RHS Sports Roundup

RHS Boys Track Does It Again Wins GBL Meet on the Last Relay Race

For the second straight week, the Revere High boys indoor track and field team captured a meet — and league championship —  with a dramatic victory in the last event of the day, the 4 x 400 relay.

Last week, the Patriots edged the Somerville Highlanders in the relay to earn the Greater Boston League’s regular-season, dual-meet crown with a 7-0 record.

This past Friday, Revere once again needed a win in the 4 x 400 in order to overtake the Highlanders and claim the GBL’s All-League Meet.

As the lead-off runners for the teams lined up to await the starting gun, the Patriots trailed Somerville by a point, 92.75-91.75 and needed to finish ahead of the Highlanders in order to secure the victory. The top six finishers in each event scored points on a scale of 10-8-6-4-2-1.

“The meet between Somerville and us worked out the way it did when we faced them last week for the league championship,” said RHS head coach Sam Ros. “Going into the meet I had a feeling it would be a tight meet between our teams. We were missing Victor Pelatere due to a hamstring injury he incurred when giving it his all at last week’s meet with Somerville. That is still no excuse and our guys would have to step up.

“This was going to be another exciting finish no matter how it would end,” Ros continued. “Without Victor, Tommy Desir had to fill in to help ensure this win. We led off with Keny Guerrero to Mario Ramirez to Tommy Desir, and anchored it with JV Cunha. Kenny came out strong, took the lead right away, and handed the baton off to Mario with a slight lead. Mario held the lead and handed off to Tommy with about a step or two. Tommy blasted out and had about 30 meters on Somerville, but Somerville’s third leg was strong and closed within 10 meters.

“But 10 meters was all that JV needed,” Ros continued. “Knowing what was on the line and knowing that Somerville’s anchor leg was Andrew DaCosta, the current 55 meter and 300 meter GBL champion, JV put it all into his leg. When the dust settled, JV PR’ed with a 52.3 second split, and won by over three seconds.

“Ten points to eight points gave us the overall win by one point, with a final score of 101.75 to 100.75,” Ros added. “It was a well-deserved win. Our respect and kudos to the Somerville team as they are a strong team and pushed us to our limits.”

In a close meet where every finish and every point counted, there were numerous heroes for the Patriots.

Revere held the lead, 24-16, over Somerville after the first two events, the 55 meter dash and the 55 meter hurdles. Somerville’s DaCosta won the dash, but Patriot Mark Marchese grabbed a key third place and teammate Allen Hou took fifth. In the hurdles, Revere’s Ricardo Goncalves (who was out with an injury for last week’s dual meet with Somerville) took first place with a time of 8.22, which was almost a full second faster than his nearest competitor.

In addition, teammate Javan Close earned six points with a third-place performance ahead of two Somerville rivals.

“It was good to have Ricardo, the best hurdler in the league, back in action to secure us the win in this event,” said Ros. “Javan narrowly missed out on a second-place finish. With this performance, Javan has put the league on notice that he will be fighting for the title of top hurdler in the GBL next year.

“The 55 meters had Mark Marchese and Allen Hou score points for us. Mark PR’ed and qualified for D-1 States this coming Saturday,” noted Ros.  “Allen also PR’ed and is coming closer to breaking the seven-second barrier in this event. We caught a break as Somerville’s Jose Cumarin made the finals with the second-fastest time from the prelims, but got disqualified by false-starting in the finals.”

A nice and much-needed surprise for Revere came in the next event, the mile.

“I honestly didn’t expect our boys, Kenan Batic and Mohamed Ouakani, to come into the meet seeded first and second,” said Ros. “Kenan and Mohamed were in a battle with the top Somerville runner for the first half mile. Kenan took over the race with Mohamed and Somerville right behind. Over the last two laps, Kenan was able to pull away and come home with the win in 5:07.57. Mohamed saved some in the tank and was able to outkick the Somerville runner in the last 100 meters to secure second with a time of 5:11.21, which was 1.26 seconds ahead of the Somerville runner.”

