Archive for February, 2009

From the Wicked Local Walpole website:

Ted Davenport is only a junior but he’s already been part of three championship teams at Medway High.

A three-sport athlete, the 6-foot-1, 195-pound Davenport displayed lots of talent in football, scoring 21 touchdowns and running for 1,200 yards for the Tri-Valley League co-champs last fall. After his gridiron season ended, he was named the team’s MVP, was chosen to the TVL all-star team and was voted Fox 25’s Player of the Year, getting 47 percent of the 53,000 votes cast.

A three-year veteran in hockey, Davenport was a quality right wing on Medway’s two TVL title teams his first two seasons, and this year he had another consistent campaign, scoring 10 goals and assisting on 10 others for coach Chris Dwyer’s squad. Medway was unable to make it three straight league crowns but finished second (13-5-2) behind Ashland.

Last year, as a sophomore playing baseball for the first time, the versatile Davenport started at third base and also pitched. He hit .280.

His hitting in baseball was respectable for a rookie and his hitting and checking on the ice is something Davenport would like to see continue in the hockey tourney.

"We didn’t repeat as TVL champs but my goal now is for us to win the South Sectional championship," Davenport said. "If we achieve that, then I’d love to see us get into the states and go all the way."

During Davenport’s first two seasons, the Mustangs have won tourney games, but haven’t advanced to title encounters. Medway lost in the third round to Norwell in 2007 and was eliminated by Scituate in the second round last year.

Relying on a slapshot, Davenport likes to dig in the corners and make key passes.

"I also like checking," he said. "It’s a chance to be aggressive."

Davenport’s coach likes everything about his veteran winger.

"Ted has great physical attributes," Dwyer said. "He uses his size to his advantage on the boards and in the corners, and he can skate and shoot. Ted’s not only a well-rounded player, but he’s also a quality kid with terrific character. He’s a key ingredient in our attack."

Davenport rates Medway’s 2-0 loss to Ashland this year as his best game.

"I was able to play with consistency, I checked okay and made some good passes," Davenport said. "My top thrill in my three seasons, however, was winning the two titles back-to-back. When we beat Westwood early in my freshman season, that got us on a roll and we gained lots of respect. The town got behind us and it was special."

Last month, Davenport experienced another special event – he won Fox 25’s Player of the Year Award as the state’s top football player. He beat out stars like Sean Ryan of Norton and Ryan Izzo of Walpole.

"It was a great honor," Davenport said. "As far as I know, there wasn’t any local campaign to influence the voting. It shows support and it gives me motivation for next season."

Davenport, who received a plaque and jacket for winning the award, is proud of what he and his teammates achieved in football. Medway’s 10-1 record is the best in school history.

"It was great to be part of that," Davenport said. "The players were close-knit and everyone respected each other and our coaches. Everyone bought into a team-first approach."

Davenport, who runs with power, isn’t flashy but he can find and hit holes quickly. And, he’s intent on improving in other areas.

"I want to accelerate better, improve my speed and gain more vision on the field," Davenport said. "My goal is for us to get to a playoff game and be in a Super Bowl next year. As far as hockey goes, I can improve my hands and shoot quicker."

Davenport’s favorite sport is football, and he hopes to play at a high level in college. He most likely will because of his competitive nature and his good academic standing.

"I strive for perfection, no matter what sport," he said. "I don’t think an athlete should ever be satisfied. It’s all about improving and playing with a passion for winning."

So far, Ted Davenport has been on three title teams and there’s a good chance there’ll be more in his future.

Read “Medway’s Davenport simply a winner” on the Wicked Local Walpole website

From the Wicked Local Walpole website:

Most teams would envy the Franklin boys hockey team’s recent winning history: five consecutive Hockomock league titles (2003-2007) and finalists in the Division 2 South Sectional Championships for four of the past five seasons.

Yet few would covet their latest streak of season-ending heartbreak. Two years ago the Panthers lost the title bout with Hanover in the final 30 seconds of overtime. Last year, a shootout did Franklin in, as it fell to eventual state champion Sandwich.

And although Franklin entered Tuesday’s game against Nauset confident it could make a deep tournament run and stop the postseason pain, the fourth-seeded Panthers fell in overtime to No. 5 Nauset 2-1 in a Division 2 South quarterfinal.

