Boys basketball gets closer to the postseason
The Marblehead High boys basketball team (9-6) needs just one more win in its final five regular season games to clinch a state tournament berth after throttling visiting Peabody, 78-45 on Feb. 6.
The Magicians also led the Tanners at halftime, 33-24 after junior captain Finn Baron sank a three-point shot to extend the team’s lead to nine at the break.
In the third quarter, defensive adjustments and fast break points broke the game open for coach Mike Giardi’s team. They outscored their Peabody counterparts in that period, 23-10.
Baron paced the offensive attack in the game with 26 points, 21 of which came after the break. Senior captain Finn Gallup was next in line with 17. His classmate Cam Weaver chipped in with 13.
Wrestlers begin postseason at Greater Lawrence
The words that Marblehead Black & Blue co-op wrestling coach Mike Stamison uttered the day before the Super Bowl was quite appropriate. He told his team: “No days off for the Black & Blue,” prior to the start of the second annual Sarkis Cup at Greater Lawrence Tech on Feb. 7. Former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick originated the phrase, and now his former team was back in the big game the next day after a six-year hiatus.
But Stamison’s team, now in the postseason, was participating in the Greater Lawrence tournament for the first time, and the coach remarked afterwards that it won’t be the last.
“We found a great event (to be involved in) for years to come,” said Stamison. “Thanks to Coach Juan and Coach Derek and their Greater Lawrence Tech staff for (hosting it). Most teams got three or four duals in, and we were still out of there by 3 p.m.”
The Black & Blue first went up against Reading. Down four starters, Stamison knew that it was going to be an uphill battle. The Rockets proved to be too much to handle, beating the Marblehead co-op, 60-24. Senior captain Liam O’Brien, freshman Max Letwin, and seniors Phineas Jakious and Xavier Tejeda recorded wins for the Black & Blue.
The Southeastern Regional Voke Tech Hawks, out of Easton, were next up for the Marblehead co-op, and the Black & Blue ended up totally dominating them to the tune of 66-18.
Kenny Drolette, Dylan Soule, Platon Danshyn, O’Brien, Letwin — bumped up from 165 to 175-pounds — Jakious and Tejeda were credited with the wins. It was also Soule’s first varsity triumph in the 126-pound weight class, and he did it in style with a pin.
Forfeit wins were picked up by Elliot Donato, Kristian Drolette, Nolan Glass and Trevor Wade. Nolan Glass took home a win by pin in an exhibition matchup.
The Excel Academy Wolves, out of East Boston, provided the competition in Marblehead’s last match of the day. “There were a number of tight dual matches against an opponent that we haven’t seen in a long time,” said Stamison. “We ended up losing the close battle, 48-30. It would have been even tighter, if we had had our full complement of wrestlers.”
Kenny Drolette, despite being sick, toughed it out to beat his opponent. Colin Homan, O’Brien and Tejeda also secured victories. “The X-man went 3-0 on the day, all by pins,” said Stamison. Donato got a win by forfeit. Ryker Genest grabbed a win with a pin in an exhibition encounter.
Stamison singled out Anna Cruikshank, who shot a ton of tape during the tournament, and senior captain Colin Hart, who had the thankless task of keeping the scorebook. Those two unheralded tasks are critical to any wrestling program.
After going 1-2 as a team at Greater Lawrence, O’Brien was awarded with the tournament’s outstanding wrestler trophy for the lower weight divisions, a first for him throughout his distinguished scholastic career.
The leaderboard for wins on the season shows O’Brien in front with 36, followed by Hart (29), Jakious (18), Tejeda (18), Andrew Delisle (14), Jaymes Carey (14), Kenny Drolette (14) and Glass (9).
On Feb. 4, the Black & Blue hosted a match at Swampscott High against formidable Winchester, and lost, 66-12.
Freshman Kenny Drolette and Tejeda pinned their Red & Black counterparts on Senior Night. “It was the appropriate way for the X-man to close out his high school career on this special night,” said Stamison.
The match of the night belonged, of course, to O’Brien, who wrestled top-ranked Eddie Donlon in the 138-pound weight class. “It lived up to its billing,” said Stamison. “Despite the 3-0 loss, it will serve Liam well in the postseason.”
In an exhibition competition, seventh grader Ollie Dion won his second match of the year, this time by technical fall, 15-0. Kristian Drolette, another seventh grader, went to a second overtime period, before losing by a mere two points.
