Category: Jam Session

Blackbirds Rising: Amid grief, Keene bonds and its game soars

By: Mike Whaley

Discussions about contenders in New Hampshire Division I boys basketball rarely include Keene High School. The Blackbirds are normally a D-I outlier, both in location and expectations. But not this year.

Led by senior captains Javon Massiah and Fitch Hennessey, Keene has worked its way into the upper echelon of D-I with a 9-1 record, The Blackbirds are looking to make a run to the championship, which the program has never won in five previous tries going back nearly 90 years. Their last trip to a Class L/D-I championship game was over 30 years ago in 1992, a 48-43 loss to Winnacunnet,

The team has found an inner strength in dealing with the recent deaths of Massiah’s dad Stacey (cancer in September) and older sister Lydia (auto accident in November). The tragedies have brought the team even closer together and reinforced its resolve.

Through all this, third-year coach Ray Boulay (2009 Keene grad) has effectively kept the Blackbirds on course. The bigger tests loom as Keene faces the iron of its schedule in the coming weeks: Portsmouth (10-1) on Jan. 31, at Trinity (8-3) on Feb. 4, and at Bedford (9-2) on Feb. 11.

Javon with his late father, Stacey, and late sister Lydia. [Courtesy photo]

The most difficult task has been navigating grief in the aftermath of the deaths in the Massiah family that has affected the team and the Keene community at large. “It’s been tough emotionally,” Boulay said. “Everyone is going to have days when you’re not in it. To have to bury your dad three weeks before your season, yeah, it’s been tough. … Javon lost his dad and his sister. Everyone else lost a role model and a friend in Javon’s sister. Stacey was such an essential part of our community.”

Stacey Massiah played basketball at Keene State College in the late 1990s and then stayed and made his life there. He coached the boys freshman team at Keene and then the girls varsity squad. His son got a taste of the Keene programs growing up being around his dad and the Keene kids. Boulay recalls the younger players would stream into the recreation center to see Stacey dunk the ball. “He was the super hero of Keene,” Boulay said. “He made everyone feel welcome. He was a giant in presence (he stood 6-foot-7). He had a giant personality as well.”

It’s been difficult for Javon, but basketball has helped to lessen the pain. “My dad was great,” he said. “I did everything because of my dad. I played basketball because of my dad. After his death, I knew what I wanted coming into this season. I knew I had to try even harder to make him proud. All the hard work I’ve put in is really helping.”

Javon with his late father Stacey (back right). [Courtesy photo]

When Lydia died, Javon knew he had to go even harder. “Me and my sister were best friends,” he said. “Me, my dad and my sister, we were all close. I knew what I had to do. I feel like basketball is helping a lot; my teammates, my friends, my family. When I go to basketball, everything in my head goes away and I feel like I can be free on the court. I feel like that’s helped a lot.”

Still, it hasn’t been easy. “My mom has been great,” Javon said. “Any time I’m having a hard day, she talks to me. We sit down. My sisters are great. All my family and friends, they make sure I have everything I need. … I just try not to let my emotions get to me. Sometimes there’s not much I can really do – just talk to my family and friends about what I’m feeling.”

The team unity that has grown from this tragedy is quite special. “All of us are best friends,” said Hennessey. “So all of us have been there for Javon. We’ve been right at his door. We’re always hanging out. It translates right to the court. Honestly, we know that Lydia and Stacey are looking down on us and down on Javon. We also take some pride in that we’re playing for Javon and everything that he’s been going through. … It was a big loss for the whole community. Everyone loved Stacey. And Lydia, she was really super sweet. It really hurts losing them, but we  know what we have to do.”

 

Head coach Ray Boulay encourages Javon Massiah. [📸 Marc Hoak]

Boulay said that from tragedy has sprung a necessity for increased vigilance to take care of each other. “Me and the other coaches have made an emphasis to be there,” he said. “We eat with them a little more. Send them an extra text. That’s kind of trickled down with everyone. I’ve talked to Javon’s mom. There’s three or four players there (at the Massiah home) every night. It’s made us a closer family. We’re all doing it because it shows how much Stacey and Lydia meant to us, and how much Javon means to us too.”

Every day there is grief, but basketball has been good therapy to help lessen the anguish. It provides a common goal and experience to keep the Blackbirds busy trying to be good teammates in a positive and successful team atmosphere.

Keene has been building toward this season. When Boulay took over as head coach three years ago after seven years as the JV coach, there was a strong sophomore class led by Massiah and Fennessey that knew this day was coming. That first year with some strong seniors, they went a respectable 5-13 and missed the playoffs by a game.

While Keene is in second in D-I just behind Portsmouth, Boulay knows that the regular season means nothing if they cannot make some noise in the postseason. Last year, the Blackbirds were a surprise, winning seven of their final eight games to finish at 11-7 and earned the No. 7 seed in the D-I tournament. Sadly, it was the same old Keene in the playoffs as it lost to No. 10 Alvirne, 51-42. It was the Blackbirds lowest scoring output of the season.

“We came out and played tight,” Boulay said. “We played exactly like everyone expected: a Keene team that hadn’t been there before. It was a disappointing loss. But you learn more from your losses. We’ve really taken that lesson and remembered it. So far at least.”

The 2024-25 Keene Blackbirds. [📸 LJ Hydock]

It fueled Keene. They did not lose in league play through the spring, summer and fall months. Their only D-I loss was to Manchester Memorial in the second game of the season.

Looking back on the Alvirne loss, Javon put it pretty succinctly: “We were all just really nervous and not ready for that game whatsoever.”

But as Hennessey noted it hurt but they moved on. “As soon as it ended, we all understood that we had a huge opportunity, bringing most of our main guys back,” he said.  “We all went right to work when the summer started and it just grew from there.”

Which brings us to the present. Keene is near the top of the D-I standings trying to make a statement that they are a contender and not a pretender. Boulay knows all about Keene’s basketball history. It’s part of his DNA. “Growing up in Keene was all about baseball and more baseball,” he said. “The community wasn’t involved in basketball really at all.”

Boulay said there was a change in the late 1990s when Phil Hebert took over the program. Part of it was linked to the success that Keene State College was having and the popularity of the KSC camp. “Every kid in the community wanted to go to that camp,” he said.

Most importantly, the parents in the community started to see the work that Hebert was putting in. Crowds at high school games were bigger as the Blackbirds were enjoying success. “He was, in my eyes, one of those guys who started to build a program outside of just the winter season,” Boulay said. Hebert wanted Keene kids playing in summer leagues and going to hoop camps. 

Phil Hebert (far left) poses with fellow Blackbirds at the 2017 Keene High School Alumni Game.

Hebert coached through the 2006-07 season, the last year the Blackbirds went to the final four. There was a period after that where coaches were there for a year or two until Kevin Ritter took over and brought stability back to the program. At the time he took the program over in 2015, Boulay was just out of Plymouth State looking for work in the special education field. He got a job as a paraprofessional at Keene HS. Ritter asked him to coach the JV team. Boulay had played four years of football at Plymouth State, serving as a captain as a senior. But he had also played high school basketball and been recruited by Plymouth. “I knew the game,” he said. “I didn’t know how to coach it.”

He spent six years under Ritter as a JV and assistant coach. “I learned so much from him,” said Boulay, who now works in special education at a private school across the border in Brattleboro, Vermont. “He’s one of the best coaches I have been around in all sports. I owe so much to Kevin Ritter in taking my next big step in coaching. He  taught me so much. How to run a program. How to handle the booster club.”

Ritter left to take a job as an assistant coaching position at Keene State where he had played. Matt Azzaro, an assistant under Hebert, was hired as the varsity coach. He was there for a year, but in October of 2022, he decided not to come back. The school asked Boulay if he was interested in applying. “I had interest. I love coaching,” he said. “I was scared, though, to take that step as the head of the varsity program. You’re not just the varsity coach. You’re in charge of it all.”

He had seen those close to him coach. He’d been a college football captain. He’d captained his high school teams. The leadership trait was embedded.

“It’s my alma mater,” Boulay said. “I feel very comfortable. I know teachers there. I know the school. It’s funny when a kid thinks he can get something by you. You’ve been in that same situation in that building before. It’s easy to make those connections to the Keene kids.”

Javon remembers as a sophomore being unsure if Boulay was the right person for the job. “We weren’t too sure how he would be. We were wondering what our season was going to be like, how good we were going to be,”Javon recalled. “I feel he was the perfect (person) for that spot. He knew what he wanted right away, which was for us to make playoffs, have a home playoff game, which happened. He’s great. He knows exactly what he’s doing. Practices are awesome. We all love him.”

Hennessey has liked Boulay from the get go. “He’s a great leader, he really knows when to rile us up and when to really get into us. He knows us so well. How to coach us and handle us.”

Now New Hampshire gets to see what Keene is made of as they get ready for the stretch run. Boulay has been in Keene long enough to read the body language of others. He knows that the team’s 9-1 record is not enough. There are those who doubt the Blackbirds are for real because it’s in their history. “When I talk to people, they don’t say it,” Boulay said. “But I’m a Keene guy from 35 years. I know that’s what they feel. We feel the same way. Honestly, we embrace it. ‘Would you guys change your mind because we’re 8-1, 9-1 overall?’ We could lose games in the next couple of weeks. Even if we do, it’s still all about learning and getting better. When playoffs come, it will be time to put up or shut up. They still have a legitimate reason to think that. They have a right to their opinion. And we’ll see them on the hardwood. That’s our feeling. We’ll see you on the court.”

Senior Javon Massiah lends junior guard Jamal Stanley a helping hand. [📸 LJ Hydock]

The players are well aware of Keene’s history and outside perception. “We always play with a chip on our shoulder knowing that we’re always being overlooked,” Hennessey said. “We know that other teams think less of us. ‘Oh, we’re playing against Keene tonight.’” Case in point: You could tell Hennessey was a bit irked when he mentioned that he and Javon were cut from an underclassmen all-star game last year.

Then, of course, there is the location. Keene sits all by its lonesome in the southwest section of the state, at least an hour’s drive from all D-I schools, and nearly two hours from the five Seacoast schools. Boulay laughs when other teams complain about their one “long ride” to Keene. “Yeah, well, we do that 12 times a year.” – which included a trio of three-and-a-half-hour round trips in as many days to the Oyster River holiday tournament in Durham.

This is a well-balanced, talented team. Javon is the leading scorer with his 19.0 average, but he is far from the only option. Keene has four players averaging in double figures and a fifth (junior Kasen Abbott) checking in at 9.2.

Javon at 6-5 can score from deep, but he can also slash, throw one down and he can finish with finesse. He also handles some of the point guard duties. Hennessey (11.7) can score, but his true value is as a defensive stopper. “He’s going to guard your best player,” Boulay said. “He’s going to rebound. He’s like a second coach on the floor.” Javon plans to continue his education next year and play basketball at either a prep school or college. Hennessey is also a baseball player. He plans to play that sport in college.

Junior guard Jamal Stanley [📸 LJ Hydock]

Jamal Stanley (11.8 ppg) is a 6-1 junior, who Boulay says is a lot like Javon. “He’s a  better overall player. He’s going to rebound, defend your best player, and score the ball.”

One of the big surprises has been 6-6 senior Will Fontaine, who spent the previous three seasons on the JV team. “He worked so hard in the offseason that he went from not playing varsity at all last year to now he’s starting and averaging 11 points per game (10.8 to be exact). He’s so long. He’s not a center. He’s a  guard/forward. He can make the 3. He just makes our defense so versatile with his length.”

The fifth starter is Abbott, a  5-10 guard. In addition to sharing the point guard duties with Javon, he is an accomplished shooter. “He can really shoot it,” Boulay said. “He gets us set up offensively.”

That’s the starting five. The first player off the bench is 6-3 Alex Holmes, who is just getting back into things after missing some time with sickness and a rolled ankle. “He can shoot it deep and defend down low,” said Boulay. “We’re expecting big things from him.”

Junior guard Kasen Abbott [📸 LJ Hydock]

This is the year that Keene has been waiting for. The Blackbirds have proven their resilience in how they’ve handled and continue to handle their grief. It has drawn them closer together rather than breaking them apart, making them stronger. How much stronger remains to be seen, but this team is making some noise. Division I is taking notice. “We’ve done the work,” Boulay said. “Stop talking about it. Let’s show up and play. You can say all you want. Who cares about the preseason rankings? If you look at every score week to week, it’s really about who shows up, plays defense and gives the best effort. And then it’s who has the best talent.” Keene definitely feels it’s one of those handful of teams in the contender conversation.

That being said, the Blackbirds have kept their head down and focused on what game is next. In the preseason, Boulay said, they made their goals for the season: make the playoffs, get a home playoff game and get to UNH (the site of the final four). “Then win,” he said. “That’s been the goal since Thanksgiving. That hasn’t changed.” With those goals set, Boulay said the team has put the blinders on to focus on what is next and what is next only. “Because we are starting to get a little more attention,” the coach said. “‘Oh, Keene is 9-1. Are they for real? Blah, blah, blah.’ It still doesn’t matter. You still have to win in the playoffs. We’re trying to keep our heads down. ‘Thank you for the compliments, but we’re going to keep moving on.’ We know exactly what our history is. You can say all those nice things . You’re trying to butter us up. We want to get it done in crunch time.”

Last year, Keene learned something new every day from the games they lost. “Now this year, those close losses have turned into wins,” Boulay said. “We’ve shown up every day, challenged each other. We’ve taken our lessons from whatever happened in the previous games and tried to work on that in practice. We’re trying to be the best version of ourselves every single day in practice. Hopefully that will translate into winning games on Tuesday and Friday nights.”

Boulay can’t emphasize enough how important Keene’s practice sessions have been in growing the team this season as well as being a safe haven. “In some ways, whatever is going on in the world, when we’re together for those two hours on the court, whoever is texting you right now, it’s in the locker room. Nothing can bother us right now,” Boulay said. “We’re just together on the court. Let’s work out and get better for two hours.” It’s a recipe that seems to be working for the Blackbirds.

Mike Whaley can be reached at whaleym25@gmail.com

Championship Conductor: Bagonzi engineered a “will to win” at Woodsville

By: Mike Whaley

(This is the second in a series on the 2022 and 2024 inductees into the New Hampshire Basketball Coaches Organization Hall of Fame. The stories will run periodically over the next two months.)

The legacy of John Bagonzi remains alive and well, not only in his hometown of Woodsville, but wherever life has taken his ex-players who benefitted from the lessons he imparted as a coach and educator.

John died in 2014 at age 83. He coached multiple sports at Woodsville High School, building the Engineers into a small-school baseball and basketball power. During a 10-year span from 1967 to 1977, his teams appeared in 14 championship games and won 11 titles in three sports. Overall he coached Engineer teams to 13 state titles: seven in baseball (1959, 1964, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1976, 1977), five in basketball (1969, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1977) and one in cross country (1972). It is a rarity to have a coach guide teams to state titles in two different sports, but three is really quite unheard of. In a coaching career that spanned 20 seasons from 1958 to 1978, Bagonzi’s basketball teams won 361 games and his baseball team chalked up 261 victories. He retired from teaching biology in 1991 after 33 years. He also served as the school’s physical education director and athletic director.