Brett Lerner, who called the Panthers’ previous losses "the worst days of my life," had drawn the Panthers even with a power-play goal with four minutes left in regulation, on assists from Pat Cameron and Joe Fernandes. Goalie Corey Clearmont made 23 saves for the Panthers, who finished the season at 14-6-1.

The Panthers (16-5-1) finished second in the Hockomock this season behind a Canton team that, according to Spillane, "beat (us) solidly." Twice. Still, the Panthers carved out a successful season against a challenging non-league schedule.

"We faced some tough Division 1 teams like Springfield Cathedral and Xaverian who we played in a real tight game last week," said Jeff Kaplan, the team’s starting goalie and senior co-captain. "That’s given us some good experience."

On a team of 11 seniors, Kaplan stood out as both a player and a team leader. In his third year as the varsity netminder, Kaplan delivered six shutouts this season and presided over 13 of the team’s total victories.

"(Kaplan) has been our backbone for the past three years," said Spillane. "We’re going to try to play to our strengths, and give guys like him a chance to lead us."

Across the red line, the Panthers relied on Fernandes (30 goals, 14 assists) and Lerner (12 goals, 18 assists).

Perhaps Franklin’s toughest opponent this year was illness in the form of a bug that has been making its way around the locker room since Christmas. Shaky health is one reason that Spillane said this has been an "up and down" year of streaks both positive and negative.

Yet Spillane and his crew believed they were peaking at just the right time prior to Tuesday’s loss. Last weekend, the Panthers roared into the finals of the South of Boston Shootout in Bridgewater, falling only to Super 8 bound Xaverian.

Lerner said prior to Tuesday’s game that the Panthers would do whatever it took to get to the state championship at TD Banknorth Garden. Now, Franklin will have to find some satisfaction in a solid season that again ended too prematurely.

Read “Franklin boys fall in overtime” on the Wicked Local Walpole website

From the Wicked Local Walpole website:

   For the briefest of moments, it appeared that the New Bedford boys’ hockey team had a chance against Walpole at the Iorio Arena Wednesday night.
   After the Rebels jumped out to a quick lead just 27 seconds into the game, Whaler star Andy Medeiros turned on the jets, putting his mates ahead 3-1 after scoring a legitimate hat trick 5:45 into the first stanza.
   Just a minute later, however, Walpole’s Ryan O’Coin started an onslaught that would not let up until the third period as the host Rebels earned another tourney game with an 11-4 rout of New Bedford.
   “The boys came in on fire,” offered Coach Bill Meehan of the Walpole explosion. “New Bedford has that line with Medeiros, (Josh) Rebello and (Andy) Soares, and what a nice line that is. We knew we had to watch that line.”
   Medeiros, as expected, was a huge pat of the Whaler strategy, which included a lot of dumping the puck in the zone, icing the puck before the Rebels could set up the offense in the New Bedford zone and setting up Medeiros, wherever he was on the ice.
   The Rebels tied the game at three by the end of the first and pushed the lead to 7-3 in the second before Medeiros scored his fourth of the night. The locals added four more in the last stanza for the final score.
   The victory propelled the Rebels into a Saturday afternoon (1:15 PM) showdown with Bridgewater-Raynham at the Gallo Ice Arena in Bourne. For directions, visit www.galloarena.com on the web.

Read “Rebel hockey team advances after comeback win” on the Wicked Local Walpole website

From the Wicked Local Walpole website:

   By the time last Saturday’s South Sectional gymnastics championship was over, Bay State Conference champion Walpole had 130.7 points and was 11th of the 12 teams in the meet.
   The Rebels were not able to celebrate a victory, one of four berths in the state meet or even matching the meet average that qualified them to qualify for the second straight year.
   They were, however, able to celebrate something much more important: perseverance, resilience and the team concept.
   When this season started, the Rebels were immediately hit by a ton of bricks, which included some performers having been injured before the season ever started and others fighting the flu. Teammates had to persevere.
   Despite it all the Rebels were able to repeat as BSC champions and still get a second straight invitation to the select sectional meet, held in Hudson.
   By the time the meet was to begin, the girls discovered that persevering would once again be a main focus. With star Kesley Cofsky having been disqualified from participating since she was not able to compete in the league meet, the Rebels realized that this competition probably meant the end of the season.
   But there was a lot more to it than that. By the time the team bus left Walpole High it was emptier than expected because of illness. Another star all-around, Kerry Clark, had gamely battled back from wrist surgery to compete late in the season, but was still not able to compete on all four events. To compete Saturday was an extension of her season-long perseverance.
   A third senior having an outstanding year, Jackie Rando, was making a go at the meet despite being ill. Just to show up and give all she had was perseverance from the moment she woke up.
   Then there was the third star, sophomore Amanda Carney. When her bars and beam routines went wrong while dealing with pressure of trying to carry Walpole’s hopes, it took perseverance just to get back out and finish with a flourish.
   With all three persevering through difficulty and Cofsky cheering them on from the sidelines, the Rebels refused to disintegrate and rallied to beat Westborough and put in a respectable showing.
   Rando gutted out a 7.45 on vault, 8.15 on bars, 7.65 on beam and 7.7 on floor, and although none was a personal best, each was a strong score for her situation.
   After a team-high 8.95 on vault, tying her for seventh overall, Carney struggled in bars and finished with an 8.625 on one of her top events, dropping her to 11th overall on the apparatus. A visible look of disappointment swept over her face after she finished, but instead of letting it sink her day, she came back to score an 8.6 on beam (her fabulous dismount helping to offset a rare fall) and a 9.1 on floor. The beam score just tied her for 25th, but a beautiful routine landed her seventh on floor and was good enough to net her sixth overall, just six tenths out of third.
   Clark, who says she had her last competition as she plans on attending UConn or Quinnipiac in the fall to major in marketing, was still not able to compete on vault but battled to an 8.15 on bars, 8.6 on beam and a 9.0 – her best mark since the beginning of the year and tenth overall, on floor. All three had to persevere, and all three did.
   With that the younger girls also stepped up and helped the team salvage what could have been a disastrous night.
   “The last two meets everyone was living on a high, and we wanted to end on a high,” said Coach Inez May. “But with everything we were dealing with we knew we weren’t going to move on, so in addition we made it a ‘let’s go and have fun meet.’ It was a great chance for the younger girls to compete at this level and come back next year with that kind of experience.”
   Among the highlights from the other girls was a personal best by sophomore Kelly Meredith on beam, soaring to 7.25 from her previous best of 6.8, to accompany a 7.3 on floor and a 7.8 on bars.
   Freshman Sydney Gillis also looked like she was taking steps toward being a greater contributor next winter, getting a 7.45 on vault, 7.8 on bars and 7.2 on beam. Rounding out the scores were an 8.1 on vault and 7.0 on floor by Lauren Kemple, an 8.15 in vault and 7.95 on bars by Jess Olsen and a 6.8 on beam by Jess Byrne.
   In the end the most important thing is that the Rebels persevered as a team, something not lost on the group.
   “It’s different than club competition,” offered Clark, who does both. “We’re more of a team, and we look out for each other. “It’s not just yourself.
   “The wrist injury was kind of a setback for me, it happened over time where a ligament tore. But even though I’m not competing in college, I wanted to stay senior year, I didn’t want to miss out on senior year.”
   That’s the kind of persevering attitude coaches and teammates like to see.
   Barnstable repeated as champions, but by the slimmest of margins as Algonquin’s 142.25 was only two tenths behind the Raiders. Case-Seekonk and Mansfield round out the four that will move on to the states and BSC rival Wellesley, which Walpole beat in the league showdown, was seventh (134.4), fewer than three points from fourth.
 

Read “Shorthanded Rebels finish 11th” on the Wicked Local Walpole website

From the Wicked Local Walpole website:

   In the United States over the past 50 years, McDonald’s has been known for fast food.
But in Walpole, the McDonalds are known for fast swimming.
   One year after older brother Timmy started making a statement for the Barracuda boys; nine-year-old sister Colleen has started making a statement for the talented girls’ team.
McDonald, still unbeaten in the butterfly this winter, led a 333-48 crushing of Cambridge recently by the defending Suburban Swim League champion Barracudas, who are one win away from taking another perfect record into the postseason.
   McDonald started out with her usual domination of the fly, and kept things rolling by capturing the freestyle and backstroke. Meanwhile, although brother Tim didn’t win a race in the meet, he was eerily consistent – swimming all five events (back, IM, breaststroke, freestyle and fly) and finished second in each one.
   Colleen has been quite the story this winter, however, as she is the only Barracuda still unbeaten in a wave of talented teammates.
   “What’s really helped Colleen is that she has a March birthday,” offered Coach Cheryl Cavanaugh. “That means that while she falls into a normal cycle in the summer, she just makes the cutoff in the winter. She is one of the older girls in the 8-and-under range, and will be swimming next year in the 9-and-10 range. But she doesn’t have to swim against those girls until the summer.”
   The added experience has helped her confidence and turned McDonald into a winner, but though she’s the only unbeaten Barracuda left in the pool, she’s far from the only successful one.
   Among the girls taking strong streaks into the last dual meet and March 7 Suburban Swim League championship meet in Quincy are twins Danielle and Jess Sauve, Kelly Fogarty and Caitlin Callanan.
   Also posting excellent times and winning regularly are three of the high school stars, Sam Pomer, Jenna Harrop and Meaghan Smith, who excels in the backstroke. Their goal in the fall is a repeat as Bay State Herget champions.
   The boys aren’t about to be outdone if they can help it. Among the 8-and-unders doing well are Paddy Hinton David Conroy, Matt Ferraro and Henry Elmhurst, who just started swimming this winter.
   Teenage cousins Mike and Liam Flaherty have also been consistent, with Mike winning three events against the Canterbridgians.
   Then there’s Andrew Gubanov, who has been winning both for the Barracudas and the Bluefish, a private club.
   Even if Canton was to miraculously beat the ’Cudas this Saturday, the locals would still have the league title, after having knocked off second-place Sharon, 453-296 on Jan. 24.
Norwood, however, is enjoying a surprise victory after upsetting the Barracudas in the recent 500-yard swim.
   The key for the water mustangs is their boys’ team, first on its side with 22 points, thanks to a 3-4-5 finish by Joe Thomas, George Lok and Erik Talbot. Walpole’s boys only mustered six points with former Norwood resident Ken Woods seventh overall in 6:03 and veteran Jacob Barnett taking ninth in 6:15.
   The big story for Walpole was the girls’ finish, led by Caitlin Callanan, third overall in 5:50.
The Norwood girls also scored 22 points, 19 of them from a 1-2 finish by Molly Shilo and Ellen Bartlett. Shilo’s sister, Megan, added the other Norwood points.
   The Barracudas, however, blew away the rest of the combined competition, placing seven among the first 11 finishers in the league.
   Right behind Callanan was Harrop (4, 6:02), Sam Pomer (5, 6:07), Smith (6, 6:10) and Courtney Pomer (7, 6:19). Jess Sauve was ninth in 6:29 and Rachel Williams was 11th in 6:51.
   With the Shilos joining the Mettas in Norwood and the Walpole freshmen still improving, it appears the high school swim rivalry will be hotly contested the next few years.
Walpole 333 – Cambridge 48
Feb 8, 2009
Butterfly: First Place – Colleen McDonald, Kelly Fogarty, Jack Lyon, Danielle Sauve, Jenna Harrop, Matt Vandini, Meaghan Smith, Mike Flaherty. Second – Emily Freeman, Paddy Hinton, Maia Adley, Tim McDonald, Abby Grant, Thomas Durfee, Samantha Pomer, Jay Myers, Caitlin Callanan, Kenny Woods. Third – Reagan Benton, Matthew Ferraro, Kirsten Wade, Padraic Curran, Jess Sauve, Austin McGowan, Christine Drogan, Christian Kelley, Courtney Pomer, Liam Flaherty.
Freestyle: First – Colleen McDonald, Kelly Fogarty, Jack Lyon, Danielle Sauve, Samantha Pomer, Matt Vandini, Caitlin Callanan, Mike Flaherty. Second – Maggie Curran, Paddy Hinton, Maia Adley, Tim McDonald, Jess Sauve, Austin McGowan, Jenna Harrop, Christian Kelley, Meaghan Smith, Kenny Woods. Third – Reagan Benton, Kirsten Wade, Owen Hunter, Abby Grant, Thomas Durfee, Emily Muller, Bobby Gay, Courtney Pomer, Liam Flaherty.
Breaststroke: First – Reagan Benton, Paddy Hinton, Julie Hinton, Jack Lyon, Danielle Sauve, Samantha Pomer, Matt Vandini, Caitlin Callanan, Kenny Woods. Second – Lilly Hunter, Andrea Gilmore, Tim McDonald, Brooke Harrington, Thomas Durfee, Emily Muller, Bobby Gay, Meaghan Smith, Mike Flaherty. Third – Julia Muller, Owen Hunter, Jess Sauve, Austin McGowan, Jenna Harrop, Jay Myers, Courtney Pomer, Pat Kemple.
Backstroke: First – Colleen McDonald, Matt Ferraro, Kirsten Wade, Jack Lyon, Danielle Sauve, Jenna Harrop, Matt Vandini, Meaghan Smith, Mike Flaherty. Second – Reagan Benton, Julia Muller, Tim McDonald, Abby Grant, Austin McGowan, Samantha Pomer, Jay Myers, Caitlin Callanan, Liam Flaherty. Third – Maggie Curran, Paddy Hinton, Maia Adley, Padraic Curran, Jess Sauve, Thomas Durfee, Krissy Jankowski, Christian Kelley, Courtney Pomer, Kenny Woods.
Individual Medley: First – Kirsten Wade, Jack Lyon, Danielle Sauve, Austin McGowan, Samantha Pomer, Christian Kelley, Meaghan Smith, Kenny Woods. Second – Andrea Gilmore, Tim McDonald, Jess Sauve, Jenna Harrop, Jay Myers, Caitlin Callanan, Mike Flaherty. Third – Kelly Fogarty, Chris Conroy, Abby Grant, Thomas Durfee, Rachel Williams, Bobby Gay, Courtney Pomer, Liam Flaherty.
 

