Sports 02-03-2016

RhS sports Roundup

RHS girls basketball team runs record to 14-1

The Revere High girls basketball team enjoyed another successful week, handily disposing of three Northeastern Conference rivals.

Last Tuesday the Lady Patriots made the  long trek to Gloucester a worthwhile endeavor with a 72-33 blowout victory. Revere led from the start, jumping out to a 15-4 advantage after one period and making it a 20-point bulge, 33-13, by halftime.

The Lady Patriots increased their lead to 40 after three frames, 59-19, before coasting to the final 39-point margin of victory. A trio of Revere girls reached double figures, led by Valentina Pepic with 20 points. Pam Gonzalez (16 points) and Maritza Scott (14) also hit for double-digits.

Tatianna Iacoviello was next on the scoring chart with seven points, followed by Samantha Woodman with five, Elizabeth Lake with three, and the duo of Emily DiGiulio and Meaghan Gotham with two points apiece.

“Defensively we relied on our man-to-man defense and some more aggressive zone defenses that we’ve been working on at practice,” said RHS head coach Diana Finn. “It was a good effort.”

This Friday’s contest with Danvers similarly proved to be a bit of a stroll in the park, even though the Lady Patriots uncharacteristically were cold at the offensive end through the entire first period. Revere mustered just seven points in the opening quarter and tallied only 16 for the half.

However, the Lady Patriot defense made life difficult for the visiting Lady Falcons, who scored zero (0) points in the first period and sank only a free throw in the second. Thus, the scoreboard at Merullo Fieldhouse showed Revere enjoying a comfortable 15 point lead despite its relatively paltry total of 16 points in the first 16 minutes of play.

However, the Lady Patriots revved their offensive engine into gear after the intermission and expanded their margin to 23 (29-6) by the third buzzer from where they cruised to the win.

Gonzalez paced the Lady Patriots with a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds. Pepic netted eight points and pulled down 10 boards. Gotham hit for eight points, Woodman contributed six, Scott added four, and Tatianna Iacoviello chipped in three.

“We came out flat against Danvers offensively, but we held them to one point in the first half, so overall it was a solid defensive effort,” noted Finn. “Offensively, it always helps us when we hit some shots early to get our confidence up. Unfortunately, we struggled to do that, but kept fighting for good shots.  Our offensive focus was off from the start and we struggled to gain it to finish our shots as the game went on. We will keep working hard at practice on our offensive decisions and aggressiveness

“We’re proud of our record, but we’re staying hungry to keep getting better,” added the coach. “We know the toughest games of the year are coming up.”

Finn and her crew hosted Beverly this past Monday and garnered a 60-46 triumph. Full details will be in next week’s Journal.

The Lady Patriots face a trio of challenging encounters on the road in the City of Lynn in the coming week: They travel to Lynn Classical Friday night; trek to Lynn English Monday; and then play at St. Mary’s Tuesday.

Patriots take third

place at NEC Meet

The Revere High boys indoor track team tallied 39 points to attain an impressive third place finish at the Northeastern Conference All-League Meet Friday afternoon at the Reggie Lewis Center.

Although none of the Patriots claimed the top spot in their events, a number of Revere competitors turned in impressive performances to post points for the Patriot cause.

David Sinatra came closest to being crowned an NEC champ in the 55 meter hurdles. David was the top qualifier in the prelims with a clocking of 8.22. However, Marblehead’s George Goetz, who had a time of 8.27 in the prelims, sped to victory in 8.15 in the final, edging out Sinatra, who came across in 8.23, which was good for a second place ribbon and eight points for Revere.

Nelson Cevallos also earned a second place award for his leap of 5’-10” in the high jump, which was just behind the winning leap of 6’-0”.

Zach Gentile placed third in the 600 dash with a clocking of 1:30.44. The Revere 4 x 200 relay team also grabbed third spot in 1:37.24.