John Bagonzi coached Woodsville High School teams to 13 state championships in three sports. [Courtesy photo]

A nationally celebrated baseball pitching clinician/instructor himself (he wrote several books on the subject), two of his players went on to be drafted by major league baseball teams: Steve Blood (Minnesota Twins) and Jim MacDonald (Houston Astros).

John was one of seven coaches honored last November in Concord with induction into the New Hampshire Basketball Coaches Organization’s Hall of Fame. Former player Scott Burrill (1976 grad) spoke on the family’s behalf.

John was renowned for his intense, bigger than life sideline persona. He was always on his feet, working the officials and barking at his players. He was a master motivator, pushing the Engineers to the limit of their abilities and sometimes beyond. One of his players, Scott Burrill, remembers reading a quote from John in a Berlin newspaper that concisely sums up what he was all about as a coach: “Life is simple. It’s a matter of setting goals and getting there.”

John grew up in Woodsville, starred on the baseball and basketball teams in the late 1940s with his good friend Bob Smith, the two forming a formidable pitching duo. After high school they parted company. John headed to the University of New Hampshire to play baseball and basketball, while Smith embarked on a professional baseball career that lasted 15 seasons of which part of five were spent in the major leagues with the Red Sox, Cardinals, Pirates and Tigers.

John signed a bonus contract with the Red Sox in 1953 after his UNH days, but before he could throw a pitch he enlisted in the United States Army as a commissioned officer. He served as a company commander, military trial counsel, and athletic and recreation officer. He also pitched for two years in the strong Fort Jackson Regimental Baseball League. It was during that time that he met his wife, Dreamer Jewel Deese of South Carolina

After his time in the service, John returned to the Red Sox to pitch in 1956. He tossed eight games between stints with the Corning (N.Y.) and Lafayette (Ind.) squads before an arm injury ended his professional career. That certainly changed John’s trajectory. Had he not had the injury, it’s possible he would have had some sort of pitching career, perhaps followed by professional coaching given his baseball savvy, especially in pitching. Pro baseball’s loss was Woodsville’s gain.

John Bagonzi talks to his Woodsville players during the Class M basketball tournament at the University of New Hampshire, [Courtesy photo]

By this time he had completed his master’s degree at Indiana University and began to pursue his Ph.D. John returned with Dreamer to Woodsville to teach biology, coach and raise a family. They had three children, including two sons – John III and Robert – who played for their dad. In addition to teaching and coaching, John also served as the town’s youth recreation director, which allowed him to have his hand on the pulse of the town’s youth athletes and future high school stars.

Steve Blood (1971 grad) was well aware of John growing up. His dad, Arnold Blood, had gone to school with John and played sports with him. “I heard a lot about him from my dad as a positive influence,” Blood said.

John formed a youth basketball league that was coached by the high school players. That was when those young boys, according to Blood, got their first whiff of Woodsville basketball, running the same drills that John had taught the high school players.

Frank Leafe (1970 grad) recalled “we knew from being around him with the youth programs what he was expecting.” Leafe said that once players got to seventh and eighth grade, they were playing for a coach who “kind of shadowed what John was teaching at the high school.”

What John was teaching was a style that was certainly fun for the players – uptempo with a lot of pressing in both the half and full courts.

John Bagonzi, right, instructs his Woodsville players on the proper way to hold a basketball. [Courtesy photo]

In addition, John opened up the gym on Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m. for pickup games. According to Leafe, John felt that was a great way to learn basketball. “How to use the skills that you were being taught,” Leafe said. “We always had enough people for 5-on-5 pick-up games. You don’t see a lot of kids doing that much anymore.”

John Burrill (1977 grad) also remembered a small summer high school league with area towns Littleton, Lebanon, and Hartford, Vermont. John was all about giving kids opportunities to play and get better.

You also learned early on that John wasn’t going to put up with any shenanigans. Leafe as a freshman recalls leaving junior varsity practice and his classmate Billy Coon, who was on the varsity, came up from the locker room two minutes after four. “John jumped on him and asked him why he was late?” Leaf recalled. “Then he sent him home. We knew, OK, when he says to be here, you be here. We expected it. It wasn’t a shock to any of us.”

Unless you were an exceptional player, you were like Leafe. You played JV as a freshman and sophomore, sat the varsity bench, and then you had your time to shine as a junior and a senior. “But you were at all the practices learning the system and playing the system in practices and then playing as a JV player,” he said. “As a junior is when you would usually move up to a varsity role as either a starter or someone off the bench.”

John’s practices were long and covered a lot of ground. Leafe recalls they started at 4 p.m. and he would get home by 7:30. He said the first hour was fundamentals like passing, boxing out, catching, dribbling and rebounding. Then there was competitive shooting from spots all over the floor. The teams would be broken up into smaller teams of 2 or three for this drill. “There had to be over 30 spots on the halfcourt that you shot from with your left and right hand under the basket,” Leafe said. Then they’d work on rebounding and fastbreak drills. At the end they worked on their halfcourt and full-court presses. Practice ended with every player taking 100 foul shots.

Woodsville won its fifth and final Class M state basketball championship under John Bagonzi, back right, in 1977. Also pictured in the back are John Burrill (fourth from left) and Jim MacDonald (third form left). [Courtesy photo]

Blood recalls pretty much the same thing, noting that with the half- and full-court presses, “we went through every one of them every practice.”

Woodsville’s presses were its bread and butter. It’s what sets them apart from everyone else. “We pressed the entire game,” said Blood, who played on five state championship teams (three in baseball, two in basketball). “Everybody, the first, second and third teams, all pressed. Everybody knew their positions. Our favorite full-court (press) was called the 1-2-1-1 with a guy on the ball out of bounds, two wings, an interceptor spot (near the halfcourt area) and a long man. Everybody had a role to play in the full-court press no matter where the ball was.”

Leafe said the Engineers became such a fine-tuned machine that eventually they could press off missed shots. “We all knew everyone’s position,” he said. “We knew where we had to be. If I was on the guy with the ball, sometimes that’s not my position on the press. Somebody else knew they had to cover my position. We just cut off the passing lanes. It looked like helter skelter, I would tell people. But it was well-tuned. There was pressure right away and very rarely were they getting to half court.”

“That was pretty much every night,” Leafe said. “He believed in perfection. No matter how well you were doing, you could always do it better. It was fundamental basketball. That’s what it was. It wasn’t anything fancy.”

But it was something that he could get players to buy into. The style and intensity was a winning combination. The parents bought in as well. The Bagonzi way was gospel in Woodsville. “I know if you came home and complained about anything that was going on, you didn’t get a warm shoulder, “Leafe said. “They all understood that what John was teaching wasn’t just basketball. It was life skills.”

Woodsville coach John Bagonzi, center, celebrates the 1969 Class M state championship in Durham. [Littleton Courier photo]

He was willing to listen too. Scott Burrill brought up during practice that he felt they weren’t trapping as intensely as they should. John looked at Scott, put his index finger thoughtfully into his front teeth and agreed: “Yeah, OK.”

Leafe said the second team was nearly as good as the first squad, which made for intense practices. “It was a great environment practicing against five guys that could beat any team you’re playing. You had to be there. You didn’t want to miss practice. There were guys right behind you who could fill in and take over. You might lose your spot. Our practices were 10 times harder than all our games.”

As Leafe remembered, everyone could run, handle the ball, pass it, shoot it, dribble it, catch it. ‘That’s the basics of what we did,” he said. “We very rarely got into much of a halfcourt offense. Because of the rebounds, we were gone. We were up the floor. Back then that was pretty much ahead of the times for what high school basketball was supposed to be like. It was fun for us. It was fun for the spectators. The gym used to get so packed.”

While it was an enjoyable experience for the Engineers and their fans, it was less so for the opposition, especially on Woodsville’s small home court. “Back then the varsity played at 7 and if you weren’t there for the JV game, you didn’t get a seat,” Leaf recalled.

The prime seating was the right corner of the gym near the stairway that led down to the locker room. If you sat there you could hear John talking to the team, mainly because John’s delivery was loud and fiery. “Even though we might have been winning by 50 points, he was down there and he was intense,” Leafe said. “There was something you always could have done better.”

Former Pembroke Academy coach Ed Cloe was inducted in the same Hall of Fame class with John. He recalls when he got his coaching start at Colebrook Academy in the late 1960s, his team was down 35 points or so at Woodsville. In the locker room at halftime, Cloe and his team listened for a bit in awe as John’s booming eloquence in the adjoining locker room told his team what he expected from them in the second half. When John had finished, Cloe turned to his team and offered concisely: “That goes double for me.”

John Bagonzi, left, is pictured later in life with former Woodsville stat baseball and basketball player, Steve Blood, and Blood’s grandson, Kason. [Photo courtesy of Steve Blood]

When Cloe was hired by Pembroke in 1970, where he began a successful 34-yard career that included four state titles, he was told by the principal that he had called John Bagonzi for a recommendation.

If someone felt Woodsville was running up the score, John wasn’t having it. Scott Burrill said his coach told them “We’re never going to make excuses for the effort we put into this. If we beat you by 40, we’re not apologizing.”

Woodsville’s chief rival, especially during the late 1960s and early ‘70s, was Littleton, a bigger school, which played in Class I (D-II) compared to the Engineers in Class M (D-III). Littleton’s teams were huge with great guards. Their forecourt featured future major league pitcher Rich Gale, who at 6-foot-7 earned a basketball scholarship to UNH along with 6-7 teammate Dennis Sargent. A third player, Lou Ziter, also played at UNH.

While Woodsville was dominating Class M, Littleton was the toast of Class I, winning back-to-back titles in 1970 and 1971. Still, the Engineers had their bigger neighbor’s number. “We played them six times in my three years and we beat them five out of six,” Blood said. “Even though they were in a higher class and were much bigger than we were. They couldn’t run with us. They had a hard time getting through our press.”

That was something where John was at the forefront, scheduling bigger schools to beef up the schedule. Also, at the time, if you beat a larger school, you were rewarded with more points, which helped you in the standings.

Woodsville won its first basketball championship in 1969, capping an undefeated season with a commanding 97-41 victory over Pittsfield in the championship at UNH. To this day the 97 points remains the most scored by a New Hampshire team in a state final and their margin of victory (56) is also still a state-wide record.

A video of that championship game surfaced after John died, found stuffed in the back of a desk drawer at his house. It highlighted the game with no commentary, including some of the post-game celebration. “I never realized it,” Leafe said. “But at the end of the game, we picked him up and carried him to the basket to cut down the net.”

Along with the many big championship moments, there was some heartache, none more painful than the 1970 semis at UNH when unheralded Farmington shocked the unbeaten Engineers, 90-81. The Tigers beat Woodsville at its own game with their own uptempo style that included full-court pressure and navigating the Engineers press with the dribble.

Woodsville came back in 1971 to rule the roost once more, whipping Hollis in the final, 71-41, and then beat the Cavaliers again in ‘73, 61-53. John’s basketball run was capped with back-to-back titles in 1976 and 1977. “We never went into a game with the idea ‘we hope to win,’” said John Burrill. “It was always ‘we’re going to win.’ When we lost, it was like a shock to us. That will to win from coach Bagonzi, he stressed it so much.”

Another thing that John did was do a lot of scouting. The Burrill brothers remember during the 1974-75 season travelling with John to the southern part of the state to scout defending champion Hinsdale and its big star, Larry Scott, who was Class M’s preeminent scorer. While the location of the game has dissolved from memory, what the Burrills clearly recall is that when they got to the game, it was sold out and they could not get in. “It was a long drive for us to get there,” John Burrill (1977 grad) said. “Bagonzi was not about to turn around and go home without getting some information.”

Both brothers remember there was a snowbank outside lined up with windows facing into the gymnasium. “We piled up some more snow and we stood on the snowbank and looked through the windows and scouted the game through the windows,” John Burrill said.

Scott Burrill recalled that Bagonzi would get the usual information on what each team did on offense and defense, something that could be quickly gleaned by the end of the first quarter. What Bagonzi was really looking for was tendencies. He picked up one significant one watching Scott: he always pulled up for a jump shot off his left-hand dribble.

Woodsville was hosting Hinsdale several weeks later. The week before the game, John Burrill recalls intense practices getting ready for Scott and the Pacers’ other big scorer, Mike Fecto. Bagonzi placed masking tape all over the floor where they needed to trap Scott. “In practice, he was drilling into us how good a shooter Larry Scott was. If you don’t get on him, he’s going to shoot. He doesn’t need much time. He doesn’t need much space. You’ve got to crowd him and hopefully try to trap him most of the time.”

The Engineers did a good job of jamming up Scott and shutting down Hinsdale for three quarters. “We relaxed a little bit in the fourth quarter and they kind of came back and the score didn’t quite look as bad as it was,” John Burrill said. “But to be honest, it was a shellacking. It really was.”

Of course, Bagonzi being Bagonzi, he was not happy with that fourth-quarter effort. Again, it was not about running up the score. “He was about you playing your best for the whole game, not just part of it” John Burrill said. “In high school, you can have a 20-point lead and it can go away really quickly. If you don’t keep the pedal to the metal, you can just let the other team (back) in. We never wanted that. We’d get you down and we wanted to keep you down. That’s what it was about.”

What John instilled in his players was a will to win. When the town renamed the community center after John, in his speech he said he asked his players to do the impossible, which was to be in two places at the same time on the court. John Burrill recalled back in the day trapping on one side of the court and the ball was suddenly reversed and passed to the other side. Bagonzi would bellow: “You’ve got to get over there.” In his mind, Burrill was thinking that was impossible. He wasn’t faster than a pass. “He asked the impossible. That’s what got you beyond your skill level, beyond what you normally would be able to do. You were able to do more and even surprise yourself.”

Scott Burrill gave the acceptance speech at the 2024 NHBCO Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Nov. 2, 2024 in Concord, N.H. [Photo courtesy: KJ Cardinal]

Scott Burrill remembers getting ready for the tournament on Plymouth State’s larger court and Bagonzi “told you, you literally have to gain a step. For our press to work, you’ve got to gain a step.”

The John Bagonzi the outside world saw and what Woodsville knew were two vastly different men. Some of it likely was not helped by the time he showed his displeasure with the officiating by throwing a chair across the floor during a game in Windsor, Vermont. “I know a lot of people from the outside looking in didn’t really know him,” said John Burrill. “He had a reputation, you know. Some people thought he was harsh, too authoritative, perhaps arrogant. That was not him. Not really. He really cared about you, but in a way that was built on respect. He did demand respect.”

That respect extended to game officials as well – for the players. When you were on the floor or field, you played hard and kept your mouth shut. If there was any arguing with officials to be done, John would do it. “None of us would dare say anything,” recalled Leafe. “If we said anything or (made) some kind of disgusted motion because of a call or foul, you were out of the game. … He took care of that part. You were there to worry about what you’ve got to do on the floor.”

From John Burrill’s perspective, “What John taught was to never give up and to give it your best. His whole focus in basketball, particularly, was the will to win. He wanted to instill that in each and everyone one of us – that will to win. … You may not be as skilled as someone else. If you desire to win, you will do the necessary things within the context of the game to come out on top. We rarely went through a practice without him saying those words – the will to win. It was just constant. It wasn’t just during the time I was there. His whole coaching career was that way.”

