The Silver Lake High boys’ football team will stay within the Patriot League in the first week of the regular season.

The Lakers are scheduled to host the North Quincy Red Raiders on Saturday, Sept. 8 (2:00 p.m. start time) in their opener. Certainly, a win to start the season would give the Lakers a leg up on the competition as they hope to earn their third straight playoff bid. Right now, it appears as though the Lakers have a strong chance to achieve that feat.

The Red Raiders are in a different position than many teams this season. They went 4-7 last year, graduated the majority of their offensive line and will have a new quarterback taking over. Plus, they have a new head coach in Ryan Craig, who coached youth football for the past several seasons.

Since the Red Raiders experience is primarily on the ends on both sides of the ball, as well as at running back and in their secondary, a strong run game and tough run defense will likely be the key to victory for the Lakers in this one.

Neither team has much experience on the line, but having senior co-captains Marshall Roy and Cam Danahy at linebacker should give the Lakers some confidence when it comes to stopping the opposing running backs.

Regardless of who is at quarterback–junior Jesse Miller or sophomore Ben Lofstrom–having Bobby Ohlson, a senior co-captain, at wide receiver should help the team gain some yards in the air when needed. However, the running back corps led by the other team’s captain, Jake Waters, will likely determine how the game goes offensively for the team–as will the protection they receive up front.

Per usual, the first game of the season will give fans a glimpse of what the Lakers are capable of achieving this season. Playing against another young team should be a good test to see how they will fare in the league this season.

The SIlver Lake High football team has a bit of a different look this season.

The team which made it to the playoffs in each of the past two seasons, graduated quite a bit of talent and is now working with a younger, less experienced squad.

This time around, the Lakers have just nine seniors on their roster and more than 20 juniors; the issue they face is that not a lot of these players have a ton of varsity experience. Perhaps the biggest unexpected blow was losing their return man Diamani Williams, whose family moved elsewhere.

Right now, it’s unclear who will be the team’s starting quarterback; competition exists between Jesse Miller, a junior, and Ben Lofstrom, a sophomore. What is clear is that the Lakers do have some talent at wide receiver. Two of their captains, Bobby Ohlson and Jake Waters, man the position.

Defensively, the linebacking corps should be a strength for the Lakers. This is because two more of their captains, Marshall Roy and Cam Danahy, play there. Waters also brings experience on the defensive side of the ball, playing cornerback.

However, the Lakers offensive line will be brand new. They lost every one of their starters to graduation which gives opportunities to some other players like seniors Alex Duke, Derek Ingersoll and juniors Will Hesketh and Aidan Crone.

T he Lakers are coached by Chris DiGiacomo, who is in his fourth season with the team. So far, he is 18-15 in his head coaching tenure with the Lakers; last year’s squad finished the season at 7-4.

The Lakers open up their regular season at home on Saturday, Sept. 8 against the North Quincy Red Raiders (2:00 p.m. start time). In all, they have seven regular season games scheduled, not including their annual Thanksgiving day bout with the Pembroke Titans.

The Silver Lake High football team has already made it clear who they expect to be among their team’s leaders this season.

Sometimes, teams may wait until the season to determine who those leaders will be, but the Lakers made the decision early. According to the Silver Lake High football Twitter account, the Lakers have already named their captains for the 2018 season. In all, they selected three players: Bobby Ohlson, Cam Danahy and Marshall Roy, all of whom are incoming seniors.

Ohlson, who is listed at 5-foot-11 and 182 pounds, will certainly help the Lakers passing game once again this season; he served as the team’s primary wide receiver last season. 

Danahy, who is listed at 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds, has shined in two sports. Not only has he played well as an outside linebacker, but he is also a key player on the Lakers basketball team.

Roy, who is listed at 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds provides the Lakers with some versatility. An experienced outside linebacker, he is also capable of playing tight end and even long snapping on special teams.

Outside of the three captains, the Lakers will likely receive leadership from the rest of their senior class. What is clear though is that this group of seniors has the opportunity to earn a third straight appearance in the postseason. After all, they made trips to the postseason in 2016 and 2017. In 2016, when this group of seniors were sophomores, the team made school history with their playoff win over Scituate; it was the Lakers first football playoff win since 1980. The Lakers also won a playoff game last season, 20-18 over Dighton-Rehoboth.

According to MaxPreps.com, the Lakers open up their upcoming regular season on Friday, Sept. 9 at home against a Patriot League opponent, North Quincy (2:00 p.m. start time).

