Lunenburg High

Local roundup: Blue Knights roll to win over Maynard

November 2, 2023 by pkzadmin

Maddie Salovardos netted a hat trick and Emma Kibbe added four assists as the sixth-seeded Lunenburg field hockey team disposed of No. 27 Maynard, 7-1, Thursday night at McCarron Field in first round action of the Division 4 tournament.

Lunenburg improves to 16-1-2 overall with the win and will host Clinton on Monday. Maynard finishes its season at 10-7-2.

Lunenburg goalie Tegan Arnold was solid in net in the victory.

Dennis-Yarmouth 3, North Middlesex 0: The 25th-seeded Patriots (8-8-2) fell in the opening round of the Division 3 tournament.

College cross country

Fitchburg State sophomore Michael Burns was named to the 2023 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Men’s Cross Country All-Conference team on Thursday afternoon, while classmate Skye Goba earned a spot on the MASCAC Women’s Cross Country All-Conference team.

Burns notches his second consecutive MASCAC MXC All-Conference accolade after guiding the Falcons to a third-place finish at the MASCAC Men’s Cross Country Championships on Friday afternoon with an eighth-place time of 28:58.48 over the 8K layout at Willard Park.

Skye led the Falcons to a fourth-place finish at the MASCAC Women’s Cross Country Championships after placing fourth overall with a time of 29:02.75 over the 5K layout at Willard Park on Friday afternoon.

High School Soccer: Home cooking awaits local schools

November 1, 2023 by pkzadmin

With the release of the MIAA’s boys and girls soccer pairings on Wednesday, several local programs will have homefield advantage at least early on in the journey to a state title.

The pairings were set using the MIAA’s power ranking system, which takes into account not only a team’s record, but the strength of its schedule and margins of victory.

Oakmont Regional claimed the top seed in the boys Division 3 tournament, while Nashoba Regional drew high seeding on both the boys and girls side. All nine teams that qualified from the Sentinel & Enterprise coverage area will open their respective tournaments at home.

Boys tournament

The aforementioned top-seed Oakmont claimed its spot in the Division 3 tournament with a stellar 16-2-0 mark this season and will face the winner of a preliminary round game between winner of No. 32 Norton (6-10-2) and No. 33 Auburn (11-4-3) in the round of 32. The Spartans will be joined in the D3 tourney by No. 12 North Middlesex Regional (11-4-3), which hosts 21st-seeded Tantasqua Regional (14-3-1) in the first round.

In the Division 1 pairings, No. 16 Leominster High (11-4-3) will host No. 17 Lincoln-Sudbury (6-5-5) in the round of 32, while fourth-seeded Nashoba (17-1-0) will play host to the winner of a preliminary game between No. 29 Agawam (7-7-4) and No. 36 Scituate (7-7-4) in the Division 2 tournament.

Lunenburg High (10-5-2) is the 11th seed in Division 4, drawing No. 22 Leicester (10-6-2) in the round of 32, while in Division 5, 11th-seeded Ayer-Shirley (12-5-2) is set to host the winner of a preliminary round game between No. 22 KIPP Academy (8-6-3) and No. 43 Turners Falls (6-4-1).

Girls tournament

Nashoba (15-1-2) is Division 2’s second seed and will await the winner of a preliminary game between No. 31 Chicopee Comp (9-7-2) and No. 34 Northampton (9-9-0).

In Division 4, 14th-seeded Lunenburg (12-5-1) hosts No. 19 Easthampton (13-5-0) in the round of 32, while Ayer-Shirley (7-9-3), Division 5’s 26th seed, will host a preliminary round game against No. 39 Prospect Hill Academy (8-4-0), with the winner advancing to face No. 7 Tahanto Regional (11-4-3) in the round of 32.

Postseason pairings released for field hockey

October 31, 2023 by pkzadmin

The Power Rankings have spoken, figuratively, and the MIAA’s field hockey postseason pairings have been set.

Released Tuesday afternoon, the brackets — featuring 134 schools spread across four divisions — include a half dozen teams from the Sentinel & Enterprise coverage area with play beginning later this week.

