Archive for December, 2008

From the Wicked Local Walpole website:

   The cozy little gym on Merchants Drive is now known as Paradise Gymnastics Academy, but don’t tell that to high school teams coming in from the Bay State Conference.
   Instead of Paradise, it will be a nightmare for them once more as the Walpole Rebels defend their conference championship and once again seek a berth in the sectional and state meets at the end of the year.
   Last year the Rebels had a season so fantastic that it was the best in the history of the program at Walpole High.
   By the end of the season, every individual team record had fallen thanks to Kady Sullivan, now at Div. 1 Towson University, as did every team record.
   The Rebels finished seventh overall at the sectional championship meet in Hudson last year, with Sullivan winning the vault with a mark of 9.6. This year, the Rebels might be even better.
Last year’s team had a lot of depth with freshman Amanda Carney and junior Kerry Clark, both Level 10 gymnasts, as was Sullivan.
   That allowed Coach Inez May and long-time assistant Coach Wendy Lewis to experiment with their lineup, getting everyone experience, and to assure no faltering en route to an 8-0 record and victory at the conference meet, toppling defending champion Framingham for the second time. The Rebels had earlier invaded the Flyer gym in Framingham and won the dual meet, 136.8 to 135.05.
   Sullivan has moved on, but taking her place is top Level 10 gymnast Kesley Cofsky who, like Sullivan, yearned for a chance to proudly compete for her high school senior year and was able to work out the schedule between her private school and the Rebels.
   Like Sullivan Cofsky got off to a roaring start, stealing Sully’s floor record in her first try with a 9.65 at Paradise December 16.
   The nightmarish part for the rest of the league and probably the state is that Sullivan, an All-Scholastic, was ably replaced with all the rest of the pieces of the puzzle still in place.
Clark was out with a wrist injury to start the season and the Rebels still cruised past Needham in the opener, 129.35 to 107.15. Jess Olson was out with a concussion, Lauren Kemple was benched by illness and a subpar Carney competed shortly after getting over mononucleosis. A healthy team would have been well into the 130’s, and by season’s end, this group should be topping 140, a mark reached by elite teams like state champion Barnstable, which scored 146.1 in the state meet.
   One reason why the team is virtually unstoppable (only Wellesley has a shot this year in the BSC) is that everyone back from last year has improved greatly. Another is the addition of Cofsky. The third is the addition of two talented freshmen in Sydney Gillis and Ashley Canter, both of whom bear watching the next four years.
   In the past a mark in the low sevens would have easily scored for Walpole, now in most events anything below an eight could be close, but not close enough.
   The thing that keeps powers like Barnstable, which scored a 144.6 in last year’s sectional, and Shrewsbury where they are is a slew of top-notch competitors that allow the teams to reload and keep team scores high in each event. Having at least two all-arounds who can score 35 or better in a meet is key and the Rebels have that in Cofsky, Clark and Carney. They also have Kelly Meredith, who scored a 29.7 in the all-around against Needham, and a handful of others with the skills to compete in all four events.
   “This is going to be a fun year,” remarks May. “A lot of girls are doing very well, and there’s a lot of great support and chemistry in this group.”
   The team starts out with its hard-working senior captains, Sue Conroy and Allie Jenks.
Both are responsible leaders, and Conroy brings big game experience and the maturity associated with being part of the sectional champion field hockey team.
    Despite concentrating on field hockey all fall, Conroy returned to up her beam score from 4.0 to 5.25 in the first meet, and should improve drastically in all events she competes. Conroy, however, is not the first Rebel to combine the unusual mix of field hockey and gymnastics. A 1986 grad, Kim Lestan, was second in the state on bars in 1985 for a Walpole team that was in the state meet for the fifth time in six years, as well as a state field hockey champion.
   Jenks also counts beam as her main event and with the non-all-arounds spread out among the four apparatus, there should be no holes to fill once the team regains its collective health.
There are four other seniors, including the two Level 10s. The third senior is diving record holder Jackie Rando, who is strong in both vault and bars, where she scored a personal best 7.85 in last year’s sectionals and started this year off already at 7.6. Another is Meg Crawford, specializing in vault.
   Clark, coming off tendon surgery on her wrist, is in her second year at Level 10 and scores in the high 8’s and 9’s in every event. She scored a 35.2 on all-around back in January.
   Cofsky stepped up and scored a 9.65 on floor to end the Needham meet, breaking the record of 9.5 established by Sullivan on January 31. While Sullivan could leap out of the gym on spring-like legs, giving her unbelievable lift to complete her maneuvers, Cofsky succeeds with a combination of quick fluid moves. Her 9.5 on bars is topped only by Sullivan’s team record of 9.7.
   There are only two juniors, a reason to be thankful for the dynamic frosh that appeared. The first is Morgan Smith, another swim team diver who specializes in floor and vault and the other is Stephanie Habib, an accomplished cheerleader who participated in gymnastics years ago and returned to compete on beam, floor and vault for the Rebels.
   The team has a strong sophomore class, including Carney, Meredith, Olson, Kemple and Jess Byrne.
   Byrne is off to a fine start, upping her beam PR from 7.0 to 7.35 (with no falls) to open the season and Kemple, who also does floor, had a PR of 7.9 on vault last year.
   Meredith had a 7.8 on vault, 7.5 on bars, and 7.6 on floor Dec. 16. When Olsen returns the scores in bars and vault will automatically go up as her PR in both is 8.3.
   Then there’s Carney, whose scores include a 9.5 on vault in the Framingham meet last year.
Added to the mix are Cantor an Gillis, and they shone right away.
   Cantor’s broad smile was irrepressible when she waited to do her floor routine, and she showed a lot of promise with her springs and placement. Her 6.65 score was only a result of starting out with a conservative, simpler routine.
   Gillis, a tall redhead, stepped right into the mix and scored a 7.6 on vault, 7.1 on bars and 6.2 on beam in the opener.
   “Sydney hasn’t competed in a couple of years,” reminds May. “I though she did great, and she can improve on her scores. She was anxiously awaiting to be part of the high school team. She doesn’t even have her routines complete, but she put something quickly together and did it.”
   A conservative estimate of a Rebel team score at full strength would be about a 142, well above the record 140.15 the locals chalked up at least year’s league meet. If they had hit 142 in the sectionals, they would have finished second to state champion Barnstable, and a 142 would have placed them fifth at the state championship.
Welcome to Paradise.
 