Burrill pauses for a second and then adds: “He kind of took a bunch of hillbillies, a bunch of farmers, a bunch of northern hicks and molded them into champions; just because of his demand for excellence. Many of the players would walk through brick walls for him. I’m one of those. I thought his intensity, his tenacity were the most positive things about him.”

John Burrill recalls one example of Bagonzi willing him to do something to help the team win. It was during a game at Gilford. The Engineers weren’t playing well, so Bagonzi sent Burrill into the game. “Before I went in, he’s standing next to me, yelling ‘Make something happen.’” Burrill went in and as one of the guys up front on the press, he stole the in-bounds pass and laid it up for two points. “There was nothing spectacular,” Burrill said. “He asked me to do something, I’m going to do it. That’s kind of what we did. He said to do something. We tried our best to do it.”

That will to win rubbed off on others. MacDonald recalls as a senior in 1976-77 coming back from a Christmas tournament in which the Engineers had lost handily. Bagonzi asked him what he thought. MacDonald responded emphatically “‘John, we’re going to win the state championship.’ There was silence. It was the only time John has been at a loss for words.” But MacDonald was right. That “will to win” propelled the Engineers to the state title for the fifth time since 1969, and the last one under John.

He demanded a lot from his players. But there was a tough-love decency that drew his players to him. They embraced his challenging demeanor and coaching style, understanding that he had their best interests at heart. Years later they can attest to that. The Burrills grew up just north of Woodsville in Monroe. They had several school options in addition to Woodsville. John Burrill was all set to go across the border into Vermont to Saint Johnsbury Academy because they offered football. “I had a brother who went there and played football,” he said. “I was going to Saint Johnsbury because I loved football.” It was pretty much a done deal.

But then Burrill went to his eighth-grade sports banquet in which the guest speaker was John Bagonzi. That speech changed John Burrill’s trajectory. “I can’t tell you any specific thing that he said, but at the end of the speech I went home so worried,” he said. Burrill was clearly troubled with something at home that prompted his mom to ask what was the matter. “‘I’m struggling because I want to play football,” he said. “I’ve got to play for this guy, coach Bagonzi.’ I gave up football to play for coach Bagonzi. It was such an inspiring speech. It moved me. For a young guy in eighth grade, I made probably the best decision in my life.”

Leafe went on to coach and teach physical education at Woodsville High School for 25 years. “He molded me,” said Leafe of Bagonzi. “He had a great influence on what I did the rest of my life getting into coaching and working with kids. A lot of people who saw me coach thought I was pretty much like John.” Leafe is still coaching. For the past three years he has helped out as a volunteer assistant coach with the Woodsville alpine ski and girls basketball squads. As a head coach at Woodsville, he coached boys and girls soccer and girls basketball. He guided the Engineer girls to back-to-back soccer state championships in 1993 and 1994. When he won that initial title, one of the first people to call him up to congratulate him was John Bagonzi. “John molded me and he molded a lot of kids in this community,” Leafe said.

John Bagonzi was a Woodsville institution as an athlete and later as a coach, teacher and community leader. The town saw fit in 2008 to rename its community center after him – the Dr. John Bagonzi Community Building. For all his intensity and tenacity as a coach, John truly cared about his hometown and especially about its youth.

Scott Burrill mentioned that neither John nor Dreamer came from much. Together they assisted John’s mom with the running of Bagonzi’s Restaurant, and then ran it themselves for 27 years. Although, truth be told, it was Dreamer’s baby as John, of course, was tied up with his educational and athletic pursuits. “They were very, very social people,” Scott said. “John would do absolutely anything for the community.”

Burrill told a story that perhaps more than anything reveals how much the Bagonzis cared about their community — something done without a second thought and certainly without any fanfare. “At the closing of the restaurant each night, police officers would drop by and pick up some food and take it to some people in need,” Burrill said. “That was a nightly occurrence. It kind of speaks volumes about the people that they were.”

NOTES: If Bagonzi was a hall of fame basketball coach, then he had to be one for baseball as well. He was a master at developing pitchers. He essentially used pitching and small ball to make the Engineers into a perennial baseball power. Steve Blood had a four-year record of 52-1, pitching Woodsville to three straight state titles. Speaking of small ball, Blood recalls winning the 1969 Class M championship, 3-2, on a double suicide squeeze play. With runners on third and second, the batter got the bunt down to score the runner from third. The second runner never slowed up, scoring the winning run all the way from second base. Blood spent five years in Minnesota’s minor league system with a career mark of 30-23. … In 1964 it was another instance of Woodsville using small ball to win a state title – this one over Charlestown, 3-2. The winning run was scored on a squeeze bunt in extra innings. Hits were hard to come by in that game for the Engineers, who managed just two off Charlestown’s imposing junior ace, a strapping lad whose name still resonates across the state – Carlton Fisk. … Jim MacDonald pitched the Engineers to back-to-back M titles in 1976 and 1977 before embarking on a seven-year pro odyssey with the Houston Astros (68-67 record). … Bagonzi’s most successful pupil was Chad Paronto, the son of Dana Paronto, one of his 1970s’ stars. Chad pitched seven years in the majors with four teams.

Mike Whaley can be reached at whaleym25@gmail.com.

 

Scoring Maestro: Lyric Grumblatt’s game strikes a chord at Rivier

By: Mike Whaley

Lyric Grumblatt has never shied away from shooting. It’s something she has always done well. As she’s gotten older, it’s something she’s become even more proficient at while expanding her all-around game. Now in her fifth year at Rivier University in Nashua, the Manchester’native, a 5-foot-9 guard, is lighting up the NCAA Division III women’s basketball circuit one last time.

Lyric is a two-time player of the year and three-time first-team pick in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC). Already this season she has surpassed the 2,000-point total for her career and should shortly eclipse her coach, Deanna Purcell, as the program’s career scoring leader. She has 2,184 points after Thursday’s win at Emmanuel, hot on the heels of Purcell’s 2,192. Lyric has been among the NCAA Division III scoring leaders in three of her four seasons. She is currently ranked third with a 26.5 average. One chapter in her basketball odyssey will close when this season ends and another will open if she decides to play professionally overseas.

Lyric’s path to Rivier was not a straight line. She grew up playing basketball, drawn to the sport by her late grandfather David Grumblatt, who played some at the University of Richmond.  As she followed her dream, she focused initially on playing at a large Division I school far from home. “I hurt myself because I wasn’t really exploring all my options,” she said. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do either. I didn’t know what I wanted to major in. I didn’t have any direction.”

Her Division I tunnel vision caused her to overlook local D-II Saint Anselm College, which had started showing interest during her sophomore season at Manchester Memorial High School. Eventually she realized her Division I dream was a non-starter, so she realistically started looking locally at Division III schools. Emmanuel and Suffolk in Boston were her top two choices with Rivier as her last option. “I really wasn’t thinking about it at all,” Lyric said. “I just knew it was an option.”

A potential new experience in Boston was the motivation behind her first two choices. However, the tide turned when she sat down with her family to make a pros and cons list. A lot of it came down to academics and cost. Rivier had recently opened a science and innovation center, which fit with her interest in a biology major. The other two schools were geared more toward business and law.

Then, of course, there was money. Since Emmanuel and Suffolk were out of state it was going to be more expensive. Rivier was more cost effective. A third consideration was the opportunity to help restart the program, which prior to her arrival had put up an 11-57 three-year record. “I saw the potential to build something really special at Riv,” Lyric said.

Purcell recruited Lyric as an assistant coach in 2019-20. “I told her from the jump I wanted her to come and beat my scoring record,” Purcell said. “That was a goal we made right from the jump.”

Rivier head coach Deanna Purcell is currently the program’s all-time leading scorer.

A goal, maybe, but Lyric initially didn’t see it as a reality. While she had been an all-state player and a 1,000-point scorer in high school, she was skeptical that could happen. “It wasn’t something that I had in mind and even thought would be possible because it was a lot of points,” she said. 

Purcell felt Lyric was a bigger talent than Rivier at the time with the ability to play Division II or higher level D-III. “I asked her to take a chance on me and the former coach at the time,” Purcell said. “We can build something around you here. You can make your mark here.”

There were similarities in Purcell’s and Lyric’s journey to Riv. Both are local women (Purcell played at Alvirne HS in Hudson) who followed an older sister to Riv and initially did not seriously consider the school. “We have a lot of parallels, so it’s just really cool,” Lyric said.

Plus there’s the fact that they both have a scorer’s mentality. “I understand her in a different way than some of her other coaches,” Purcell said. “I was not that far removed from the game when she was a freshman (five years). I felt like I understood her on a personal level because I saw pieces of myself in her. I wanted to be that coach that related to her in a different way.”

The year before Lyric came to Rivier, Purcell was an assistant who became the head coach halfway through the season when Paul Williams stepped aside for personal reasons. She was named the coach for the ‘20-21 season, which was shut down by the Covid-19 pandemic – so no games. It was a blessing for both women.

Lyric said that as a freshman “that Covid year was pivotal in my growth as an athlete. I made so much progress and was able to work on everything to get better.”

For Purcell it was a chance to get her feet wet and figure out who she wanted to be as a coach taking over a struggling program. “It was a chance to kick start that and have a full year with the pressure off. It set the tone for what we wanted to do.”

In 2021-22, the Raiders and Lyric found success. Riv went a very respectable 14-12 after being picked to finish last in the GNAC North preseason poll. The Raiders won a game in the GNAC playoffs. Meanwhile Lyric was named the conference’s Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, while earning first-team honors. She led NCAA Division III in scoring, averaging 26.2 points per game to go along with 8.1 rebounds per game.

“I did a lot more than I expected,” she said. “It was one of my better years. It was also because nobody knew who I was.”

Lyric followed that up with a solid second year to again earn First Team All-Conference honors, although it did not match her first year’s output. She averaged 17.7 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. Rivier had another very good season, going 14-13, winning a GNAC playoff game before losing in the semis to St. Joseph’s. “We had a new system with a lot of new people who could score the ball,” Lyric said. “I didn’t necessarily need to score 30 points per game, and that’s a good thing because the more weapons you have on the court the harder it is to stop your team.”

It was a very enjoyable season for Lyric. “I could do other stuff,” she said. “Focus on defense. It was a good year for other parts of my game.” 

Last year was a challenge. Another top player, Hannah Muchmore, went down with a posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injury seven games into the season. “I had to take on more of a scoring load and a defensive load because she’s such a good defender.”

Lyric was averaging 18-19 points a game in the early going, but when things started turning bad, she flipped a switch. “I was right back to where I was in my first year,” she said. “I knew I had to take over a little bit more.” Once again she was among the nation’s leaders in scoring with a 25.2 average (third), earning her second GNAC Player of the Year Award and third first-team all-conference honor.

Although the Raiders’ record (10-17) fell off from the two previous seasons, they once again made the playoffs. They beat Johnson & Wales in a play-in before falling in the playoff quarters to St. Joe’s once again – 74-64. Lyric had a double-double (30 points, 13 boards) as Riv pulled to within two late, before the Monks hit foul shots to win by 10.

As that season ended, Lyric looked ahead. She was planning to come back for her final season, but she also was taking a peek at the future after college – playing pro overseas. She decided to go to a showcase with the intention of using it as a dry run, measuring her chances after this season. It didn’t quite go as planned.

She did well at the showcase. People were impressed. Lyric was approached and asked “What if we offer you something today? What would you do?” She did not see that coming. Suddenly there was talk of flying overseas in August to play in Albania.

As they had when Lyric picked a school, the family got together to weigh her options. “I had one year left (at Rivier),” she said. “I had started something at Riv. It would have been stupid to leave. I decided to come back and I don’t regret it at all.”

That resonated with her coach. “We’re lucky she’s a really loyal kid,” Purcell said. “It wasn’t like we were just a stepping stone for her. She cares about the Rivier community. She cares about me and my vision for the program.”

Once she got to Rivier, Lyric never considered moving on to a bigger school. Had she had a first season and played well, she thinks maybe she might have. But as it was, she did the Covid year and then had a great campaign in Year 2. “At that point I’m already halfway through my academics,” she said. “Transferring felt a little more risky academically because you risk losing credits. That’s something that held me back.”

Looking back at her evolution, Lyric felt her defense improved exponentially since she was in high school. The main reason, she laughed, is that in high school she didn’t have a defensive mindset. “My job was to score as many points as I could,” she said. “I was going to guard their worst player so I could get a break on the defensive end. That’s not what they needed from me. We had a really good defensive anchor that allowed me to rest on defense.”

She used that Covid year to improve her defense. Another facet that she got better at was developing an inside game on offense instead of relying exclusively on her perimeter shooting. “I’m a bigger guard. I’m pretty tall at 5-8, 5-9, especially with my basketball shoes on,” she said. “Those guarding me were 5-4, 5-5. I had a couple of inches on them. I was able to start learning the inside game and taking advantage of those mismatches when I had them. Once I had that, I was able to kind of pick and choose whether to shoot a 3 or try to get inside.”

A third factor that helped her build her game was putting in time in the weight room. “That just changed everything,” she said. “I was feeling way better physically and mentally just because I was able to go longer. I was a lot stronger. That made me even better.”

Since Lyric is the most recognizable name in the GNAC, wherever she plays, she gets plenty of attention – and in a very physical way. “I’m expecting them to try to take me out,” she said of the other teams. “I get a lot of hits. I absorb a lot of contact. I know the whistle I’m getting versus everybody else is completely different because the refs think I can fight through a lot more. It’s definitely not fair, but it’s what I’m expecting.”

This speaks to Lyric’s maturity. Rather than dwell on how unfair it might be, she puts her head down and pushes forward. “I just have to fight that much harder than everyone else,” she said. “I’m getting my defender’s best game every game. Everybody wants to stop me. I just have to know I can’t take possessions off because everybody is wanting to give me their best game.”

Hannah Muchemore (left) celebrates with Lyric Grumblatt following Grumblatt joining the 2,000-point club at Plymouth State earlier this season.

Lyric recalls she did get frustrated during her second season because now everyone knew who she was. “I was getting the defender’s best games and I wasn’t getting the whistles,” she said. Athletic Director Jonathan Harper helped her to see the light. “I had to adjust. He talked to me,” she said. It was pretty simple. Harper told her the more she reacted the less calls she was going to get. “He told me the refs would start going against me.” It was a good lesson.

Now Lyric feels she has a nice middle ground where she is at peace with how she is treated, even if she doesn’t agree with it. “I don’t let it get to me mentally because what’s that going to do?” she said. “It’s something I can’t control.”

The Raiders are 2-0 in the conference and 6-7 overall. After a tough non-conference stretch, they are ready to make some noise in the GNAC, and maybe go deeper in the tournament. “If we can continue on the path that we’re on, we should be able to do some really good things,” Lyric said.

Coach Purcell agrees. Playing a difficult non-conference slate at the beginning was something she learned from other coaches. “Those tough games have helped. I think we’re ready,” the coach said.