Read “Barracudas a win from perfect year” on the Wicked Local Walpole website

From the Wicked Local Walpole website:

   The bad news about the 2009 championship game of the annual Rebel Hoop Classic is that the crown is back in North Easton. Even worse news is that the Oliver Ames Tigers took it back with authority, scoring 27 points in the first quarter en route to a 74-60 victory over host Walpole.
   The good news for Rebel fans, however, is that despite the Tigers throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the home team in the first quarter as they sought to blow the game open, the defiant Rebels never let it turn into a rout.
   The even better news is that Ames, which hardly missed a shot the first half, is a predominant favorite in the Div. 2 South tourney that starts tonight (Thursday, Feb. 26) for Walpole, and still could not feel comfortable in its win until late in the second half.
   Hitting most of their first opportunities and using dominant rebounding against the smaller Rebels to limit theirs, were the keys to victory for OA. But, take away that first period and it was even.
   “We played defense and held their big scorers,” offered Coach Stacy Bilodeau. “But Oliver Ames was a better team tonight, and deserved to win. They were shooting a high percentage early on.”
   Along with being the opponent in the title game of the Rebel Hoop Classic OA was also the final regular season opponent in a gauntlet of season-ending games that pitted the Rebels, who dropped to 15-5, against some of the best teams in the state.
   The game was the fifth against ranked teams in just eight days beginning with the Feb. 12 rematch with Wellesley, and the quintet of unbeaten Bay State Herget champion Wellesley, Div. 3 power Pentucket, Bishop Feehan – which Walpole visits at 8:00 tonight in a rematch, Medfield and OA entered the tourney this week with a combined slate of 92-9. Two of those losses were inflicted by Walpole, including the first of the season for Tri-Valley League champ Medfield.
   If the Rebels were a bit tired, it was thus understandable.
   Just the night before the locals routed Medfield, 65-38, to gain the tourney final.
   Led by sophomore guard Jacky McLaughlin and senior Marrissa Pendergast, the Warriors played the rebels tough the first quarter, trailing by only two, 17-15, at the end. They were still within striking distance at halftime, down just 29-24, and after a McLaughlin trey to start the second half were on the verge of tying.
   But the Rebels burned them in the final stanza with a 21-2 run keyed by Sarah Roof (10 points, 9 rebounds) and Sydni Salvatore.
   The game with OA was decided in the first quarter as the Tigers continued the torrid pace that routed Dighton-Rehoboth and 6-foot-2-inch all-scholastic scoring machine Mary Nwachukwu 54-30 the night before.
   OA jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead with a Molly Grimes lay-up providing Walpole’s points. Senior Captain Sarah Roof then drilled a long jumper to cut the deficit to 6-4, and with a balanced offense the Rebels scored enough to keep close and trailed just 14-13 with 3:20 left in the first after another hoop by Roof, who led the Rebels with 16.
   Then OA turned on the jets, and with tourney MVP Lauren Battista (28 points, 16 first half) pouring it on, they outscored the Rebels 13-2 over just the last three minutes of the quarter. Walpole’s points came at the end of the run as All-Tourney player Lauren Baryski (12 points) scored with 49 seconds left.
   Baryski cut the deficit to 10 to open the second quarter, but Battista fired right back. It was Baryski, with a three-point bomb, a couple of steals and a few assists, keeping the Rebels going in the second period, but OA maintained a double-digit lead throughout, peaking at 16 with 2:50 left and again with 1:20 left before Christine Carty hit the final shot of the half.
   Walpole’s biggest problem was OA making most of its first attempts, having more than enough energy down the other end tro bottle up most of the rebounds.
   “We were one and done the first half,” admitted Bilodeau. “We dug ourselves too big of a hole.”
   OA kept the pedal to the metal the whole second half, with its lead in the game peaking at 18 twice. The last time it hit 18 however, at 5-36 with 6:01, the defiant Rebels made a bid to get the deficit back to single digits.
   By this time the Rebs were controlling the ball better, having cut down on costly turnovers.
They actually had a 9-2 run at the end of the third, keyed by steals by Roof and Liz Malone. The deficit got down to 11 (56-45) before the third closed.
   OA made one last bid for a blowout with a run in the middle of the fourth that pushed the lead back to 17. But the Rebels, again led by Baryski, whittled the deficit back to 10 once more, the key hoop a banker off the glass in heavy traffic by Michaela Cosby.
 

