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Late heroics propel Lakers to 24-19 win vs. N Quincy

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Luckily the Silver Lake High football team has some great blocking and excellent speed on special teams.

The Lakers were nearly handed a loss the first week of the season, but their kick returner, Diamani Williams, made sure that did not happen. With 1:20 left in the game, he had a 75-yard kick return for a touchdown to give his team a 24-19 advantage over the North Quincy Red Raiders.

That would also end up being the final score, so the Lakers ended up earning their first win of the season against a league opponent at Veteran’s Stadium in Quincy on Friday, Sept. 8.

Prior to the touchdown on the kick return from Williams, North Quincy had just scored and taken a 19-18 lead in the ballgame. If it were not for the return, the Lakers might not have come out on top, even though they had plenty of success on the ground throughout the contest.
In order for that to happen, the Lakers had to take the lead first. They did so on a 48-yard touchdown run from Patrick Lashley, a sophomore running back. Not only was the play a touchdown, but it was also a fourth down conversion at midfield, so it was certainly a game-changing play.

Phil Lashley also had a pair of touchdown runs for the Lakers in the contest; he ran for over 1,000 yards a year ago and is the Lakers primary back once again.

Senior Tanner Boyd got the start at quarterback for Silver Lake. In the preseason, he and sophomore Jesse Miller battled for the starting job.

The Lakers next game is their home opener this Friday, Sept. 15, against Oliver Ames. A week later, they host the Quincy High Presidents in their first game of the year against a divisional opponent.

Experience plentiful for SL boys’ soccer

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This is one of those years where the Silver Lake High boys’ soccer team can be really confident in what they have coming back on the pitch.

Sure, last year they may have been uncertain of how they would perform, but they enjoyed plenty of success throughout the year as they went 16-5, won their second straight divisional and made it to the playoffs. They earned the No. 3 seat and fell to Wellesley in double overtime in the first round.

All of the team’s top players from last year have returned. The Lakers had four Patriot League All-Stars on their team in 2016: Pat McMahon, Owen Nally, Mike Donovan and Justin Keating. Each of the four is back once again which makes the Lakers a strong contender once again this season.

McMahon had a team-high 17 goals (plus nine assists) last season while Donovan added nine goals and 12 assists last year. In net, Justin Keating recorded nine shutouts last year and Nally excelled as a midfielder and had five goals and three assists.

The defense also has some valuable experience at the varsity level. Colin Canniff, Casey Grindle and Brian Reilly were all major varsity contributors. Mike Carey was a forward last year, but he has since swapped positions and will help out defensively while Jeremy Gallagher and Michael Chun are returning varsity starters in the midfield.

Despite all this experience, the Lakers have six sophomores on their varsity squad, so they have a strong mix of youth and elders on their team. It also indicates they will not be in rough shape in the future when they lose some of their top players to graduation.

The Lakers next home game is next Monday, Sept. 18, against Pembroke High School. The start time in that one is set for 3:30 p.m..

Plenty of optimism for SL volleyball

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Coming off a 6-12 season, it would be hard for the Silver Lake high volleyball team to be in a better position than they are this season.

The young Lakers team started out 5-6 last year, but injuries mounted and they finished out the year with that 6-12 record because of it, although they did finish out the year strong with a win. Regardless, the team is in a good position to do this year what they could have done last year if they were at full health.

The biggest loss for the Lakers coming into this season is their Patriot League All-Star libero Maggie Czarniak, who graduated last spring. Other than that, their starting lineup should look the exact same yet again.

Last year, outside-hitter Abigail Gallagher had a team-high 158 kills last season and was second on the team with 140 digs while setter Michelle Vaughan had 283 of the team’s 342 assists. Both of them are seniors this season.

Junior Alyssa Nelson will likely be the team’s top server yet again this season. She had a team-high 40 aces as a sophomore. Gallagher, Vaughan and fellow senior outside Lauren Hamilton, who was second on the team with 72 kills last season, also had 22 aces, so she should be a valuable server as well.

Sophomore Catherine Donovan stepped up midway through last season as a freshman on varsity player. The middle-hitter returns after leading the team with 23 blocks last season.

Defensively, the team will look to seniors Kristen Heath and Heidi Banden for leadership, both of whom played extensively last season and at opposite hitter, senior Rebecca Cullity brings valuable varsity experience to the team.

The Lakers open up their season next Monday, Sept. 11 at Marshfield High School. Their first home game is the following Friday, Sept. 15, against Plymouth South and has a 5:00 p.m. start time.

SL Football has high hopes again

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Once again, the Silver Lake High football team has their eyes on success.

Last year the Lakers went 8-3 and won their first playoff game since 1980, topping Scituate High before falling in the second round of the MIAA Division 2A South playoffs.

This year, although the Lakers graduated 10 seniors, they are optimistic they should be able to enjoy some success over the course of the season in Chris DiGiacomo’s third season as the team’s head coach.

