Tarik Maddrey reigns as the King of the High Jump in the Northeastern Conference after his leap of 6′-4″ handily vaulted him past all competitors at Friday’s NEC League Meet that was held at the Reggie Lewis Center.
Tarik’s closest competitor cleared the bar at 6′-0″, fully four inches below Maddrey’s winning jump.
“Tarik’s jumping is just rounding into form,” said RHS had coach Sam Ros. “We spent the last month of the season fixing everything about his jumping and it’s starting to pay off. His jump of 6′-4″ at the NEC meet qualifies him for the high school indoor track nationals at the Armory in New York City in March. We’re hoping he continues to improve and do well at the State championships in a couple of weeks.”
The only other Patriot to get into the scoring column was freshman Daniel Murphy, who brought home a fifth place ribbon in the 55 meter dash with a clocking of 7.01 seconds.
“Daniel continues to prove that he is the best young sprinter in the NEC,” said Ros.
In a dual meet last week with Peabody, the top team in the NEC, Maddrey took first place in the high jump, crossing the bar at 6′-0.” Murphy took second in the 45 yard dash in 5.4.
A number of Patriots earned third place honors: Brett Deukmejian with a shot-put toss of 43′-6″; John DelloRusso in the mile in 5:20.1; Joseph Gonzalez in the 45 hurdles in 6.6; and Salah Barhoum with a two-mile run of 12:08.
The Patriots will conclude their dual meet season today (Wednesday), hosting Marblehead for a 6:00 meet.
Boys basketball team beats Winthrop, Chelsea
The Revere High boys basketball team reeled off a pair of victories last week against two of their traditional rivals, Northeastern Conference foe Winthrop and non-league opponent Chelsea.
In a 66-43 win last Tuesday over Winthrop, the Patriots got off to a slow start, with Winthrop taking a 2-0 lead through the first four minutes of the game. However, when Revere finally did get on the scoreboard, the Patriots took charge, moving out to a 14-8 advantage after the first period and enjoying a 31-17 bulge at the half.
“Our defense was tenacious and our rotations were on point, forcing turnovers,” said RHS head coach Adam Rizzo, who got to give his bench some meaningful minutes while also giving his regular starters a bit of a break with the Chelsea game coming up the next night.
Every Patriot got into the scorebook, led by Jason Seigal with 14 points. Doug Zingali had a nice all-around game with eight points, four steals, and four blocks. Dante Lauria hit for seven points, followed by Mike Dreeszen with six, Camilo Gomez with five, Tommy Chea with five, Dylan Kalloch with five, Mike Ciambelli with five, Steve Selevitch with four, Nermin Ibreljic with three, Ravi Ryland with two, and Ben DiGiulio with two.
On Wednesday, the Patriots defeated Chelsea for the second time this season, 53-37. A big and raucous crowd was on hand at the Merullo Fieldhouse for the rivalry game in which the visiting Chelsea squad was seeking revenge for the earlier defeat and Revere was looking to get to the .500 mark for the first time this season.
The Patriots started fast, moving out to a 13-5 lead after the first period, but the teams then engaged in a defensive battle, with both squads only managing to score seven points in the second frame to leave matters at 20-12 at the intermission.
That eight point Revere lead still stood after three periods, 33-25, before the Patriots put the game away in the final eight minutes. “This was a huge game for us,” said Rizzo. “It was a chance at getting back to .500 at 7-7 in front of our fans and to get some serious momentum going into the final stretch of our season.
“Our goal in the two games (Winthrop and Chelsea) was to try to hold them to 40-points or fewer. We allowed only 12 at the half against Chelsea and were pumped about that. But for a team that likes to get it into the 60’s, we only had 20 ourselves. In the second half we started hitting our jumpers and it not only got our team going, but the crowd was into it too, and we just fed off that,” continued Rizzo.
A key play for Revere came with just four seconds left in the third period. Ben DiGiulio inbounded the ball to Revere’s junior center, Nermin Ibreljic, just past half court. Nermin showed great clock awareness to catch, turn, and fire at the buzzer and nailed a trey to give Revere an eight point advantage heading into the fourth period.
