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A busy week of spring sports action

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Baseball (4-0), behind a complete game from senior Bobby Marshall, rolled past Hingham, 7-2, on Tuesday, May 11. Marshall gave up no earned runs and stuck out five Harbormen. Hartford University-bound senior Danny Kent had three hits to spark the offense. … On Wednesday, sophomore Connor Sottak launched a pinch-hit, three-run home run as Pat Cronin’s squad topped Silver Lake, 6-2. … The Panthers capped a perfect 3-0 week with a 4-1 win over Marshfield on Friday. Senior captain Tommy Marshall drove in two in the victory.

Softball (4-1) dropped a 6-3 decision to Hingham on Tuesday, May 11. Senior captain Abby Cleary hit a solo home run in the fifth. … Jordan McDermott’s team bounced back the following day, rally past eight-in-a-row Patriot League Keenan Division champion Silver Lake, 10-6. W-H trailed by three heading into the fifth before it was able to break away. Sophomore Allison Larkin went three for four at the dish, highlighted by a solo home run. … The Panthers posted another comeback win on Friday, rallying from five down in the seventh to edge Marshfield, 7-6, in extra innings. Larkin leveled the score at six in the seventh with a three-run homer. Senior captain Emily McDonald scoring the winning run in the eighth on a passed ball.

Boys’ lacrosse (1-4) opened the week with a 16-4 setback to Plymouth South on Tuesday, May 11. … On Thursday, W-H fell to Division 2 power Hingham, 19-1. Senior Aiden McCarthy had the Panthers’ goal off an assist from his younger brother, Gavin McCarthy, a freshman. … On Saturday, the other McCarthy brother, freshman Connor McCarthy, struck for four goals to propel W-H past North Quincy, 7-2, and into the win column for the first time this spring.

Girls’ lacrosse (1-2-1) routed Abington, 16-3, for its first win of the season on Monday, May 10. Junior Tiffany Joyce paced the offensive attack with two goals and three assists. Seniors Brynn Miller, Katie Mulligan and junior Jackie Keenan all had three goals and an assist in the win. … On Tuesday, the Panthers rallied back from five down in the fourth to tie Plymouth South, 14-14. Sophomore Ella Nagle paced the offense with three goals and an assist. On Thursday, W-H jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead but it didn’t last as it fell to Hingham, 20-3. Nagle had two goals in the defeat, while Joyce added the other.

Boys’ outdoor track (0-1) fell to Duxbury, 92-52, on Tuesday, May 11. Senior captain Theo Kamperides posted wins in the mile and 2-mile runs.

Girls’ outdoor track (1-0) came out on top in its opener with an 87-49 victory over Duxbury on Tuesday, May 11. The Panthers were led by senior Madison Scaccia, who had wins in the triple jump (30-foot-1) and 200-meter dash (:29.41), and junior April Keyes, who won in the 400-meter hurdles (:71.5) and 100-meter hurdles (:17.77).

Boys’ tennis (1-3) fell to Hingham, 5-0, on Monday, May 10. … The Panthers rebounded on Wednesday for a 3-2 win over Silver Lake for their first victory of 2021. At the first doubles position, senior captain Cameron Lindsay and his brother, sophomore Zach Lindsay, won in two sets, 6-4, 6-3, while freshman duo Tristan Baker and Nate Burt made short work of their opponents at second doubles, winning 6-0, 6-3. Junior Will Mulligan clinched the victory with a win in third singles, 7-5, 6-4. … On Friday, W-H was clipped by Marshfield, 3-2. Junior Aiden Hickey won in first singles, 6-4, 6-2 and the freshman duo of Baker and Burt continued to play well, winning their match at the second doubles spot, 6-3, 6-2.