Read “Powerful gymnastics team reloaded” on the Wicked Local Walpole website

From the Wicked Local Walpole website:

   The cozy little gym on Merchants Drive is now known as Paradise Gymnastics Academy, but don’t tell that to high school teams coming in from the Bay State Conference.
   Instead of Paradise, it will be a nightmare for them once more as the Walpole Rebels defend their conference championship and once again seek a berth in the sectional and state meets at the end of the year.
   Last year the Rebels had a season so fantastic that it was the best in the history of the program at Walpole High.
   By the end of the season, every individual team record had fallen thanks to Kady Sullivan, now at Div. 1 Towson University, as did every team record.
   The Rebels finished seventh overall at the sectional championship meet in Hudson last year, with Sullivan winning the vault with a mark of 9.6. This year, the Rebels might be even better.
Last year’s team had a lot of depth with freshman Amanda Carney and junior Kerry Clark, both Level 10 gymnasts, as was Sullivan.
   That allowed Coach Inez May and long-time assistant Coach Wendy Lewis to experiment with their lineup, getting everyone experience, and to assure no faltering en route to an 8-0 record and victory at the conference meet, toppling defending champion Framingham for the second time. The Rebels had earlier invaded the Flyer gym in Framingham and won the dual meet, 136.8 to 135.05.
   Sullivan has moved on, but taking her place is top Level 10 gymnast Kesley Cofsky who, like Sullivan, yearned for a chance to proudly compete for her high school senior year and was able to work out the schedule between her private school and the Rebels.
   Like Sullivan Cofsky got off to a roaring start, stealing Sully’s floor record in her first try with a 9.65 at Paradise December 16.
   The nightmarish part for the rest of the league and probably the state is that Sullivan, an All-Scholastic, was ably replaced with all the rest of the pieces of the puzzle still in place.
Clark was out with a wrist injury to start the season and the Rebels still cruised past Needham in the opener, 129.35 to 107.15. Jess Olson was out with a concussion, Lauren Kemple was benched by illness and a subpar Carney competed shortly after getting over mononucleosis. A healthy team would have been well into the 130’s, and by season’s end, this group should be topping 140, a mark reached by elite teams like state champion Barnstable, which scored 146.1 in the state meet.
   One reason why the team is virtually unstoppable (only Wellesley has a shot this year in the BSC) is that everyone back from last year has improved greatly. Another is the addition of Cofsky. The third is the addition of two talented freshmen in Sydney Gillis and Ashley Canter, both of whom bear watching the next four years.
   In the past a mark in the low sevens would have easily scored for Walpole, now in most events anything below an eight could be close, but not close enough.
   The thing that keeps powers like Barnstable, which scored a 144.6 in last year’s sectional, and Shrewsbury where they are is a slew of top-notch competitors that allow the teams to reload and keep team scores high in each event. Having at least two all-arounds who can score 35 or better in a meet is key and the Rebels have that in Cofsky, Clark and Carney. They also have Kelly Meredith, who scored a 29.7 in the all-around against Needham, and a handful of others with the skills to compete in all four events.
   “This is going to be a fun year,” remarks May. “A lot of girls are doing very well, and there’s a lot of great support and chemistry in this group.”