The 1-2 finish vaulted the Patriots into a nice lead, 42-23.

In the 600 meter race, JV Cunha, as he has done all season against his GBL rivals, walked away with the win by a margin of almost five seconds.

“JV had  an impressive time (1:27.86) for basically running by himself as the competition couldn’t keep up,” said Ros. “Unfortunately, Somerville had two runners in the race finish second (in 1:32.27) and fourth and got 12 points to our 10. Our lead was now 52-35.”

However, Somerville came roaring back in the next event, the 1000 meter run. The Highlanders grabbed the 1-4-6 spots to score 15 points to draw within two points, 52-50. Revere’s lone entrant in the 1000, Besmir Collaku, turned in a fine effort with a PR run of 3:35.24, but was unable to score.

The 300 meter dash was a rematch between Patriot Keny Guerrero and Somerville’s Andrew DaCosta (fresh off his 55 meter win). Andrew took the early lead with Keny following close behind in second. Although Keny PR’ed with a time of 38.62, he wasn’t able to catch up to DaCosta (37.33). That outcome left the teams at level, 60-60.

In the shot put, Patriot Mo Hussein was able to grab a top five spot to add two crucial points to the Revere cause. Somerville did not have anyone place in this event. allowing Revere to regain the advantage, 62-60.

Revere had two boys place in the high jump. Tommy Desir finished third, while Javan Close finished in a four-way tie for fourth place (including a Somerville contestant), earning 1.75 points. This put Revere up by a score of 69.75-61.75.

The long jump is not an event that takes place during the high school dual-meet season, but is added for league and state meets.

“This was a gamble for us, as we had no boy compete in this event before this meet,” said Ros. “During practice leading up to the meet, I set up a makeshift long jump pit by using high jumps and tape on the floor as a jump board. I decided to go with Tommy Desir, Mario Ramirez, and Mohamed Ouakani. They held their own, as Tommy and Mario finished fourth and fifth respectively, while Mohamed missed a scoring spot with a seventh-place finish.”

Somerville took first and sixth, moving within three points at 75.75-72.75.

Revere did not have a runner in the two-mile event, while Somerville took second place, good for eight points, to vault ahead of Revere in the team standings, 80-75-75.75

That left the three relays — 4 x 200, 4 x 800, and 4 x 400 — for Revere to make up the five-point deficit. The 4 x 400 is the only relay that is run during the dual-meet season, but the 4 x 200 and 4 x 800 are added for large-scale meets.

“We were seeded first in both the 4 x 200 and the 4 x 400, so we were going to score big points in those relays,” said Ros. “The 4 x 200 ended up being a tight race from start to finish between Somerville and us. The winner wasn’t decided until the last five feet of the race.”

“Our quartet of Mark Marchese, Allen Hou, Javan Close, and Keny Guerrero did all they could,” noted Ros. “The lead-off leg for Somerville was Jose Cumarin, probably the best 200 runner in the GBL. Mark had his hands full but was able to hold his own. Allen took the baton about five yards behind Somerville, but was able to close the gap before the hand-off to Javan. Javan kept it close and was able to get it to Keny a step behind. The drama came in the last 50 meters as Keny was able to push by Somerville’s anchor leg and take the win and a much-needed 10 points.

“The 4 x 800 was one that I couldn’t predict,” noted Ros. “In the pre-race huddle with the team we talked about how the meet is very close and that we needed to finish higher than Somerville by a spot or two to give us a chance. Kenan Batic was our lead off leg, fresh off his mile championship win. The mile took more out of his legs than we thought.

“He put in a good effort on his leg, but handed the baton off to Kenny Le in fourth place a few seconds behind Somerville,” Ros continued. “Kenny came roaring out and got in front of Somerville, moving up to second. On his next exchange to Matt Pereira, Kenny was able to maintain second place for us with Somerville back in fourth. This was a new event for Matt and we were hoping he would be able to run tough for us. Matt indeed ran tough. He faded to third, but was able to extend the lead on Somerville. Mohamed took the baton with a comfortable 100 meter lead on Somerville and all we needed was for him to finish ahead. Mohamed and the 4 x 800 did their job and got us six points to Somerville’s four points.”