“As big as those three points were, the excitement and energy it gave him and the rest of the team as well as the crowd was invaluable,” noted Rizzo.
The Revere offense began to flow through the Pats two best scorers on the season, Jason Seigal (five of his 10 points in the fourth) and Mike Ciambelli (nine of his 12 in the fourth). Steven Selevitch hit one of his two threes in the final frame with Tommy Chea netting a free throw and Doug Zingali scoring two of his game-high 16 points.
“Doug Zingali was huge for us against Chelsea,” noted Rizzo. “He had been struggling recently but he put together two great back-to-back games against Winthrop and Chelsea. Against Winthrop he had eight points, eight boards, four steals, and four blocks. I know he loved getting back in the scoring column, but he was even more excited about how well he played defensively. He carried that over to the Chelsea game and gave us everything he had. They couldn’t stop him in the first half and he accounted for nine of our 20 points. He was in the back of our zone, barking out orders and directing traffic. He came up with some timely offensive rebounds and putbacks that kept our offense going when the shots weren’t falling. It was a huge game from Doug.”
Zingali topped the Revere point chart with 16 points to go along with his eight caroms. Ciambelli turned in a nice double-double with 12 points and 10 boards. Seigal (whose dad, Jay, is the Chelsea coach) reached double figures with 10 points. Selevitch was next with six points, followed by Gomez with five, Ibrejic with three, and Chea with a free throw.
On Friday the Patriots took on NEC North Division rival Peabody and dropped a 64-58 decision in a well-played and hard-fought contest. The teams were deadlocked after a fast-paced opening half, 34-34, but a cold spell in the third frame, in which Revere scored only two points, spelled doom for the Pats, leaving them trailing 49-36 after three periods.
Revere battled back in the final eight minutes and eventually tied the score. However, some tough calls by the refs that went Peabody’s way down the stretch proved the difference. For the game, Peabody went to the charity stripe 24 times, while Revere only took 10 free throws.
Jason Seigal had a huge game with 24 points that included a trio of three-pointers in the fourth quarter that almost carried Revere to victory. Mike Dreeszen reached double figures with11 points, followed by Mike Ciambelli with eight, Ravi Ryland with seven, Doug Zingali with six, and Tommy Chea with two.
The Patriots, who now stand at 7-8 on the season, must win three of their final five games if they hope to qualify for the post season state tourney. They were set to take on Lynn Classical last night (Tuesday), host Salem Friday, and go to Beverly next Tuesday.
DeStefano wins NEC shotput title
Janice DeStefano captured the shot-put championship of the Northeastern Conference at the NEC All-League Friday afternoon at the Reggie Lewis Athletic Center. Her toss of 32′-9.5″ was six inches further than her nearest competitor.
“Janice got off a bomb on her first throw and it held up throughout the competition,” said RHS head coach Antonio LaBruna. “She has definitely earned the title as the league’s top thrower.”
Although DeStefano’s performance set the pace for the Revere girls, many of her Lady Patriot teammates scored points at the meet to land Revere in a solid fourth place in the competition.
Comfort Toglan brought home a fourth place ribbon in the 300 dash in a time of 43.67 and teammate Brenda Rudecindo also grabbed fourth in the high jump with a leap of 4′-10.”
“Brenda was seeded fifth along with five other jumpers going into the high jump competition and ended up finishing fourth with a PR jump of 4′-10″ on her first attempt which may have surprised the league, but definitely didn’t surprise our team,” said LaBruna. “She also jumped 4′-10″ at the Last Chance to Qualify meet Sunday at Reggie Lewis Center and just missed clearing the state-qualifying jump of 4′-11.” With one meet left Wednesday against Marblehead, she’ll get one last crack at making states and I think she is going to make the jump.”
As for Toglan, the coach noted, “Comfort re-broke her own school record in the 300MÂ at the Last Chance to Qualify meet with a time of 43.20. She will be competing in the postseason state meet in her trademark 300M race.”