   The team starts out with its hard-working senior captains, Sue Conroy and Allie Jenks.
Both are responsible leaders, and Conroy brings big game experience and the maturity associated with being part of the sectional champion field hockey team.
    Despite concentrating on field hockey all fall, Conroy returned to up her beam score from 4.0 to 5.25 in the first meet, and should improve drastically in all events she competes. Conroy, however, is not the first Rebel to combine the unusual mix of field hockey and gymnastics. A 1986 grad, Kim Lestan, was second in the state on bars in 1985 for a Walpole team that was in the state meet for the fifth time in six years, as well as a state field hockey champion.
   Jenks also counts beam as her main event and with the non-all-arounds spread out among the four apparatus, there should be no holes to fill once the team regains its collective health.
There are four other seniors, including the two Level 10s. The third senior is diving record holder Jackie Rando, who is strong in both vault and bars, where she scored a personal best 7.85 in last year’s sectionals and started this year off already at 7.6. Another is Meg Crawford, specializing in vault.
   Clark, coming off tendon surgery on her wrist, is in her second year at Level 10 and scores in the high 8’s and 9’s in every event. She scored a 35.2 on all-around back in January.
   Cofsky stepped up and scored a 9.65 on floor to end the Needham meet, breaking the record of 9.5 established by Sullivan on January 31. While Sullivan could leap out of the gym on spring-like legs, giving her unbelievable lift to complete her maneuvers, Cofsky succeeds with a combination of quick fluid moves. Her 9.5 on bars is topped only by Sullivan’s team record of 9.7.
   There are only two juniors, a reason to be thankful for the dynamic frosh that appeared. The first is Morgan Smith, another swim team diver who specializes in floor and vault and the other is Stephanie Habib, an accomplished cheerleader who participated in gymnastics years ago and returned to compete on beam, floor and vault for the Rebels.
   The team has a strong sophomore class, including Carney, Meredith, Olson, Kemple and Jess Byrne.
   Byrne is off to a fine start, upping her beam PR from 7.0 to 7.35 (with no falls) to open the season and Kemple, who also does floor, had a PR of 7.9 on vault last year.
   Meredith had a 7.8 on vault, 7.5 on bars, and 7.6 on floor Dec. 16. When Olsen returns the scores in bars and vault will automatically go up as her PR in both is 8.3.
   Then there’s Carney, whose scores include a 9.5 on vault in the Framingham meet last year.
Added to the mix are Cantor an Gillis, and they shone right away.
   Cantor’s broad smile was irrepressible when she waited to do her floor routine, and she showed a lot of promise with her springs and placement. Her 6.65 score was only a result of starting out with a conservative, simpler routine.
   Gillis, a tall redhead, stepped right into the mix and scored a 7.6 on vault, 7.1 on bars and 6.2 on beam in the opener.
   “Sydney hasn’t competed in a couple of years,” reminds May. “I though she did great, and she can improve on her scores. She was anxiously awaiting to be part of the high school team. She doesn’t even have her routines complete, but she put something quickly together and did it.”
   A conservative estimate of a Rebel team score at full strength would be about a 142, well above the record 140.15 the locals chalked up at least year’s league meet. If they had hit 142 in the sectionals, they would have finished second to state champion Barnstable, and a 142 would have placed them fifth at the state championship.
Welcome to Paradise.
 

