By Michael James LeClair
It’s been a busy week for the Nashoba Regional High School winter sports teams as interscholastic competition is beginning to heat up.
The Chieftains’ winter sports teams – basketball, hockey, swimming, track, wrestling – are all in gear for the season.
Beginning with the girls’ varsity basketball team, the Chieftains kicked off the Tina Seabury coaching era with a pair of victories. (See article on the new girls basketball coach on page 4 of this week’s print edition.)
On Dec. 8 Nashoba defeated Notre Dame of Hingham 56-24 in the team’s unofficial first game of the season. The contest was an MIAA endowment game and did not count towards the team’s overall record.
Exactly seven days later on Dec. 15, the Chieftains opened the season for real with a home contest against Mid Wach B rival Westborough.
Against the Rangers, Nashoba’s Sarah Gillooly led all scorers with 18 points as the Chieftains used a dominating second half to cruise to a 43-20 win.
Nashoba led 19-14 at the half before blowing things wide open in the final 16 minutes.
Nashoba’s Caylie McMahon added 12 points and seven steals while teammate Julia Roth scored 7 points for the winners. Brienne Donahue pulled down eight rebounds for Nashoba. Emma Phelps netted nine points for the visiting Rangers.
The Chieftains had a busy week ahead of them following the triumph over the Rangers. Nashoba returned to action on Monday night, Dec. 18 earning a 64-44 victory on the road against North Middlesex Regional. Roth earned 13 points, followed by McMahon with 11, and Gillooly and Donahue with 10 each. Next up, the Chieftains will host Algonquin Regional on Thursday, Dec. 21.
On the boys’ basketball side of things, the Chieftains have had their struggles to open the winter season. Following a loss to St. John’s to kick off the season on Dec. 8, Nashoba traveled to Westborough on Dec. 15. Despite a gutsy effort from the Chieftains, they dropped a 75-58 decision to the Rangers to drop to 0-2 on the young season.
Westborough’s Michael Doherty led all scorers with 20 points and nine rebounds while brother Matt Doherty added 17 points for the Rangers, who finished the night with four players scoring in double figures.
The Chieftains were paced by Andrew Alhquist’s 16 points and Jack Richard’s 12 points. Bennett MacGregor chipped in with seven points.
Nashoba was back at it on Tuesday night looking for that first win when it hosted Algonquin Regional, but Algonquin took the game 75-56. Details of the game were not available at press time.
The Chieftains ice hockey squad is two games into their young season and have had mixed results.
Nashoba opened its season with a 7-2 loss to Westborough on Dec. 11 before following it up with a 2-1 triumph over Leominster on Dec. 13. They tied with Leominster, 3-3, at Wallace Civic Center on Monday.
Against the Rangers, Nashoba fell behind 3-0 after the first period and was unable to recover. For the Chieftains, Robbie Carter and Ryan LeBlanc each lit the lamp once in the contest while goalie Jake Agoglia made 13 saves.
Nashoba wrestling is off to a good start on the season with a 48-28 win overTyngsboro on Dec. 13 and moving on to take the #1 spot in the Marlboro Early Bird Tournament on Dec. 16 with 243.5 points. In individual matches, Nashoba wrestlers Mike Noonan, Ethan Hill, Lucas Cordio and Brevin Cassella all came away with first place wins in their weight classes. Claiming second place spots were Duncan Wilgress-Pipe, Alex Childs and Laurent Joseph. Vinny King and Duncan Brooks took third place honors and Chris Noonan placed fifth.
The Indoor Track boys and girls teams were both defeated by their Westboro counterparts on Dec. 9 with the final girls score of 41 – 50, and boys 10 – 81.
Girls Coach Ben Langelo provided the results of the M.S.T.C.A. Winter Festival held at the Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center in Roxbury on Dec. 18. He noted the following placements: Anna Cressman – 3rd in Shot Put (30′ 10.5″); Chloe Dewhurst – 4th in High Jump (5′ 0″); Alexandra Bettez – 6th in 1000m (3:09.11); Ashlyn MacLure, Emily Boyle, Elsie Yang, & Carli Tesini – 10th in 4x200m Relay (1:56.32).
On Dec. 20, the girls team fell against Groton-Dunstable, 55-36. Full results here