Wednesday, February 26, 2014

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SPORTS

B1

ALSO INSIDE
COA, B5
PUZZLE, B9

HEALTH, B10
CALENDAR, B11

QUESTIONS? Contact Sports Editor John Quattrucci at [email protected] or 508-967-3527.

SPORTS
ROUNDUP

Bridgewater Rec
track & field
The Bridgewater
Recreation Commission
will continue to sponsor
a spring track and field
program for Bridgewater youngsters entering
grades 5-8. The program will be held
Mondays and Wednesdays, from 5:30-7 p.m.,
beginning on April 28
and continuing through
June 18, and will take
place at the Bridgewater State University
track and field facility at
Swenson Field. The program will be directed by
Sam Baumgarten, Kim
Larcom, and Joe Gillis.
Sign up forms are being
distributed through the
schools, and completed
applications should be
returned to the Recreation Commission.
The form is also posted
on the Town website,
www.bridgewaterma.
org, and the youth track
website, www.bridgewateryouthtrack.webs.
com. For additional
information, call Sam at
508-697-6848.

Old Colony YMCA

Swim Team
The Old Colony YMCA
Storm Swim Teams
interim season is just
a few weeks away.
Sign-up now and begin
refining your strokes,
work on endurance and
make new friends. Practices are Mondays and
Wednesday 6-7 p.m. at
the Middleboro YMCA,
61 East Grove St.
For more information, visit www.
oldcolonyymca.org or
call 508-947-1390.

Basketball
showcase
Nextbball is holding
a basketball showcase
for high school age girls
interested in playing
college basketball,
Saturday, March 22 at
Tabor Academy. Division 2 and 3 college
coaches will be in attendance. Register at www.
nextbball.com.

Pitching lessons
The USC Complex
on Route 53 in Hanover
is offering a series of
pitching lessons for all
ages. The lessons are
conducted by former
Abington High School
and UMaine pitching
ace Steve Perakslis.
Perakslis just completed his first season
of professional baseball pitching for Kane
County, a single-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs
organization. Lessons
are half-hour in duration and the fee is $50
per session. For more
information, call Mark
Free at 781-996-3053,
ext. 114.

Tri County Saints

The Tri County Saints
Youth Hockey program
is accepting registrations for the fall house
hockey program. The
house hockey league is
for beginner / intermediate skaters that are
ready to play games and
have fun! The league is
run in the Taunton ice
rink and more information / registration can
be found on the website
www.tricountysaints.
com. Registration will
be open soon for our
fall, learn to skate /
learn to play hockey as
well. Watch the website!
Also, the Tri County
Saints travel hockey
program has enjoyed
its recent, exciting
move to join the South
Shore Conference. The
travel program has
limited spots open for
the 2013-14 season,
and information can be
obtained by contacting
the TCS board members found on the
website.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Back where they belong

By Steven Sanchez
GateHouse News Service

One team. One family.

The inspirational,
heartfelt words of the
Bridgewater-Raynham girls
basketball team.
Its a team that has seen
their share of adversity.
A 35-game losing streak
that began two seasons
ago-including the first five
games of this season-was
staring these young females
athletes and second-year
head coach Meghan Driscoll
in the face.
But through it all, they
remained undeterred.
Last year, we definitely
were all frustrated junior
point guard Karlie Keating said. We all tried our
hardest. This year, we came
together as a team.
The Trojans returned to
their traditional winning
ways in 2014, clinching a
share of the Old Colony

League title with rival Dartmouth and captured their

first league title since 2010.
Quite remarkable, considering they were one of
three Eastern Mass. teams
(Hanover and Milford) that
finished with 0-20 records
in 2013.
B-R finished the regular
season this year with a 7-13
record and 3-1 OCL mark.
The Trojans (7-13) travel
to Newton North (17-3)
Tuesday night for a 6:30
p.m. game.
Day after day, the girls
experienced losses, said
Driscoll, who won her first
game as a coach against
Cardinal Spellman on
Dec. 28. A lot of people
would give up and not come
back after going 0-20. All of
them came back and said
hey lets do this and have
a great year. They put the
time in over the summer
and it shows.
That faithful day in

