“It was a total team effort,” is one of the most often-used phrases heard from coaches and athletes after a team’s winning performance.
But as with all cliches, there usually is a large element of truth to it, and such was the case this past winter season for the many accomplishments of the Winthrop High athletic program.
Everyone knew that the winter of 2021 would present unique challenges for the athletes, coaches, parents, administrators, and staff.
The season was shortened to about six weeks and all of the new rules and guidelines required by the pandemic forced everybody involved to make significant adjustments.
However, the five Winthrop High teams that competed this past winter — boys and girls hockey, boys and girls basketball, and gymnastics — not only conducted themselves in exemplary fashion in terms of adhering to the COVID-19 protocols, but also achieved remarkable success in the realm of wins and losses.
The girls basketball team, under the direction of head coach Joe Lowe, compiled a final record of 13-4, the best in the South Division of the Northeastern Conference.
Coach Dale Dunbar’s boys hockey team also enjoyed a superb season with a record of 8-2-3 to finish atop the North Division of the Northeastern Conference.
Coach Anthony Martucci’s girls hockey team’s record of 10-3-1 was good for second place in the Northeastern Hockey League, behind only a 13-1 Peabody team (whose lone loss came at the hands of the Vikings).
The WHS gymnastics team, coached by the duo of Peter Gobiel and Daria Millerick, attained unprecedented success in 2021, breaking a 10 year-old school record for most points in a meet in the second-to-last competition of the season and then topping that mark the following week.
The boys basketball team, headed by first-year coach Mike Triant, wrapped up its 2021 campaign with a three-game winning streak in which the Vikings defeated three tough opponents, including perennial archrival Swampscott, with a trio of gritty, down-to-the-wire victories.
The lone hiccup during the season occurred when the boys’ hoop team was required to quarantine for 10 days in mid-January (which stretched to a 14-day layoff because of weather-related postponements) after being exposed to a Masconomet player who later tested positive for COVID-19. However, none of the Winthrop boys tested positive and they were able to resume their season.
A large measure of the overall success of the 2021 winter season is attributable to the efforts of Athletic Director Matt Serino, who navigated the twists-and-turns amidst these trying times with incredible professionalism and dedication. Thanks to Matt’s leadership, the Winthrop High program truly served as a model for other athletic programs throughout the state. We know we speak for all long-time Viking sports fans in saluting the success of our winter athletes, as well as commending them for the exemplary manner in which they conducted themselves during this unique, once-in-a-hundred-years (we pray) situation that turned the concept of Viking Pride from the mere words of a slogan into reality.