Girls’ tennis (1-3) fell to Hingham, 4-1, on Monday, May 10. Senior Julia Benvie scored W-H’s lone point with a win at No. 2 singles, 6-3, 6-3. … On Wednesday, the Panthers topped Silver Lake, 3-2, for win No. 1 of the year. Seniors Rylie Harlow and Nora Rooney won at No. 1 doubles, 6-1, 6-2, and the second doubles tram of seniors Erin Tilley and Kyla Faghan won, 6-1, 6-2. Benvie picked up the third point win a win in No. 2 singles in a tiebreaker. On Friday, W-H fell to Marshfield, 3-2. At No. 2 singles, Benvie won in a super breaker third set, 10-4. Tilley and Faghan won in second doubles, 6-4, 6-1.

Wrestling (0-1) opened its first ever spring season with a 42-24 loss to Silver Lake on Wednesday, May 12. Sophomore Aiden Guiliani (126 pounds) and senior captain Damari Goldsmith-Greene (152) both won via pin; Guiliani’s came at 1:42, while Goldsmith-Greene’s was at 2:25. Senior captain Aiden O’Brien (138) and junior captain Pat Collett (145) also collected wins.

*Express weekly roundups include scores from Sunday to Sunday. 

Students of the game: Softball team off to strong start

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The Whitman-Hanson Regional High softball team is off to a strong start this season.

While some are labeling last spring as a “lost season,” it was anything but for the Whitman-Hanson Regional High softball team.

“The girls took the year off as a learning curve for them,” said second-year head coach Jordan McDermott. “They sat down, really studied the game, learned the game.”

How so?

“They were able to sit back and watch games on YouTube,” McDermott said. “There were some links I sent the captains and said, ‘Girls, for next year, you really should sit down and watch these.’ There were also a bunch of conferences that were free online. They took the time and dissected their swing. They worked all offseason.”

And the results have shown that.

Entering Wednesday, the Panthers are off to a 5-3 start. Their most impressive win was a 10-6 comeback victory over eight-time defending Patriot League Keenan Division champion Silver Lake.

W-H has also taken down league foes Duxbury (5-4 and then 16-0) and Marshfield (8-7 in eight innings) and shut out non-league rival East Bridgewater, 12-0. The Panthers have plated 64 runs in their first eight games.

Here’s the scary part for the rest of the league: McDermott believes the Panthers’ offense can reach an even higher level.

“We’ll never settle,” she said. “The girls are very hungry this year so I think we’re just going to keep it going. Our goals are to get ’em on, get ’em over and get ’em home.”

Sophomore Allison Larkin leads the Panthers with four home runs, while classmates Olivia Turocy and Lauryn Meade have hit one. Senior captains Emily McDonald and Abby Cleary have also gone deep.

On the hill, Meade has been just as impressive. She fired a no-hitter against East Bridgewater in her first career varsity start. Meade has 37 strikeouts in 35 innings this spring.

“Lauryn is just a tough kid,” McDermott said. “She’s different. On the mound, she has tunnel vision. She knows the game, she knows her spots and she hits them.”

McDermott said Meade’s emergence has also taken some of the pressure of Cleary, who tossed 173 innings over her freshman and sophomore years. Cleary picked up the win against Duxbury in the opener, hurling a complete game, and then shut the Dragons out the second time around. 

“It’s a huge release for Abby,” McDermott said. “She was so needed. Now she can enjoy her senior season.”

W-H is back in action on Monday, May 24 at 4 p.m. against Silver Lake.

“I always tell the girls that I don’t have any pressure on them,” McDermott said. “At the end of the day, it’s a game. It is what it is. If we win, we win. If we lose, we lose. We focus on the negatives, we bring them into practice and we fix our mistakes. We learn from it and we plug away for the next game.”

Amado, LeVangie go out on top

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Nate Amado (left() and Cole LeVangie cut down the net following W-H’s Patriot Cup win. / Photo by: Sue Moss

Nate Amado and Cole LeVangie pointed the way for the Whitman-Hanson Regional High boys’ basketball team this season.

Cutting down the net together during their senior years of high school was a moment Nate Amado and Cole LeVangie had dreamed about.