That left Somerville ahead by a point, 92.75-91.75, setting the stage for the decisive 4 x 400 relay.

“There was really no pressure on us, as the outcome of this Championship Meet would not take away the fact that we won the league title already,” noted Ros. “As I told the boys, this was for pride and bragging rights.”

Revere will have a handful of boys who will compete this week at the MSTCA Rising Stars Championships on Tuesday and the D-1 States on Saturday.

RHS Girls Track Wins GBL Meet

The Revere High girls indoor track and field team turned in its best performance of the season to take first place in the 2022 Greater Boston League Championship Meet held last Friday at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Roxbury.

The Lady Patriots tallied 76 points, edging the second-place Medford Lady Mustangs by four points. Revere and Medford had dueled to 40-40 deadlock in their dual meet earlier in the season.

“I am so proud of these girls,” said RHS head coach Racquel Macdonald. “We had so many personal records (PR) and every point counts in such a close meet. We had a very small team this year and typically it’s hard to win large meets like this when you have low numbers. The fact that we won really just proves how talented each and every girl on the team is and how hard they’ve been working all season to get to this point.”

Two Lady Patriots earned the title of league champions in their individual events. Captain Alannah Burke won the 1000 meter race with a PR and state-qualifying time of 3:24.74.

“Alanna was running on her own for most of the race, way ahead of her competitors, which makes this time even more impressive,” said MacDonald. Burke also anchored Revere’s 4 x 400 relay quartet that took third place with a clocking of 4:56.14.

Liv Yuong continued her undefeated season in the 55 meter hurdles with a winning time of 10.17. Liv also placed second in the high jump with a state-qualifying leap of 4’-10”. In addition, she ran on the Revere 4 x 200 relay team that captured third place. Altogether, Yuong contributed 19.5 points on the day for the Revere cause.

Both Alannah and Liv will compete in the Division 1 State Championships this Saturday at the Reggie.

Senior Captain Jerelys Canales placed third in the 55 meter dash with a PR time of 7.99. She also took second in the long jump with a season PR of 14’-10.25” and anchored the third-place 4 x 200 relay team. Jerelys’s strong performances totaled 15.5 points for the Lady Patriots.

“Breaking eight seconds in the 55 meter dash has been a huge goal for Jerry this season and it was awesome to see her hit that PR at the GBLs,” noted MacDonald.

Senior captain Fatima Hartout also had a second-place finish with a season PR time of 6:34.33 in the mile

“Fatima has truly been improving each week and is coming closer and closer to her all-time PR,” said MacDonald.

Close behind Fatima in the mile was sophomore Rocio Gonzalez, who took third place with a PR of 6:40.59.

“Both Fatima and Rocio have been excellent training partners this season and I am very excited to see how they continue to improve during outdoor track,” MacDonald said.

Additional point scorers for the RHS girls team included junior Kyra Delaney in the 300 meter dash with a PR of 47.94.

“Kyra really stepped up for her team on Friday, as she ran in both the 4 x 200 and 4 x 400 relays back-to-back as well,” said MacDonald.

Yara Belguendouz placed fifth in the 55 meter hurdles with a PR time of 11.56. Junior Natalia Lopez scored two points with a fifth place finish in the shot put with a PR throw of 25’ -08.5”.

The third-place 4 x 200 quartet consisted of Kyra Delaney, Tiffany Esteves, Liv Yuong, and Jerelys Canales and ran a fast time of 2:01.08. The 4 x 400 foursome who closed out the victory in the final event with a third-place effort was comprised of Delaney, Yasmin Riazi, Rocio Gonzalez, and Allanah Burke.

The pair of third-place finishes in those relays added 12 points to the Revere total.