Read “Powerful gymnastics team reloaded” on the Wicked Local Walpole website

From the Wicked Local Walpole website:

   This year’s Walpole High girls’ basketball team will be taking to the court with a major height disadvantage, but that’s never stopped a Walpole team from winning games before.
   Usually what they did was put the ball in the hands of the backcourt and went into transition mode, daring opponents to keep up with them.
   While graduating all-star Captain Caroline Stedman and some key personnel down low, the Rebels return with an extremely experienced backcourt starting with senior captains Lauren Baryski and Sydni Salvatore, and including senior swing player Michaela Cosby.
   Their steady hands and a team where most everyone has above average ball-handling skills will make the Rebels a force to reckon with again on the fast break, and will set up yet another showdown for the Bay State Herget title between the locals and defending Div. 2 state champion Wellesley.
   Last year’s showdown was quite an exhibition as the Rebels, towered over by the Raiders, took their rivals to a 48-44 score in the Div. 2 South title game, knowing they could have just as easily been state champs after seeing the Raiders roll over Millbury, 65-44, in the state championship.
   With that in mind the Rebels went back to work, returning even tougher, faster and more polished than last season. They also seem to have fixed one of last year’s problems as well, when they shot a healthy 70 percent from the line in Friday’s 59-31 blowout of Dedham at WHS.
All that remains to be seen is if they have cured their other malady – long stretches in big games of letting themselves get totally shut down. That was most critical on St. Valentine’s Day last year when the Rebels played Wellesley for the second time. A game of catch-up became a game of shutdown for the Rebels, who went four minutes late in the game without a point. It was only the second Walpole loss, the third being the elimination game in the tourney.
   “We did better scoring last year than the year before,” notes Coach Stacy Bilodeau. “But we still had a couple of games of long stretches without scoring, something that’s haunted us in the past. We’ve got to continue to run and score in transition, especially if teams are too big inside. Also, our inside kids have to stay out of foul trouble.”
   With a lot of graduates, including sisters Meg and Lauren Johnson, the Rebels had a few holes to fill. Fortunately Robin Hughes does such a great job with the freshmen and Brianne Bognanno with the jayvees, that it’s usually only a matter of reloading for Bilodeau.
   This year Bilodeau won’t have Bognanno on hand as the former Emmanuel College star has taken the reins at Westwood High. However Bilodeau still has a talented group in Hughes, varsity assistant Colleen McCrave and the newest jayvee mentor, former WHS star Danielle Collins, who just rewrote the University of Vermont field hockey record book.
   With this kind of leadership it’s no wonder the Rebels are able to reload and this should be another of those years, especially with four starters back in senior captains Baryski, Salvatore and Sarah Roof, and Cosby.
   With the graduation of rugged center Courtney Gouthro and power forward Lauren Johnson, the 5-foot-11 Roof will be hard-pressed to dominate the paint, especially since she is more of a finesse player than power player.
   However she will have help on the boards, first in veteran workhorses Salvatore and Cosby, who always play bigger than they are, and then in first-year varsity player Christy Villa, a junior center who collected five board in only four minutes in the season opener.
   Throw in third-year junior Molly Grimes, senior Devon Black, Christine Carty and others, and the Rebels may have just enough rebounding if they can hit the majority of their shots or continue the nasty defense that has become as much a Walpole trademark as their transition game.
   Again Bilodeau will be relying on experience – especially in the backcourt, a small squad that will rotate not only positionally but in the starting line-up and her strength – a balanced and diverse backcourt.
   A point guard by committee, as she calls it, will include incumbents Salvatore and Baryski, but juniors Liz Malone and Brooke Waite, both up on varsity for the tourney last year, can also handle the rock. That will free Cosby to take her bulldog attitude inside and make opponents earn their boards and points.
   “Michaela will be more of a post this year,” says Bilodeau. “We swung her in and out last year, but we need to rely on her underneath.”
   While “Peanut,” as Bilodeau affectionately calls Baryski, isn’t tall she plays with a big heart, never so big as last year’s tourney win over Medfield, in which she countered tough coverage of Stedman and Salvatore with a monster game that included 20 points and eight assists, both career highs.
   Salvatore is the incumbent all-star, and only needs to add more consistency to her well-rounded game. Walpole’s sixth senior, Alissa Brown, also adds depth and she, Malone and Waite will help comprise one of the deepest backcourts in Div. 2.
   Together they will embark on the mission of pushing the ball up court as quickly as they can, as well as shutting down opposing fast breaks with backcourt pressure.
   “We will continue to play tight defense, make people work for it,” promises Bilodeau. “We will run for 32 minutes, and try to make the other team stay with us.”
   Despite a short team last year it worked remarkably well; the Rebels finished 21-3 while scoring 63.1 points, mainly in transition. It should work again this winter. Remember, being short and fast never stopped the Rebels before.
 

