Sports 01-31-2018

RhS sports Roundup

RHS boys track defeats Beverly

The Revere High boys indoor track and field team defeated Beverly, 48-38, in a dual meet held at the Merullo Fieldhouse last Tuesday.

The Patriots grabbed first place in five of the nine individual events: Anthony Soares sped to victory in the 50 yard hurdles in a time of 7.3 seconds; Sami Mezrou outdashed the field in the 50-yard event in 6.1 seconds; Sebastian Rendon topped all competitors in the 300 dash in 40.6; Arthur LaCerda brought home the top spot in the 600 in 1:39; and Cristian Acuna came across the line in 2:58.1 in the 1,000.

The Patriots’ depth proved the decisive factor, with Revere boys taking second place in seven of the nine events: Lucas Barbosa with a high jump of 5’-6”; Kevin Bardhi with a shot put toss of 40’-2”; Anthony Arias in the 50 hurdles in 7.8; Yussuf Ali Buda in the dash in 6.1; Jose Agudelo in the 600 in 1:41; Abu Aldarazy in the mile in 5:08.8; and Jonathan Nushi in the two-mile run in 11:28.

Third-place points were contributed by Soares in the high jump with a leap of 5’-4” and Adrien Martinez in the 300 in 41.6.

On the girls’ side, Kiana Napolitano took first place in the 50 yard dash in a time of 7.1 seconds.

Hannah Fitzpatrick also scored a point for the Lady Patriots with a third place finish in the 600 dash in 1:48.7.

The meet concluded the regular season for both teams. They now will prepare for the Northeastern Conference Meet that is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 11.

 

RHS hockey team drops two contests 

The Revere High hockey team came up on the short end of both of its contests this past week with rivals from the South Division of the Northeastern Conference, dropping decisions of 2-1 to Somerville and 6-2 to Gloucester.

The Patriots had defeated Somerville in their first meeting earlier in the season at Cronin Rink, but the Highlanders turned the tables in the rematch on their home ice.

Corey Rufo gave Revere a quick-as-a-flash 1-0 lead with a goal in the opening minute of the game, but that would prove to be the apogee of the Patriots’ effort on the night.

Somerville brought the contest back to level on a power play goal just before the end of the first period and matters stood at 1-1 until midway through the third stanza when the Highlanders scored what would prove to be the game-winning tally.

Revere almost pulled off some late-game drama for the second game in a row when the Patriots pulled their goalie in favor of an extra skater in the final minute. The Patriots tied Swampscott last Saturday with the goalie pulled from the net, but lightning did not strike this time around.

Mike Giordano let go a shot from directly in front of the Somerville net that appeared rocketed for a landing in the upper corner, but the Highlander goalie speared the puck with his glove.

“Their goalie played a great game,” said RHS head coach Joe Ciccarello, whose squad outshot Somerville 35-20. “We all thought that Mike’s shot had goal written all over it, but their goalie made a superb save.”

Three nights later at Cronin Rink, Gloucester skated to a 6-2 victory. The contest was a tight 1-0 in favor of Gloucester until the final minute of the first period when the Fishermen put home two goals 30 seconds apart.

Gloucester added two more tallies to start the second period, but Zach Rufo and Rob Stoica lit the lamp for Revere to make it 5-2.

However, the Patriots were unable to draw any closer and Gloucester added another marker in the final period for the 6-2 finale.

“Gloucester is a very good team,” noted Ciccarello, whose squad lost by a margin of 10-3 to the Fishermen, who are in first place in the South Division of the Northeastern Conference with a 7-1-1 record, in the teams’ first meeting this year. “We were playing them equally until that final minute of the first period. We fought back in the second period, but we had fallen too far behind by that point.”

Ciccarello and his crew, who now stand at 7-6-2 on the season, need four points

in their final five contests to qualify for the state tourney. The Patriots next will host Lynn this Saturday at Cronin. Face off is at 5:10.