It was mission accomplished for the longtime friends and WHRHS boys’ basketball senior captains, who paced the Panthers to a perfect 12-0 record and Patriot Cup title, ending their high school careers on a 35-game winning streak.

The Patriot League Keenan Division MVP, Amado dumped in 24.2 ppg and corralled 9.3 rpg. LeVangie averaged a near triple-double, scoring 13.6 ppg, grabbing 9.1 rpg, and dishing out 8.3 apg en route to being tabbed a Patriot League Keenan Division All-Star.

“They’re two of the best to ever play at Whitman-Hanson,” said Athletic Director and 21-year boys’ basketball Head Coach Bob Rodgers.

But the two co-captains, who were the only returning starters from W-H’s 2019-20 state title team, led the way in more than just the stat sheet during this unprecedented winter season.

“Really from the first practice, I just saw that all of the players were so focused on trying to keep the Whitman-Hanson tradition going,” Rodgers said. “And Nate and Cole, being the leaders that they are, you could see them kind of take these younger players under their wing in terms of the right way to practice and approach a game.”

An example?

“Something I wanted to believe in was really keeping masks on,” LeVangie said. “I think that was the starting point and limiting our bubbles. I just really wanted to get through the season, try to provide an example for the rest of the teams in the league with just how we handled the whole situation.”

Said Amado: “If someone’s mask was down, you want to be the one to tell them to bring it up and lead by example. And on the court, we had 10 or 11 new guys to show what varsity was like.”

Junior captain-elect Ryan Vallancourt was one of those guys.

“Cole and Nate were just the best leaders and best friends I could ask for,” Vallancourt said. “They are the embodiment of what Whitman-Hanson basketball is. They have elevated me as a player as well as everyone else.”

While Amado and LeVangie often made it look easy on the court, both have gone through setbacks that they credit for helping push them to where they are today.

Amado was shooting to make the junior varsity team as a freshman. That didn’t happen. Then, he was aiming to make varsity as a sophomore but came down with the flu and wasn’t in the mix for the big club until they called him up later in the season.

“Players in all sports should look into his journey and recognize that it was his mindset and his ability and not to let those kind of setbacks derail him from his joy of the game and his goals for the game,” Rodgers said of Amado. “I’m very proud of him because a lot of guys would get negative, a lot of guys would hold a grudge, but he always just trusted us and he didn’t get negative and went out and did what he had to do. Everybody wants to point fingers when they don’t get what they want but they really have to do is ask themselves, ‘What can I do better to get what I want?'”

And that’s what Amado did.

“Nate made it such his sophomore year, we recognized what he was doing and he got brought up. What Nate accomplished is truly phenomenal.”

As for LeVangie, his basketball career was put in question at the end of his sophomore year, when he was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease.

“I lost a lot of weight that offseason,” LeVangie said. “Going into junior year, I didn’t really know what I was going to do on the court.”

He ended up coming back even better, tossing 11.4 ppg, helping propel W-H to the Div. 2 state title.

“Just with it paying off at the Garden, me being a really key contributor, it was definitely one of the best experiences of my life,” LeVangie said.

LeVangie will continue his basketball career at Suffolk University next winter, while Amado will play at Babson College.


“They should be very proud of what they accomplished because they certainly left a great legacy,” Rodgers said.

Spring sports make comeback

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Spring sports are finally back in action.

The wait is over.

For the first time in two years, spring sports are back in action. Here’s how the first week shook out at Whitman-Hanson Regional High:

Baseball (1-0) opened the season with a 5-0 win over Duxbury on Thursday, May 6. Senior captain Tommy Marshall went the distance on the mound, striking out nine Dragons for the complete-game shutout. Senior Ty Gordon led the way on offense with a hit and 2 RBIs.