Read “Walpole Rebels’ guarded optimism” on the Wicked Local Walpole website

From the Wicked Local Walpole website:

   Walpole lost one of the best wrestlers in the history of the program – only the third Rebel to ever place in the New Englands – when Tom Fraser graduated, and also lost the architect of the WHS wrestling revival when Coach Brian Gallagher stepped down after his family grew by one this year.
   Still the rest of the state, especially archrival Natick, which keeps dominating the Bay State Conference and Div. 2 South, better be worried. That’s because the Rebels haven’t lost anyone else and have added a lot to a mix that is capable of replacing Greater Lawrence as the Div. 2 state champion.
   In fact even the one spot where they lost someone – the 160-pound class dominated by Fraser the last couple of years, is in fine fettle as proven by new 160-pounder Chris True. Now back in his more comfortable weight class, “The Truth” is showing this year what a couple of years of practice with someone like Fraser does for one’s own game.
   Also losing Gallagher, who won a slew of state titles in Foxborough before taking over in Walpole, isn’t really losing Gallagher.
   Before his son was born Gal had already unknowingly selected his successor. Bobby Lee, one of Gal’s stars in Foxborough and one of his assistants when coaching the Rebels, applied for the position as soon as Gallagher told him he was stepping down, and after reviewing the candidates Athletic Director Danny Villa made a strong selection welcomed by both the team and the boosters.
   “He called me and said ‘I wasn’t going to be able to do it,’ and I said okay and applied the next day,” explains Lee, who teaches Special Education and also coaches lacrosse in Foxborough.
“I was glad he went for it, he’s been a great assistant and should have no problem keeping going what we started in Walpole,” offers Gallagher, who says he will be dropping in from time to time to spectate. “I coached him in school and knew what I was getting when I made him an assistant. He knows what it takes to win.”
   “Gal was my Coach in Foxborough,” says Lee. “I wrestled for him and graduated in 2000. I was on the team from eighth grade through my senior year and was captain my senior year. We were state champs four of those years.”
   Lee started out wrestling at 103, the lightest class, in eighth grade. By the time he was a senior he was at 140, having wrestled at two other weights in between.
   Besides knowing how to win Lee has something else on his side as the Rebels chase after this year’s Div. 2 state title. Twice Gallagher stepped down from coaching duties at Foxborough High, and both times the Warriors came back the next year to win the state title.
   Not only is the prolific coach a sort of good luck charm for his predecessors, but he also obviously leaves the cupboard full.
   Walpole is hoping the third time’s a charm as well as a very large group, with talent up and down the line-up, chases first the Bay State Conference title, and then the Bay State title.
Fielding a team that was half freshmen, the Rebels were only out of four dual matches last year – the regular season bouts with Reading, Carey power Framingham and Natick, and the sectional showdown with the Red and Blue.
   The rapidly improving Rebels roared back to shock Reading, 31-30, in the sectional semi, setting up a second showdown with the Red and Blue that resulted in Natick eliminating the locals, 50-15.
   Natick, Reading and everyone else has lost key seniors, however, and the Rebels return all but one. They placed eight in the individual sectionals, finishing third behind Natick and Reading. Ironically the football team, of which many are a part of, traveled the same course.