Of course, how Rivier does will hinge on Lyric, which is a good thing. Purcell doesn’t see her slowing down. “She’s special,” her coach said. “I don’t think people pay attention to her beyond her scoring ability. I always like to note she is the hardest worker in the room 100 percent of the time. I’m not exaggerating when I say that. She doesn’t take plays off in practice. She’s always in the gym getting shots off. She’s there every day. She’s a role model for young kids in the state of New Hampshire who want to go and play college basketball and want to play at the level that she does. It didn’t come to her because she wanted it to. It came to her because she made it happen. She put herself in this position – breaking records and getting overseas looks.”

Mike Whaley can be reached at whaleym25@gmail.com

Timing Pays Off: Beattie embraced his Winnacunnet experience coaching girls

By: Mike Whaley

(This is the first in a series on the 2022 and 2024 inductees into the New Hampshire Basketball Coaches Organization Hall of Fame. The stories will run periodically over the next three months.)

Ed Beattie knew coming out of college he wanted to coach and teach at the high school level. He didn’t, however, necessarily envision himself coaching women, especially since he had a legendary dad, Bryce Beattie, who had successfully coached boys in Maine and Massachusetts. He’s in two halls of fame in Maine. But that’s how it worked out when he got hired at Winnacunnet High School in 1979. He ended up coaching girls basketball and girls soccer, a sport he started at the Hampton school.

It proved to be an excellent fit for Beattie. He guided the Winnacunnet girls for 33 seasons (1979 to 2012), 31 as the head coach. His teams amassed a record of 519-173 and won seven Class L/Division I state hoop championships, including five in a row. At one point, the Warriors won 84 straight games. He also coached the girls soccer team to an undefeated state title in 1983. He was one of seven coaches honored with induction into the New Hampshire Basketball Coaches Organization’s Hall of Fame on Nov. 2.

“I was very fortunate coming out of college and not expecting to coach women,” he said. Beattie said he was lucky to have an old-school athletic director in Bob Dodge to mentor him. “He was very supportive. He often gave me good advice about handling situations that invariably occur in a basketball season. … He kind of shepherded me along in the early years about how to temper myself a little bit, which I’m not sure I always did. To get me to a position where I could be successful and the kids would have the kind of experience they were supposed to have.”

Ed Beattie coached girls basketball at Winnacunnet High School for 33 years, 31 as the head coach. [Seacoastonline photo]

The late 1970s were a time when girls sports were just starting to get a fair shake because of Title IX. Not necessarily an equal shake, but because Dodge was going to adhere to the Title IX requirements, Winnacunnet’s female athletes were not going to get short-changed on his watch. That boded well not only for the school’s female athletes but also for Beattie, who became a fierce advocate for women’s athletics.

“I guess people would say we were throwback or old-time coaches,” Beattie said of himself and his dad. “I didn’t see myself that way. Times have changed. And how you deal with athletes has changed. I think you could ask a lot from women athletes. … Title IX changed everything. It made it so it was not quite equal. But it was a lot closer to being equal.”

Beattie constantly told sports reporters they should be doing more articles on women’s sports. Why? “Because parents that have daughters buy the same newspaper,” he said. “People have figured that out now. Caitlin Clark, you see articles in the paper out of season about her.”

Beattie added: “Basketball has changed dramatically. Stuff I did as a high school athlete or stuff I did on the college floor, women athletes do now in grade school. They go behind the back. They go between their legs. It’s pretty humbling.”

Another thing that helped Beattie’s transition to being a high school coach in Hampton was establishing a good relationship with the boys coach, the late Jack Ford. There was the potential for conflict with a new coach coming in and Ford being there as an established coach. Rather than use his seniority to benefit his own program or let any ego get in the way, Ford never let that enter the equation. He worked with Beattie to make sure both programs had the chance to grow and be successful. “Jack and I liked each other,” Beattie said. “We knew each of us was trying extremely hard to get to the state final.”

Ed Beattie coached the Winnacunnet High School girls basketball team to seven state titles during his 31 years as the head coach. [Seacoastonline photo]

Beattie said they made the gym schedule sometimes two or three weeks in advance. They were able to make it work. Back then teams played on Tuesday and Friday nights – one was home and one was away. Whichever team was home on Tuesday would have late practice Monday while the team that was on the road would practice early. “That eliminated a lot of questions about who was going to take what time,” Beattie said.

It was against that positive backdrop that Beattie got his start as a coach, and it built from there. One advantage Beattie had coming into Winnacunnet was that he had developed an appreciation of women’s athletics from his days at old Nasson College (Maine). He respected what they could do and that carried over to his coaching. “I made a conscious effort to myself that I was going to treat the women athletes the same as if I were a boys coach,” he said. “That was a difficult curve at first. Quite honestly, not everyone wanted to see that happen. I was demanding, but I knew at the end if we were walking off the court on the last day and we were the winners, it would all be worth it.” That’s where Dodge’s complete support came in. He advised the young coach and had his back if there were outside forces that had a problem in what he was doing.

One thing Beattie took from his dad was an uptempo, pressure-defense style. Bryce Beattie was a pioneer in Maine using the zone press. “A lot of people thought it was almost unkind to the opponent,” Beattie said. “Early on when the game was 50-60 years old, you let them (the opponent) bring the ball up the floor. He was being almost unsportsmanlike. Steal the ball in the back court and lay it in.”

It rubbed off on Beattie. “Good coaches steal whatever they can find,” he said. “My father had a few ideas that stood the test of time.”

When Bryce Beattie, right, was inducted into the 2007 Maine Sports Hall of Fame, both his sons were there for the induction ceremony – Brett, left, and Ed. [Photo courtesy of Ed Beattie]

That pressing and running style became the hallmark of Beattie’s teams. “We pressed and ran because we felt the more times you touched the ball the higher the score could go,” he said. “That’s a basic scenario.”

Certainly the “small” Winnacunnet gym, which wasn’t small, lent itself to that. Beattie laughed about that. “It was its own advantage,” he said. “It’s small. It’s a regular-sized floor. Jack Ford and I used to play up the fact it was a small floor even though it was regulation (sized). Because it set the mentality of the opponent that they were going to get pressed from sideline to sideline. There was going to be no room. They (the fans) were right on top of you.”

The Warriors had success under Beattie in the old gym, winning state titles in 1984 and 1998. In 2005, the new school was built and the basketball teams practiced and played their games in a new, bigger gymnasium. Beattie changed some of his approach to coaching because of that. During construction, Beattie would use some of his free time to sit in the unfinished gym “thinking about how I would use the facility to develop athletes and hopefully basketball players – certainly athletes first.

Ed Beattie (right) chats with Farmington’s Mike Lee at the 2024 NHBCO Hall of Fame induction ceremony. [📸 KJ Cardinal]

“I practiced everybody together – all three teams,” said Beattie, who taught high school history at Winnacunnet from 1979 to 2014. “That’s something I decided to do once we had the new facility. That’s one factor that led to greater success. … The freshman point guard was working with the all-state point guard. I completely changed how I coached as a result of the change with the building. It worked.” The second year in the new facility, the Warriors won the first of five straight Division I state titles.

Beattie said the larger environment allowed the team to lift weights, do isometrics, jump rope, and do stations. “We designed drills based on the positions kids played,” he said. “Block players would work together and against each other.” The coaching staff could mingle to provide instruction. Beattie felt that the varsity players were challenged every day. “There’s a kid coming and they’re a sophomore and they’re coming,” he said. “That competitive edge helped a little bit.”

Sitting by himself in the unfinished gym, Beattie was thinking about “how do something different and how to make it be an athletic experience as well as a basketball experience. We took pride in the fact that we felt we had the best athletes – not necessarily just the best basketball team. We had the best athletes. If we made it an athletic event; if we made it up and down the floor, 84 feet, 50-feet wide, side to side, up and down the floor, 32 minutes, we were going to be successful. We were in better shape than anybody else. We got better as the game went on. We’re going to get you with that press at some point. You’re going to break down. That was our whole philosophy. I had kids who bought in. They knew and understood what we were doing.”

Beattie still believes the Winnacunnet gym is the best high school facility in the state. He liked that it had seating all the way around the court, not just on the sides. “It made it feel like a real college facility,” he said. “I wanted seating at the end. As a coach, to press full court, I love seating at the end.”

Ed Beattie gives his induction speech at the 2024 NHBCO Hall of Fame induction ceremony. [📸 KJ Cardinal]

There were many great players who suited up for Beattie. From his stepdaughter Maura Healey in the 1980s, who went on to star at Harvard University and is now the governor of Massachusetts, to Heidi Plencner and Abigail LaRosa, who both played at the University of New Hampshire, to Tiffany Ruffin, who was part of four consecutive state championships. She took her game to Boston College and then Fordham. From those stars down to the final kids on the bench, there was complete buy-in to the way Winnacunnet did things.

Longevity at one place had its benefits. “Nobody had to learn how things were going to go,” Beattie said. “This is how it’s going to go. I had the backing of the community and especially, the most important thing, great athletes. Winnacunnet has had its share of great athletes in every sport. But I think the girls basketball program there, from my standpoint, has had some of the greatest athletes in the state’s history.”

Current Winnacunnet boys coach Jay McKenna introduced Beattie at the Hall of Fame event in Concord. He has known Beattie for 30-plus years. He grew up with Beattie’s son. His sister, Erin, grew up with Beattie’s daughter and played soccer and basketball for Beattie. McKenna let Erin know that Beattie was being honored and that he was speaking on her old coach’s behalf. He wondered if Erin had anything to share.

Erin told her brother that Beattie “taught us the importance of commitment and perseverance, to stay focused even when things were tough. We were expected to show up ready to play. He was very demanding and he could be very difficult at times. But we knew that he loved us and was extremely supportive of us. … When Mum passed away before my senior year in high school, he was the first person to arrive at our house to check on me and offer his support. He was always there for me and helped me in countless ways that I am forever grateful for.”

Beattie said he can never stress enough how lucky he was that he got into coaching when he did. “I’m not sure I blazed any trails,” he said. “I followed along with what people were doing at the time. I was very lucky to be on the cutting edge of the explosion of women’s sports. It was  terrific to be a part of that.”

NOTES: Beattie’s dad’s coaching career spanned 40-plus years in five states, but most notably in Maine and Massachusetts. His teams won three state championships in Maine at Freeport High School (1959, 1960, 1964) and an Eastern Massachusetts title at Swampscott High School in 1983. … After he retired, Bryce was inducted into both the Maine Sports Hall of Fame and the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame. … Bryce coached his eldest son Brett at Maine’s Windham High School in the late 1960s and at Salem HS against his youngest son when Ed played for Triton Regional High School in Byfield, Massachusetts, in the 1970s.

Mike Whaley can be reached at whaleym25@gmail.com

Remembering Gabe: GDA21 Foundation pays tribute to Pittsfield man’s selfless legacy

By Mike Whaley

Although Gabe Anthony died much too soon at age 24, his extraordinary humanity is fittingly living on through the Gabriel Douglas Anthony 21 Foundation.

Started by Gabe’s dad, Rick Anthony, the Foundation’s mission is to supply safety equipment to all New Hampshire high school aged drivers. A year ago this past Sunday (December 15, 2023), Gabe’s automobile broke down along Route 93 South in Sanbornton and he was hit by a car driven by a woman who was later charged with driving under the influence. He died at the scene.

Gabe’s death cut a painful swath through the small town of Pittsfield where he grew up playing soccer and basketball. His dad recalls those early months trying to navigate grief and finally finding some solace by chance. Rick is a 1982 Pittsfield High School graduate and has been a physical education teacher in his hometown since 1995. He has an advisory class of 11 students that meets every school day for a 25-minute block, which gives Rick a chance to check in on them. “I’ve had the same group since seventh grade,” Rick said. “It was last March and we were talking. They were all new drivers and they were talking about how their cars had broken down.” One kid’s car caught on fire. Another had a fan belt break.

Rick remembers asking if any of them had roadside flares. They had no idea what he was talking about. “You understand why I’m saying this?” he asked. They certainly did. They just didn’t know what the flares were.

Rick Anthony (left) pictured with son Gabe. The two reffed soccer games together. [Courtesy photo]

That spurred Rick into action. That afternoon he went online and found packs of three flare LED lights for $20. He bought a set for each of his advisory students. “As I was doing that, the idea for the Foundation came about. We should be doing this for everybody. Every kid this age is driving a very used car; very few have reliable cars. It’s not a matter if they break down, it’s when they break down.”

Rick started putting GDA21 together with the help of his wife, Erica, and his daughter, Sage. “They loved the idea. I just went with it.”

By June Rick had the website (gda21foundation.org) up and running – 21 was Gabe’s high school soccer and basketball uniform number. As soon as it went live, people put it on Facebook and it exploded. Over the first two weeks they raised $20,000. Since then they’ve been able to keep it going through various fundraisers, including New Hampshire Muscle Cars and the Pittsfield Balloon Rally. “We’re keeping it out there bit by bit,” Rick said. “It’s struck a chord with people.” The foundation has currently raised around $60,000.

“The idea is to go to as many schools as we can to give these lights to seniors,” Rick said. “We would do a presentation (of the lights), tell Gabe’s story and talk about how to be safe.” To add meaning and credibility to what the Foundation is doing, Rick is trying to involve local police and fire departments.

The presentation for each student includes a three-pack of LED roadside flares that can be placed behind a disabled auto. They flash as warning lights in addition to the car’s hazards.

The Tri-City Driving School in Rochester reached out to Rick. He did his first presentation there in October. “We’ll continue to fundraise and we’ll continue to get out there,” he said. Rick figures the Foundation has enough funds to do eight or nine schools. They ordered 1,000 lights through a Texas company that gave them a pretty good discount. The plan going forward is to visit eight schools in January and February: Pittsfield, Prospect Mountain, Coe-Brown, Belmont, Sunapee, Plymouth, Colebrook and Groveton.

Rick Antony spoke about the GDA21 Foundation at a recent Pittsfield game at Farmington High School. [📸 KJ Cardinal]

The goal is to hit every school in New Hampshire over time. Rick said that 100 percent of the monies raised go to the lights. “We don’t use it for anything else; not for my travel. The money goes right to the lights,” he said.

Rick said his advisory group put together a video for the website displaying how the lights work. Using a dark road in Pittsfield, the video shows a car coming around a corner onto a disabled car in three situations: without its flashers on, with its flashers on, and then with its flashers on and the flashing LED lights. “The difference was amazing,” Rick said. “One of our mottos for the foundation is ‘To be seen can save your life.’”

In recounting what happened to Gabe, Rick said “He was trying to fix his car. The hood was up, the flashers on and he did everything right. That’s not me just saying it. That’s the police report saying that he did everything right. The car just plowed into him because she never saw him.”

It was an emotional end of the week for the Anthonys who were in court on Thursday (Dec. 5) for the first time for the vehicular manslaughter case against the woman who drove into Gabe with her car. The next day (Dec. 6), Rick went to Farmington for doubleheader basketball games against Pittsfield. In between the two games, Rick spoke about the Foundation and had the Pittsfield teams present roadside flares to all varsity members of the Farmington squads. Farmington folks also donated an unspecified amount to the Foundation, including the entire proceeds from the 50/50 raffle.

