Tag: Oyster River

Mike Whaley’s 2025 All-Tournament Teams announced

For the fourth-straight season, our Mike Whaley has selected All-Tournament Teams from all eight divisions of NHIAA postseason play. These All-Tourney squads are chosen from final four participants in each division.

Congratulations to all on a great postseason run…

DIVISION I BOYS ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Logan O’Connell, Bedford
Connor O’Rourke, Bedford
Javon Massiah, Keene
Kasen Abbott, Keene
Derek Swartz, Portsmouth
Nate McNeff, Exeter

DIVISION I GIRLS ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Kate Allard, Bedford
Mel McCarthy, Bedford
Sammie Sullivan, Londonderry
Brooke Eacrett, Londonderry
Rileigh Finneran, Windham
Emma Smith, Concord Christian

DIVISION II BOYS ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Evan Berkeley, Pembroke
Andrew Fitzgerald, Pembroke
Chase Frizzell, Sanborn
Dylan Rego, Sanborn
Matthew Jernigan, Oyster River
Brady Hegan, Pelham

DIVISION II GIRLS ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Alexa Bausha, Milford
Avery Fuller, Milford
Vivian O’Quinn, Oyster River
Olivia Andersen, Oyster River
Macy Swormstedt, Laconia
Anna Fazelat, Derryfield

DIVISION III BOYS ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Keegan Martinez, Belmont
Treshawn Ray, Belmont
Eli Whipple, Kearsarge
Austin Needham, Kearsarge
Cole McClure, Saint Thomas Aquinas
Tanner Moulton, Mascoma

DIVISION III GIRLS ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Emma Toriello, Saint Thomas Aquinas
Genna Bolduc, Saint Thomas Aquinas
Emilie von der Linden, Saint Thomas Aquinas
Clara Stewart, Fall Mountain
Abby Jarvis, Fall Mountain
Bailee Soucia, Monadnock

DIVISION IV BOYS ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Ryan Walker, Woodsville
Landon Kingsbury, Woodsville
Sam Reagey, Littleton
Connor Roy, Littleton
Isaac Langlois, Gorham
Luke Farland, Concord Christian

DIVISION IV GIRLS ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Delaney Whiting, Groveton
Mylee Kenison, Groveton
Addison Pilgrim, Littleton
Leah Poulton, Littleton
Amaya Beckles, Newmarket
Ryenn Pedone, Holy Family

The best at both worlds: Nichols successfully navigated coaching both genders

By Mike Whaley

(This is the last in a series on the 2022 and 2024 inductees into the New Hampshire Basketball Coaches Organization’s Hall of Fame.)

Even in his 70s, Dave Nichols’ passion for coaching basketball remains as vibrant as ever. It has never waned. When he was a young man, Dave got ahead of himself, focusing on his passion while forsaking college until he realized he needed the latter to move forward at the former. Plus, one needs to make a living.

Dave coached multiple stints at Oyster River High School on both sides of the gender aisle for 24 years and over 40 years in total counting his time in Milford and Hanover as an assistant or sub varsity coach. He was the first, and still only, New Hampshire coach to guide both genders to a state championship – one in boys (1988) and three in girls (2003, 2006, 2009). He was an assistant coach with four other state champions. Dave was one of seven coaches inducted into the NHBCO Hall of Fame last November in Concord.

“I remember thinking, heading into Dave’s program, we were winners,” said Jill Friel, who played for the Bobcats from 2005 to 2009. “I wanted to be part of that.” She was a key member of two championship teams coached by Dave.

Hanover’s Dan O’Rourke has coached with and against Dave for over 20 years. “He had similar approaches to basketball as I had,” said O’Rourke when introducing Dave at the Hall of Fame. “It’s hard to read Dave sometimes. He has a poker face. I knew that his teams got better year by year and during the season. While we were heavily favored (in the 2005 championship game), I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, and sure enough it was tied (going) into the fourth (quarter).” Hanover pulled out a 49-38 win.

Dave was never a predictable opponent. The opposition could never be sure what he had up his sleeve coming into a season. “You always coach to the talent that you have,” he said. “That dictates whether you’re going to be a running team or a set-up team or pressing team, zone team or a man-to-man team.” Some coaches have a set style and they stick to it. Not Dave. He wanted to see what he had for talent and then adapt to the strengths of that talent. Dave predictably made the most of the players he had.

In just his second year as head coach in 1980-81, Dave Nichols guided the Oyster River boys to the Class I championship game – an overtime loss to Timberlane. [Courtesy photo]

Dave grew up in Milford, played basketball for Milford High School where he graduated from in 1969. He did not take a conventional path into coaching.