The biggest question right now is if the grid men can overcome their on-field maladies in time to solidify the line-up against a tough league.
   Heavyweight claimed the first casualty as All-Scholastic gridder Adam Riegel, the incumbent, recovers from a bad shoulder. The senior, a smart mat man, was up and coming last year, and pinned two in the sectionals. Freshman Ken Woods took over and showed a lot of potential in the first meet, but Riegel expects to return soon.
   Senior Captain Dave Wyman is back at 215 with Ryan Wasilunas, brother of former wrestlers John and Pat, as a competitive back-up. Wyman, chiseled now from a great grid season, is capable of becoming another state level competitor and was fifth in the sectional.
   One of the best battles for supremacy on the team is at 189, where sophomore Justin Ellis and John McKeon engaged in a wrestle-off so equal it’s still hard to say which is better.
   Senior Captain Mark Ellis, who emerged last year with a 20-13 slate is back at 171, with senior John Farrell right behind. Ellis kept 160 going strong last year when Fraser started out injured and after growing has solidified the 171 slot where True was last winter.
   Now at his natural weight True is picking up where he left off last year, when he finished fifth at the sectionals after arriving unseeded. Another talented 160-pounder, senior Evan Locke, has pushed him hard, however.
   Senior Captain Ryan Murphy is back at 152 where he uses his 6-foot-2 frame to wrap up opponents and break down leverage.
   Sophomore John White moves up a class to 145 after a fantastic rookie season that saw him just missing fifth at the sectionals via a late pin. Senior Dave Nostro, another Rebel to keep a keen eye on, is up five pounds to 140 after being unstoppable at 135 in the sectionals until running into Natick superstar Todd Arthur, the eventual champion. The class is one of Walpole’s strongest, as Sean Coyne has also shown he’s capable of winning a lot.
   Sophomore Kevin Hickey has firmly entrenched himself at 135 as Nostro slides up, and both junior John Cleveland and senior Justin Flynn, sixth last year at 119, vie at 130. Cleveland finished sixth at the sectionals with two pins.
   The incumbent superstar is now Steve Shevory, who tore apart 125 as a junior last winter. Long overlooked, he peaked at the sectionals when he came from nowhere, unranked, to dominate the weight and win the title.
   Shevory leads another talented group of lower weight wrestlers that includes 119-pounder Paul Cunniff, 112-pounder Dan Palmer and 103-pounder Tommy Lee.
   Cunniff and Palmer are returned starters, and each peaked at the sectionals with Cunniff winning one at 103 by tech fall and two by pin, and Palmer taking fifth.
   Freshman Lee takes over at 103, where he started the season Saturday with two pins. There are around 50 guys on the squad so starters will be pushed and have good competition in practice, something a reloaded team thinking about the next step always needs.
   Lee also picked up former Foxborough wrestler Devin Pacilli as an assistant and retained Chris Ellis, older brother of Mark and Justin and former Rebel mat man, to assist with the heavyweights.
   The competition will be tough, especially non-league foes like Chelmsford, Reading and North Quincy, but the future is now for these Rebels so don’t count them out of being in the elite mix.
   In any case, mark these dates on the calendar: Jan. 24, Feb. 17, Feb. 24 and March 3. The first date is the league showdown at Natick High, the next the sectional championship, the third the divisional semifinals and the last the divisional state finals. With any luck the Rebels might also wrestle on the weekend of March 6 and 7. That’s the New Englands.
 

Read “Blue and Orange could replace Blue and Red” on the Wicked Local Walpole website

From the Wicked Local Walpole website:

   The Walpole High boys’ basketball team is returning with so much talent down low that it should feature one of the top frontcourts in Div. 2 this year and will be a force on the boards.
   The flip side to that is that if a team is going to concentrate inside, especially on the offensive glass, and wants to bang with the big boys, then it ought to be able to score consistently at the line.
   That was Walpole’s downfall last winter, especially in the fateful first-round loss to Dorchester in which there was a literal parade of Rebels going to the line, only to come away figuratively rained on.
   That was one of the reasons why Coach Dave St. Martin requisitioned Walpole’s newest secret weapon: a contraption not unlike those at carnivals that collects rebounds for practicing shooters and keeps them in their rhythm.
   If it helps, and the Rebels are also able to replace their all-star starting backcourt of Joe Cabral and Dale Johnson, then they should not only be in the state tourney once more, but also be contending with Milton for the Bay State Herget title.
   If things fall together right and everyone stays healthy, plus the Super Bowl participants get their basketball legs back as soon as possible, then they could also have a shot at the sectional title.
   The team’s main strength, as last year, is inside. Not only is there a talented seasoned veteran at every forward position, but there is also a back-up ready to come in without the team missing a beat.
   The Rebels can run a power frontcourt about 6-foot-5 across the board against monster teams, or can go small and quick, or with a combination of the two. Players will get frequent breathers, forcing seven-man rotations to catch up, and will be able to give away fouls inside without worrying about players fouling out.
   Starting at center for the second year will be 6-foot-5 senior Captain Derek Hand, who is even broader and stronger than he was last year. Hand was an almost certain double figures on the boards, and the second half of the season started gaining confidence in his shooting touch. With the offense balancing out more toward the paint, he will get more looks than last winter.
   Hand will be backed up by 6-foot-4-inch senior Rory Quinlan, an excellent low-post scorer who was a stud for two years on the jayvees while waiting his turn. He’s listed as a back-up, but don’t be surprised to see him more in a rotation that could have him alongside Hand.
   “We’ll put those two guys together against big teams, and we can be pretty successful inside,” says Coach St. Martin.
   Back at power forward is senior Captain Chris Cameron, just off an outstanding year at wide receiver. Cameron at 6-foot-3 led the squad in rebounds last year, and does a great job of crashing the lane on offense as well. He is also surprisingly quick on defense, filling the lane nicely when the opposition is trying to score.
   The scariest part of the frontcourt is how improved 6-foot-4 Ryan Terp is after a great summer. Terp could become the Rebels’ version of Larry Bird – or more in Walpole terms Matt Wolff – with his corner treys and passing eye, plus better than average ball handling for a big man.
The third very athletic big man back is 6-foot-3-inch Mike Gallivan, fresh off an outstanding soccer season. Gallivan has an even better three-point range than Terp and could step right into the same role, as well as filling many others.
   A big boon – literally – to the frontcourt is 6-foot-5 lacrosse goalie Brian Merrigan, who went out for the hoop squad in his senior year and made it easily despite the competition. He will compete for minutes, however, with 6-foot-4 Ryan McGuill, up from the jayvees, and Jerry Meneide, a 6-foot-2 quick forward who transferred to Walpole from Southeastern Regional Vocational. Talk about the rich getting richer.
   “We actually benefited from the kids on the football team getting off to a late start and not being there the first week,” admits St Martin of the Super Bowl victory. “We’ve had a chance to see what these other guys can do and Merrigan has been great, McGuill has played great in the preseason games, and Jerry has shown he can play both guard and forward.”
   There’s no secret the question mark in Walpole is the backcourt after Cabral went off to play for dad Rico at Mt. Ida College. He and Johnson were a huge part of the offense, drilling timely shots throughout the year. Cabral was the squad’s leading scorer and Johnson the leading assist man.
   The reins are now turned over to junior point guard Ryan Izzo, the first guard off the bench last year, Joe Rogers and senior Captain Chris Ferro from a large cast that includes Marven Toussaint, Matt Flanagan, Anthony Conway and Pat Falvey.
   The most intriguing of the two-guards is 6-foot-1 senior Toussaint, who did his best impression of Michael Jordan in the double-overtime loss to Dorchester Education Complex in last year’s tourney. A near quintuple double by Toussaint included 15 points, 15 boards, seven steals, seven assists and seven blocks, and there is more where that came from.
   Fortunately there is also a solid three-point range from both him and Flanagan, who had a late call-up from the jayvees last winter and responded by burying treys.
   If opponents pressure the ball, and they surely will with the graduation losses, then a combination of guys who can hit from long range and a lot of receptive and able hands down low could offset the strategy.
   Both Izzo and Ferro have a lot of experience now, and should respond well to increased roles. Izzo, the top defensive backcourt player, won’t even have to worry about scoring with all the weapons around him. Neither will Rodgers, the 6-foot point guard who will start, possibly alongside Toussaint.
   Conway, a junior, could be intriguing as he brings what many players on defense hate – a left-handed shot.
   “He was on jayvees last year, but I think that people will know him by the end of the year,” says St. Martin of Conway.
   People will also know the Walpole Rebels by the end of the year, especially the frontcourt. This team is too good not to make a name for itself.
 