Division 2

Both Leominster High and Nashoba Regional drew home games in the Division 2 pairings, which feature 34 teams.

Leominster (10-7-1) is seeded 12th and will host No. 21 North Attleboro (8-9-1) in the round of 32 at Doyle Field Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Meanwhile, Nashoba (5-10-3) is the 16th seed and will host No. 17 Masconomet Regional (8-6-3) Friday at 5:30 p.m.

Division 3

A trio of local teams will start their journey a Division 3 title on the road in the 34-team Division 3 pairings.

Oakmont Regional (7-9-1) is the 19th seed and will play at No. 14 North Reading (11-4-2) in the round of 32 Thursday at 5 p.m., while North Middlesex Regional (8-8-2), the 25th seed, heads to No. 8 Dennis-Yarmouth (7-7-4) Thursday at 2:30 p.m.

In a preliminary round game, No. 33 Monty Tech (10-5-1) travels to Whitcomb Middle School Thursday to face No. 32 Marlboro (5-11-2) at 5 p.m.

Division 4

In the 32-team field for Division 4, Lunenburg High will be at home for a while, should it continue to advance. With a 15-1-2 record, the Blue Knights earned the sixth seed and will host No. 27 Maynard (10-6-2) Thursday at 6 p.m. at McCarron Field.

The boys and girls soccer pairings are scheduled to be released Wednesday afternoon.

Football, volleyball pairings announced

October 30, 2023 by pkzadmin

With the release of the MIAA football pairings, just two teams in the Sentinel & Enterprise coverage area will have a chance to contend for a state title.

And as the lower seeds in their respective opening-round matchups, Leominster High and North Middlesex Regional will certainly face uphill battles.

The Blue Devils, winners of four of their last five to sneak into the postseason, have been seeded 16th in Division 1, with the placement decided by the MIAA’s power rankings. Leominster (4-4) will open the tournament Friday evening in Danvers, drawing a contest with top-seeded St. John’s Prep (8-0) at 6 p.m.

The 11th-seeded Patriots will hit the road to open the Division 5 tournament. North Middlesex (6-2) will travel to Mattapoisett to face No. 6 Old Rochester Regional (4-4) Friday at 6:30 p.m.

That leaves non-playoff games for the remaining local gridiron teams, including a pair of former Thanksgiving Eve rivals squaring off. St. Bernard’s (1-7) and Lunenburg (4-4) once met annually for the holiday clash and will take to the the turf of McCarron Field Friday at 7 p.m.

After winning three straight to close the regular season, Monty Tech (4-4) heads to Barre to play Quabbin Regional (5-3), while Ayer-Shirley (0-6) plays at Abby Kelley (1-7) in a 6 p.m. matchup.\

At Crocker Field, one team will almost certainly emerge with its first win of the season in a battle of 0-8 teams as Groton-Dunstable visits Fitchburg High.

Volleyball

Three local programs will have a chance to vie for volleyball glory when the five-division tournament kicks off.

In Division 2, No. 23 Nashoba Regional (7-13) drew a preliminary round bye and will face 10th-seeded North Quincy (16-4) in the round of 32. Leominster, seeded 36th with a 10-10 record, will play at No. 29 Silver Lake Regional (9-11) in a prelim in the Division 2 pairings.

In the Division 3 brackets, No. 36 Monty Tech (14-6) will travel to No. 29 Blackstone Valley Tech (13-7) for a preliminary round match.

The Monty Tech girls volleyball team snuck past Leominster for a five-set victory on Tuesday. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Michael James LeClair) — Monty Tech will face Blackstone Valley Tech in preliminary round matchup in the Division 3 volleyball tournament. (Sentinel & Enterprise File Photo)

More coming soon

Pairings for field hockey will be released on Tuesday, while boys and girls soccer brackets are scheduled to be announced on Wednesday.

Local roundup: Sweet goal lifts Blue Knights to victory

October 23, 2023 by pkzadmin

Lunenburg senior captain Grace Sweet scored the go-ahead goal with 4:54 left in game to propel the Blue Knights field hockey team to an exciting 5-4 win over Oakmont Regional Monday evening at McCarron Turf Field.