Softball (2-0) banged out 16 hits and edged Duxbury, 5-4, on Thursday, May 6. Sophomore Haley Leeber led the offensive attack with three hits, including a two-run home run. Senior captain Abby Cleary tossed a complete game, fanning five Dragons to pick up the win. … On Saturday, sophomore Lauryn Meade fired a no-hitter, punching out 15 in five innings, and also blasted a two-run homer, to lead W-H past East Bridgewater, 12-0. Sophomore Olivia Turocy also left the yard, launching a grand slam in the third inning.

Boys’ lacrosse (0-2) opened the season with a 12-5 loss to Silver Lake on Thursday, May 6. … On Saturday, W-H surrendered a goal with one second remaining and dropped a heartbreaker to East Bridgewater, 8-7, the final.

Girls’ lacrosse (0-1) began the season with a 17-7 setback against Silver Lake on Thursday, May 6.

Boys’ tennis (0-1) was shut out by Duxbury, 5-0, on Thursday, May 6. The freshman duo of Tristan Baker and Nathan Burt played well in doubles.

Girls’ tennis (0-1) was also shut out by Duxbury, 5-0, on Thursday, May 6.

*Express weekly roundups include scores from Sunday to Sunday. 

Whitman-Hanson Express Postseason Accolades: Winter Sports

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Athletes of the Season

Boys’ basketball: Nate Amado | Senior – Named the Patriot League Keenan Division MVP, the Babson-bound senior captain poured in 24.2 ppg and snatched 9.3 rpg as the Panthers finished the season 12-0, extending their state-best winning streak to 35 games. Amado exploded for 34 points in a win over Hingham in the first round of the Patriot Cup.

 

 

Girls’ basketball: Abby Martin | Junior – The junior captain-elect elevated her game to new heights this season. A Patriot League Keenan Division All-Star, Martin poured in 14 points and snagged 21 rebounds in a win over Marshfield in their second meeting, and scored 17 points and corralled nine boards in a Patriot Cup victory over Plymouth North.

 

 

Boys’ hockey: Matt Solari | Sophomore – Only a sophomore, Solari picked up where he left off last season. He paced the rebuilding Panthers with 12 goals to go along with eight assists. Solari’s hat trick propelled W-H to a 4-3 win over Pembroke in the first round of the Patriot Cup. He has 29 goals and 22 assists so far in his career.

 

 

Girls’ hockey: Emily McDonald | Senior – For the third straight winter, McDonald is the Express’ Athlete of the Season for girls’ hockey. The senior captain and forward led WHSL with 14 points via six goals and eight assists. McDonald struck for two goals in a 3-3 tie against Norwell.

 

 

Gymnastics: Emma Mckeon | Freshman – Mckeon joined the squad on loan from her club team and made a sizable impact. During the regular season, she placed eighth in the bars and 11th in the all-around in the Patriot League. Then in the championship meet, she placed sixth in the all-around.

 

 

Coach of the Season

Girls’ Basketball: Mike Costa – Despite numerous COVID-19 pauses, Costa kept the Panthers on track. W-H finished the season 9-4, which included a six-game winning streak. Costa’s club advanced to the Patriot Cup finals, where its season came to an end. Costa said after the season: “Obviously this year wasn’t anything that anybody could have really predicted. But they were resilient all year trying to stay positive. I couldn’t have more proud of them, to be honest. It wasn’t always pretty but overall I thought it was a pretty successful year.”

 

*All photos, with the exception of Mckeon and Costa, are by Sue Moss

Driscoll steps down as Whitman-Hanson football coach

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Driscoll with his family after a win on Thanksgiving over Abington. / Photo by: Sue Moss

Mike Driscoll has stepped down as Whitman-Hanson Regional High’s football coach.

Ever since Mike Driscoll was putting on the pads himself at Whitman-Hanson Regional High 30 years ago, he knew one thing.

“I wanted to become the head football coach,” said Driscoll, who graduated from W-H in 1991 and was part of its Super Bowl-winning team in 1989. “This is where I went to school and this was my dream job.”

