Boys Hoop Team Knocks off English

The Winthrop High boys basketball team turned in one of its most stunning regular season victories in the Northeastern Conference in many years with a 67-52 triumph over Lynn English Monday night on the latter’s home court.

“This was a great win for us,” said WHS head coach Dave Brown. “We hadn’t beaten them in seven or eight years. English is a Division 1 school that every year is ranked as one of the top teams in the state. For us to go into their place and beat them is quite an accomplishment.”

Viking front court man Quinton Dale, who has been developing and improving upon every aspect of his game every time he takes the floor, turned in a dominating performance with a triple double of 22 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 blocked shots.

Joe D’Amore, despite playing with a sprained back which he had injured the week before, came through with a 21 point effort, including 9 for 11 from the free throw line. “Joe seems to always come through in the big games,” said Brown, who did not have to mention that he was referring to D’Amore’s performance in the state championship game last March when the senior took over in the fourth period to propel the Vikings to the state title.

However, Brown was quick to emphasize that the triumph was “a total team effort,” with the coach noting that Jeff Laguerre reached double figures with 10 points; Dan Feeley pulled down “a ton of rebounds” in his 20 minutes of playing time; Amer Zebic “made a big contribution” with five points coming off the bench; and point guard John Babb “did a great job bringing the ball down despite heavy pressure for the entire game from English.”

The triumph came on the heels of a 61-57 conquest of Peabody Friday in the WHS gym that was not as close as the final score might indicate. Winthrop held a double digit lead throughout the game, including the final minutes. But Peabody hit some meaningless shots down the stretch that closed the final gap.

Dale was immense at both ends of the court, pouring in 23 points, pulling down 12 rebounds, and blocking nine shots. Ervin DeJesus also played a key role in the victory, raining down four three pointers over the Peabody zone defense.

The lone setback for the Vikings on the week came at the hands of Arlington Catholic in a non league encounter. Winthrop held a 14 point lead in the first half, with D’Amore making a major contribution with 10 points. However, Joe was forced to leave the game with the aforementioned back sprain and A.C. took advantage of the Viking’s absence.

“We didn’t play a full 32 minutes against Arlington Catholic,” noted Brown. “They’re a quality team (one of the top ranked in Division 4) and hopefully we learned a lesson that you have to play all out every minute against a team of that caliber.”

Babb scored 17 points for the Vikings.

Brown and his crew host a Revere team that has a four game winning streak on Friday and then will entertain Malden on the holiday on Monday. The Vikings’ official record is 8-2; the earlier loss to Malden, which had been thought to be a so called “excluded”game from the team’s final record for purposes of seeding in the MIAA state tournament, apparently will count.

Boys hockey team pounds Salem, 8-3 

The Winthrop High boys hockey team enjoyed a rare (in the Northeastern Conference) easy go of it last Wednesday, thumping Salem 8-3. However, the contest was a memorable one for a number of Vikings.

Chris LeBlanc reached the 100th career point milestone with an unassisted goal in the third period in which he sped down the wing, zipped past the defender, and then went in alone on goal, beating the Salem netminder upstairs. Chris previously scored the first goal of the game in the opening period and assisted on two other goals, giving him four points on the night en route to number 100.

Defenseman Jimmy Barker lit the lamp in the first period for his first varsity goal and also had an assist. Billy Hetherton scored his first varsity marker, in his first varsity game, assisted by Matt Pisani, for whom this also was his first varsity appearance.

The Vikings jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opening period and never looked back. Other goal scorers on the night were: Dan Eruzione with two goals and an assist; Matt Todisco (plus one assist); and Mitch Paulson. Chris Page earned two assists and Luke Hodgkins and Jake McKinnon each had an assist.

The Vikings have a busy week: they trekked to Revere last night (Wednesday); host Lynn at Larsen Saturday at 6:10; host Lynnfield Monday at 3:00; and journey to Mansfield next Wednesday.

Girls track team defeats Classical 

The Winthrop High girls indoor track team picked up its second victory of the season with a 50-36 triumph over Lynn Classical last week. The meet was a study in contrasts, with Winthrop dominating the field  and long distance events and Classical capturing 23 of the possible 27 points in the dashes.

Lady Vikings took first place in six of the nine individual events: Julia Wallace in the high jump with a leap of 4-8; Ashley Jurovich with a shotput toss of 29-0; Jordan Griffiths in the 600 in 1:56.7; Amy Sena in the 1000 in 3:47.6; Cecilia Moreira in the mile in 6:23.6; and Kaitlyn Fennell in the two mile in 14:29.

Lady Vikings who added three points to the Winthrop score sheet with second place finishes were: Sena with a high jump of 4-6; Lexi Vaccaro in the 50 dash in 6.8; Maria Rago in the 1000 in 3:52.2; Victoria Scorzella in the mile in 6:42.7; and Wallace in the two mile in 14:51.

Contributing key single points to the Winthrop cause with third place efforts were: Michaela McCarthy with a leap of 4-4 in the high jump; Elizabeth Anderson with a throw of 24-8 in the shotput; Holly Benson in the 300 in 50.8; Heidy Benson in the 1000 in 3:52.8; and Abbie Love in the two mile in 14:52.

Stasio, Brogan win in meet with Classical 

Matt Stasio and Patrick Brogan won first place in their individual events for the Winthrop High boys indoor track team in their meet last week with Lynn Classical.

Stasio outdistanced the field in the shotput with a heave of 36-5. Brogan outran all competitors in the two mile in a time of 12:13.Patrick also earned three points for the Vikings with a second place finish in the 1000.

Other Vikings who scored points for Winthrop in the meet were Trevor Hetherton with a third place performance in the 50 hurdles in 8.8 and Jorge Roman with a third in the 50 dash in 6.2.

Lady Vikings play well in tough losses 

The improving Winthrop High girls basketball team dropped two contests this week Peabody and Lynn English, two rivals from the North Division of the Northeastern Conference.

To say that the loss to Peabody was a heartbreaker is an understatement. The Lady Vikings were ahead by five with 1:30 to go and then, when freshman Kristin Siscamanis sank two clutch free throws with 10 seconds to play, Winthrop held a 51-49 advantage.

The Lady Vikings employed a full court, man to man defense on the inbounds pass to make Peabody eat up some of the clock moving the ball upcourt. The strategy worked well and the Peabody center was forced to throw up a shot at the top of the key.

However, the ball took a Peabody bounce on the rebound. A Lady Tanner scooped up the loose ball, kicked it out to a teammate at the three point arc, and she in turn tossed it up. And, you guessed it, the ball fell through the hoop at the buzzer to give Peabody the victory.

Angie Favaloro led the Lady Vikings with 15 points, followed by Ashelyne Babb with 14, Siscamanis with 13, Temison Meggison with three, and Liana Ferullo, Taylor Duplin, and Theresa Jones with two apiece.

Monday’s encounter with Lynn English, the No. 2 ranked team in EMass, saw the Lady Vikings battle hard from start to finish. English held slim leads at all of the quarter-mark junctures, as the Lady Vikings refused to allow the Lady Rams to pull away.

Winthrop got as close as a bucket in the fourth period, but the English girls hit their free throws down the stretch to fend off the Lady Vikings.

“We did a good job on defense and on the boards, but some costly turnovers really hurt us in the fourth period,” said WHS head coach Ignacio Oyola. “But English is a good team and they showed why they’re undefeated.”

Meggison, who hit 10 free throws, and Babb each had 10 points vs. English.

Oyola and his charges were set to be back in action last night (Wednesday) hosting Malden and then will travel to Revere tomorrow (Friday).