Fourth place finishers for Revere in their events were Dan Murphy in the 55 dash in 6.85 and Edi Murjan in the 300 dash in 38.73. Zakaria Attioui earned a point for the Pats with a sixth place finish in the mile in 4:48.95.

The Revere 4 x 800 relay team added two points with a fifth place effort in 9:16.32. Abubakir Aldarazy came through with an impressive sprint in the 600 in 1:33.14, but finished just out of the money in eighth place.

The Patriots will host Saugus tomorrow (Thursday) in their season-ending meet.

4 x 800 relay team

sets girls RHS mark

The quartet of  Hannah Fitzpatrick, Suellen Guerreiro, Helen Perez, and Trisha Cheever set a new Revere High school record in true 4 x 800 relay race at Sunday’s appropriately-titled Last Chance to Qualify Meet at the Reggie Lewis Center.  The girls had entered the meet in hopes of qualifying for the upcoming Division 2 State Meet for which they needed a time of 10:45.24.

Not only did the Lady Patriot foursome easy qualify for the state meet with their clocking of 10:28.32, but they also set a new RHS record, handily setting aside the previous record time of 10:34.

“We ran this race a couple of weeks ago and missed qualifying by one second, so the girls were really fired up for this race,” said RHS head coach Antonio LaVBruna. ”I was very confident they would get in, but I’d be lying if I said that I expected them to run that fast of a time. I was happy for the two seniors, Trisha Cheever and Suellen Guerreiro. They’ve worked hard all season and have shown a steady improvement, so it was nice to see them rewarded with a record-setting and state-qualifying time.”

Two days previously the entire RHS girls team competed in the Northeastern Conference All-League Meet which also was held at the Reggie Lewis.

Angelisa Nguyen capped off a tremendous season with a state-qualifying time of 7.86 in the 55 meter dash which was good enough for second in the NEC.

Hannah Fitzpatrick earned a third-place medal in the mile with a time of 5:50. Not far behind her was teammate and senior captain Guerreiro, who ran a 6:00 mile, which was 13 seconds faster than her previous mile best of 6:13. Suellen just missed medaling with a seventh place finish.

Jessica Cambraia turned in a strong effort in two events, the long jump, in which Jessica finished 11th with her leap of 12’-9”, and the 300 dash, in which she came in 10th in 47.121.

The 4 X 800 relay team comprised of Fitzpatrick, Guerreiro, Monica Posada, and Cheever finished third in the NEC with a time of 11:13.

“The NEC league meet went as expected,” noted LaBruna. “The girls who were projected to score for our team did so and many girls came out of the meet with huge PR’s.

All of the girls other than the state-qualifiers wrap up the regular season tomorrow (Thursday) with a meet against Saugus.

Slow starts hamper

RHS hockey team

The Revere High hockey team played well for the most part in its two contests this past week, but lapses in various aspects of the game proved costly in losses to Swampscott and Amesbury this past week.

 “We cannot put a complete game together, and by that I mean all three phases, goaltending, defense, and forwards, all playing well for all three periods,” said RHS head coach Joe Ciccarello. “We are not deep enough to make up for it.”

In a 4-3 loss to Swampcott last Wednesday, some lapses on defense led to three goals by Swampscott in the opening period. The Patriots got one back in the middle frame on a goal by Rick Briana, but Swampscott kept matters at a three-goal spread with a lamplighter before the period ended.

Revere turned in a strong effort in the final stanza, notching two goals (by Kevin Chiles and Joe Ristino) to draw within a goal at 4-3, but it proved too little, too late.

In the contest Saturday night at Cronin against non-league foe Amesbury, Steve Noel gave Revere an early 1-0 lead with a goal in the opening period, but Amesbury forged a 2-1 advantage before the period ended. The visitors added two more tallies in the middle period, once again leaving the Patriots facing a 4-1 deficit entering the final 15 minutes of play. Ristino reached the back of the Amesbury net to draw the Pats within 4-2, but that would be as close as they would get.

Ciccarello and his crew are set to play at Peabody tonight (Wednesday) and will host Salem Saturday at Cronin at 5:10. The Pats will play at Everett, their former long-time rival from the Greater Boston League, next Wednesday.