At running back and the offensive line, the Lakers bring back a good deal of experience. Phil Lashley, who was a 1,000-yard rusher last year, will lead the team’s ground game yet again. Fellow running back Liam Kelleher, a four year letterman, who also plays defensive back, will be the other team’s primary running back. Last year, the Lakers ran for nearly 200 yards per game and had well over 300 yards of offense per game.

The two backs will receive protection from a talented offensive line that returns four of its five starters from last year. Gavin Hamilton and Frank Perfetuo, will lead the way on the line on both sides of the ball. Matt Powell, who is also a valuable linebacker, and Reed Grenon, are also returning varsity starters on the line. Nate Thacker will join them to round out the starting five this season.

The Lakers had a preseason quarterback battle going on between senior Tanner Boyd and sophomore Jesse Miller since they lost last year’s starter, Alec Snell, to graduation. Boyd was their backup quarterback last season and Miller was the freshman team’s quarterback.

The Lakers open up their regular season today, Friday, Sept. 8, on the road against the North Quincy High Red Raiders, who went 2-9 last season. That game will be held at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium and kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m..

Former Silver Lake Football Coach Aveni back in Scituate

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Mike Aveni took a break from football temporarily, but he has found his way back.

The former Silver Lake football coach stepped down from his position in June of 2015 to deal with family medical issues. Although his old job was filled by current Lakers head coach Chris DiGiacomo, who led the Lakers to an excellent 8-3 finish last year, Aveni has the opportunity to continue coaching in the Patriot League as the Scituate High Sailors football team’s new defensive coordinator.

The Sailors tend to have a strong football program. Since the MIAA playoff format was modified for the 2013 season, they have made it to the playoffs each and every year, but they have bowed out in the first round on each of those four occasions. Even so, they are a tough opponent; the last time they had a losing record was 2007. As their defensive coordinator, Aveni will try to capitalize on that prior success and implement more defensive schemes to help the team continue to grow and reach their maximum potential.

Aveni was the Lakers’ head coach from 2011 to 2014. In his final season, the Lakers finished out the year strong by winning three of their last four games. In the seven years prior to that, he was the offensive coordinator to former Lakers varsity football coach Dana Battista. Aveni got the Lakers head coaching job when Battista became the Pembroke High Athletic Director. In 2011, Aveni was set to take the offensive coordinator job at Pembroke High but when Battista stepped down from his post, Aveni interviewed for the job.

Since the Sailors are in the Patriot League Fisher Division and the Lakers are in the Keenan Division, the two squads are not scheduled to face one another during the regular season this fall.

Silver Lake football keeps equivalent division in MIAA realignment

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Over the course of the winter, the MIAA decided to revamp their football divisions, but the Silver Lake High football team made sure they were in the best position to excel.

Although last year the Lakers were a Division 2A program in the old Division 1-4A format, the state wanted to move them up to Division 3 under a new format that goes from Division 1-8. Both are eight division setups, but the state wanted to make sure they had schools in the right position. Ultimately, the Lakers worked out a deal at an MIAA realignment hearing in Dedham that allowed them to stick in Div. 4 which is essentially the division they were in last season since 2A last year was the fourth largest division.

Normally, the division alignments are based on student population, although there are many factors. Comprehensive schools, urban schools and vocational schools can be in lower divisions due to their lower athletic participation rates while private all boys’ schools have a multiplier that puts them in a larger division because they have an easier time fielding a lineup.

The Lakers are a Chapter 74 school who offers some vocational programs and 30 percent of the schools students partake in the vocational side of the school. While they are not a full-blown Vo-Tech school who could slide down Div. 7 or 8 with over 1,000 students enrolled, this does allow them to be a more competitive playoff team if they can earn a spot. If they do, they would  not have to face tough Patriot League opponents like Duxbury and Whitman-Hanson, who are in Div. 3 South for the playoffs since they are not Chapter 74 schools.

Last year was the Lakers’ first time in the playoffs since 1981. With some key players coming back from last year and the revised playoff formatting that allows for eight teams per region per division to make the playoffs, the odds are in their favor to make another playoff appearance this season.

Lakers soccer players help Mass Liverpool win National Championship

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Some of the best local soccer players gathered together despite their Patriot League rivalries and achieved one common goal.

Athletes from Silver Lake, Plymouth North and Duxbury and several other local schools came together while playing for the Liverpool International Academy of Massachusetts. Ultimately, the best talent the area had to offer was good enough to win the US Club Soccer National Championship in the Under-16 bracket.

The Liverpool club dominated their competition in the tournament, outscoring their foes 18-1 in the regional tournament. They competed in New Jersey during the regional part of the tournament, but the championship game against FC Europa was held at the Grand Park Sports Complex in Westfield, Indiana.

In order to get there, however, Liverpool really needed to battle.

Against Bruno United, Liverpool was down 2-0 with 12 minutes left, but they were able to put up three goals to stay alive in the tournament.