Two of the Revere relay teams also put up points on the Lady Patriot side of the scorebook at the NEC Meet. The 4 x 800 quartet of Danielle Fortuna, Suellen Guerriero, Jaclynne Dion, and captain Nikki Nelson sped to a fourth place finish in a clocking of 11:39.44, while the 4 x 200 foursome of Toglan, Rudecindo, Jessica Cambria, and Vanessa Leone grabbed sixth spot in a time of 1:58.68.
“The girls came up clutch across the board in the meet with most of them running their best times of the season,” said LaBruna. “The relay teams did a great job in particular. We practiced hand-offs the day before the meet so that they could develop some timing and chemistry and I ended up changing up the orders and mixing up the relay teams just hours before the meet. They had clean exchanges in all three of the relays and ended up scoring in the 4 x 200 and 4 x 800, which was great.”
Earlier in the week, the Lady Patriots took on NEC rival Peabody in a dual meet. Rudecindo was the top Lady Patriot scorer with six points on the strength of sound place finishes in the high jump with a leap of 4″‘-6″ and in the 45 yard hurdles in 7.5 seconds. Toglan took first in the 45 yard dash in 5.9, an event she ran against Peabudy in order to rest her for her specialty, the 300, in the NEC Meet which was just two days later.
DeStefano lost for the first time this season, taking second place with a toss of 32’-0.” However, as LaBruna noted, “Janice threw well, but was defeated for the first time this season. But she’s such a competitor that I think her defeat gave her some extra juice Friday where she certainly had revenge on her mind.”
The Lady Patriot 4 x 400 relay team of Vanessa Leone, Suellen Guerreiro, My Nguyen, and Una Causevic, a foursome comprised of all sophomores, defeated their Peabody rivals in 5:22.
Third place finishes were turned in by Jackie Pisano in the 45 yard hurdles in 7.6 and Nelson in the 600 in 1:57.7, marking the first time the RHS captain had competed in that event.
The Lady Patriots will complete their dual-meet season Wednesday against Marblehead.
Girls basketball team drops pair
The RHS girls basketball team dropped both of its contests this past week to two of the top teams in the Northeastern Conference, Winthrop and Peabody.
In a 46-33 loss last Tuesday to Winthrop, turnovers proved the chief culprit in the Lady Patriots’ demise.
“This was a tough night for us,” said RHS head coach Katelyn Leonard. “The story was really our turnovers — we just didn’t give ourselves enough opportunities with the ball.
“Our half court defense was great, forcing a half dozen zone 30-second calls during the game. But against their full-court pressure, we turned the ball over too many times, allowing easy baskets for Winthrop, and never establishing our rhythm.”
Jen Fajardo led Revere scorers with 11 points. Tiphani Harris played a strong game with eight points and eight rebounds. Adanna Hector was next on the scoresheet with six points with Meaghan Gotham adding four, Aly Hinojosa two, and Logan DiCarlo and Angela Curtis with a free throw apiece.
As for the contest against a Peabody squad that is ranked 20th in the state, the Lady Patriots found themselves in a 15-0 hole at the outset and never were able to dig themselves out. Fajardo hit a three-pointer as the first quarter wound down to get Revere on the scoreboard.
“Peabody was a tough match-up,” noted Leonard. “They are long and play a 3-2 zone that is very tough to penetrate. We got ourselves into a hole fast, with quick turnovers and Peabody capitalizing. We had a difficult time penetrating the zone, and ended up turning the ball over quite a bit.
“Turnovers really have told the story of our season,” added Leonard “When we are under 15 turnovers, we tend to get wins. If we aren’t giving ourselves enough chances to score, it usually means we’re in for a long night.”
Peabody remained in control the rest of the way, with Revere never getting closer than 10 points.
Fajardo led the Lady Pats with 10 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Natasha Iacoviello added five points, Gotham chipped in four, and DiCarlo and Hector scored two apiece.
The Lady Patriots, who stand at 5-9 on the season, were set to host Lynn Classical last night (Tuesday) and travel to Salem Friday. They will return home to entertain Beverly this coming Tuesday.