After 10 years of living out his dream, Driscoll has stepped down as the Panthers’ head coach. A move he began to ponder this past fall when for the first time in 22 years, he didn’t have football games and practices clogging up his calendar.

“My kids are 10 and 12 years old, so they’re at the prime of their sports careers,” Driscoll said. “I realized there’s much more to life than just football and I need to spend more time with them. I’m sick of missing all of their things.”

Driscoll began his coaching career in 1998 as a volunteer freshman coach at W-H and would then move up the ladder. He also had brief stops at Scituate (one year) and Pembroke (two years) before returning to his alma mater to take over the reins of the Panthers in 2011.

“I knew all the guys who coached here,” Driscoll said. “I wanted to keep the Panther tradition alive. This is about character and class. My goal from Day 1 was to make sure every kid that came through this program left a better person and I know we achieved that goal.”

Ryan Trongone, who graduated in 2019, was a two-way, two-year starter for Driscoll. He now plays at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

“He inspired us all to be the best we could both on and off the field,” Trongone said. “He wasn’t just a coach to us. On the field, yes, he was our coach, but off the field, he was our friend. He was always there when we needed him.”

Under Driscoll, W-H posted five winning seasons and compiled a 51-51-1 record punctuated by a season-ending win over Hingham, 17-7, on Friday, April 9 in Driscoll’s final game as head coach.

“It really didn’t hit me until the end of the third and fourth quarters [it was my last game], and then it really got to me after the game,” Driscoll said. “I was just so focused on the game. We worked so hard on the game plan this week and the kids brought it.”

Driscoll said he’s going to miss most aspects of his high school coaching duties.

“I love Friday nights,” he said. “There’s nothing better than seeing this placed packed. And just that overall feeling when you’re in school that day and how cool it feels on a big game day. I also love the comradery with the coaching staff and preparing and moving on to the next game giving Saturday a day you take a deep breath and Sunday you’re right back at it watching film – hours and hours of it. I’ll miss that part of it. I’m sure I’ll still be watching some film, just not as much.”

Paul Scarpelli coached with Driscoll for 10 years and enjoyed each year of it.

“Mike created a family-like atmosphere for his coaching staff,” Scarpelli said. “I felt like he allowed me to grow as a coach and had confidence in my knowledge. Being the only member of the staff not graduating from W-H, he always made me feel like an honorary Panther. Mike wore his heart on his sleeve and his love for football and respect for the coaches that came before him.”

Driscoll said he has three memories that come to mind first when he looks back on his tenure with the Panthers. 

“My first year, second game we played Rockland at home,” he said. “W-H and Rockland hadn’t played in years and the place was absolutely packed. We had about 2,500 to 3,000 people at the game from both towns. We won. We played amazing that night.

“My second year we traveled over to Foxboro,” Driscoll said. “We were both undefeated. It was the ESPN Game of the Week and we beat them by a point, and the place was just cool. They had the best band I’d ever heard. They had 100 kids and we walked in there and we beat them.

“The Thanksgiving comeback (against Abington in 2016) was a cool game,” Driscoll added. “That was a great, great game.”

While Driscoll’s time throwing on the headset at Dennis M. O’Brien Stadium is over, his time rooting on the Panthers is far from finished.

“My kid is going to be up here in two years,” Driscoll said. “He plays football, so I’ll be at the games. My daughter won’t let me not be at the games. She’s probably W-H’s No. 1 fan. She told me even if she has to walk to the games, she’s gonna go. I’m a Panther for life. I’m not going anywhere.”

Schwede back on bump after bout with cancer

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Rian Schwede pitches last season. / Photo by: Chris Lyons

After beating cancer, Whitman-Hanson Regional High alum Rian Schwede is back on the mound at Endicott College.

Rian Schwede isn’t too used to getting hit hard.

But just about a year ago to the day he was — not on the baseball field but off it.

He received a cancer diagnosis.