Rough patch for

RHS boys basketball;

Chelsea here next week

After winning three of their previous four games, the Revere High boys basketball team dropped three contests this past week.

Last Tuesday’s encounter with Gloucester saw the Patriots fall behind 12-0 to start the game. The teams battled evenly the rest of the way — as evidenced by the final score of 62-51 — but the early deficit proved to be an obstacle that Revere never was able to overcome.

“We allowed them to hit uncontested threes and also turned the ball over three times in our first six possessions,” said RHS head coach Adam Rizzo. “That run alone put us in a hole that we couldn’t fight our way out of. Gloucester’s zone frustrated our offense all night and with our shooters not able to find a rhythm throughout the first three quarters, we really struggled to score the ball.

“Our offense wasn’t scoring enough as it is, but what really hurt us was the amount of turnovers we had,” added Rizzo. “If you look at the stats, both teams had about the same amount of turnovers on the night. The difference was our turnovers led to steals for Gloucester and easy scoring opportunities. When they turned it over, it was a dead ball situation where they were allowed to setup a defense. Turnovers are always bad, but there is certainly a degree of negative impact they can have and our’s were much worse.”

Even in a loss, there was a small bright spot for the Patriots. In the fourth quarter, Revere inserted freshman Scott Montefusco into the lineup to be the “zone buster.” Montefusco was given a varsity jersey one week previously going into the game against Winthrop and was to be a swing JV and varsity player. Able to play four quarters of basketball on any given night, Montefusco played his typical three quarters on JV and was saved for one quarter of varsity play. With the offense struggling and shooting a desperate need, Montefusco was thrusted into the game to start the fourth quarter.

“At that point, we were trying to make a comeback and needed someone who wasn’t going to be afraid to shoot the three,” said Rizzo. “Scott is a very good shooter, especially for a freshman, and works tirelessly on defense. I’m glad he got a chance to play and showed what he could do. Maybe in the future he finds more minutes at the varsity level this season.”

Montefusco, playing the entire fourth quarter, scored six points on two of four shooting, all from three-point range. He also added a rebound, a steal, and an assist.

Janard Jones paced the Pats in the scoring column with 15 points, including three three-pointers. Gerald Jean-Charles reached double figures with 14 points, hitting three-of-four treys

An undermanned Revere squad (the Pats were missing two of their better ballhandlers and top scorer) next took on Danvers, a top-25 team, and came out on the short end of a 65-31 decision. The Pats trailed 20-11 after one period and then 36-15 at the half.

“We had a game plan to try to slow the game down and to get the ball into our big guys since we did have a height advantage, but when a team is as good as Danvers, it didn’t matter much,” noted Rizzo.

In the first quarter alone, the sharpshooting Falcons hit six three-pointers (Danvers would drain 14 shots from three-point land on the night) to sprint to an early lead that the Patriots never would challenge.

“Danvers is so smart and runs its offense so effectively that they are going to get wide open looks almost every time down the floor,” observed Rizzo. “When you have shooters who don’t miss when they are open, that’s a dangerous offense. It was just a great shooting performance. I thought our guys did a good job fighting and trying to defend them throughout the entire game. Sometimes good offense beats good defense on any single possession.”

Jones and Marcus Brunson paced Revere with seven points apiece. Montefusco struck for six points, Marvin Urdaneta added four, Brendan Hays chipped in three, Mass Joof contributed two, and John DiGregorio also hit for two.

The Patriots also fell behind early in their contest with Bedford, trailing 21-10 after one frame and 37-16 at the half.

“We struggled on offense in the first quarter and were only able to muster up 10 points,” said Rizzo. “On our misses, Bedford did a great job running the floor and making us scramble on defense. They were able to find the trailer consistently for wide open layups or threes and made us pay time and time again.”

Bedford was able to connect on 10 three-pointers throughout the contest compared to two for Revere, a 24-point difference on three-point shooting alone. Bedford also sank as many free throws (11) as Revere attempted.

