The Story
A lot of our winter sports are reaching the end of their seasons, while some are only a little over halfway. So, here is our mid-ish season sports update.
With a little more than a month left in the season, we’ve played eight of the regular season‘s 18 games and have a 4-4 record. That puts us in ninth, but that could very well change. We’re predicting that we’ll finish the season either 9-9, or 10-8, with the outlier being the Portsmouth game, who’s ranked at no. 8, on 2/15. If the teams ranked above us stay the same, we would play fifth-ranked Spaulding for a spot in the quarterfinals. But don’t lose hope, because anything is possible－miracles do happen, like the entire Spaulding team tearing their ACLs. Though we will say, the boys only lost to #6 Londonderry after they scored a buzzer-beating shot. And Londonderry only lost to Spaulding by one. We play Spaulding for the first time on 2/5, and then we’ll see what’s what. Justin O’Neill and Thomas Morgan have consistently been the top scorers so far, with Harry LeGoullon always chipping in. Two of them are sadly seniors, but O’Neill, along with key players Tim Greene and Trey Ravenelle will be back next year. Phew.
Like the boys, it’s still early in the season; we’re exactly halfway through, with nine games left. The team is currently tied for sixth with a 7-2 record－not too shabby. Right now, DI is wide open, with the exception of BG, who is dominating (beat us by 32 points). But it’s fine, the race for second is much more important. Don’t you remember? Second is the best! And, as far as second place goes, it’s truly anyone’s game. There are six contenders, one of them is us (no big deal. Hair flip.). We’re giving Goffstown the benefit of the doubt and counting them, but they really have not beaten any good teams. We’re also giving five of the teams the benefit of the doubt against Pinkerton, who may have very well secured second place. In that case, screw the rhymes, third is the best. They only lost to BG by 13, which is only considered small because, you know, it’s freaking BG. They have also handily beaten three of the other five contenders. Now, we wait until 2/12, when we play Pinkerton. Amanda Jonas, Alli Morgan, and Isabella King have consistently been our top scorers. We’ll just say it’s not uncommon for King to have 20 points. #she’sonlyasophomore
A sport where we can finally talk about first place aspirations! The boys are in third, with an 8-1-1 record. We had a tough loss to Pinkerton (10-1-0) on Saturday, with a final score 3-2, and lost our previous first-place standing. While the starting lineup changes for most games, you can usually count on Parker Roberto, Jake Sanclemente, and Jack Sylvain starting as forwards－at least against good teams like Pinkerton. As far as defenders, John Giroux and Parker Joyce usually start against better teams, but it’s not uncommon for Tim Spencer and Brian Greer to start in their place. The two goalies, Shea Guimont and Ben Bernard, also switch off, in a way that seems to be fairly equal. However, Sylvain, Joyce, and Guimont were the only regulars out on the ice at the start of the game. The Union Leader also said that the usual starters were not allowed to warm up, and did not see the first five minutes of the game. So what does that mean? Some sort of trouble in paradise? We play Concord (9-1-0), who’s in second place, on Wednesday. The two teams have already faced off in the Christmas tournament, with Bedford winning 5-1. So we feel like we can do that again. Easy Peasy. And, we feel like the team can take Pinkerton if they start off normal. Pinkerton took advantage of the lineup change and scored two goals right off the bat. So, we’re hoping that issue is resolved.
A real nailbiter. And not for first－for making playoffs. With a 3-9-0 record, the girls, a second year team, only want to make it to the first round, which doesn’t seem like too much to ask. However, they need to be within the top 11 teams. Right now they’re 13th, and should make it to 12th. But the last spot is going to be a little tougher. Fingers crossed we beat BG (3-7-0) tomorrow. Though, we do feel a little like “what the hell?” with all of the consortiums of teams. It’s Bishop Brady, Trinity, and West all on one team. But it’s fine, we don’t need anyone else…right? The girls have come a long way since last year, where they did not win a single game. While Maddy Lucontoni has definitely been a force to be reckoned with, the other girls have been contributing to the scoreboards a lot too. Kendall Hall, Carly Ciechon, and Abi Mangiafico have been our other top scorers.
We are currently 4-2 in the season, with the championship meet coming on 2/19. We’re sort of in the thick of it. We’ve crushed two teams, beaten two teams in very close meets, and been crushed by two teams. It’s been a very well-rounded experience. Will Theodore and Jack Carozzi are having stand-out seasons, which are much needed with absence of senior A.J. Pagliarulo.