“It all started when I got home,” said Schwede, a sophomore at Endicott College. “We got sent home in March, and I found out in April. I was shocked. It was kind of crazy going home and finding out about all that stuff — the season getting canceled and having to finish school, which was another element I had to deal with.”

Then a couple of weeks later, it got worse.

“They said it was Stage 3 at first,” Schwede recalled. “Then I got a call one afternoon saying, ‘Hey Rian, we got some bad news. The blood work came back, and you’ve been upgraded to Stage 4.’ I took that phone call by myself in my room.”

Fortunately for Schwede, it was a pretty curable form of testicular cancer with chemotherapy and then a final surgery.

“I started chemo in early June to mid-August,” he said. “Every three weeks, I’d have to go in for one week, and then I’d come out and have a three-week break and go in for another week.”

Baseball helped take his mind off the process, beginning with his team at Endicott.

“Every single week I was in the hospital I’d get a text from the whole team,” Schwede said. “Everyone would be saying, ‘Yo, good luck. You got it.’ And I get some calls from my close friends on the team.”

Schwede, a three-time Patriot League All-Star on the diamond at Whitman-Hanson Regional High, also played in the local Ted Williams League in between treatments.

“I was like, ‘I’ll go there, I’ll throw and take my mind off things,’” Schwede said. “It was a really good time. I would do it with my friends from home, too.”

In October, Schwede was officially cancer free. And while one battle was down, there was still another to go. He’d lost about 10 to 15 pounds during chemotherapy and knew he had to build himself up before the college baseball season. After a few months, he was even bigger than he was before – weighing in at 215 pounds.

“I kind of just flipped the switch to get back to normal,” he said. “I had a set routine of going to the gym and going to my trainers. It was a really good, productive offseason going from absolutely nothing in the fall to just work my butt off to get back to where I am now.”

He spent part of that offseason working with Diamondbacks pitching prospect Matt Tabor.

“He really helped me pitching-wise,” Schwede said.

Schwede’s commitment this offseason paid off. He took the ball for Endicott in its conference opener against Wentworth on Saturday, March 27. Schwede struck out four over 3 2/3 innings in a 4-3 win.

“It was great to get back out there,” said Schwede. “It’s been a grind the last month or two.”

Said Endicott skipper Bryan Haley: “The fact that he’s gone through what he’s gone through and he gets the ball in a big game for us is definitely special.”

Haley said Schwede’s journey gives the team a different perspective on life.

“We get caught up a lot in our day-to-day, the wins and losses and these little things that we make much bigger than they are,” Haley said. “Then Rian gets cancer and it kind of just hits the breaks on everybody and says, ‘Hey, listen. What are we really worried about here?’ We’re pretty lucky to be out here competing.”

Sevieri making his mark on the world

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Former boys’ basketball team manager and football player Anthony Sevieri has found a passion.

Anthony Sevieri had a bird’s eye view of the boys’ basketball games during his time at Whitman-Hanson Regional High.

He could usually be found either way up in the stands or up above on the walking track filming the game. His position was team manager.

“I was just chilling in Mr. [Bob] Rodgers’ room before the Scituate (playoff game), and he out of nowhere asked if anyone wanted to film the game and get in for free,” Sevieri said, “so I said, ‘Why not?’ It became my role from there.”

In the fall, he suited up for the football team. They called him Big Tony.

He also developed a passion for music in high school.

“Freshman year, I had gone through a bit of a mess-up situation and the best way I figured I could cope with that was writing music and it kind of became my thing,” said the 2018 W-H graduate. “I would write music for how I was feeling pretty much.

“My nickname on the football team was Big Tony and I kind of went with that for my stage name, and in 2018 I put out my first couple of songs and figured at some point I wanted to make merchandise to promote that and promote that anyone can pretty much do anything if they put their mind to it.”

Fitting for what Sevieri’s been going through.

“It was a day in September and I was with my trainer and I noticed my breathing wasn’t right,” he said. “It was feeling very different than how it felt before.”

So he alerted his mother about it.