Rick was a little surprised how special a moment it turned out to be. When he played basketball at Pittsfield in the early 1980s, Farmington was their biggest and sometimes bitterest rival. “That’s the last thing you would think that I would be speaking over at Farmington in their gym,” he said. “That was awesome. Farmington was great. I’m very appreciative of the people over there. That was fun.”

It’s the kind of event that likely would have resonated with Gabe. “He had a passion for sports. He was passionate about soccer,” Rick said. “He liked basketball, but soccer was definitely his favorite.”

Pittsfield players presented Farmington players with LED flares at a recent basketball game. [📸 KJ Cardinal]

Rick said Gabe was born into soccer. When he was young, Rick was the varsity soccer coach at Pittsfield HS, a position he held for 15 years. “He kind of grew up with my soccer players,” Rick said, “being in the house for the team dinners. He liked the freedom of that a little bit more, just being outside.”

Gabe came of age playing youth sports in Pittsfield on different travel teams coached by Rick and Jay Darrah, the Pittsfield athletic director and boys basketball coach. One of Gabe’s teammates was Darrah’s son, Cam, who is a year younger. “They played together and were friends forever,” Rick said.

When Gabe got to high school, he played both soccer and basketball. “He wasn’t a scorer,” Rick said of his son in basketball. “He didn’t have to be. You had Cam and some other kids on the team who could do that. His job was to play defense and rebound. Set picks. And he did that very well. He was a really good role player. He was the kind of kid who didn’t get the accolades. He did the little things that coaches and other people notice that know the game.”

Gabe played four years on the varsity basketball team for Jay Darrah. “He was selfless with a great work ethic,” the coach said. “He did what was best for the team. He embodied that philosophy on the court or the field. He would dive for loose balls or win a 50-50 ball on the soccer field. It was the little things that don’t show up in the scorebook that he was great at. He was an exceptional teammate. He just loved being on a team.”

Darrah added: “He was very loyal. Anyone who had the pleasure of meeting him, instantly recognized his authenticity and genuine nature. He was just a likeable kid.”

Last winter, Pittsfield honored Gabe’s memory by framing his number 21 basketball jersey and placing it on the gymnasium wall behind the Pittsfield team bench. “I think that’s significant, just so we know he will always be there,” Darrah said. “The team will always be able to live off his legacy – the selflessness he provided as a player, as a person and as a soccer official.”

Rick Anthony officiated last night’s Prospect Mountain girls game. [📸 KJ Cardinal]

Gabe became a soccer official when he was 12. That evolved into a part-time vocation at which he excelled and took very seriously. “He became well-liked because he had that field awareness as a player, but also had that easy personality where coaches could talk to him,” Darrah said.

Rick recalls Gabe getting into soccer officiating. His son drew him into it. “He had to take the course,” Rick recalled. “I figured if I was driving him to games, I might as well get paid for the game too. So I did the course with him and we started doing games together.”

Gabe went to college at the University of Oregon, because his goal was to go to a big school with big-time sports. When he was accepted, Gabe flew out with his dad to visit the campus. As Rick recalled, 15 minutes into their visit, Gabe turned to him and said: “This is where I’m going.” Rick responded, “‘I’m going with you.’ It was a beautiful campus; just an amazing area.” While attending Oregon, Gabe joined the soccer board and officiated games. When he returned to New Hampshire in 2022, he jumped on the board here and by age 24 he had already done two high school state finals.

Gabe left Oregon a few credits shy of graduating. Student loans were piling up so he decided to return home to find a job and finish school online. He worked full-time with a mortgage company, while taking online classes and refereeing soccer. He had a winter passion for snowboarding, which led to him working part time on weekends at Waterville Valley Resort so he could have a pass to use the mountain when he had some free time. In fact, he was returning from a day of snowboarding with friends at Waterville Valley when he was hit.

“He was adventurous,” his dad said. “He was very likeable and very loyal to people who were loyal to him. He was brave in the fact that he loved to try new things. Even as a little guy he would walk into a tryout for youth soccer or AAU basketball. He wouldn’t hesitate to jump right in and be with people. He was good with that. He was good at meeting new people. He was friendly. He was a good kid.”

Although the pain of Gabe’s death is still very much present with the Anthonys, this way of honoring him just feels appropriate. “The idea for the family is that if one family doesn’t have to go through what we’re going through and have been through, his death is not in vain,” Rick said. “That’s the idea. If these lights save one person, it’s done its job in Gabe’s memory.”

(For more information on the Foundation go to https://gda21foundation.org)

Mike Whaley can be reached at whaleym25@gmail.com

A Taste of Granite: N.H. flavor bolsters Plymouth State women’s resurgence

By: Mike Whaley

Sometimes you need look no further than your own backyard to make things better. That’s the route the Plymouth State College women’s basketball program has taken to rebuild itself after 13 straight seasons in which the Panthers never won more than 10 games and five times lost as many as 20.

Last year, Plymouth turned to former PSU men’s star and Berlin-native Curtis Arsenault to rebuild the program. Arsenault, in turn, has put part of his boundless energy and passion into recruiting New Hampshire women. The current squad has eight Granite State players on the roster.

The Panthers responded last year by going 11-14 overall, the program’s best record since the 2009-10 season (17-11). They also went 7-9 in the ultra-competitive Little East Conference, the team’s best conference record in 21 years.

“It was important for me to give back,” said Arsenault, who spent the previous six years as an assistant with the Plymouth State women’s team (2017-19), Laconia High School boys squad (2019-21) and Plymouth State men’s team (2021-23). “It wasn’t something where I thought I would be a head coach with my full-time career.” Arsenault is a police officer in the Lakes Region.

Things fell into place for Arsenault to get the job, which is the only part-time head post in the Little East Conference. A week before the Plymouth job opened up in April of 2023, Arsenault was hired as a School Resource Officer (SRO) in Gilford, a position that carries with it a stable 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. commitment versus shift work, which can be inconsistent.

Second-year Plymouth State University women’s coach Curtis Arsenault is working hard to rebuild the Panther program. [📸 KJ Cardinal]

He talked with his wife about the position. He didn’t think she’d necessarily be onboard, but she was. “I couldn’t sit back and watch it anymore,” Arsenault said. “They were struggling so much. I just thought it was really important that whoever took over was somebody who really cared about the women’s program, the kids and it was somebody who was going to fight for them.”

That was Arsenault, who “bleeds green.” He’s been an assistant coach for both basketball programs, he starred on the men’s team (2013-17, 1,236 career points), and met his wife at Plymouth. “I love the university and everything it’s done for me,” he said. “I plan to work hard on getting this program up and going again because it’s really struggled for a really long time.” Arsenault feels he’s had good training to set him up as a head coach, mentioning the three important coaches in his life: Don Picard (Berlin HS), Jay Tilton (Phillips Exeter Academy) and Andrew Novick (Plymouth State). He singled out Picard’s ability to change style of play year-to-year to play to the strengths of his team. Arsenault lauded Tilton’s intensity and passion for the game he brings every day and his ability to get his teams to completely buy in to what he is doing. As for Novick, he noted the coach’s next level mastery of Xs and Os and his uncanny ability to make adjustments on the fly.

Arsenault recalls getting the job and needing to quickly get up to speed on women’s basketball in the state after being on the Plymouth men’s side for two years. “I needed to start reaching out to people,” he said. “I just reached out to people in the basketball world.” One of those people was Carl Doucet, who runs Manchester Baller’s Association. Doucet was integral in helping Arsenault to successfully navigate the girls’ side in the state. He built his connections from there.

Last year was a breakthrough season, part of the success due to some quality last-minute Granite State additions. One was Bow’s Lea Crompton, a four-year player at VTSU-Lyndon with another year of eligibility due to Covid-19. She was at Plymouth as a graduate student, but was convinced to play.

Londonderry’s Bri Wilcox (Bishop Guertin) was a transfer from Rivier University, getting to school two days before classes started. The duo ended up being 1-2 in scoring, and Wilcox was named to the All-LEC Second Team and the All-Defensive Team. Wilcox, a junior, had another year of eligibility, but Arsenault said she has stepped away from basketball for the moment.

“We got some last-minute kids that fell into our lap a little bit,” he said.

This year’s team is off to a 2-7 start. There have been some struggles on offense as the absence of Wilcox and Crompton can be felt. Defensively, the Panthers are right there. Of the eight N.H. players, five are seeing quality time and a sixth could be a factor if she is cleared to play next month following an ACL injury.

Sophomore forward Ashley Stephens (Pembroke) is expected to expand her role this season for the Plymouth State women. [📸 KJ Cardinal]

When Arsenault was hired in 2023, it was late in the recruiting process, which put him behind the eight ball. Wilcox and Crompton obviously were huge additions, but even with the lateness of the recruiting hour, Arsenault still was able to get Ashley Stephens, a quality 5-10 forward from Pembroke. She currently leads the Panthers in scoring (8.2 ppg).

A 2022 graduate of Pembroke Academy, Stephens was burnt out from basketball and decided to take a different path after graduating. She joined the United States Army. It was while in the Army that Stephens realized that she missed basketball. She had two close friends attending the University of Southern Maine, so she committed there in the spring of 2023 when she returned from basic training.

There was a coaching change at USM. Arsenault had been reaching out to Stephens to no avail, but finally she answered a call from him. He convinced her to come to Plymouth. “He was really excited and seemed super motivated and passionate. His passion kind of sparked my own,” Stephens said. “I was really excited by the energy I got through that phone call. I made the switch right then and there.”

Stephens played a key role as a freshman. She played in all 25 games, starting in 24. She averaged 7.6 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. “Last year, coach brought so much passion and energy,” she said. “We were just so motivated. We came into every game knowing that the only people that believed in us were us. He kept saying that from the beginning. We really had faith.”

Senior forward Alli Ingalls (Hampstead) is playing a key leadership and inside role this season for the Plymouth State women. [📸 KJ Cardinal]

Another N.H. player who was pivotal a year ago was 5-10 senior forward Alli Ingalls from Hampstead. A transfer from Western New England University, she came to Plymouth half way through the 2022-23 season and played in all 25 games last year.

When Plymouth made the coaching change last season, Ingalls recalls the team collectively felt about Arsenault “That’s the one. We need him basically to change the program.”

As a captain she tries to motivate her teammates and make sure they are working as hard as they can. She is one of the leading scorers (5.9 ppg) and a top inside presence on defense.

Sophie George has perhaps the most compelling story. The Meredith native played her high school ball at the prep level at the Tilton School, which included a championship run during her sophomore year. Unfortunately she essentially missed two of her previous three seasons with Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injuries to one knee and then the other.

As a high school senior, she missed her whole senior year with an ACL injury. As a freshman, she enrolled at Plymouth State after committing to Merrimack College and went on to have a great season, averaging a team-high 14.4 ppg to earn LEC Rookie-of-the-Year honors. However four games into last year she suffered an ACL tear to her other knee. The 5-6 junior guard is hoping to get cleared to play in January.

Junior guard Sophie George (Meredith) is hoping to overcome a second ACL injury to help the Plymouth State women next semester. [📸 Plymouth State University Athletics]

“It’s been hard to keep positive,” she said. “My teammates have been amazing. Everyone always checks up on me. One of the toughest parts is trusting it (the knee) again.” Because of the nature of the injury, George had no choice but to sit around for five months before she could do any sort of work out, which means regaining endurance has been difficult. “I was able to trust my other (ACL) when I came back. It was easier than I thought it would be,” she said. “Coming around the second time I think is going to be a little tougher. I’m just excited to play again.” If George can pass a return-to-sport (RTS) test later this month, she will be cleared for a full return to the team next month.

“The thing that keeps me going the most is this is going to be the end of my basketball career,” she said. “Once I got hurt again, I didn’t want to go out that way. I can’t imagine not playing. I’m excited to be tired. I’m excited to be sore again. I’m excited to have all those feelings again. I haven’t had it for so long.”

Junior guard Elli Cox (Deerfield) is trying to break into the PSU lineup after transferring from Rhode Island College. [📸 KJ Cardinal]

Three first-year players who are having an impact are junior transfer Elli Cox (Deerfield), and freshmen Kaley Goodhart (Center Conway) and Torle Adumene (Manchester). Cox played sparingly during two seasons at LEC power Rhode Island College. Teammate Hailey Malozzi transferred to Plymouth last year and convinced Cox, a 5-9 guard, to follow. She is just getting back into the swing of things after suffering a broken toe during the preseason.

Cox said one thing that spurred her interest in Plymouth was coach Arsenault working to turn the program around. “He thought I could help,” she said. “I wanted to help with that. That made me want to come.”

Kaley Goodhart (Center Conway) has been thrown into the fire as a freshman point guard. [📸 Kaley Goodhart]

Goodhart, a 5-3 point guard, came from Kennett High School, where she was part of the Eagles 2023 Division II championship team. She liked Arsenault’s rebuilding culture. “It sounded like a determined, motivated team and that’s something I wanted to be a part of.” Having been thrown into the fire as a starting freshman point guard, Goodhart is embracing the challenge. “I have to deal with more pressure here,” she said. “I need to remind myself that I’m young, shake it off and do the best I can.”

“She’s been thrust out there and she’s playing 25-30 minutes a game against top level athletes,” Arsenault said. “She didn’t see that at the Division II public school level in New Hampshire, so there’s been an adjustment there. She competes. She’s a gamer. She’s had some incredibly good moments this year and she’s had some moments where she’s struggled a little bit. I love it because I know she’s going to push through.”

Versatile freshman Torle Adumene is getting key minutes off the bench for the Panthers. [📸 Plymouth State University Athletics]

Adumene saw opportunities to play as a freshman. “I’m just trying to do all the little things,” she said. “I’m playing good defense and being energetic off the bench.” Because she played for the Manchester Memorial program, Arsenault knew “she’d be able to slide right in. She’s super athletic. She defends. She rebounds. She’s working on expanding her offensive game.” 

A chance to play right away is part of Arsenault’s message as he attempts to rebuild the program. “This is a great spot,” he said. “There’s opportunity here that you necessarily might not get at other schools when you’re a freshman or a sophomore because we’re still building.”

Even though the Panthers are currently struggling, Arsenault feels good about the effort and the fact they’ve been in games (four losses by nine points or less). “PSU teams before this were getting run out of the gym,” he said. “Even though we’re not winning games, we’re still right there. We kind have got to learn to win again. It’s just jelling and getting consistent and doing a lot of the little things, and getting those tough losses to be close wins. It’s about building a culture that’s going to play, hard and the right way.”

Arsenault pauses, adding: “The word just needs to continue to spread. Plymouth State isn’t like it used to be.”

Dominating Astro: Marshall’s huge season led to 2K points, state crown

By Mike Whaley

Going into the 2023-24 NHIAA Division I boys basketball season, on paper anyway, the chances of Jackson Marshall reaching the 2,000-point mark and Pinkerton Academy winning the D-I championship seemed slim at best.

As the season progressed, however, it became apparent that the Astros were a team to be reckoned with led by Marshall, whose scoring numbers were off the charts. Those slim hopes were suddenly not so slim.