Point scorers for Revere were Urdaneta with 11 points, followed by Brunson with seven, DiGregorio with six, Mass Joof with four, Will Bell with four, Charles with three, Brendan Hayes with three, and Josh Flanders with two.

Rizzo and his crew have a busy stretch ahead. They were set to trek to Beverly last night (Tuesday) and travel to Saugus tonight (Wednesday). They host Lynn Classical Friday and entertain Lynn English Monday.

They then will face Chelsea in the Battle of Broadway II next Wednesday evening.

Middle School Basketball Roundup

The Revere Middle School hoop squads visited the Witch City to take on the Salem  teams at the newly renovated Francis X. Collins Middle School.

The 1-3 boy’s team, coming off of a tough loss at Gloucester took the floor to face the unbeaten Salem group. With the return of Coach Erik Maloy, after the death of his Dad, giving them a shot of adrenalin the Jr. Patriots scored the first 10 points of the game before Salem got on track and the first quarter ended in the good guys favor 14-7. After trading baskets in the 2nd period it was 20-13 at the half.

The Revere kids came out on fire in the 3rd stanza and looked as if they would run away and hide outscoring the Witches 12-4 and taking a commanding 32-17 advantage after 24 minutes.

Maloy’s troops went inexplicably ice cold as the final stanza began and the home team scored the first 11 points of the period to cut Revere’s lead to 4 with 2 minutes left in the game. The good guys finally regrouped, trading baskets down the stretch, and held on for the 43-39 win, Handing Salem their first loss of the season.

Josh Vasquez led the way with a game high and season high 20 points. Johnivee Melendez was next with 13. Scott Toglan was once again immense on the boards against the much bigger Salem group and contributed 4 points. Dillon Day dropped 2 and Mike Hayes, Angelo Sepe, and Cam Baker finished the scoring by chipping in 1 point each. Revere now stands at 2-3

The undefeated Lady Pats rolled into Salem hitting on all cylinders and went out to leads of 10-2 after 1 quarter and 31-2 at the break and coasted to a 45-17 final to stay unbeaten at 5-0.

High scoring sharpshooter Erika Cheever led all scorers with 13 points. Frankie D’Angelis was next with a season high 9. Chloe Giordano got 5 and 3 girls Julia Cincinnato, Alexis Iacoviello, and Ayah Harper all had 4 each.Caroline Stasio dropped 3, Katie O’Donnell had 2, and Lynzie Anderson finished with 1.

The Middle School Tanners of Peabody High School invaded SBA gymnasium on Thursday, January 21st. Peabody is back on the middle school circuit again, for the first time in quite some time and like all Tanners teams, they were ready to do battle. The 2-3 Revere boys’, fresh off of the great effort at the expense of the previously unbeaten Salem Witches, squared off against a Peabody squad that also featured an unblemished record.

 The local five came out firing with Michael Hayes and Josh Vasquez each contributing four points, leading the way to a 14-13 first quarter lead. Quarter two was a different story with Peabody sinking four three pointers and ten points overall, leaving it at 32-24 Tanners at the break. That second stanza would prove to be the difference as both teams traded hoops the rest of the way, and the junior Pats went down to a 55-47 defeat to drop to 2-4.

 Once again, Josh Vasquez (GMS), led the good guys in scoring with 12, including to long threes. Bobby Kjersgard (SBA), dropped three threes and finished with 9, as did Johnivee Melendez (RMA). Scott Toglan (RMA) dominated the boards and went for 7. Mike Hayes (RMA) had 5, and Amara Bockarie (SBA) and Milton Rios (RMA) rounded it out with 2 points apiece.