After spending a year at a Kansas college, he returned to Milford and started dating a cheerleader at Milford HS, who later became his wife. He also started helping out with the basketball program. He decided not to go back to college. “I spent more time coaching basketball and arranging my schedule for basketball than I did arranging my education,” he said. “I would go to practice. I would scout. At away games, I did the scorebook.”

Dave went back to the Kansas college at the start of the 1971 school year. When he came home for the Christmas break, he noticed that Milford had a really good team. “I talked myself into not going back for the second semester,” he said. Milford was indeed good. The Spartans were a Class I school, but for just that season, they went up to Class L. They beat preseason favorite Manchester Central twice that winter – at a holiday tournament and for the Class L title. Milford won another title in 1975 in Class I.

By then Dave was on board as a freshman coach for a couple years and then the JV coach for several seasons. Still, a career path was on hold. Debbie, that cheerleader, was now his wife. They were both commuting to Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts to complete their education, graduating in 1979.

With a degree and coaching experience in hand, Dave began applying for jobs as a math teacher, while Debbie was looking to get a job as a first-grade teacher. “I was getting job interviews, but she wasn’t,” he recalled.

Dave Nichols is the only New Hampshire coach to have led a boys team and a girls team to a state basketball championship. [Foster’s Daily Democrat photo]

Dave interviewed in New Hampshire at Salem, Milford and Oyster River, as well as Biddeford, Maine. He had other opportunities to interview in Massachusetts and Vermont, but the feeling was they wanted to be in Maine or N.H. He decided to take the Oyster River job, which was to teach math and coach JV boys basketball. That changed pretty quickly.

It wasn’t even the first day of school when Dave was talking to Athletic Director Sam Clark in his office. In walks the current head coach, Dick Colprit, who Dave was introduced to. “He looks at me and Sam and says ‘You might as well be the varsity coach, I’m all done.’”

Dave said the main reason for Colprit’s resignation was that he felt Oyster River could not compete in Class I, which is where they were moving up to after a successful run in Class M.

Dave was taken aback. “I’m thinking there’s a 6-7 kid named Pat Galvin that I’d already met and several players that I had been told about,” he said. Clark told the principal about Colprit’s decision. He said they would sit on that for several days and think about it. A few days turned into a week, but the end result was that Dave was offered the varsity job.

Dave was hoping to be a head coach eventually, so he was ready in that regard. Had he stayed in Milford, the head job would eventually have been his. “I kind of wanted to get away from Milford,” he said. “I thought it would be good to get away for a while. I’m going to go to Oyster River for five years, which turns into 35 and then five more as a sub.”

As a first-year head coach, Dave was not intimidated at all by Class I. “That’s what I was familiar with,” he said. Dave had seen some of the kids play at a local youth center and been impressed with what he saw. “Geesh, we’ve got some players here,” he told himself. “Two years later, we’re in a championship game.”

In 2009, Dave Nichols coached the Oyster River girls to the Class I title with a 39-33 win over Hanover. [Foster’s Daily Democrat photo]

A big challenge facing Dave was that Oyster River had no feeder program. There were intramurals at the middle school level that picked all-stars at the end of the season to play several area schools. “At first, in the offseason, we scheduled something for Sunday nights and it kind of grew over the years,” he said. “Eventually we started camps and set up a whole summer schedule. That evolved. It had to be a consistent program at that level. I knew the coaches in Class I were pretty much having year-round programs and summer programs.”

Dave’s instincts were right about his early teams. His first year (1979-80), they made the Class I tournament, won a first-round game before losing in the quarterfinals to Lebanon, the eventual champion. The following year, the Bobcats made it all the way to the championship game before losing into overtime to Timberlane.

Dave had a big team with the 6-7 Galvin, two 6-4 forwards and a 6-3 guard. Their weakness was the lack of a solid point guard. Although a believer in man-to-man defense as something you always needed to have, with this team he focused on using their size and length with a 1-3-1 zone.

Timberlane coach Bucky Tardif told Dave this about that 1-3-1. “He mentioned he had to have an extra day of practice to go against Oyster River to get ready for that damn 1-3-1 defense.” Over the years, other coaches have said the same thing that they needed several days to prepare for Dave’s teams.

Matt Whaley was a 6-3 guard on Dave’s first two teams. “He did a pretty good job. He didn’t know anybody or the community,” Matt said. “It was a step up for us, for sure. He was a much harder worker (than previous coaches). He had a lot of ideas with offense. Defensively he did things.”

Matt respected Dave’s honesty. He was telling him what he needed to hear, not what he wanted to hear. “He told me I wasn’t a great ball handler. ‘You can score and rebound and do a lot of other things well.’ He was truthful.”

Dave Nichols gives his NHBCO Hall of Fame induction speech.