The rest, of course, was history. Pinkerton went 17-1 during the regular season to secure the top seed in the D-I playoffs. From there, they rolled through the tournament with wins over Nashua South, 101-83; Trinity, 82-71, and Nashua North, 90-76. The Astros set several D-I playoff records along the way for most points in a single tournament game (101), points in a championship game (90), and total points in the final game (166). One can also assume that PA set a three-game tournament scoring record with 273 points. Marshall, a 6-foot-9 senior, scored 111 points in three tournament games, missing the record by a single point. Another Pinkerton star, Zach Mathieu, set the mark in 2010 with 112 points – but in four games. That was also the last year the Astros won the title before Sunday.

In addition, Marshall reached 2,000 points, hitting the mark in the quarterfinal win over Nashua South with 41 points (he needed 38 coming in). He ended his career with 2,073 points, just the second D-I player to reach that milestone, joining Concord legend Matt Bonner. He was also the second N.H. player to reach 2,000 points this season as Profile’s Josh Robie eclipsed the mark last month while leading the Patriots to the D-IV title.

Courtesy: Jeff Criss, Perfect Photos

Marshall did it with a huge season in which he averaged a state-leading 37.7 points per game to go along with 13.7 rebounds per game. He scored 905 points in 24 games. Marshall plans to play baseball (pitcher/first base) at Southern New Hampshire University, an NCAA Division II school in Hooksett.

Pinkerton entered the season with a new coach (Mike Dunham) and just two players who had played in the previous year’s D-I championship loss to Bedford. Marshall had scored his 1,000th point as a junior, but he was still over 800 points away from 2,000, so the milestone wasn’t an immediate consideration.  

“Going into the year we kind of knew what he needed,” said coach Dunham, who played at Pinkerton for the late Tony Carnovale. “It wasn’t even on our radar until the seventh or eighth game that he was going to be pretty close to it.”

Dunham took over when veteran coach Dave Chase retired. He noted that Marshall only played 12 games as a freshman due to covid, adding there were also a number of games that he didn’t play in the second half because Pinkerton has been so good the past three years – so his numbers could have been even higher.

Marshall, for his part, wasn’t sure what the season would hold. “To be honest, the first day of tryouts I thought we were going to be a 50/50 team – win half the games. After looking at it, the opposite happened, which was great,” he said.

As for reaching the 2,000-point milestone, Marshall said, “I didn’t know that I would be able to do it. I had an idea. Getting there was definitely great. … My coach drew up a bunch of the plays for me, which helped me a lot. I feel like I had an advantage this year because there weren’t as many bigs as there were last year. That helped as well.”

Courtesy: Jeff Criss, Perfect Photos

Dunham also made some subtle changes that benefitted both the team and Marshall. “I challenged Jackson every day to get better, and he did that,” Dunham said. “We spaced the floor a little bit better this year than we did last year.” Because of the size of the team last year, getting space was tough. Marshall was able to get more space to work this year as well as starting outside and working his way in instead of going to the block every single time. “That helped his confidence and helped him score in different ways,” Dunham said. The biggest change was Marshall’s ability to get to the offensive glass where he was able to score more points with putbacks and from the foul line.

“This year the team knew that the way we were going to win was to go through Jackson,” said Dunham, who was a Pinkerton assistant last year after spending a decade at Londonderry HS working under Nate Stanton. “Last year I don’t know if that was the case. We really made an emphasis on getting him the ball in scoring position; just not on the block. He did a great job trailing plays and we were able to get him the ball in different spaces, and that really helped him.”

Dunham added: “He was a little more athletic than he was last year as far as putting the ball on the floor. His footwork for a big guy is unbelievable. His hands are amazing. He catches everything we throw to him. Kudos to him for putting that work in.”

One other more obvious change was Pinkerton’s uptempo style, which allowed Marshall to get more shots. “I like to play fast,” Dunham said. “If you look back to the Londonderry days with Nate Stanton, we wanted to play fast. We want to create more possessions in the ball game. If we do that, I’m confident we’re going to score more than the other team. It’s a fun way to play.”

He added: “A shot is better than a turnover. My dad always told me, the first option is to shoot it. In my mind, if you shoot it, it’s an opportunity for an offensive rebound, especially when you have Jackson. It’s an opportunity, not a turnover. Just playing loose and they really did that.”

Marshall felt his outside shooting helped to open him up as well and prevent teams from always doubling him in the paint. “They had to guard me at the 3-point line, which made it easier for me to attack the hoop. That’s why I was able to score as much as I was.”

Courtesy: Cindy Lavigne, Lavigne’s Live Shots

Plus the Astros had two other legitimate scoring threats in classmates Drew Brander and Charlie Ludden. Brander returned to Pinkerton after a year at Bradford Christian Academy in Haverhill, Mass. Both averaged in double figures, but really upped the ante in the playoffs averaging nearly double their regular-season numbers.  In addition, junior point guard Parker Bienvenue-Cernuda did a great job running the team.

Dunham said the chemistry was excellent and obviously adding Brander to the mix put them over the top. “Offensively, we were a tough guard this year because there was so much focus on Jackson,” the coach said. “The other guys stepped up and they all bought in. They understood and knew their roles. That was such a big piece.”

At the center of it all was Marshall. “Jackson was everything for us. He rebounded, he made shots, he blocked shots,” Dunham said. “Jackson hates to lose more than he likes to win. He hates to lose. He’s such a competitor. Every time that ball went up during a game, I was going to get his best effort. I had to keep him from losing his cool. I think he’s the most fouled player in New Hampshire. He takes a beating and he understands that. For 98 percent of the year, he kept his cool.”

Because the Astros had beaten Bedford during the season, that allowed them to earn the top seed and the first-round bye in the D-I playoffs. “It was just nice to have that week off. Getting that bye was one of our goals. One of our goals was checked off,” Dunham said. 

Heading into the quarterfinal game at home vs. Nashua South, the 2,000-point mark was now squarely in focus as Marshall was 38 points away. Dunham told Marshall:  ‘Jackson, you’re definitely going to do it in three games, you might do it in two. You might not do it in one. Let’s go win three games.’ That’s how I went by it. Let’s just make sure we win first. He bought into that.”

Courtesy: Betsy Hansen

Marshall, of course, did it that night with 41 points, hitting a fourth-quarter 3-pointer to move past the 2K plateau. “I’d like to hit 2,000 at my homecourt, my playoff game at home,” he said. “I did that. … I was making a lot of shots. I had three dunks. I played some pretty good offense that game. … My coach said you’re going to hit 2,000 either in this game or three games. So I was all right. I’m going to hit it at some point.”

Marshall had also joined an exclusive club – just him and Bonner as D-I’s only 2K scorers. “He’s very good, I hear,” Marshall said. “It’s great. I couldn’t ask for anything better than that. He has it all. He was in the NBA. That’s the best you can do.”

Dunham likened what Jackson did this year in terms of dominance to what Bonner did at Concord HS in the late 1990s. “I’m not comparing Jackson to Matt Bonner, no way,” he said. “I think Matt would run all over him. Matt was unbelievable. But we haven’t seen anything like this since Matt as far as dominating a league. I’m not saying there weren’t better players than Jackson in the past like (Trinty’s Chris) Lutz. I thought Chris Lutz was a better basketball player. I thought there were some players that were better than Jackson, but I just haven’t seen someone as dominant in the league.” Lutz later played college ball at Purdue and Marshall.

With the milestone out of the way, Pinkerton moved on to the semis against No. 5 Trinity. Marshall had another big game with 39 points, aided by 22 from Brander and 15 from Ludden in an 82-71 win. Now it was off to Lundholm Gymnasium at the University of New Hampshire for the championship against No. 3 Nashua North

“When you get to UNH, it’s not a coin flip, but anything can happen at UNH. Anybody can beat anybody,” Dunham said.

Indeed, North got the better of PA in the first half to lead 43-38. “At halftime they all had their heads down,” Dunham recalled. “‘Guys, that’s five points, we can score that in two seconds. We’ve been doing it all year.’ We came out in the second half and put up 90 points.”

This is how Marshall recalled the first half. “They hit a buzzer-beater and went up five points. They had all the energy,” he said. “I went down to the locker room, I saw some (Nashua) fans celebrating. We still have a whole other half. We’re celebrating a little early here.”

Courtesy: Betsy Hansen

Marshall added: “We were down by five, that’s not bad. We played much better defense in the second half; found me inside. Drew did very well in the championship game. We also stayed out of foul trouble.”

Marshall scored 10 of his game-high 31 points in the third quarter where PA outscored North, 29-18, to take the lead for good, 67-61. They eventually won by 14. Big games from Brander (26) and Ludden (18) made the win possible in support of Marshall.

Now Marshall sets his sights on his final high school baseball season and then college baseball at SNHU in the fall. He considered basketball, receiving some offers including one from Assumption University in Worcester, Mass., where his dad played in the mid 1990s as a 6-foot-10 center. SNHU also gave him the option to play both sports.

“I’m just going to do baseball,” said Marshall, who pitches and plays first base. “I feel I possibly have more of a future in baseball. If I were to play basketball, I’d be done at college. There’s no way I’m going to the NBA.”

But Dunham continues to entertain the idea of Marshall playing basketball. “I still think his jump shot is better than his baseball swing. I tell him that everyday. But he says he doesn’t know about that. I do believe that.

“I think he could play at UNH tomorrow. He’s that kind of kid. He’s 6-9. He can stretch the floor,” the coach added. “If he put some effort into it and lost weight and worked out a little bit too. I’m not saying he doesn’t do that, but he has the potential to be a very good basketball player. But he just works on the baseball, which makes it even more amazing what he’s doing. I’m so glad I got to coach him because he’s such a great kid. He’s so much fun to be around.”

Well, not so much fun if you’re an opponent, but we get the sentiment.

Perfect Pace: Nardolillo, RIC have a national title in their sights

By Mike Whaley

The big picture is something that Angelina Nardolillo always has her eye on. An all-state player at Hinsdale High School where she scored over 1,000 points and led the Pacers to a pair of Division IV state titles, Nardolillo has set her sights a little higher at Rhode Island College. The 6-foot, 1-inch junior is the starting center for the No. 3 nationally ranked Anchorwomen (27-0), who open the 64-team NCAA Division III Tournament Friday at home vs. St. Joseph’s College (Maine), 8 p.m. 

Earlier this week, Nardolillo was named to the All-Little East Conference Second Team for the third year in a row. As a freshman, she was selected as the LEC Rookie of the Year. The honors are nice, but Nardolillo is more interested in helping the team climb one step further than last year when RIC advanced to their first-ever D-III final four.

“I know that everybody else on the team knows we have unfinished business,” Nardolillo said. “We deserve to go further than the final four last year. I think that drive is going to really propel us through the tournament.”

RIC’s Angelina Nardolillo, left, has been a three-year starter for the Anchorwomen, who take a perfect 27-0 record into the NCAA Division III national tournament, which opens on Friday. [Photo courtesy of Rhode Island College Athletics]

RIC is hosting one of the 16 four-team tournament pods that will take place Friday and Saturday. If they beat St. Joe’s they will meet the winner of the other Friday game between Gettysburg and St. John Fisher on Saturday. This is the Anchorwomen’s third straight NCAA tournament appearance and seventh overall. They earned the automatic berth by winning their fourth consecutive LEC championship with wins over Eastern Connecticut (67-40) and rival UMass-Dartmouth (67-52). It was RIC’s third win this season over the Corsairs, who received an at-large tourney bid. Although it was their third meeting, the Anchorwomen had no trouble getting up for their rival. “They’re mean and chippy and scrappy, and they don’t really care,” Nardolillo said. “They’ll do anything to win. So we just like to stick it to them by beating them.”

Nardolillo has been a steady three-year influence for RIC in the post. She had 12 points and nine boards in the LEC championship win, and is averaging 10.3 ppg and 5.6 rpg this year. She is also on the cusp of scoring 1,000 points (924), a milestone that could fall later in March if RIC has a deep playoff run. If not, then early next season.

A native of Rhode Island, Nardolillo’s family moved to Hinsdale when she was 6. Basketball, however, didn’t come easy. First of all she did not like New Hampshire for the first several years she lived in Hinsdale. “I cried all the time and told (my parents) that I wanted to move back to Rhode Island,” she recalled. “I hated it. There was nothing to do. It’s very different from Providence.”

RIC junior Angelina Nardolillo has played a major role for the unbeaten Anchorwomen, who will host the first two rounds of their NCAA Division III national tournament four-team pod starting Friday. [Photo courtesy of Rhode Island College Athletics]

Gradually she grew to like it. She found hiking and soon embraced the beauty of the area. “Once I had a set friend group, I liked it a lot more,” Nardolillo said.

Basketball came into the picture when she was in fourth grade, but it was not an immediate hit. Her mom had been a cheerleader and didn’t want her daughter to go down that route, so she suggested basketball. Because she was tall, there were others that also suggested she try the sport out.

“I didn’t really understand basketball,” Nardolillo said. “I don’t think I ever watch a basketball game. I didn’t know the rules. I didn’t know anything about basketball besides the movie ‘Space Jam’. That was my preconceived notion I had about basketball before playing it.

“I hated it at the beginning,” she said. “I just played to play.”

By the time she got to middle school, Nardolillo was showing some promise. She was beginning to understand the game and embracing the fact that her once bothersome height was an advantage. “That’s when it really clicked for me,” she said. “I used it as a benefit. Instead of saying ‘Oh my God, I have to play basketball.’”

In seventh grade Nardolillo saw her first biggest improvement jump, playing her best basketball to that point. As an eighth-grader she was called up to play with the high school team as a swing player. By mid-season she was a full-time varsity starter.

RIC’s Angelina Nardolillo, a former star at Hinsdale HS, is a three-time All-Little East Conference selection to the second team. [Photo courtesy of Rhode Island College Athletics]

As a freshman, she played an integral role in Hinsdale’s championship run. She scored her 1,000th point as a sophomore and led the Pacers to the championship game – 42-31 loss to Littleton. “I really wanted to play basketball,” Nardolillo said. “I was thinking I wanted to play at a high level.”

She knew that playing D-IV ball in New Hampshire afforded her limited exposure opportunities. She decided to try a preparatory school. Northfield Mount Hermon is a 10-minute drive across the border in Massachusetts. “It was really close. I didn’t have to board,” Nardolillo said. “I loved going there.”

Her experience there set her up to prepare for college. It was at NMH that she realized that she didn’t want to play Division I basketball. “I wanted to be a student athlete,” Nardolillo said. “I wanted to be able to focus on my education and athletics, and not just devote all my time to basketball. I love it. It’s my passion. But I realized I’m fine with Division III.”

At NMH Nardolillo worked on her strength and conditioning for the first time. She had a trainer and did workouts. “That’s when I saw the next biggest jump in my athleticism and skill development because I was playing with Division I girls,” she said. “One of my best friends, she plays at Northeastern. She’s a post. We played against each other every single day. That really helped to push me to another level that I didn’t think I could make.”