The unbeaten Lady Tanners of Peabody came to SBA gymnasium to face the unbeaten Revere squad. Coach Parker’s girls came out sluggish and fell behind 11-0 in the first two minutes of the game, but after a quick timeout, the ladies came back on fire, led by 8th grader Erika Cheever who began what would be an amazing scoring day by getting 9 first quarter points to put her team on top 15-13 after the first eight minutes. The Lady Tanners took over in quarter two, outscoring our girls 19-9 to take a 32-24 lead at the break. It was more of the same in the third stanza, as Revere could only muster 9 points to their opponents 20 and the Lady Pats seemed dead in the water on the short side of a 52-33 score after three. However, the never say die local squad went on an epic run in the fourth quarter led by (who else) Erika Cheever who had 10 fourth quarter points including two threes and Alana Nelson (SBA) who nailed three consecutive threes to cut the lead to 3 in the final minute. The lead was 5 with the clock running down when Cheever took a pass one step in bounds and heaved an ESPN-worthy 92-foot missile that swished at the buzzer. Though the Revere girls lost by 2, they gained the utmost respect of their opponents, who had boasted that they had been “blowing out” teams by 40 all year. Erika Cheever finished a career day with 28 points (four three pointers) for game high honors. Alana Nelson was next with 9. Julia Cincinnato (SBA) was awesome underneath and finish with 6. Eve Lescovitz (SBA) chipped in 4. Nina Cassinello (GMS) had 3, and four Lady Pats, Taryn Roberts (SBA), Chloe Giordano (RMA), Carolyn Stasio (RMA), and Grace Dow (SBA) all rounded out the scoring with 2 points a piece. The 5-1 girls now travel to Saugus on January 21st Lady Sachems.

On January 25th, the Revere Middle School basketball teams took the short bus ride to the Veterans’ Elementary School to take on the Saugus Sachems. The 2-4 boys played first and came out smoking, scoring 16 points in each of the first two quarters and racing to a 32-16 halftime lead. Saugus made a run in the third quarter and cut the lead to 5 at one point, but Coach Maloy’s guys adjusted and ended up securing their third win of the season, 59-44.

GMS’s Josh Vasquez led all scorers once again with 13. Scott Toglan (RMA) continued his solid play with 8 rebounds and 10 points. Angelo Sepe (GMS) came off the bench to contribute 8. Amara Bockarie (SBA) went for 7 and Jonathon Murphy (RMA) and Bobby Kjersgard (SBA) each chipped in with 6. Milton Rios (RMA) dropped 4, Josh Laurina (SBA) knocked down a 3 and Mike Hayes (RMA) scored 2 on a great backdoor cut to the basket. Our boys are now 3-4 and try to climb to .500 against the visiting Triton Vikings on January 27th.

The Middle School Lady Pats’ travelled to neighboring Saugus, sporting a 5-1 record, and took on the 5-1 Lady Sachems. The teams battled back and forth throughout the first 16 minutes. In a poorly officiated game, they were knotted at 19 points a piece throughout the first two periods with the teams combining for 31 free-throw attempts. The third quarter brought more of the same as the teams traded baskets and the referees kept calling fouls and at the end of 3, Revere clung to a 32-30 lead. Both teams played hard up and down basketball in the final quarter, but Saugus pulled ahead going 8 for 11 from the charity strike, while Revere went 4 for 12 (and 15 for 37 for the game). You do not win many games missing 22 free throws and our girls went on to lose a tough one, their second straight, 47-43. 49 total fouls were called in the game and neither team could get into any kind of rhythm. The Lady Pats were once again paced by the torrid shooting Erika Cheever (SBA) who finished with 18 points many of the spectacular variety.

RHS sports Through the Years

10 years ago

February 1, 2006

The RHS girls indoor track team tied Winthrop, 43-43. Peniel Muteba once again scored 10 points for the Lady Patriots with first-place finishes in the high jump (4’-8”) and 50 yard hurdles (7.6). Josie Doirin won the shotput with a toss of 27’-3.5”, Courtney Lyons won the 1000 in 3:18.8, and Ariana Coniglio won the two-mile in 14:24.6.

Sophomore Christina Cavagnaro scored a career-high 22 points, but the RHS girls basketball team dropped a 62-43 decision to Medford.