“We also had some great performances in the 55 meter dash from freshmen Francoise Kodjo and Raquel Class,” said MaDonald. “Hiba El Bzouzy and Razan Belguendouz also ran some PR times in the 600 meter dash. Tiffany Esteves ran a PR in the 300 dash and junior Jessie Jones is recovering from an injury, but still ran a 49.10 in the 300 dash. Throwers Rocio Gonzalez and Melisa Devedzic both threw over 19 feet in the shot-put. Lynberlee Leng ran a PR in the 55 hurdles in 12.48.

“Overall, it was so exciting to leave Reggie as GBL League Meet champions,” concluded MacDonald. “The girls have been working so hard this season and this win was definitely earned and well-deserved.  I’m really looking forward to the last two meets of the season this week. Some girls will be competing in the Rising Championships at Reggie Lewis on Tuesday (yesterday) and others will compete on Saturday at the Division 1 State Meet.”

RHS Girls Basketball Celebrates Senior Night With Win

The Revere High girls basketball team celebrated Senior Night in fitting fashion last Wednesday evening with a 55-51 victory over Greater Boston League rival Malden.

The Lady Patriots had defeated the Lady Golden Tornadoes in their first meeting at Malden, 45-34, in one of the biggest road wins of the season for coach Chris Porrazzo’s  crew.

However, Malden came into the Merullo Fieldhouse ready for action in the rematch and engaged in a fierce battle from the opening tip  with the Lady Patriots.

Revere led at all of the junctures and never allowed the Lady Golden Tornadoes to forge ahead, but never could quite put away the pesky rivals from across the Town Line.

“We held the lead after every quarter of the game, which has been a huge emphasis in practice,” said Porrazzo. “We have been letting opportunities slip by in end-of-quarter situations. It was nice to see us execute in those moments against Malden.”

The large-and-loud home crowd supported the Revere players throughout the evening, proving to be a valuable “Sixth Man.”

“There was a lot of energy in the crowd the entire night thanks to Senior Night,” said Porrazzo. “If you know our players, they do not shy away from big moments. The energy and support from the crowd only makes them play harder and more focused.”

In the third quarter, senior tri-captain Skyla DeSimone rose to the occasion, scoring 10 straight points in the period, including two three pointers, on her way to an 18-point performance.

“Skyla has one of the best shooting forms I have ever seen in a high school player,” noted Porrazzo. “It was not a surprise to see her get hot like that from the perimeter. “

Another dominant performance for the Lady Patriots was turned in by senior tri-captain Carolina Bettero. Carolina poured in a game-high 21 points, including all nine of Revere’s points in the fourth quarter. Betttero did it all for Revere at both ends of the floor, pulling down six rebounds, dishing out four assists, and making four steals.

“To me, Carolina is the MVP of the GBL this season,” said Porrazzo. “Her contributions to the team this year can’t be quantified. She’s been a beast on the boards, she’s our leading scorer, and her competitive spirit has carried us through an up-and-down season.”

Junior Elaysia Lung contributed 10 crucial points, including two three-pointers.

Seniors Maressa Oliveira and Dianne Mancio got the starts on Senior Night as well.

“Maressa and Dianne contributed to our success on the court throughout various moments of the game,” said Porrazzo.

The victory improved the Lady Patriots’ record to 10-7 on the season, thereby assuring Revere of a .500 record and clinching a berth in the post-season state tournament.

Two days previously Revere trekked to Lynn English to take on the Lady Bulldogs in a battle for first place in the GBL.

The contest was a dogfight (no pun intended) all the way, with just four points separating the teams with three minutes to go. 

However, foul trouble finally caught up with Revere down the stretch and English pulled away for a 56-45 win.

“We were dealing with foul trouble most of the night from multiple players,” said Porrazzo. “We probably went deeper into our bench than we ever have this season. I was proud of our team for hanging in there so tightly.”

The Lady Patriots came out fast, sprinting to an early 8-2 lead, but the Lady Bulldogs responded with a 17-3 run to vault into a 19-11 advantage in the second period.

“English had their chances to pull away in the second quarter, but we were happy to cut the lead to six, 32-26, by half time,” said Porrrazzo.