“She said I had a doctor’s appointment that Wednesday, so I went in and explained how I was feeling,” Sevieri explained. “Despite there not being any signs on any scans or anything she ordered the X-ray and they found a 15-by-11 centimeter mass in my chest.”

Additional tests down the road revealed Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He finished his final chemotherapy treatment last month.

And while he wasn’t able to socialize with his friends during that period, Sevieri found other ways to pass the time. He began to expand his brand, unveiling Big Tony Brand T-shirts in February.

“I haven’t been able to go out much, so it’s given me a lot of time to figure out internal things I can do, such as making the brand he said.

At last count — in early March — there’s about 100 floating around.

“I definitely want it to be a brand people will like and a brand people will see on shelves and see say ‘I like it, I’ll buy it,’” Sevieri said.

“Everything I make just helps me refund the company.”

To buy one: search @bigtonybrandofficial on Instagram.

Season Review: Girls’ basketball rebounds from slow start

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Senior captain and league all-star Rylie Harlow flicks up a layup. / Photo by: Sue Moss

The girls’ basketball team battled through adversity to go on a run this season.

After the bumpy start the Whitman-Hanson Regional High girls’ basketball team got off to, it could have been easy to give up. Instead, the team did just the opposite. 

The Panthers’ first three games were postponed due to COVID-19 protocols. They were even quarantined themselves. They didn’t take the court for nearly two weeks after their first scheduled game. They’d win their opener but dropped their next two games. And it was after their second straight loss, a 54-45 setback to Hingham, where the season would change.

“I had some people from outside the organization comment and say it looked like we lacked effort that game,” said second-year head coach Mike Costa. “I told my team at practice the next day that this is what it looks like from the outside and I don’t think this is who we are.” 

The Panthers responded with a 29-point win over Duxbury, 61-32, which sparked a six-game winning streak, which included a 54-42 victory over Hingham the second time around.

“Sometimes the best remedy for a bad loss is a quick turnaround,” Costa said. “They were resilient all year. I couldn’t have been more proud of them.”

W-H went on to win two of their next four games and advanced to the Patriot Cup final, where it fell to Hanover and finished the season at 9-4. 

“We had our goals at the beginning of the season to compete for the [league] title and compete for the [Patriot] Cup and we kind of just reminded each other of that every day, and they were able to turn it around,” Costa said. “Unfortunately, those two losses [at the beginning of the season] kind of put us in a hole, but at least we were able to compete and make it exciting at the end.”

Senior captains Reese Codero and Rylie Harlow and junior Abby Martin were all named Patriot League Keenan Division All-Stars.

Costa praised Codero and Harlow for hanging tough through an unprecedented campaign. Codero will play at Roger Williams University next year, while Harlow will hit the court at Fitchburg State University. 

“I couldn’t have asked anything more from those two,” Costa said. “They showed up every day regardless of the situation, regardless of how many games were put on hold or if we were in quarantine. They continued to compete for us. They were big for us.”

Martin had a breakout season. She scored 14 points and grabbed 21 rebounds in a win over Marshfield in their second meeting, and netted 17 points and snagged nine boards in a Patriot Cup win over Plymouth North. She headlines the players set to return next season.

“Abby was awesome this year,” Costa said. “She took a big leap forward, in terms of her maturity as a player and person. She really became a leader on this team. I think when times got tough a lot of the girls on the team would look to Abby to figure it out for us. I think she is probably the best defender in the league. She can guard all five positions, she’s tough as nails and she kills the glass. She just does it all. We’re glad she has another year.”

Guards Lauren Dunn, a junior, and Caitlin Leahy, a sophomore, will also be back next year.

“I think that Duxbury game when she (Dunn) scored 20 points was her coming-out party,” Costa said. “She has always been one of our best defenders and it got to the point at the end of the season we were matching her up with the best guard on the other team. 

