By Becky Fiore
For one group of Marblehead basketball players, the chemistry has been years in the making.
They have grown together, celebrated together and learned how to compete together. Now, after three consecutive Cape Ann Youth Basketball League championships, the Marblehead Boys Travel Basketball team is preparing for its eighth-grade season with a familiar goal: keep building and keep winning.
Led by head coach Tyson Whitten and assistant coach Chris Walters, the team enters the 2026-2027 season with an impressive record of sustained success. The boys finished 16-2 as fifth graders in 2023-2024, matched that record in sixth-grade in 2024-2025 and went 14-3 during their seventh-grade season in 2025-2026.
Each season ended with a Cape Ann Basketball League playoff championship. The Cape Ann Youth Basketball League is a North Shore basketball town-by-town travel league that stretches as far south as Winthrop and as far north as Newburyport. The league has three divisions, and the Marblehead team won all three championships in the top division each year.
Behind that success is the outstanding coaching and steady guidance of Whitten and Walters, whose dedication has helped the boys develop their skills, grow in confidence and embrace the value of teamwork both on and off the court.
The 2025-2026 championship roster included Jackson Berger, Rhys Donovan, Nicholas Fiore, Dawson Higgins, Max Hipsh, Connor Jackson, Sebastian Nelson, Myles Olmstead, Micah Sidman, Pete Walters, Eli Windsor and Chet Whitten.
With largely the same roster throughout that run, the team’s greatest strength may be its connection. Time spent together off the court has helped build friendships that carry into practices and games, where familiarity, trust and a shared sense of purpose have become hallmarks of the group.
Last season put that bond to the test. For the first time in their three-year run, the boys did not finish atop the regular season standings. Danvers proved particularly challenging, with Marblehead unable to secure a win against its rival during the regular season.
The playoffs offered another opportunity, and Marblehead made the most of it.
To claim a third straight championship, the boys would have to win two out of three games against Danvers. After winning the opener and suffering a heartbreaking loss in game two, the boys regrouped and delivered in the deciding game, capturing their third consecutive playoff crown, a milestone believed to be a first in Marblehead Youth Travel Basketball history.
Now comes the next challenge.
As the team prepares for eighth-grade, Danvers, Lynnfield and Triton figure to be formidable opponents, while MASCO remains a consistently tough competitor. A regular season victory over Danvers is certainly on the boys’ wish list, along with the opportunity to compete for a fourth straight Cape Ann championship.
But the story of this team reaches beyond records and rivalries. It is about a group of boys growing up together, strengthening friendships and discovering what they can accomplish when they work toward a common goal.
Their final middle school travel season promises another chapter filled with competition, camaraderie and plenty of reasons for Marblehead to cheer.
Games begin after Thanksgiving. Keep an eye out for the schedule and come support a team hoping to make a little more history — together.
Fiore’s son, Nicholas, is on the team.