Lunenburg improves to 13-0-2 overall while the Spartans fall to 6-7-1.

The Blue Knights rallied from a pair of two goal deficits as the Spartans enjoyed leads of 2-0 and 3-1.

Both teams open the CMADA Class B Tournament on Tuesday. Top-seeded Lunenburg hosts eighth seeded Monty Tech and fifth-seeded Oakmont visits fourth-seeded Quabbin Regional.

St. Bernard’s 3, Gardner 0: Megan Richard (assist), Isabella Dee (assist) and Alexis Sylvia scored for the Bernardians, while netminder Ava Legendre turned aside the only shot she faced to earn the shutout.

Nashoba 2, Algonquin 1: Meg Hourihan tipped in a shot by Kayla Flanagan to lift the Wolves in double overtime in a CMADA Class A quarterfinal. Kaycie Vitkofsky aslo scored in the victory.

Fitchburg kicks off Unified Basketball season

October 19, 2023 by pkzadmin

FITCHBURG – The Fitchburg Unified Basketball team opened its 2023 season by welcoming nearby Lunenburg High School to the Doug Grutchfield Field House on Thursday afternoon.

On a day where the final score meant very little, the athletes from Fitchburg and Lunenburg showed sportsmanship and played with teamwork that would make any coach proud. At the end of the day, the visitors from Lunenburg came away with a 58-45 victory.

“Unified athletics is something I’ve been involved with for a long time and I just absolutely love the relationships you build with the athletes and the partners,” said Fitchburg head coach Brian Baxter, now in his fifth season at the helm. “Our first practice we only had two kids so our numbers have grown since then. We lost 18 athletes from last year’s team with graduation so we have a lot of new faces this season, it’s a brand-new team. We scored 45 points today; not bad for our first game.”

Unified Sports brings together athletes with and without intellectual disabilities to train and compete on the same team, according to the Special Olympics website.

Founded in Massachusetts, Unified Sports has become an important addition to Special Olympics internationally and has helped further its mission, by improving self-esteem, fostering acceptance, and creating new friendships among its participants. The primary goal of Unified Sports is to equalize the ability level of Special Olympics athletes with their partners and to promote inclusion through team practice and competition.

Fitchburg assistant coach Cindy Donelan is the school’s liaison for Special Olympics Massachusetts. She is also the school’s unified track head coach and in her first season assisting Baxter on the basketball court.

“I coach unified track and was recently brought in to help coach unified basketball. I have a son with special needs who is a part of the unified athletic programs,” said Donelan. “It’s been a love of mine to be able to combine my passion of serving people with different abilities. Joining and helping with basketball was the natural progression. I know a lot of these kids, I work with them every day within the school It’s a great experience.”

The Unified Sports program expands sports opportunities for participants seeking new challenges and dramatically increases their inclusion in the community, by helping to break down the barriers that have historically kept people with and without intellectual disabilities apart. At the same time, Unified Sports provides a valuable sports opportunity to individuals with intellectual disabilities who are not presently involved with Special Olympics, especially those with mild disabilities.

“I was familiar with unified sports and its growth in the last handful of years and to me, it’s a no brainer. I had the opportunity as a softball umpire to work Special Olympics Massachusetts before the idea of unified came to the high school level and I loved being a part of it,” said Fitchburg Public Schools Athletic Director Todd Robbins. “It’s an absolute win-win at the high school level. It makes perfect sense and it’s so incredibly rewarding for both the athletes and their partners.”

On Thursday, Fitchburg dressed nine players for its battle with Lunenburg. Representing the Red and Gray were Chance Chiv, Pedro DeCastro, Tomas Fernandez, Brian Clapper, Andrew Gutierrez, Ana Jimenez-Rodriguez, Linthi Lieu, Sam Lussier and Vinnie Nguyen.

The Red Raiders play a four-game schedule this season with two games at home and two games on the road. Tthe Red Raiders travel to Nashoba Regional High School to take on the Wolves at 3:30 p.m. next Thursday.

Fitchburg will host an end-of-season Unified Basketball Jamboree on Nov. 8 inside the Doug Grutchfield Field House with several of the area’s unified basketball programs scheduled to participate.