Revere had a balanced scoring attack in the first half, but in the third quarter Haley Belloise shouldered the scoring load with nine points, leaving matters at 42-37 entering the final eight minutes of play.

The teams’ defensive pressure intensified for the first part of the fourth period, with English clinging to a 45-41 lead with just about 3:00 to play. However, that would prove to be as close as Revere would get the rest of the way.

“We played so hard and so tough for a long period of time in this game, but with the foul trouble and the inability to convert on the offensive end, English was able to open up the game in the final minutes,” said Porrazzo. “The final score certainly was not a reflection of how close the game actually was.”

Belloise finished with 15 points on the night and DeSimone reached double figures with 12.

“Skyla was a physical presence on defense all game,” said Porrazzo. “She is probably the strongest guard in the GBL and she was a force on the court all night, diving for loose balls and always being the first one up.”

Porrazzo and his crew will wrap up their regular season this week with three games. They were scheduled to make the short trip to Winthrop last night (Tuesday) and then will host Medford this evening (Wednesday) at 6:00 and entertain Chelsea on Friday afternoon at 3:30.

Excellent Week for RHS Boys Basketball With Three GBL Wins

The Revere High Boys Basketball team had a very busy and successful past week. After their victory on the TD Garden parquet floor two Saturday nights ago against non-league foe Hamilton-Wenham, the Patriots extended their winning streak to four games with a trifecta of victories against Greater Boston League opponents this past week.

The Patriots traveled to GBL rival Malden last Tuesday evening.

Revere junior point guard Alejandro Hincapie (12 points) got the team going, making two three-pointers in the first quarter. Senior tri-captain James Clauto (10 points, five assists, five steals) also made a three-pointer and seniors Ramadan Barry (seven points) and Hamza Ghoul (10 points, 10 rebounds) chipped in with a layup each in the quarter to give Revere a 15-6 advantage at the first buzzer.

The second quarter was a different story as Malden began to find their rhythm on offense, while the Patriots could only manage baskets from Ghoul and Clauto early on. Revere junior reserve forward Vincent Nichols sank a trey to end the long Malden run, leaving the Patriots with a slim 22-20 lead at halftime.

“We have to figure out this second quarter problem we have been having the past few games,” said RHS head coach David Leary. “It’s going to hurt us if we don’t.”

The third quarter went much better for Revere. Barry, Clauto, and Hincapie all drained shots from three-point land. Ghoul had two nice post-up finishes in the lane and senior tri-captain Jack D’Ambrosio (four points, 14 rebounds, five assists) made a nice fast break layup to help Revere take control, 37-27, heading into the final eight minutes.

Malden began to apply their full-court pressure to start the fourth quarter and for a few minutes got themselves closer thanks to some shaky Revere ball handling and passing. The Patriots settled down after a timeout and had great scoring balance down the stretch, with six players scoring in the final five minutes, propelling Revere to the 48-37 win.

Thursday night was Senior Night for both the RHS boys basketball team and the RHS cheerleaders. The Somerville Highlanders were in town looking for just their second win of the season and from the start it was clear that this was going to be a hard-nosed battle.

D’Ambrosio, who turned in a powerful double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds, was the only Patriot to score a basket in the first quarter with a three-pointer and a layup as Somerville employed a tough man-to-man defense that stymied Revere.

Somerville was also using most of the shot clock on each possession to keep the pace of the game slow and it proved effective, as Revere trailed 6-5 after the first period.

The second quarter was more of the same as both teams played some good defense and neither team could buy a basket. Clauto (seven points, three assists, five steals) made two nice athletic drives to the basket and Barry made an open jump shot, while D’Ambrosio chipped in with five more in the quarter to move Revere out to a slight 16-13 lead at the intermission.

The second half had a feel similar to the first half, as neither team could get their offense going. Revere senior tri-captain Ihssan Mourouane made a nice pass for a Nichols layup and senior center Kenny Arango did a nice job on defense and grabbed a few rebounds when he came in to give Hamza Ghoul a breather.