December, B-R trailed the

Cardinals by nine points in
the fourth quarter before
coming back to win, 66-63.
It was the Trojans first win
in nearly 2 seasons. That
victory also propelled them
to win their next two games.
Oh we were ecstatic, said
B-R forward Emily Kenneally after her first varsity
win as a player. You should
have seen us on the bus ride
home. None of us could not
sleep. We definitely made
a huge improvement as a
team. We all focused on not
being individuals and really,
revolving around building
the team together as one
unit.
Driscoll never experienced the pain of losing at
B-R.
The former four-year varsity starter was voted OCL
MVP one year and was a The Bridgewater-Raynham girls basketball team is back
McDonalds All-American in the tournament after going 0-20 last season. The
SEE GHOOPS, B2

Trojans (7-13) travel to Newton North (17-3) Tuesday

night for a 6:30 p.m. game. COURTESY PHOTO

SPIRIT OF THE
THING

SENIOR YEAR

Looking back, looking ahead Tourney

By Alana Santos

hen I was a freshman, I never

imagined I would
be where I am now, a
senior, and the school year
is almost over.
Soon enough I will be
on my way, walking across
the stage, receiving my
diploma, and leaving my
school behind. I will no
longer have the safety net
that high school provides.
Although I am nervous for
the future, I am impressed
by what the past four years
have taught me.
I began as a freshman
on the varsity cheerleading
team; an underclassman
surrounded by older and
more experience girls. I
was nervous and quiet. But
these girls and my coaches
soon became my family.
They taught me lessons no
schooling could.
Most of favorite my high
school memories were
made with my cheerleading

team. Twenty-eight girls

that all had the same
purpose:
to hit that
stunt,
to land
that tuck,
and to
jump and
dance our
Alana Santos
hardest.
The love,
patience, and lessons
I learned couldnt be
achieved anywhere else but
behind all the frustration,
failure, and obstacles we
overcame as a team.
The most difficult part for
me will be leaving behind my
routine; practice three times
a week, Friday night football
games, and being a leader
for many underclassmen.
This routine kept me busy in
high school and it kept me
on track. Being apart of the
Friday night football games
is something I really enjoyed.
The atmosphere of the
games and the excitement it
brought to the fans made me

feel content. I wasnt afraid

to perform in front of all
my peers at halftime; I was
nervous but never scared.
This is because I had 27 other
nervous girls by my side
that would pick me up and
keep me going. This wasnt
something they only did at
football games or at competition; they did this throughout
high school. Once you were
on the team you were part of
the family. We all looked out
for each other.
This year I had the honor
of being named a captain
for the varsity cheerleading
team. My coaches counted
on me to be the leader and
to set an example for the
other girls. This is something that not everyone
gets to experience. I looked
out for each one of the girls
on my team. If these girls
ever needed something, of
course I would be there. I
wanted to welcome them
with open arms and let
them know that they had
someone who was there for

them, the way others had

done for me in the past.
Its the bonds you create
in high school that really
help you get along. You
make friends quickly and
arent alone in a huge,
three-floor high school.
The main lesson I learned
was that you need to take
care of your own.
Watch out for your friends
and teammates and they
will do the same for you. The
best advice I could ever give
to someone entering high
school would be to branch
out and join a club or sports
team. You wont regret it. Its
a big part of getting through
high school-through all the
morning wake ups, the terrible break ups, and all the
other life events that happen
in those four crucial years of
your life.
Alana Santos is a senior at
Taunton High School and
writes for the Bridgewater
Independent, Raynham
Call, Easton Journal and
Mansfield News.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Trojans topped
by Durfee
By GateHouse
News Service