It would be an accurate statement to say that many players from the Silver Lake High baseball team are enjoying success as they play together this summer.

Although Plympton and Halifax do not feature American Legion baseball teams, players who attend Silver Lake are eligible to play for the Kingston Post 387 Senior Legion team–and the results have been positive. At the start of the week, Kingston was 12-8 so far this season, good for fourth place in the District 10 standings.

Last week, the team competed in five games and managed to win three games in a three-day span.

On Monday, July 9, they came up with a 6-3 win over Plymouth. In it, Kyle Haugstad was sharp on the mound, picking up the win. He went six innings, allowed three runs and struck out eight batters. Offensively, Ryan Bellew and Jacob Armstrong shined, collecting three hits apiece.

A day later, they took home a 15-7 win over Orleans. Jake Holmes tossed five innings and picked up the win. At the plate, Haugstad, Bellew, Armstrong and Aidan O’Neill each had multi-hit games. And on Wednesday of last week, Kingston won their game in a completely different manner. This time, they ousted Brockton, 1-0, thanks to a 1-hitter thrown by Armstrong. In the pitchers’ duel, Haugstad knocked in the game-winning run for Kingston on a double.

However, as of the start of the week, the team was on a two-game losing streak. This is because they fell 8-5 to Bridgewater on July 13 and two days later, Sandwich beat them 13-3 in what would be the final game of their regular season.

Now, the team’s focus will be on the playoffs and await the news of who they may face either this upcoming weekend or at the beginning of next week.

The Silver Lake High boys’ lacrosse team played well, but they could not keep that regular season magic alive in the postseason.

The No. 9 Lakers took on the No. 8 Natick Redhawks on the road on Tuesday, June 6 and played a strong game against a tough opponent. However, Natick just happened to have a little more offensive firepower in this bout as the Lakers fell 11-8 in the first round of the MIAA Division 1 South sectional playoff bracket.

The issue for the Lakers was that Natick was able to come out and grab the momentum early. They put up three goals unanswered in the first quarter but after that, the Lakers were sharp and played an even game with their opponent.

Before halftime, Owen Thompson helped the Lakers chip away at the deficit; he found the back of the net with 1:57 remaining in the second quarter to cut Natick’s advantage to two goals, 6-4.

At the start of the second half, Natick came out hot again, putting up a pair of goals to go up 8-4. From there, the Lakers continued fighting though and actually outscored their opponent. Ultimately though, they could not close the gap entirely.

In the loss, Owen Thompson and Jake LaFerrara each put up a team-high two goals for the Lakers. Sean Daly had four assists), Owen Nally put up two points (1 goal, 1 assist) and Matt Dole, Brendan Dean and Gregory Wolff each added a goal for the Lakers. In net, Mike Masterpolo recorded eight saves.

Although they fell in the playoffs, it was still the Lakers’ best season yet and one for them to look back on fondly. After all, they enjoyed an 11-game win streak during the regular season and helped the program continue moving in the right direction that should help it out in years to come.

Here is a look at how the Silver Lake High varsity sports teams fared last week.

Baseball

The Lakers shutout Quincy 8-0 on Monday, Apr. 23. At the start of this week, starting pitchers Alex Heffernan and Michael Quigley had combined for 23 scoreless innings through seven games and 31 strikeouts.

Girls Golf

The Lakers fell twice last week. Duxbury beat them 6-0 on Monday, Apr. 23 and one day later, Barnstable beat them 6-0.

Boys Lacrosse

The Lakers dropped both of their contests last week. The Lakers fell to Scituate 13-7 on Tuesday, Apr. 24. Owen Nally had a team-high three goals against Scituate. Two days later, they came up short against Hingham in a 13-6 loss. Sean Daly put up three goals against Hingham.

Girls Lacrosse

The Lakers picked up a pair of wins last week. On Monday, Apr. 23, they topped Oliver Ames 15-7. A day later, they fell to Scituate 9-6 but two days after that loss, they defeated Hingham 7-6 in overtime. Ann Chapman scored a team-high four goals for the Lakers in the win over Hingham while goaltender Devin Zambruno recorded ten saves.

Softball

The Lakers beat Quincy 12-0 on Monday, Apr. 23.

Boys Track

The Lakers fell 111-25 to Hingham on Tuesday, Apr. 24.

Girls Track

The Lakers also fell to Hingham on Tuesday, Apr. 24.

Boys Tennis

The Lakers beat Quincy 4-1 on Monday, Apr. 23.

Girls Tennis

The Lakers swept Quincy 5-0 on Monday, Apr. 23.