The RHS hockey team improved to 8-4-2 with a 4-2 triumph over Beverly. Anthony Morico scored two goals and Dave LePage and Marcus Dow scored a goal each.

20 years ago

January 31, 1996

The RHS girls basketball team moved into a three-way tie for first place in the GBL with a 60-43 win over Cambridge. Lauren Fisher led Revere with 12 points and Kristen Mucci added 11 for the Lady Patriots, who now have won six of their last seven games.

After losses of 84-37 to Cambridge and 70-56 to Peabody, the RHS boys basketball remains winless.

Nick Piscitelli won the 50-yard hurdles in 6.6 seconds, the best time in the GBL this season and just 0.1 off the RHS record held by Chris Eason, to lead the RHS boys track team to a 73-13 romp over Malden.

Meredith Sclafani scored a season-best score of 8.35 on the balance beam to lead the RHS girls gymnastics team to a 16-92 win over Malden.

Nicole Coppola took first place in the high jump and hurdles to pace the RHS girls indoor track team to a  victory over Malden.

30 years ago

January 29, 1986

New England Patriots’ fans were hugely disappointed with their team after Sunday’s 45-10 blowout loss to the Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl.

The RHS boys basketball team remains winless after losses of 72-57 to Chelsea and 72-66 to Somerville. Sal Bottari scored 20 points vs. Somerville and Steve Chaet scored 15 vs. Chelsea.

The RHS boys track team remained undefeated with a 52-34 win over Medford. Joe Lochiatto won the hurdles in 7.1, Rich Casoli won the 50 dash in 5.8, Jeff Pitzi won the 300 in 35.8, John Bruzzese won the mile in 4:52.3, and Dave DeMattia took the two-mile run in 10:22.2. Two weeks ago in the State Coaches Meet at Harvard, Bruzzese set a new RHS record in the 600 in a time of 1:17.6.

The RHS hockey team came close to winning its first game in three years, but fell short to previously-winless Malden, 3-1. Robert Scott scored his first varsity goal for the Patriots.

Patrice Misiano and Heather DeCoste scored 16 points each to lead the RHS girls basketball team to a 68-37 rout of Chelsea. Diane Odoardi hit for 14 points in a 45-42 triumph over Somerville.

The boys gymnastics team defeated Winthrop and Phillips Andover Academy to improve to 4-0 on the season. Phe Che, John Spinelli, and Paul DeBenedictis led the way for Revere in the two meets.

40 years ago

February 4, 1976

The RHS boys track team dropped a 52-34 decision to Haverhill to finish the season at 2-6. Highlights for Revere were the wins by Cliff Lusso in the two-mile in 10:28.4 and Mike Lentz with a high jump of 5’-6”.

Kerry Leppo, former RHS track star who graduated in 1973, was the winner of the high jump with a leap of 7’-1/4” at the recent 30th annual New England AAU track meet. Leppo, who won the state title in the high jump in his senior year at RHS, attended Boston College for two years, but presently is taking time off from school.

Steve DCarlo scored five goals to pace the RHS hokey team to a 9-1 romp over Haverhill, moving the Revere squad within one point of qualifying for the state tournament.

50 years ago

February 3, 1966

The RHS hockey team avenged its only loss of the season with a 4-1 victory over Chelsea to improve to 9-1 on the season. Frank Licata scored two goals and Peter Nuell and Steve DeAngeis scored a goal apiece.

 

60 years ago

February 2, 1956

The RHS basketball team dropped two more contests, 55-48 to Chelsea and 64-36 to Medford, this week. Kelfer led Revere with 10 points vs. Chelsea and McManus score 11 vs. Medford.

The Immaculate Conception High basketball team fell out of first place in the Catholic League with a 51-48 loss to St. Clement’s of Somerville. Steve White led IC with 18 points.

A former Revere girl, Nancy Boyd, 17, was a member of the winning team in an acrobatic surfboard riding competition held as part of the third annual International Surfing Meet held in Makaha, Hawaii.