RIC junior Angelina Nardolillo has been a three-year starter for the Anchorwomen, who take a perfect 27-0 record into the NCAA Division III national tournament, which opens on Friday. [Photo courtesy of Rhode Island College Athletics]

When Nardolillo first enrolled at NMH, the Covid-19 Pandemic was just unfolding. They had a season during her junior year, but Covid canceled the 2020-21 season in which the team would only play intrasquad games. “Personally, it’s my senior year,” she said. “I didn’t want to reclass. I made that a huge point. I can just go back to my public school and win another state championship and graduate with the people I’ve known since kindergarten. I made the move back and I’m happy I did.”

The summer before her senior year, Nardolillo focused hard on finding a college. She emailed RIC coach Jenna Cosgrove as well as others, but  she really wanted to go to school in Rhode Island where she still had family.

Cosgrove recalls getting Nardolillo’s email, and here’s where in recruiting sometimes you get lucky. Because of Covid and Nardolillo returning to Hinsdale, she wasn’t really on anyone’s radar. Cosgrove saw that Nardolillo had played at NMH, where she was coached by Grace Rehnquist. As it so happens, Cosgrove and Rehnquist are both from Sharon, Mass. There, Cosgrove was a co-captain on the girls’ basketball team with Rehnquist’s sister, and her dad was one of Cosgrove’s first coaches.

Rehnquist was able to give her some insight into Nardolillo. Coupled with the fact she had started at NMH and had played with some high caliber players, Cosgrove knew that she had some talent.

When Cosgrove talked with Nardolillo, she found out that she wanted to be challenged and surrounded by better players. “I like this kid already,” the coach said.

Cosgrove hosted an off-campus clinic during the fall of 2020 to see kids she couldn’t see during the summer. “She came,” Cosgrove recalled. “I remember her walking through the door. ‘Oh, sh*t, this kid has got size. She can run like a gazelle.’” It was a coup for Cosgrove who felt that had not Covid forced Nardolillo back to Hinsdale, she might have been more heavily recruited with a full senior year at NMH. It probably didn’t matter. Nardolillo had her heart set on D-III and on returning to Rhode Island.

RIC’s Angelina Nardolillo, a former star at Hinsdale HS, has been a three-year starter for the Anchorwomen at center. [Photo courtesy of Rhode Island College Athletics]

Nardolillo had a goal of committing to a school before Thanksgiving of her senior year. That’s what she did. “I like hopping on the train early,” she said. “I don’t like doing things at the last minute. I know people that have waited until April, May and I stress about things too much. I couldn’t wait. I got that out of the way.”

That allowed her to focus on her senior year in high school. She played three sports, leading the Pacer hoopsters to the D-IV state crown and earning her third first-team all-state selection. She was also all-state in soccer and softball.

Now it was on to college. Nardolillo did not envision starting. She figured maybe a role as the sixth or seventh player. There was a four-year starter at center, and she was convinced she wasn’t going to take that spot.

That senior was Willcia McBorrough, a former LEC Rookie of the Year. Cosgrove told the senior, ‘we’ve got a freshman kid coming in that’s going to swipe your spot if you don’t get in shape’ – and she did.”

Nardolillo remembers working hard and receiving help from McBorrough. “She was one of my role models that I looked up to and still do. She was a lot bigger than me. She was stronger than me. She really helped me in practice to get stronger and gain confidence.”

Cosgrove recalls Nardolillo being hesitant to take that starting position. But after four or five games, the coach was insistent: “All right, Ang, let’s go.”

All she did was earn the conference’s rookie of the year award. “She’s been an impactful piece since Day 1,” Cosgrove said. “And now she’s a co-captain as a junior on the best team we’ve ever had. She’s an incredible kid.”

McBurrough was a huge support system over the entire season, constantly reminding Nardolillo that she deserved to be starting. “She showed every bit of love to me,” Nardolillo said. “I showed it back to her.”

There were times that Nardolillo went to McBurrough in tears because she felt bad that she was ruining her teammate’s senior season. “She looked at me – ‘You should never say that,’” Nardolillo recalled being told. “‘You’ve worked so hard to get to this point. You deserve every accolade that you have. It’s your turn to be dominant.’”

RIC won the Little East title to advance to the national tournament in Amherst, Mass. There they fell to St. John Fisher, 55-52, in the first round. “It was heartbreaking that we lost,” Nardolillo said. “I think we could have definitely won. But we needed that to fuel us for last year’s run.”

She felt she could have played better. She was up against a senior center who had more experience. “In that moment she was more prepared than I was,” Nardolillo said. “It wasn’t my best performance, but I wasn’t a mess.”

That set the stage for last year when the Anchorwomen enjoyed the finest season in program history. Although unranked, they went on to fashion a school-record mark of 28-4 in advancing to the final four. They beat four teams, including three nationally ranked squads, to get to the round of four. Those wins came against Rowan, 67-59; No. 7 and previously unbeaten Scranton, 62-55; No. 12 Chicago, 64-56, and No. 9 Babson, 60-47. In the national semifinal, RIC fell to No. 2 Christopher Newport, 56-51. The Anchorwomen were ranked fifth in the final national poll.

Nardolillo had a great tournament, scoring 62 points and pulling down 29 rebounds in five games. She was the team’s leading scorer in three games: Scranton (14 points), Chicago (17) and Newport (13). She was named to the five-player Women’s Basketball Championship All-Tournament Team, composed of players from the final four.

In their four wins, the Anchorwomen used second-half rallies to claim victory. The biggest comeback was against Scranton in which RIC was down 43-39 heading into the fourth quarter. They used a 23-12 burst in the fourth to pull off the victory.

“The final four loss was upsetting,” Nardolillo said. “We were there and we knew we went cold for five minutes. And really that’s all it takes – a lapse. That’s what we learned last year.” Indeed, RIC led Newport, 43-38, after three quarters, but that cold spell allowed Newport to go on an 18-8 run in the fourth to pull out the win.

Now this veteran team – five fifth-year players on the roster – sets their sights on another deep postseason run. “This year’s team chemistry and culture is even deeper than last year,” Nardolillo said. “I say this all the time – I just play with a bunch of dogs that love to play basketball. That’s really what it is.”

Cosgrove loves what she sees in Nardolillo. “Offensively, she’s a force down low,” the coach said. “I only think she’s going to get better and better in her final year. She’s gotten in better shape. She’s strong, but she’s got a lot of different moves under the basket.”

Nardolillo has plenty of versatility for a post player. She has inside moves, can step out and shoot and can drive to the basket. She can handle the ball and runs the floor very well.

On defense, it was a struggle at first learning RIC’s system. “I told her she is the backbone of our system,” Cosgrove said. “You’ve got to protect the paint. She’s done an incredible job with that over the last couple years, but this year the most. She has to guard some of the best post players in Division III. She’s done it all year. We haven’t lost a game.”

The Anchorwomen have a deep, experienced team with a bevy of scoring options and the ability to play shutdown man-to-man defense. “Practices are competitive and the bench is deep,” coach Cosgrove said. “We make the practices harder so the games seem easier.”

Last year, RIC went into the tournament with the goal to win a first-round tournament game. “Everything was kind of a wow surprise factor,” Cosgrove said. “We deserved to be there, but we never had the recognition. We were never ranked (until the season was over).”

This year, RIC returns its core. “We’re returning Ang and our whole starting five minus one kid,” the coach said. “We brought in two kids that make us deeper than we were last year. I know we have the depth to carry us further. Obviously our destiny awaits.”

If all goes according to plan, Angelina Nardolillo and her “dogs” could well be howling from the championship podium on March 16 in Columbus, Ohio.

***

Quite a few N.H. players are participating in the NCAA D-III tournament for men and women. Let’s start with the women. All first-round games will be played Friday

You know all about Angelina Nardolillo. She has an N.H. teammate in Deerfield sophomore guard Elli Cox, a graduate of Concord HS. She has played in 19 games for RIC.

RIC’s opponent is St. Joseph’s College (Maine), champions of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference. The Monks have two local players in Brookline sophomore guard Elisabeth Stapelfield (Hollis-Brookline HS) and Keene freshman guard Cadence Gilbert. Stapelfield has played in all 28 games for St. Joe’s, averaging 9.8 ppg. Gilbert has appeared in 10 games. In the GNAC championship win over St. Joseph’s (Conn.), 85-72, Stapelfield had 16 points and six boards.

Smith College (25-3), champions of the NEWMAC, will host a four-team pod. They meet Maine Maritime at 7 p.m. Laconia senior guard Amelia Clermont has played in 17 games for Smith with nine starts and is averaging 6.2 ppg. Shenandoah and Messiah play the early game at 4:30 p.m.

Trinity College (Conn.) is playing in the New Paltz, N.Y., pod. They open action vs. Baldwin Wallace at 5 p.m. Two N.H. players are on the roster – Merrimack sophomore guard Theresa Twardosky (14 games) and Hanover sophomore Melissa Whitmore (11 games). Trinity lost in the NESCAC semis to Bates, 74-68.

Litchfield’s Jaelyn Lavigne, a 5-10 senior guard, will see action for UMass Dartmouth (23-4) against New Jersey City University Friday at 4 p.m. at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Lavigne played in all 25 Corsairs’ games, averaging 3.3 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.

Western New England University (22-5) won the Commonwealth Coast Conference championship to earn its bid to the tournament. The Golden Bears play at 6:30 p.m., at Bowdoin College vs. the Polar Bears. They have three N.H. players on the roster: Londonderry senior guard Colleen Furlong (27 games, 100 assists), junior guard Abby Marasco (Pinkerton) and graduate student Lindsey Carey(ConVal).

On the men’s side, St. Joseph’s (Conn.) will play Geneva at 5 p.m. at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Va. Portsmouth junior guard Kevin Cummings (28 games, 7.4 ppg) is playing for the Blue Jays (24-4). St. Joe’s won the GNAC title with a 78-59 win over Maine’s St. Joe’s. Cummings had 16 points and four steals vs. the Monks.

Former Spaulding High School star Cal Connelly is a first-year assistant coach with the Roger Williams University men’s squad. RWU (14-14) won the Commonwealth Coast Conference playoff title as the No. 5 seed, beating in order, No. 4 Wentworth, No. 1 Nichols and No. 6 Suffolk to punch their berth in the national tournament. The Hawks will meet host Widener (23-4) at 7:40 p.m. in Chester, Pa. Connelly played his college ball at D-II Assumption University.

Keene State College is the lone Granite State team in the tournament. The Owls (24-3) won the Little East Conference championship to earn their place in the tournament and are one of the 16 host schools this weekend. Friday they entertain Marymount (Va.) at Spaulding Gymnasium, 6:15 p.m. The College of New Jersey plays Eastern in the first game at 3:45 p.m. Sophomore forward Liam Johnston of Keene has played in 16 games as the lone N.H. player on the squad.

***

The Yankee Small College Conference (YSCC) tournament will wrap up this weekend with the semifinal and championship games. Two N.H. squads will play each other in the men’s semifinal Saturday at NHTI in Concord. No. 4 Great Bay CC (18-7) will meet host and top-seeded NHTI (18-4) at 2 p.m. The winner will advance to Sunday’s championship against the winner of the 12 p.m. game between Central Maine CC and Southern Maine CC. The tournament winner will gain an automatic bid to the 10-team USCAA Division II national tournament in Richmond, Va., March 10 to 13.

The YSCC will likely have a second team gain an at-large bid and possibly a third team. In the most recent D-II national poll, NHTI is ranked fourth, SMCC fifth and Great Bay 10th. Last year, Great Bay made the tournament as the 10th and final team, winning two games before losing in the national semifinal. NHTI and SMCC also made the tournament, but lost first-round games. The selection show is Monday.

The Herons are led by a trio of seniors in Dover’s Kinglsey Breen, Theo Wolfe and Bryce Gibson. Breen is averaging 19.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game; Wolfe’s numbers are as follows: 18.9 ppg, 11.2 rpg and 4.6 apg; Gibson is averaging 13.5 ppg and 4.2 rpg. Sophomore Mpore Semuhoza has been a pleasant surprise as a first-year player, averaging 11.9 ppg and 5.5 rpg.

NHTI is led by senior guard Joseph Cantey, who is averaging 18.3 ppg and 5.9 apg. Also averaging in double figures are Dashan King (15.2), Rahsheen Caulk Jr. (14.9), Terrian Wester (14.0 ppg, 14.9 rpg) and Dontavious Elder (12.1).

Two N.H. players are on SMCC’s men’s team: Hudson sophomores Liam O’Neill and Ben Mullett.

The No. 3 SMCC women’s team (20-7) is playing in the semis Saturday vs. No. 2 UMaine Augusta at 4:45 p.m. There are several N.H. players on both teams. Rochester freshman Jenna Philbrook has played in 24 games and is averaging 7.7 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.4 per game for the Seawolves. Former Kennett standout Mariah Parker has played in 14 games. For 20-5 UMA, former Spaulding HS star Jade Trueman is on the roster. Trueman was a teammate of Philbrook’s at Spaulding.

Welcome to the club: Profile’s Robie hits 2K mark in playoffs

By Mike Whaley

Honestly, the first thing that Josh Robie felt when he reached the 2,000-point milestone on Thursday night in a 58-33 win over Portsmouth Christian Academy in the Division IV boys basketball quarterfinals was, well, happy to get it out of the way.

The Profile senior guard moved past the 2K plateau with a left-handed layup in the fourth quarter of the playoff win, scoring 21 points. That, along with 22 points from junior Cayden Wakeham, helped the unbeaten No. 1 Patriots (20-0) reach the D-IV semis set for Monday night at Bedford HS (7:30 p.m.) against No. 4 Farmington (17-3). No. 2 Littleton and No. 6 Woodsville, the defending champion, play in the earlier semi at 5:30 p.m.

“It’s honestly a relief to get it over with,” Robie said. “Going into the final four it’s going to be a huge game, so it’s nice to get it over with. I can just focus on winning games.”

Robie is the first NH player to reach that milestone since Mascoma Valley’s current girls’ coach, Tonya Young, capped her career with the Royals in 2007, ending with 2,112 points. He is the first boy to hit the mark going back 25 years when former Concord HS and NBA star Matt Bonner and Kearsarge’s Steve Lavolpicelo did so in 1999.  Robie is the 12th NH boy to hit the milestone and the 17th player overall to join the elite club. He is also the first player from the state’s North Country to reach 2,000.

Courtesy: Chris Laclair, Chris Clicks Photography

“It’s great to have that done before we get to the final four,” said coach Mitchell Roy. “PCA is a great defensive team. They probably guarded as well if not better than anybody else. I’m like ‘he’s 16 away, that’s going to get it.’ But 16 is not 4 or 2.” That said, there was some drama as Robie didn’t reach the mark until the fourth quarter.

It was a different situation for Robie scoring 2,000 than 1,000. When he hit the 1K mark at the Farmingron holiday tournament in 2022, he didn’t know how close he was, so he felt there was no pressure on him. That was not the case Thursday. He knew he was 16 points away from 2,000 coming into the game. “You can say ‘don’t think about it.’” he said. “But it’s hard not to think about it.”

As Robie recalled, a lot of his points came from the free throw line. “It was a weird night,” he said. The milestone hoop came with 5:52 to play in the fourth quarter. Jackson Clough rebounded a missed PCA shot and pitched it quickly out to Robie at halfcourt on the left. He drove in for the lefty layup for his 16th and 17th point of the night and the 2,000th and 2,001st of his career. “It was a sigh of relief,” the 6-foot senior said. He has 2,005 points going into Monday, tied with Fall Mountain’s Jayson Waysville (1994).