In the regional championship game against GPS New Hampshire. injuries were a problem for the Liverpool team during the tournament. They were missing five players during their bout, but they still had enough depth to prevail. A strong save from Justin Keating in the final seconds of the game kept Liverpool’s season alive.

Fellow Lakers Pat McMahon and Alex Loyd also competed for the Massachusetts Liverpool team during their championship run. Last year, McMahon led the Patriot League in scoring despite being a sophomore.

Since they were able to contribute to a team that proved they were the best in their respective bracket at the national level, it is safe to expect Keating, McMahon and Loyd to have productive years for the Lakers this fall.

Their Liverpool team was coached by Plymouth North head coach John Tocci. This fall, however, the Lakers players will be back to playing against him and meeting him and his team as rivals.

Halifax native gives back in Pan-Mass challenge

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Over the course of the year, the Jimmy Fund puts on a number of events in order to raise money to treat and better the lives of cancer patients. Every August, they host the Pan-Mass Challenge, a two-day event where bikers travel from Wellesley, down the South Shore, all through Cape Cod and into Provincetown which is the location of the finish line. Day one of the event goes from Wellesley to Bourne and then day two goes from across the entire Cape, from Bourne to Provincetown.

Individual cyclists band together with their respective teams and together, they raise significant amount of money that goes to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and since it is a local event, there are a number of South Shore natives who partook in it. Halifax resident Lee Ferrande is one of those locals who competes in the event and has for a long time.

Ferrande has been biking in the event over the past two decades and this past go-around, she biked with Team WOW, who raised over $400,000. In all, there were 68 bikers on the team, according to the team’s page.

According to the Pan-Mass challenge website, Ferrande raised $2,790 for the charity. It was her 20th year participating in the biking event and a big reason why she participates is because she is a cancer survivor herself.

A number of her family members also helped out by volunteering with the event. Her sons both ride in the event annually while her daughters, and mother volunteer for the event.

In all, over 6,200 riders competed in the two day event and the overall goal was to raise $48 million. In its 38-year history, the event has raised $595 million for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

The event raises more than half of the Jimmy Fund’s donations for the year.

Critch is Silver Lake softball’s HR champ

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The record book at Silver Lake changed this past spring — for the better.

That is because Halifax native Emily Critch finished off her fourth and final season as a Silver Lake softball player strong. Midway through the season, she broke the home run record by blasting her 18th career home run. She surpassed the team record that was previously held by Shannon Grindle, a fellow Halifax native, who is a rising sophomore on the Bridgewater State softball team. Grindle hit .364 with a pair of home runs in 35 games as a freshman this past spring.

Even after she broke the record, Critch was not done hitting. She belted three more home runs after earning the crown outright, so the catcher finished her Lakers career with 21 home runs.

This past spring, Critch had yet again another impressive year offensively. She hit .419 with a .802 slugging percentage as she knocked in 37 runs and scored 39 runs in 25 games during the Lakers 25-1 season, a season in which they made it to the Division 1 South Final.

Thanks to her strong performance, Critch was named to every major All-Scholastic team: The Patriot Ledger, Boston Herald and Boston Globe. It was not the first time she was named to All-Scholastic teams for softball either.

During her Lakers career, Critch also played basketball and field hockey.

Critch is set to continue her softball career next spring as a member of Southern New Hampshire University’s softball team. There, she will be teammates with another former Laker and fellow Halifax native, Maddy Barone, who went 9-7 with a 2.85 ERA and 77 strikeouts over 115.1 innings in 24 outings, including 17 starts.

The two comprised a formidable battery during their Lakers career. Since SNHU lost both of their catchers due to graduation after this past spring, the Critch and Barone duo should have the opportunity to do the same in college.

Silver Lake softball falls in D1 South Final

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Maybe it was not what the Silver Lake High softball team had in mind, but it still goes down as a successful year.

The Lakers won their first 25 straight games which made them a favorite to win the state title. Their success led them to the Division 1 South final but ultimately, that would be as far as they would make it. On Saturday, June 10, their year came to a close as they took a 4-0 loss to Milford at Taunton High School.

At the plate, the Lakers were able to make contact–and lots of it. They did not strike out once, but Milford had a quality pitcher on the mound, who was able to prevent hard contact. The Lakers were limited to one hit in the contest; it was an infield single from Anna Battista in the bottom of the fifth inning.

While the Lakers were able to make a lot of contact in the contest, they simply just had some bad luck with it. Most of the balls they hit were taken care of by Milford’s clean infield defense. As a result, they only got a runner in scoring position on one occasion. On the mound, Jill Richards took the loss. But she managed to strike out six batters and only allowed one extra-base hit.

Milford had the bulk of their success offensively in the third inning of the contest. They put up three runs on five hits, which put them ahead up 3-0. In the top of the sixth, they added another run on a bases-loaded single.

The win improved Milford to 23-1.

In the Lakers previous three games before playing Milford, they put up 26 runs.

Last year, the Lakers had a similar year; they fell, 5-2, in the Div. 1 South final against Bishop Feehan.