Alpine is having the great season they were hoping for. In fact, they’ve been kicking every other team’s ass. So far, both the girls and the boys teams have won every meet. (Although we don’t really know about Pats Peak on 1/24. Results aren’t posted yet. But we’re pretty cocky we’ve got the W) We wouldn’t be surprised if both teams won states. (Remember, the girls were state champs last year and the boys held the title from 2013-17.) CJ Ladue, making the so-natural transition from links to slopes, leads the boys with two first place finishes and a third. Cole Berube has been unexpectedly killing it as a freshman, taking two second places. Sydney Berube, with a first and a second place (we’re thinking something runs in the family), and Jessie Rioux, with two firsts have been doing the same for the girls.
The team predicted that they would have a meh season. To be honest, we don’t know what kind of season Nordic is having. No one is posting their results! For some reason, NHIAA does not seem to care about Nordic. The suspense is killing you, right?! They finished fourth in their first meet. So maybe that was a meh meet? We have yet to fully understand the “meh.” Tommy Saltzman and Haley Schmidt were the top finishers for the team. They have had some trouble with practicing, since, you know, not much snow. Here’s to hoping that there’s a change in scenery soon. It’d be a win for Nordic, and a win for us because of the snow days.
The team has been doing fairly well this season, facing its biggest competition from Exeter, last year’s girls champions, and last year’s boys runner ups. BG won last year for boys. In meet 2 against Exeter, both teams lost, girls 79-90 and boys 63-100. But it’s not a big deal. Our comeback will just look even better. Our lone diver, Alex Beekman, has taken a first and a second in the dive meets against Exeter. So take that! Now we know that there is an i in team. For the girls, there are some serious sibling powerhouses. Sydney and Meghan Leyden together have 13 first place finishes, and Emma Jane and Isabelle Tagliafero have 7, both pairs have tons of 2nds and 3rds. Alex Tjie has been dominating the boys, with 7 out of 9 first place finishes, along with Colin Allen, who has won six out of the eight races he’s swam in.
The moment you’ve all been waiting for. Weird how we can read minds, right? We’ve learned way more about gymnastics than we ever thought we would this season, and we can actually confirm that it is somewhat interesting. It’s not basketball and hockey level, but it’s more compelling than swimming. And track. And both ski teams. We know! Who would’ve thought! In every meet, we have finished in second place. They must’ve gotten the memo from girls basketball. In the all-around, Tara McGadden and Olivia Towey have each had two seconds and two firsts. Pinkerton and Londonderry are dominating, and to be honest, we’re happy for Londonderry. They are in fact good at something. But we feel like Pinkerton needs to let up a little. Maybe that’s just us? We think that the girls can beat Londonderry, and take second place this year, which already seems to be their favorite position. We’re not as optimistic about beating Pinkerton though…
Track has its championship meet this weekend at UNH. The boys have taken home two second places, and a fourth place, and a fifth. The girls gotten two firsts, a second, and a third. For both teams, Pinkerton is the one to beat. The girls have already taken home the W and a 3rd place against them, while the boys finished behind Pinkerton both times they faced them. Our best event? Relays. All day every day. For the 4×160-meter relay, Zach Verow, Tyler Spires, Lucien Mumpini, and Patrick McDonald, have taken 3rd every time for the boys, and Veronica Gikas, Hanah Mikol, Brianna CoCo, and Ellie Flynn have taken three firsts and a second. What do they say? It’s always better together.
The Runaway
The end of the winter season is coming soon. Which is sad because we can’t find one interesting spring sport. Conclusion: there is no football of spring－just a lot of bass fishing of spring.
What to say…
When you see Mr. Zeller riding his bike to school every morning…
Damn. That takes commitment. So the easier solution for everyone: paying for energy efficiency. Because, you know, it’s January, and bike helmets might not go with our outfits. The school board is proposing a $3 million bond for energy efficiency projects, such as LED lighting, pipe insulation, natural gas, etc. All it took was for the school board to look at some pictures of some cute sea turtles. Well, that and some voters. However, there’s one plot twist: developers Dick Anagnost and Bill Greiner (remember them?) have offered to fund BHS and Lurgio’s conversion to natural gas, if the school board allows the apartments to connect to the school campus’ sewer system, which the board agreed to. However, this deal depends on whether the town approves the developers’ requests for variances and the appeal. So, maybe a reason to root for the developers…
Things to Know
Cuz You Need Your Drama Fix
There’s a winter play this Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:00 called Audience. We don’t know what the heck it is, but now we have something to get us through to the spring play.