Read “Hot Battista stops the Rebels” on the Wicked Local Walpole website

From the Wicked Local Walpole website:

  The Walpole High boys’ basketball team decided to redefine the term “Indian givers” Tuesday night in its first-round tourney game.
   After seemingly handing the game over to the Dartmouth Indians early in the first half after a series of turnovers and failing to do what they do best – keep the opponents off the boards, the resurgent Rebels, led by Ryan Terp (game-high 28 points), Rory Quinlan and Anthony Conway, roared back to reclaim the game in the second half, winning 69-61.
   Some of the Rebels still had the taste of last year’s first-round loss to Dorchester, in overtime when all they needed was to hit free throws, in their mouths.
   No longer. Over the final seven games of the season when the locals took on some of the top teams in the state, they proved they could beat anyone in Div. 2 South in the tournament.
They just had to go out and do it in the tourney and did just that when they spotted an excellent Dartmouth team an 11-point lead – and all the momentum – with 5:41 left in the first half but came right back to tie at 38 early in the second half. It was a game from then on, but one which the Indians saw slipping away.
   A major reason the game changed hands was the usual, as Walpole, despite not having Ryan Izzo available, simply bore down with its fantastic depth off the bench. Quinlan came into the game and was a force in the second half, scoring eight points, doling out a couple of assists and making the Indians wish starter Derek Hand, who was only burning them on the boards, was still in the game.
   “We knew we were in the game, we knew they were going to break,” offered Quinlan, who has had to play Matt Cassel to Hand’s Tom Brady the last couple of years. “I think we’re a better conditioned, tougher team than them, and we proved it.”
   Conway added stingy defense on Dartmouth captain and point guard George Hodge, and the starting backcourt of Captain Chris Ferro (9 points, all in the first half) and Marven Toussaint also got valuable assistance off the bench from Joe Rogers and Pat Falvey, filling in for Izzo. Sean Sylvia got his usual 16 and Justin Mello added 17 and Mike Grandfield 18, but the rest of the Indians were held to just 10 combined.
   Coach Dave St. Martin liked the Rocky Balboa attitude the underdog Rebels took with fourth-seeded Dartmouth, which fell to 15-4 while then Rebels rose to 15-6. He expressed that in the locker room at halftime.
   “I told them ‘we got them.’ We took their best punch and were only down eight,” offered St. Martin. “There was a difference between now and earlier in the year. We would have lost this game earlier in the year. But I figured that if we stop turning the ball over and outrebounded them, we have a chance.”
   Things certainly didn’t look too promising in the first quarter when the Rebels were outscored 22-15 by Dartmouth.
   The Rebels got off to a good start when Hand won the jump ball, and Ferro found Toussaint up top, from which he found Terp in the left corner. Terp buried one of his five treys for a 3-0 lead.
   Dartmouth roared back to go up 6-3 but Ferro converted a Chris Cameron set-up for a trey to tie.
   The Rebels kept trying to stay with the Indians, but they were getting numerous steals from Hidge and Sean Sylvia, and Justin Mello and center Mike Grandfield kept converting them down low.
   When Sylvia, Dartmouth’s leading scorer, buried a three-pointer with 3:32 left it gave Dartmouth a nine-point cushion, and then the teams traded points the rest of the first, with Grandfield netting 10 of his team-high 1 in the stretch.
   The second quarter started with a Mello hoop, then a Sylvia steal. The first couple of minutes were all Dartmouth, with three steals and three baskets sandwiching a Hand hoop and causing a timer-out with 5:41 left. By then Dartmouth’s lead had grown to 11 (28-17).
