50 ball and Muldoon did the rest for a 91-yard touchdown at 11:04 of the second to give the top-ranked Lions the 6-0 lead in a game they never trailed.

The Foley-to-Muldoon connection is now a Massachusetts State Championship scoring record for yards on a touchdown as the completion surpassed Clinton’s Rich Wetherell’s 89-yard pass to Dan Notaro in a 1994 win over Leicester.

“It really changed the momentum of the game and opened things up, it was a tight game, and we needed that score,” said Muldoon. “We have a great line with Jake O’Brien, Jon Edwards, Sam Stille and all the guys on the line really makes us hard to stop.”

After Jamie McNamara punched in the two-point conversion, West Boylston held the 8-0 lead into the halftime lockers as both teams struggled to get their run games on track.

On the first series of the second half, St. Bernard’s Antonio Mancini (23 carries, 72 yards) finished off an 11-play drive that ate up 7:59 of time in the third to cut the deficit to two, 8-6, at 4:01 of the third.

That was all the Benardians could muster as West Boylston went back to the tried-and-true balanced double-wing running style and smash-mouth defense they have been accustomed to.

St. Bernard’s head coach Tom Bingham was gracious and emotional in pointing to his seniors in their last dance ending with a loss.

“Wish we had a few things back and certainly did not put our best foot forward but incredibly proud of these seniors for the road our school has gone through the last four years and the leadership we’ve had and everything they have accomplished along the way,” said Bingham. “It just seemed we never really got into a rhythm on either side of the ball and that’s not to take anything away from West Boylston and maybe it was something they were doing to make that happen.”

After Mancini’s lone score for the Bernardians, John Ruas answered right back with a 32-yard touchdown on the next series as West Boylston pulled out to a 16-6 lead. Bobby Humphrey and McNamara added their own rushing scores in the fourth quarter as the Lions scored 21 unanswered points to close things out with 5:07 left to play.

McNamara finished the day with a game-high 136 yards on the ground on only 17 carries capped off by his game-ending 45-yard scamper to the end zone.

The Lions’ defense was outstanding all game long, holding St. Bernard’s to 68 yards of offense in the first half en route to allowing only 172 total yards in the game. Senior captain Damien Jones finished with 71 yards on 18 carries for the Bernardians.

“In the second half, I felt a little pressure, but we don’t have a kid over 220 pounds on the (offensive) line, so we are tough,” said West Boylston head coach Mike Ross. “Our defense has played well all season and Mancini and Jones are unbelievable.”

“We have four (running) backs, they are all good, and most teams do not have that. The new state format is so hard to even get to here. You play the best in the state and I think Division 7 is the toughest division in the state top to bottom,” said Ross.

ST. BERNARD’S (11-2) – 0 – 0 – 6 – 0 — 6

WEST BOYLSTON (11-2) – 0 – 8 – 8 – 13 — 29

WB – Connor Muldoon 91 pass from Luke Foley (Jamie McNamara run)

SB – Antonio Mancini 2 run (run failed)

WB – John Ruas 32 run (Bobby Humphrey run)

WB – Humphrey 9 run (run failed)

WB – McNamara 45 run (McNamara kick)