 

RHS boys play well vs. Winthrop

The Revere High boys basketball team dropped a closely-contested 57-53 decision at Winthrop last Tuesday.

The encounter with the Patriots’ traditional arch rival began well, as Revere jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the opening minutes and closed out the first period with a 15-9 advantage.

However, the Patriots struggled to get things going offensively in the second quarter (a continuing trend for Revere this season) and could only manage four points in the frame to trail 26-19 heading into halftime.

“We actually competed hard tonight,” said RHS head coach David Leary, “but the second quarter was the game.”

The Patriots came out strong to start the third quarter behind junior forward Omar Bendjahene’s (a nice double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds) athletic drives to the basket. The teams would trade hoops to close out the quarter and Revere trailed 38-33.

Revere decided to extend its defense in the fourth quarter and the pace was up- tempo, as Bendjahene and Winthrop’s 1000-point scorer Devin Pulsifer (20 points) exchanged multiple baskets.

The Patriots continued to work hard and eventually gave themselves a chance to tie it up with 6.8 seconds left, but could not execute on a sideline inbounds play and lost a close one, 57-53.

“I’m proud of our kids,” said Leary. “They fought really hard against a talented, senior-heavy team. We haven’t been in many games in the fourth quarter the first month of the season, so this was a great experience for us. We just need to keep working hard.”

Leary and his crew trekked to Swampscott Friday evening, hoping to grab their first win of the season. The first six minutes of the contest looked very promising, as the Patriots came storming out behind junior forward Bendjahene (16 points, six rebounds) and sophomore guard EJ Leone (13 points with three three-pointers), who helped stake the Patriots to an early 18-4 lead that stood at 18-8 to close the quarter.

Unfortunately, a combination of some early foul trouble for a few players and a struggle to score again in the second quarter allowed Swampscott to slice the Revere lead to five, 24-19, at halftime.

The third quarter was back and forth in the first few minutes, but then the Big Blue found their range from three-point land, sinking a trio of treys in the period to take a 38-35 lead.

Swampscott stayed hot to open the fourth quarter, draining three more from long distance to extend their lead to 55-44 with 3:46 left on the clock.

Revere switched to a smaller, quicker lineup and began to trap and get some steals and layups to cut it down to 55-51 with 1:20 remaining.

However, the comeback effort came up short and Swampscott made their free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win, 59-53.

“We just need to start playing a full, 32-minute game,” said Leary. “We’ve played well in spurts in every game this season, but have been too inconsistent to win. If we can learn from our experience and continue to improve, we like the direction we are heading in. We are close.”

The Patriots were set to travel to Lynn English yesterday (Tuesday) and will entertain Saugus tonight (Wednesday) and Salem on Friday. They will make the long trek to Gloucester next Tuesday.

Tip-off for all games is at 7 p.m.

 

Pepic stars as girls hoop team beats Winthrop, Swampscott

Revere senior co-captain Valentina Pepic is the two-time reigning MVP in the Northeastern Conference and she is looking like a strong candidate for a three-peat.

Pepic is the leading scorer and rebounder in the NEC and has become a consistent “double-double” performer for the Lady Patriots.

The 6-foot-2-inch center poured in 31 points and in a 66-51 victory over Winthrop on Jan. 23 and followed it up with a 24-point-11-rebound  effort in a 55-44 win over Swampscott last Friday night.

Coach Lianne O’Hara contingent is back on track after a tough 49-47 setback to Lynn Classical in a Jan. 19 showdown of the NEC’s top two teams. Revere trailed 29-17 at the half and closed the margin to 37-31 after three quarters. Revere rallied to tie the game but Classical’s Irianis Delgado made a big steal and layup in the final minute to give Classical the victory. Pepic led all scorers with 19 points.

Sophomore guard Erika Cheever had a strong performance against Classical, netting 11 points while hitting 3-of-5 from three-point land.

Revere was set to play Lynn English Tuesday night.