Courtesy: Chris Laclair, Chris Clicks Photography

Some NH 2,000-pointers offered their congratulations through video messaging to Ball 603, including unofficial club chairman, Keith Friel, who played at Oyster River HS and later at Notre Dame and Virginia. “Congratulations on all the years of sacrifice by you, your family, coaches, teammates, and lastly your community. Good luck in the playoffs and keep it going.”

“It hasn’t been accomplished (by a boy) since the profile of the Old Man of the Mountain was still standing 25 years ago,” said Bonner, who scored 2,459 points at Concord HS, played in college at the University of Florida, and in the NBA with the Toronto Raptors and San Antonio Spurs. “I know first hand how hard it is to do that with eight minute quarters and no shot clock. So congratulations Josh and best of luck for whatever life has in store for you, and live free or die.”

“Congratulations on this great accomplishment and great feat that not a lot of people have done,” said Young, the last NH hoopster to hit 2K 17 years ago. She later played at the University of Vermont. “Enjoy it. It’s so good in the moment and good luck in the future.”

David Burrows is the all-time state scoring leader with 2,845 points. “I too played for a D-IV school and I’m pretty confident that your fans and teammates are really enjoying this. You should enjoy it as well,” said Burrows, who graduated from Nute High School in 1990, leading the Rams to the Class S/D-IV title that year. He also scored in excess of 1,000 points at Bryant University. “Congratulations again. Good luck in the tournament and welcome to the club. Shooters shoot.”

Courtesy: Chris Laclair, Chris Clicks Photography

Robie has played for the Patriots since he was in eighth grade, something that only D-IV players are allowed to do. He scored right around 120 points that year, but played just 10 games his freshman year. The lion’s share of his points have come over the last three seasons. “When he got a thousand, you kind of knew he could get it,” said Roy. “But we’ve been very fortunate to be healthy. … It’s crazy to think that he has 2,000 and Alex Leslie is going to finish right around 1,500. That’s a lot when you see that in one class of kids. While we have almost 3,500 points in scoring between those two guys, neither of them led us in scoring last night in our quarterfinal win.”

While Profile counts on Robie to score, that has shifted as he’s gotten older and more of his teammates have grown into scoring roles. “I’ve been trying to find the right balance in winning games, which is our No. 1 priority, and trying to play at the right pace for myself,” Robie said. “I’m just trying to do what’s best for the team. My 2,000 points, that comes after winning games.”

“If you look at games when I was younger, I was probably forcing it more than I should have,” Robie said. “This year, I’m letting it come to me a lot more. My team finds me when I’m open. They give me confidence. Coaches give me confidence. The work that I put in, my teammates just believe in me out there.”

Courtesy: Chris Laclair, Chris Clicks Photography

Robie led D-IV in scoring, averaging right around 26 points per game, but it could have been a lot more. “I’ve held him back significantly,” coach Roy said. “We used to just say go, go, go. We weren’t as good, so I was kind of letting him do whatever he wanted because we were a young team and I was trying to help him gain his confidence. It’s tough, but he could score way more than I’m letting him. … He knows for him to get more open, and shots that we need now that are good shots for us, he needs his teammates to show up.”

That scoring balance is readily apparent. Leslie is averaging 20 points as the team’s No. 2 scorer, but it doesn’t stop there. Wakeham is right around 14 ppg and Robie’s brother, Karsen, is averaging a shade under 9 ppg. It also helps that the key players are now juniors and seniors. “We have a lot of weapons,” Roy said. “It forces them to get out of their box-and-one, get out of their zone or their triangle-and-two. It’s great because we can then play against man to man and Josh can really show off what he does as a player. It allows him to be more free because those other guys are huge pieces. It’s a lot more fun than having Josh score 30 instead of 40 now. I think they would all agree.”

Robie concurs. “I think as a team it’s gotten a lot better,” he said. “Last I remember in the playoffs in our loss to Woodsville we were basically going through me and Alex. We had a lot of other players who really weren’t doing a whole lot. Then you look at this year, when we played Woodsville, you get the ball to Karsen, it’s almost an automatic 3 every time. You have Cayden who can get by his defender and you have Riley (Plante) and Jackson (Clough) who are out there and clean up on the boards. It’s a big step forward. Those guys add a lot out there.”

Courtesy: Chris Laclair, Chris Clicks Photography

Roy, like Robie, is glad the milestone is out of the way. “It has been a distraction in a way,” Roy said. “It’s probably distracted me more than it distracted Josh. I have to make the decision when we’re up a good amount in a game, should I play him and risk his health out there or should I hold him back and avoid him from getting this milestone. I’ve got a lot of negativity from people; even this year. Our first-round game, there were comments online that we were still shooting, up 40 points (they beat Epping, 79-21, and Robie scored 34). They don’t understand, it’s the tournament. Some people think we take it too seriously. I think you’ve got to be really focused to be competitive. We’re going to keep that focus as we play a great Farmington team.”

“Aside from the shooting prowess, which is obviously pretty special, I’m really impressed with his focus,” said Farmington coach Adam Thurston. “I don’t think I’ve seen the kid smile in three years; just the way he carries himself on the court and developed his overall game. The fact that you have to account for him every single second of every single possession. I don’t think we’ve really had a player in the division since we’ve been in D-IV that’s garnered that much attention.”

Josh Robie will have Farmington’s full attention Monday night as Profile looks to advance to the championship for the first time in 20 years when the Patriots won the program’s only title in 2004.


2K TIDBITS: Three schools have two 2K scorers – Epping’s Kerry Bascom and Ryan Gatchell; Nute’s Julie Donlon and David Burrows, and Kearsarge’s Tom Brayshaw and Steve Lavolpicelo.

Two players scored their 2,000th point in a state championship game. Fall Mountain’s Jayson Waysville did it in his final high school game in the 1994 Class M final, a 67-55 win over Inter-Lakes. Burrows actually hit 2,000 in the last game of his junior year, a 58-39 loss to Epping in the Class S championship. Burrows scored 30 of his team’s 39 points. He did come back as a senior to lead the Rams to the state title, beating Wilton-Lyndeborough for the crown, 56-45. He scored 149 points in four playoff games, a state record across all divisions that still stands.

Here is a list of 2K players to play on a state championship team or teams and the year(s) they did it: Burrows, Nute (1990), Karen Wood, Henniker (1981, 1982, 1983, 1984); Gatchell, Epping (1989, 1991, 1992); Matt Alosa, Pembroke (1991); Bonner, Concord (1997, 1998, 1999); Kerry Bascom, Epping (1985); Scott Drapeau, Merrimack Valley (1989, 1990); Friel, Oyster River (1995, 1996); Young, Mascoma (2004), and Waysville, Fall Mountain (1994).

Many of the Division IV/Class S players like Robie played as eighth graders, the only division where it is possible to play on the varsity before high school.


Watch as Granite State legends welcome Josh Robie to the 2,000-point club…

Sudden Impact: Rautiola’s freshman presence sparked Keene State women

By: Mike Whaley

Was it a surprise that freshman Brynn Rautiola led the Little East Conference in scoring and 3-pointers? Sure, maybe a little bit. But the former Conant High School star set the bar high for herself. She intended to be an impact player coming in for the Keene State College women’s basketball team. Mission accomplished.

Rautiola led the LEC in scoring (19.6 ppg) and 3-pointers made per game (2.7), was second in minutes played (34.9 mpg) behind sophomore teammate Val Luizzi (35.3), and was also among the leaders in 3-point field goal percentage (fifth), free throw percentage (third) and steals (eighth). She was a seven-time LEC Rookie of the Week.

Her presence was vital during a challenging season for the Owls, who went 11-14 overall and were ousted from the LEC tournament quarterfinals on Tuesday at Eastern Connecticut, 43-38. They played the latter half of the season, mostly due to injuries, with a limited roster of seven after starting the year with 19 players.

Freshman Brynn Rautiola successfully made the jump from Conant High School to Keene State College as the Owls’ starting point guard. [photo courtesy of Keene State College Athletics]

“The goal was to be in the starting lineup and make an impact right away,” Rautiola said. “That was my expectation of myself to make an impact anyway I can. And to just have the mindset that it doesn’t matter if I’m a freshman or not, I can come here and make an impact from Day 1.”

That she was the league’s top scorer was not expected. “I just honestly wanted to be a solid point guard,” Rautiola said. “It wasn’t going to matter to me how I impacted the game, I just wanted to help my team to win. I have been consistent with putting up numbers.”

Her scoring came from being aggressive from the get-go. “From Day 1, the coaches have pretty much told me that the team needs me to be confident,” she said. “I remember in a preseason practice they pulled me aside because I was hesitant and not really looking to get my own (points). They told me that this team needs me to be confident and scoring the ball is pretty much what helped.”

That the message was received was evident in early-season wins over Colby-Sawyer College and VTSU-Johnson in which Rautiola scored 27 and 24 points, respectively. 

Coach Keith Boucher had an inkling Rautiola would be an effective player even before she stepped on the floor for KSC. He’d seen her since she was a freshman at Conant, where she scored over 1,000 points and led the Orioles to four Division III state championship appearances and two state titles. As a senior she was the D-III Player of the Year.

Boucher could tell even when she was a high school freshman that Rautiola could compete. “It was very obvious,” he said. “She had that competitive spirit. She was pretty skilled at that time.”

Boucher was able to follow her closely through high school. Not only by watching her high school games, but also when she attended KSC’s summer hoop camp. There he saw the full player revealed when she would come in every morning to work on her shooting with her Conant coach Brian Troy, a Keene native and Boucher family friend, who coached with Boucher for a year at KSC

Keene State College freshman Brynn Rautiola was named Little East Conference Rookie of the Week seven times. [photo courtesy of Keene State College Athletics]

“Every kid says they want to get better,” said Boucher, now in his 34th season as head coach. “But ‘want’ is only the beginning. The real measure of whether you’re going to get better or not is if you’re willing to put in the time and effort. Brynn does. She’s a gym rat. She has the desire to get better.”

Although her college choices came down to Keene and Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., the pick was pretty easy. Keene had three advantages Wheaton didn’t have. It was close to her home in Rindge so her family could easily come see her play. She really liked the campus, and KSC had the major she wanted to pursue — exercise science – which Wheaton did not have.

Rautiola’s transition from high school to the college game was relatively seamless. She did say that the pace was certainly much faster and that was a challenge. “That was a big adjustment. In high school you can kind of get away with a lot of things. In college everyone can play. You’ve got to be prepared and have a counter for everything.”

Boucher feels there are several things that Rautiola can do to be an even stronger player next season. One is to put on weight to add to her strength and the other is to be a more vocal leader. “”She’s about as big around as a No. 2 pencil,” the coach said. “She’s got an athletic basketball body. I was joking with her the other day, ‘you’ve got to put on 10 pounds between now and next year.’”

Rautiola agrees she needs to get stronger because she did feel herself getting worn down late in the season. But she doesn’t want to put on any extra weight because she believes it will affect her speed and quickness. Boucher doesn’t think so. “For the women, it’s a much more physical game at the collegiate level,” he said. “I think that will help in the long run because she’s a marked player right now. She’s our starting point guard and every team is trying to take her out mentally and physically.”

In a recent game with UMass-Dartmouth, the No. 20 team in the country (Women’s Basketball Coaches Association poll), they pressed Rautiola full court. “Everybody’s doing it,” Boucher said. “They match up full court and make it difficult for her to catch the ball. Then when she catches, she has to bring the ball up the floor and try to get us into our offense.”

Keene State College freshman Brynn Rautiola led the Little East Conference in scoring and 3-point shooting. [photo courtesy of Keene State College Athletics]

As for being more vocal on the floor, Rautiola said, “Sometimes I was a little timid coming in as a freshman trying to step up as a leader. I definitely think in the upcoming years I can develop into more of a vocal leader. I know that’s what my team needs from me. That’s definitely an area I will improve on.”

 She also mentioned she’d like to have more creative finishing options. “I want to have a counter for everything, whatever defense they throw at me,” she said. “I want to have a counter for everything they do.”

One more thing Boucher would like to see his point guard do is go to her right more often.  “She’s one of the most left-handed right-handed players I know,” he said. “She’s great going to her left and she’s right handed. We’d like to see her go to her right a little bit more. She doesn’t use that side of the floor as much as she should in a game.”

Rautiola eventually popped up on the LEC’s radar as the season unfolded and her name was at the top of the scoring leaders. “Some teams they face guard, they do a box and one,” she said. “I’m just trying to find ways to make an impact. It didn’t have to do with scoring. Whether that’s making a play on defense, creating an opportunity for my teammates to get open. I think that was really big. I think just not getting frustrated with what the defense threw at me. I think just staying level headed. Trying to just be aggressive and doing what I can.”

Being a scoring point guard put Keene into a Catch 22 situation at times because, as Boucher noted, Rautiola would figure she had to force the issue on offense. “I think as she grows that will become less and less,” he said. “Plus when we have more options. We have another guard (Luizzi) who is having an outstanding season. They play well together.”

Keene certainly had one of the conference’s best backcourts with Rautiola and Luizzi, who averaged 13.0 ppg (8th in LEC) and was also among the conference leaders in assists, and 3-point and foul shooting. Rautiola as a point guard is a dual threat. She can bury the 3-pointer and also slash to the basket where, if you foul her, she is money from the line (127-148, 86 percent).

Keene State College freshman Brynn Rautiola led the Little East Conference in scoring and 3-point shooting. [photo courtesy of Keene State College Athletics]

The biggest challenge for Rautiola and, indeed, for Keene, was playing a good portion of its season with a small roster. Several players left right at the beginning of the season because it wasn’t for them, and then there have been a series of injuries, including four season-ending surgeries. “We’ve had every injury you could imagine,” said coach Boucher. “We should have had 15 healthy bodies, but now we have seven.”

Which is why when you look at the LEC leaders in minutes played you see Luizzi and Rautiola perched at the top of the list. It is something Rautiola has embraced. “I think I was ready for it. I knew coming into the season that they needed a point guard,” she said. “I knew most likely that I was going to be getting heavy minutes. That’s what I wanted.”

But it hasn’t been easy. “Some days we’d come into practice with only six girls. That alone is tough,” Rautiola said. “But it’s just a next man up mentality. We kind of just pick each other up. We’re mentally tough enough to get through it. We stayed resilient all year long. No matter how many numbers we had, it never weighed us down. We had to be mentally tough.”

“It’s out of necessity,” Boucher said. “It’s not that we want that. Their resilience and perseverance has been tremendous through the whole thing.”

When Boucher looks at Rautiola because of all the minutes she played, he sees her as a sophomore not a freshman. When she comes in next year, “I’ll look at her as a junior with all the minutes she’s played,” he said. “That will put some more pressure on her. She’ll handle it. I think she thrives on it.”

When Boucher does take Rautiola out for the rare blow here and there because she needs it, he knows she doesn’t want to come off the floor. “I love that,” he said. “All players aren’t like that.”