Read “Chairmen of the boards” on the Wicked Local Walpole website

From the Wicked Local Walpole website:

Like the Patriots visiting the White House after each of their Super Bowl wins, the undefeated Super Bowl champion Walpole High Rebels walked in to the school committee meeting Monday night to get their praise.
    The committee gave a heartfelt thank you to the room full of football players for their 41-21 victory over Mansfield High at Gillette Stadium Dec. 6, which secured the Division 2 Eastern Massachusetts Super Bowl title.
    Members offered the young athletes advice for the future.
    "We’re proud of you today, and we expect more of you in the future," said Chairman Nancy Gallivan.
    She told the players to build on their success on the football field and become better people in the future by using their confidence in job interviews and other endeavors.
    "The best moment in life is succeeding in high school," said the visibly moved Gallivan.
    Committee member Dot Bergen added, "You now take on the role of being the role models for all the future generations" of Walpole football players.
    Head Coach Danny Villa thanked the committee, his assistant coaches, the fans and parents for their support.
    "It takes a lot of commitment from a lot of people," he said.
    Villa said he got a sense that the entire town was truly behind his team by the amount of support they received throughout the season and especially at the Super Bowl.
    The school committee echoed Villa’s thanks to parents.
    "They are the ones that probably got up at 5:40 in the morning if you needed a ride to Gut Camp (football players’ preseason conditioning program)," Gallivan said.
    Superintendent Lincoln Lynch lauded the team’s complicated offensive schemes in the Super Bowl, operating in no-huddle packages – a strategy used to speed up play and confuse defenses. The team even used the Wildcat formation, which has become popular in the NFL this season; this is when a running back or another speedy player lines up in the quarterback position to confuse the defense.
    Lynch happens to be the former assistant school superintendent in Mansfield – the Rebels opponent on Super Bowl Saturday.
    Senior Rebel co-captain Adam Riegel thanked the school committee for backing the program, attributing some of the team’s success to the excellent field conditions at the Turco Field complex.
    The lineman called his post-Super Bowl experience a "whirlwind tour."
    "Everyone’s congratulating us from all angles," Riegel said.
    "The experiences have been amazing for all of us," he added. Play at Gillette Stadium two years in a row was “a dream come true."
    Walpole lost last year’s Super Bowl to Bishop Feehan.
    Showing that "Rebel Pride" never dies, former Walpole High football players and current school committee members Michael Berry and Andrew Zitoli congratulated the team for reclaiming the title – the Rebels’ seventh.
    "I’m really glad you guys are going to be able to put a Super Bowl ring on your finger," Berry said.
    He congratulated Villa for recently winning the Division 2 Coach of the Year award. Villa joined the team as an offensive line coach when Berry was a senior.
    Berry also singled out longtime Rebel coach Barry Greener.
    "I know he probably has more Super Bowl rings than he has fingers," Berry said.
    "I’m proud that you guys carried on the legacy," Zitoli said. He was quick to point out that the young athletes have "a lot more to do with their lives than win Super Bowls."
 

Read “Rebels lauded by Walpole School Committee” on the Wicked Local Walpole website

From the Wicked Local Walpole website:

Jen Herrmann, portraying Gloria the Twelfth, acts out a scene during Friday evening’s play "The Mouse that Roared" at Walpole High School.

Read “Queen for a night” on the Wicked Local Walpole website

From the Wicked Local Walpole website:

Jen Herrmann, portraying Gloria the Twelfth, acts out a scene during Friday evening’s play "The Mouse that Roared" at Walpole High School.

Read “Queen for a night” on the Wicked Local Walpole website

From the Wicked Local Walpole website:

The following pictures are from the Walpole High School Rebels’ seventh overall Super Bowl victory, which was accomplished Dec. 6 with a 41-21 trouncing of Mansfield High.

Read “Walpole High Super Bowl photos” on the Wicked Local Walpole website