Somerville made a basket to go up 24-23 with a minute left in the third quarter, but Ghoul grabbed a rebound and scored right before the quarter would end to give Revere the 25-24 lead heading to the final period.

The Patriots were looking for something or someone to help them close the game out and D’Ambrosio was ready to answer the bell on Senior Night, with eight points over the final eight minutes, including a huge offensive rebound and putback to give Revere a 30-29 lead after Somerville had scored the first five points of the period.

The Highlanders would then score a few minutes later to go up 31-30 with just under two minutes remaining, but junior guard Sal DeAngelis picked a great time to score his only basket with a nice drive on the baseline.

On the next possession after a Somerville miss, there was a scrum for the loose ball at mid-court and DeAngelis came up with the ball. Revere made a couple of free throws at the end to hold on for the 35-31 victory on Senior Night.

“Senior Night always is fun,” said Leary. “We had a great crowd and we got to honor our senior cheerleaders, our players, and their families. We wish we had played better, but some of that was nerves. It’s been quite a while since our kids have had a chance to play in front of a large crowd because of COVID restrictions. I was.happy for our team and our seniors. We just need to keep grinding.”

When the Patriots traveled to Medford this past Saturday evening, they had a few things on their mind. Revere was seeking its fourth straight win with a chance to take over third place in the GBL and to gain revenge from a loss to Medford just two weeks previously, 62-54.

The visiting Patriots however, started this game with ice-cold shooting. Medford jumped out to an early 6-0 lead in the first few minutes. Revere looked inside to Ghoul (14 points, 14 rebounds) and the big man delivered with two baskets in the lane.

Barry had a nice steal and layup and then Clauto (eight points, three assists, five steals) scored in transition to close the gap. When Hincapie drained a three-pointer from the top, Revere seemed to have gotten past the early slow start and trailed just 12-10 at the end of the first quarter.

However, the Patriots’ second quarter woes of the past few games began to repeat itself again, as they were not scoring efficiently. Revere managed only a few free throws, another Ghoul score inside, and then finally another outside shot when junior guard Domenic Boudreau (13 points, 11 rebounds) sank a three-pointer before the half to move slightly closer to Medford, 29-19, at halftime.

Leary was not happy with the effort in the first half and he let his team know it.

“We were just going through the motions and playing with no spirit.,” said the coach. “We challenged the seniors and the starters to step up and start playing the way they are capable. Luckily for us, they responded.”

The first few minutes after the intermission were played evenly, with Revere still trailing by eight points with four minutes remaining in the third quarter.

But then the Patriots’ offense exploded. Barry (11 points) sank back-to-back three-pointers from the same corner, Ghoul hit for  two baskets, including a corner jump shot, and Boudreau swished a deep three from up top, to bring the Patriots within a bucket, 40-38, heading into the fourth quarter.

The Revere pressure defense also helped put together the big surge. Barry sank another three-pointer, Clauto hit one, and Ghoul again was too much inside for the Mustangs to deal with.

Medford called timeout to regroup and their star player, Anthony Texiera-Kuger (29 points), scored three straight hoops to cut the Revere lead to 51-47 with two minutes to go.

Patriot junior forward Nichols drove in, made the layup, and got fouled. Vincent made the clutch free throw for the three-point play, and after a Revere stop and a Boudreau pretty-left handed layup, switching hands in mid air, Revere was in control, 56-47.

Some shaky free throw shooting at the end made things tight, but a Medford desperation three rimmed out and the Patriots held on for the 56-53 victory.

The Patriots’ record is now 9-6 on the season and they will be looking to clinch a bid to the state tournament with their 10th win in the coming week as they wrap up their 2022 season.

Leary and his crew were scheduled to meet non-league opponent East Boston last night (Tuesday) and will entertain Lynn Classical tomorrow (Thursday) starting at 7:00.

They will play in a vacation week tournament at Hamilton-Wenham next Monday and Tuesday and then will host Lynn English in their season-finale next Thursday.