One thing Dave learned early on was that if you knew you had a good tournament team, you coached that team for the tournament all year long. “You just don’t do that the last couple days before the tournament,” he said. “You prepare them all year with your philosophy. I learned that myself.”

With his first teams, they would extend the 1-3-1 with a lot of traps and stuff. It still wasn’t ideal on a big court like the one at UNH. “But what could you do? You’ve got to coach what you have.”

After the success in ‘80-81, the program was down for a bit, operating with kids who were primarily soccer players and trying to get them to play basketball. Eventually a group led by John Freiermuth surfaced in 1985. The core was very good, but “unfortunately the expectations were higher than what the reality was,” Dave said. “You don’t win a championship with freshmen.”

But things did get better. A couple of those freshmen made varsity. The next year, Pat Casey came along, the linchpin as a point guard, even though at the time he was a “small forward.” Dave saw his potential as a point guard. Casey had good leadership qualities. He could handle the ball and pass, he could defend, he was tough, and as an added bonus, he could score. “He was determined enough,” Dave said. “We didn’t have one and I decided he was going to be one. His father was delighted. He saw the same thing I did.”

You could make the argument with little pushback that Casey was the greatest point guard to ever play for Oyster River. He scored over 1,000 points, and then went on to have a very good career at Middlebury College. “He was more concerned with defense, dishing out assists and running the game,” Dave said. But obviously he could score when needed, which added to his value at that position.

Dave said they slowly improved. They’d make the tournament and get knocked out in the first round. “The kids were fine,” Dave said. “They could see that we were progressing and getting better. We were playing a really good schedule. We got better and better every year.”

The summer before the 1988 championship, Dave coached an AAU team with Farmington’s Mike Lee and Winnacunnet’s Jack Ford. Casey and Freiermuth were on the team, which was made up mostly of players from Class L. The other Class I player was Lebanon’s Mike Joslin.

Dave Nichols gives his NHBCO Hall of Fame induction speech.

The three Class I guys hung around a lot together. Dave remembered they were playing in the AAU nationals in Arkansas. He was driving them from one gym to another. “At one point, Mike was bragging about how Lebanon was going to be state champs. Pat and John were giving it right back,” Dave said.

Finally, Dave chimed in, telling them what was going to happen. “Lebanon is going to go undefeated because they play a soft schedule,” he said. “They are going to go to the finals and when they play, hopefully us, we are going to knock them down. We’re going to play a really tough schedule like Merrimack Valley and Pembroke and Goffstown. We’ll all play each other and have 2-3 losses.” Winter comes and all that comes true. Lebanon goes undefeated. Oyster River made it past Merrimack Valley in the semis to meet Lebanon in the final.

Dave recalls that Lebanon had six limousines parked in front of UNH to take them back home after the championship to celebrate. “They can go home,” Dave offered. “I don’t know if they’re going to be celebrating.” They weren’t. The Bobcats knocked them off, 65-51.

Even winning a state title did not appease the parental naysayers of which there are usually many in Durham. “I got told ‘Well, Dave, why don’t you focus on just being the athletic director,’” Dave recalled. He was essentially being told to resign as a result of parental pressure. “I really wasn’t ready to do that. I finally got the School Board to overrule the principal and superintendent and give me back the job. Now I knew what it would be like if I actually did come back. Enough of that. I was offered the job and then I resigned.”

A common theme in some of these hall of fame stories has been when a door closes and window opens. Several years later, Dave’s daughter Kate started playing basketball. “That got me into girls basketball,” he said. “It opened up a whole new path.”

It was 1996. The current girls basketball coach had stepped down, which led to a search to fill the position. It was the fall. The search did not yield any good candidates. The recommendation was to hire Dave. The feeling was that Dave’s daughter, now a sophomore, was on the team and he had proven he can coach in the past. “They asked and I accepted,” he said. There wasn’t much basketball talent. But they were athletic with soccer and volleyball players. Dave talked a few other kids into playing. The Bobcats won four games in his first year and then five. In the third year they made the playoffs.

Since Dave was also the AD, it created a little upheaval as other administrators had to cover for him when his team was on the road. He was approached at the end of his third year coaching girls in 1999 with the suggestion that maybe it was a good idea to hire a new coach so he could totally focus on his AD duties. His second tour as a head coach was done.

Dave decided in 2000 to step down as the AD and return to teaching math full time. The AD position was half time, which meant he was also teaching math half time. “I would teach in the morning and be the AD in the afternoon and night,” he said. “It was unfair to students. It was hard to arrange extra help time.”

It worked out for Dave. He now had some free time to watch his daughter play for her college team in North Carolina. In 2001, the girls’ JV position opened up, and he was asked to take the position by the head coach. “My son was going to be a freshman,” said Dave, who talked to him about being the JV coach. He didn’t have a problem with it. “My wife smiled,” