RHS Sports Roundup

RHS Girls Top Classical, Drop Heartbreaker to English

The Revere High girls basketball team turned in a pair of stellar performances in their contests with Greater Boston League opponents Lynn Classical and Lynn English this past week, splitting their encounters with two of the top teams in the GBL.

Last Tuesday the Lady Patriots avenged an early-season loss to Classical with a 45-36 victory over the Lady Rams.

Carolina Bettero notched a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Belma Velic made a major contribution with nine points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

Elaysia Lung reached double figures in the scoring column, sinking four three pointers for 12 points. “Elaysia was feeling it,” noted RHS head coach Chris Porrazzo.

Sophomore Bella Stamatopoulos was a thorn in Classical’s side all game and all over the court. Bella’s final stat line showed four points, three rebounds, three steals, and five assists.

“The girls were up for this one after our loss (52-23) back in December,” said Porrazzo. “We went down early, tied it in the second quarter, and then were down 15-12 at the half.

“I really liked how we were playing though, so the halftime message was simple: stick to the game plan,” Porrazzo continued. “Probably the biggest reason we won was because we took care of the basketball. We only committed six turnovers all game, two in the second half. That lack of turnovers, plus our shot-making at the start of the fourth quarter, really opened up the game for us.

“And on the other end, our defense was locked-in the entire game. We had seven steals and six blocks as a team and we forced a lot of turnovers and bad shots out of Classical,” the coach added.

Following Tuesday’s big win, Revere took on first-place Lynn English, which has run up some big scores against GBL opponents in recent weeks, two nights later at the Merullo Fieldhouse and came up just short, falling by a heartbreaking one-point margin, 38-37.

The Lady Patriots welcomed back Haley Belloise, who poured in 14 points off the bench. Velic hit for 13 points and snared seven rebounds. Bettero added seven points and grabbed nine boards.

“It definitely was a roller-coaster week for our team,” said Porrazzo. “We would have loved to come away with two wins and a firm hold on the GBL. It was a battle with Lynn English all night and our fourth quarter comeback came up just a little short. With seven seconds left we were down one and drew up the play for Haley. She had a good take to the basket and narrowly missed the game-winning shot.”

Porrazzo and his crew, who still are in the running for a GBL title, have a busy week ahead with four games in five days in order to make up for contests that had been postponed because of COVID-19.

The Lady Patriots, who are 6-2 in the GBL and 7-5 overall, were set to travel to Medford last night (Tuesday) and will play at Chelsea tomorrow (Thursday).

Revere then will get another shot at English on Friday before hosting Chelsea on Saturday.  They will entertain Malden next Wednesday.

“It’s not ideal to play that many games in a row, but our coaching staff will develop a rotation plan that will hopefully keep everyone fresh,” said Porrazzo.

Boys Basketball Plays in the Garden Sat. Night

The Revere High boys basketball team finally will get a chance to play at the TD Garden Saturday evening when they will take on Hamilton-Wenham at 8:30  in the twice-delayed Andrew James Lawson Foundation Basketball Jamboree.

The Revere v. Hamilton-Wenham contest is the concluding game of an all-day schedule of boys and girls basketball games starting at 7:15 a.m. to support the Andrew James Lawson Foundation, a not-for-profit organization established in Andrew’s memory by his family to advance and improve the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities by funding, developing and promoting programs, projects or individual scholarships that encourage and support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) and help foster inclusion in their community.

“The team is very excited to be playing in the Garden,” said RHS head coach Dave Leary last week. “We were actually invited to play in the Andrew Lawson Invitational at TD Garden last season, but because of COVID, it got pushed to this season.”

The tournament had been rescheduled to this past Sunday, but the weekend blizzard changed those plans.

Spectators are welcome at the game. However, all guests 12 years and older will be required to show proof of vaccination to be allowed entry to TD Garden. Proof of negative COVID-19 tests will no longer be accepted for entry.

In addition, the City of Boston Mask Mandate will continue to be in effect — regardless of vaccination status — requiring all guests two years-old and over to wear a mask while indoors, unless actively eating or drinking.

Boys Basketball Tops Classical, 48-45

The Revere High boys basketball team earned a big win on the road last Tuesday with a 48-45 triumph at Greater Boston League opponent Lynn Classical.

The Patriots overcame a slow start — they trailed 11-3 in the opening minutes — and trailed by just one, 11-10 at the first quarter mark and 24-23 at the half.

However, Revere came out on fire after the intermission to move out to a 38-31 advantage after three periods. The Patriots were up comfortably by seven points, 46-39, with 1:40 to play, but a pair of three-pointers by the Rams down the stretch made things interesting.

Ramadan Barry then sank two clutch free throws with 10 seconds to play and Classical’s desperation shot at the buzzer fell short.

Junior Dom Boudreau was a force for the Patriots at both ends of the floor, hitting for 16 points, pulling down eight rebounds, and making three steals.

Barry finished with 13 points and senior captain Jack D’Ambrosio reached double figures with 10 points and snared six boards.

Two nights later the Patriots were at GBL rival Lynn English. This time Revere jumped out to an early 7-2 advantage, but a medical emergency in the stands stopped the game for about 10 minutes and the air came out of the Patriots’ momentum.

The Bulldogs, who along with Everett are the big dogs of the GBL this season, moved out to a 15-12 lead at the first buzzer and enlarged their margin to 36-15 at the intermission. The teams then played evenly for the rest of the game, allowing English to claim a 65-44 victory.

Boudreau paced Revere with 13 points. Alejandro Hincapie hit for eight points and senior center Hamza Ghoul made a nice contribution with six points and 10 rebounds

This past Monday the Patriots came up on the short end of a 62-54 decision to Medford. Revere hung close throughout the game, but trailed at all of the markers (18-15, 29-20, and 45-37).

Boudreau one again was the top scorer with 13 points and made five steals. D’Ambrosio reached double figures with 

12 points and Ghoul had a solid game with eight points and eight rebounds.

RHS head coach David Leary and his crew, who are 5-5 overall and 4-4 in the GBL at the halfway point of the season, are scheduled to host Chelsea tomorrow (Thursday) evening for a 7:00 opening tip and will meet Hamilton-Wenham at the TD Garden on Saturday evening at 8:30.

They will travel to Malden next Tuesday.

RHS Boys Track Tops Malden, 52-33

Despite missing some key performers, the Revere High boys indoor track and field team ran away for a 52-33 triumph over Greater Boston League rival Malden last week.

“Once again we found ourselves short-handed as a team,” said veteran RHS head coach Sam Ros. “The best hurdler in the league, Ricardo Goncalves, is out due to a hamstring injury and our second-best sprinter, Allen Hou is out due to illness.

“We were down early 0-8 after the first event, the hurdles, but the team rallied, stuck to the game plan, and pulled out a victory,” added Ros.

Tom Desir was a double-winner for the Patriots, taking first place in the high jump with a leap of 5’-4” and the 600 meter dash in a time of 1:42.4.

JV Cunha added six points to the Revere side of the scoresheet with a first-place finish in the 1000 meter run in a clocking of 2:52.2 and a third-place performance in the high-jump with a leap of 5’-0”.

Mudathir Hussein led a Revere sweep of the shot-put with a toss of 36’-1”. Teammates Elmahdi Elkamazebi (34’-3”) and Mark Marchese (31’-1.50”) took second and third respectively.

Marchese took first place in the 50 yard dash with a sprint of 5.99 seconds. Teammate Felipe Maia took second in the 50 with a clocking of 6.2.

Keny Guerrero sped to victory in the 300 dash in 41.3. Teammate Mario Ramirez was close behind in second place in 42.8. Patriot Adrian Grullon turned in a strong effort with a clocking of 46.5 to finish fourth.

Mohamed Ouakani won the mile handily with a time of 5:43.8, 17 seconds ahead of the closest Malden competitor.

Victor Pelatere scored three points for the Revere cause with a second-place performance in the two-mile run in 12:10.4.

Adding single points with third-place finishes were: Besmir Collaku in the mile in 6:14.6; Kenneth Le in the 1000 in 3:29.4; and Matthew Pereira in the 600 in 1:48.2.

Other Patriots who turned in fine efforts on the day were Javan Close with a fourth-place high jump of 5’-0” and Zaraius Bilimoria in the 600 dash in 1:53.

Ros and his squad are scheduled to take on both Somerville and Lynn Classical this evening (Wednesday) in a meet that will be highlighted by Senior Night festivities.

Strong Performances for RHS Girls Track

Although the Revere High girls indoor track and field team came up on the short end of a 52-33 decision to Greater Boston League rival Malden last week, a number of Lady Patriots turned in strong individual performances for coach Racquel MacDonald’s squad.

“The girls had a tough loss to Malden last week, but we did see some strong finishes and personal bests,” said MacDonald.

Liv Young took first place in the 50 yard hurdles with a personal record (PR) time of 8.49 seconds and grabbed second spot in the high jump with a huge PR of 4’-8” to tally eight points for the meet.

Other first-place finishers for Revere were: senior captain Jerelys Canales in the 50 yard dash with a sprint of 7.01; Yasmin Riazi in the 600 meter dash with a clocking of 2:06.6; and captain Alannah Burke in the 1000 meter run in a time of 3:28.9.

Adding three points to the Revere score sheet with second-place finishes were: Yara Belguendouz in the 50 hurdles with a PR of 9.6; Kyra Delaney in the 300 with a time of 50.4; and Rocio Gonzalez in the one mile with a time of 6:47.9.

Senior captain Fatima Hartout was close behind Rocio, placing third in the mile with a season PR time of 6:49.7.

MacDonald and her crew are scheduled to take on both Somerville and Lynn Classical this evening (Wednesday) in a meet that will be highlighted by Senior Night festivities.

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