Less than two minutes

into Monday nights MIAA
Division 1 South Sectional
preliminary-round boys
basketball game at Durfees
Luke Urban Field House,
the degree of difficulty for
the Trojans of BridgewaterRaynham Regional High
School was already a 10.
We had a very poor
start: 10-0, B-R head
coach Larry Fisher said.
You might say we won
the rest of the game, but
we got off to a real bad
start and had a little trouble from the foul line.
Down 10 with 6:05 to play
in the first quarter, 20thseeded B-R fought all the
way back to tie, 55-55,
with 5:17 to play in the
game, but the 13th-seeded
Hilltoppers outscored the
Trojans, 12-8, down the
stretch to prevail, 67-63.
Its like you take a deep
breath after you get to that
point (tied), said Fisher.
It felt like if we could just
get that lead and then we
didnt. We couldnt get over
that hump.
A free throw by senior
guard Rashad Bell (10

points) finally pulled B-R

even, but three straight
misses from the stripe
part of a 9-for-20 performance by the Trojans
from the foul line cost
them the opportunity to
seize the lead.
A dunk by junior
f o r w a r d - c e n t e r Ty r e e
Robinson (a game-high 28
points) restored Durfees
lead and after one foul
shot each from senior
guard Ryan Carter and
sophomore forward Chris
Farrington (12 points)
pushed it to 59-55, B-R
never could get closer than
two the rest of the way.
Thus, after splitting two
regular-season games, the
Hilltoppers (13-8) got the
one that mattered most,
sending them on to play at
Needham (17-3) in a firstround game on Wednesday
night.
I want to give a lot of
credit to Durfee, especially
Robinson and Farrington,
said Fisher. Robinsons
a tough player and Farrington hit the outside
shots. We worked hard, the
kids gave it a great effort,
but they played a really nice
game.
A basket by senior guard

Bridgewater Raynhams Jack Connolly guards Durfees

Melvin McWhorter. The Trojans fell, 67-63, to the Hilltoppers Monday night in the first round of the Div. 1
South Sectional. WICKED LOCAL PHOTO/MIKE BORDEN

Jaime Carey (a team-leading 19 points) pulled the

Trojans within two for the
final time at 61-59, but a
bucket by junior guard
Brendon Bindig and a foul
shot by junior guard-forward Melvin McWhorter
(16) upped the difference to
five with 48.9 seconds to go.
Regaining possession after
a baseline basket by junior
forward Terrel Williams
(13 points), B-R (10-11)
had one last chance to tie,
but a missed 3-pointer led
to a sneakaway by Bindig,
restoring Durfees fivepoint lead (66-61).
With the Trojans forced
to foul following two free
throws by Williams, a free
throw by Bindig with 9.5
seconds left pretty much

put the game away.

With Robinson sandwiching baskets around
3 - p o i n t e r s b y Fa r rington and McWhorter,
Durfee stormed out to
a 10-0 lead that grew
to 13 on three occasions in the first quarter.
Faced with an uphill climb
all night long, the Trojans
closed to within a point,
38-37, when senior center
Alex Rose and Bell opened
the second half with baskets, but they fell back by
as many as eight on two
occasions in the third quarter before closing with a
6-0 burst to make it 50-48
heading into the fourth.
Following a bank shot
SEE TOPPED, B2

time!

By John Quattrucci
jquattrucci@wickedlocal

hen I went to
high school
in Martinsville, there was a sign
posted outside town that
read: Martinsville, Indiana
pop. 4,800. However, our
high school gymnasium
seated 5,200 people, 400
more than lived in the
whole town! And it was
much like that all over the
state. Our gym was always
full for games.
- John Wooden

You call yourself a sports

fan?
I challenge you to get off
the couch this week and
prove it.
Its high school tournament time. Several teams
in our area have secured
post-season berths and
will be striving over the
next few weeks to attain
immortality- a banner
hanging in the gym
celebrating Sectional, or
perhaps, State Champions.
I want you to come
along for the ride.
I understand its a different world from the
mid-20th century Indiana
John Wooden was describing. I know its not 1954
anymore. Heck, its not
even 1984 anymore.
Our world has become
busier and more fragmented. Our towns no
longer take their identities from their local sports
teams.
Im not expecting
the whole town to shut
down early and form a
Hoosiers-like caravan
behind the team bus.
I just want you to make
an effort. Not just for the
kids, but for yourself.
If youre anything like
me, youre sick to death
of steroids, dog-fighting,
salary caps and billionaire pro athletes who go
SEE TOURNEY, B2

Several of our local high

school teams will be
competing in the postseason tournament, which
is beginning this week.
Come out and support
the kids in their quest for
glory. WICKED LOCAL PHOTO/
MARC VASCONCELLOS