“I couldn’t take Caitlin Leahy off the floor. I thought she deserved to be a league all-star too, so hopefully, she can use that as motivation moving forward. She can do it all. She can handle the ball, has great vision, she can make any type of pass — another girl that can defend all five positions.”

Costa said he believes this past season was a perfect learning experience for his club. 

“I think they expected to be league champs and that didn’t happen and we know why that didn’t happen,” he said. “We didn’t focus on the little things that it takes to be league champs. I think they’re all motivated for this offseason to put a number up on that banner.” 

Season Review: For boys’ hockey team, this season a ‘big push forward’

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Senior captain Kevin Willis was named a league all-star. / Photo by: Sue Moss

The Whitman-Hanson Regional High boys’ hockey team started to click at the end of the season.

Time.

The Whitman-Hanson Regional High boys’ hockey team wished they had more of it together this past winter. 

After a 1-8 start to the season, the Panthers won three out of four and finally seemed to be hitting their stride. But the only issue was, their shortened campaign was finished. 

“Unfortunately, right when we were starting to play really well and really jelling and figuring out our roster and who plays well with who, the season was over,” said first-year head coach Rob Peters. “It kind of ended too quickly for a team that was starting to play really well.”

The early struggles were expected. The Panthers, who went 4-9, boasted a roster that consisted of just six seniors. Not only that, but Marshfield and Hingham joined the Patriot League this year. 

“We knew that we were going to have a lot of growing pains to get through,” Peters said. “We knew that when you’re going through those growing pains — that rebuild — it’s tough to have the schedule that we did, but it is what it is. We always know we play in one of the toughest leagues in the state and I think we got through those growing pains.”

A reason they were able to get through those growing pains was because they didn’t let wins and losses affect their approach.

“The big story with our team is we didn’t look at the record,” Peters said. “Let’s look at every shift, every period, at every game and take it as it comes. If you’re not disciplined or allow yourself to get frustrated too easily then it could be a worse year.”

Peters lauded his senior captains, Jack Allen, Bobby Siders and Kevin Willis, for keeping the group on track. 

“Those are three guys that you just don’t get in your program very often,” Peters said. “They’re special individuals and chosen by their peers to be captains this year and they really stepped up.”

Especially in W-H’s 3-2 win over Plymouth North on Feb. 6, which was the start of their three-game winning streak. 

“We went down 2-1 in the third and they just kept going,” Peters said. “We were in the game, we were outshooting them. At that point, it was a turning part of the season. 

“The captains said, ‘Guys, we’re playing better, things are coming together, we’re outshooting them, these are the things we need to start seeing.’ And we came out in the third and we scored two late goals. If you don’t have that leadership, you don’t score those two goals.”

Willis was tabbed a Patriot League Keenan Division All-Star, along with sophomore sniper Matt Solari. 

Solari paced W-H with 12 goals to complement eight assists.  

“Matt leads by his play,” Peters said. “Every day he is working hard, every day he is asking questions, every day he is trying to make other guys better. He holds himself like a true professional at the rink. I’m excited to see what he has for the next two years of his career.”

Freshman Luke Tropeano (two goals, 10 assists) and sophomore Joe Culley (three goals, three assists) formed the rest of the Panthers’ young top line. 

“With two weeks left in the season, we ended up moving Joe Culley from defense to forward and he ended up playing with Matt Solari and Luke Tropeano,” Peters explained. “He ended up having four points in the last six games. That just comes with time in the season and unfortunately, we just didn’t have time. Once we started to get going we only had about a month and a half left.” 

Juniors John Ward (three goals, seven assists) and Bobby Hunter (two goals) also found the back of the net multiple times this season. 

In net, Siders, a 2019-20 league all-star, and junior Erik Dean formed a solid tandem. Siders had 32 stops in a 4-3 win over Pembroke in the opening round of the Patriot Cup. Dean stopped 46 shots in a loss to Hingham. 

“[This season] is a big push forward,” Peters said. “We saw the best of the best a lot. I think we’re on our way. We know where we gotta be and we gotta get there.”