This was also the time Quinlan appeared for the first time, impressively hauling in a Toussaint miss
   Terp then buried a trey to cut it to eight, and although the Indians were playing very well and hitting their shots, Walpole’s renewed efforts to take care of the ball kept them from stretching it any further.
   Walpole started to show signs of tourney life while keeping pace the rest of the half. Terp buried another trey from the corner and then blocked a Sylvia shot.
   The second half was a totally different story from the get-go. Mello made it 38-28 56 seconds in, and then the Rebels ripped off 12 straight points in a span of three minutes for a 40-38 lead. The run was keyed by Terp who drilled a trey off a beautiful kick-out pass from Hand and added four other points. Cameron, who had six assists, also set up a successfully converted three-point play by Hand.
   Mello finally snapped the skein with a hook in the paint, followed by a long Sylvia jumper. But no sooner than the Indians had the lead than it was snatched away by Quinlan, who canned an inside bucket off a Cameron throw-in.
   Another Terp trey, followed by Quinlan hoops off an outlet pass and putback, pushed the Rebels lead to 51-42 before Mello closed out the quarter with a three-point bomb.
   The lead grew to 11 twice more in the fourth, but this time it was in the hands of the Rebels.
Joe Rogers stared the period with another three-point bomb, and then, with 7:14 left Quinlan drew a critical offensive from Grandfield. After play resumed Quinlan dished to Cameron on his left, making it 56-45 and forcing a Dartmouth timeout with 7:02 left.
   Just like with the Rebels the timeout rallied the troops and the Indians made an impressive comeback, closing to within two (63-61) with 1:36 left.
   Conway had hit a huge basket with two minutes left for a 63-57 lead, and it proved vital as Frank Vilacha made two free throws and Grandfield scored on a lay-up. Vilacha fouled Terp on a block attempt, and with a rare Terp miss at the line (11-for-14) the Indians were within a trey of tying.
   Cameron pulled down a huge defensive board, however, and with 68 seconds left Hand scored inside. Dartmouth’s only recourse was to foul but Walpole gave the ball to Terp, who sank three of four to seal the deal.
   The victory propels the Rebels into a second-round Friday night game, at either Falmouth or Mansfield, depending on a Wednesday game after deadline.
   The Indians had some fairly active and exuberant cheerleaders, but although the Rebels didn’t bring any official cheerleaders the 60 miles to Dartmouth, the Indian girls met their match in the WHS girls’ basketball team, which became tourney cheerleaders last year against Dorchester.
   Hopefully the guys will return the favor, coming out in full force tonight at Bishop Feehan for their female counterparts.
WALPOLE 69, Dartmouth 61
at Dartmouth High
WALPOLE (69) — Chris Cameron 1 0 2; Ryan Terp 6 11 28; Derek Hand 3 1 7; Marven Toussaint 0 0 0; Chris Ferro 3 2 9; Anthony Conway 4 0 8; Rory 3 2 8; Joe Rogers 1 4 7; Pat Falvey 0 0 0. Totals 21 20 69.
Dartmouth (61) — Artie Lynch 1 0 2; Justin Mello 6 4 17; Mike Grandfield 9-0-18; George Hodge 1 0 2; Sean Sylvia 6 3 17; Frank Vilacha 1 2 4; Joe Almeida 1 0 2; Cam Souza 0-0-0. Totals 25 9 61.
Score by Quarters — WALPOLE 15 13 23 18 — 69. Dartmouth 22 14 9 16 — 61.
Three-point FGs — WAL, Terp 5, Rogers 1, Ferro 1. Dar, Sylvia 1, Mello 1.
 

Read “Rebel comeback stops Dartmouth” on the Wicked Local Walpole website

From the Wicked Local Walpole website:

Models hit the stage at the Post Prom Committee’s "Walk in Style" show Thursday in the Walpole High auditorium.

Read “Classy Kids” on the Wicked Local Walpole website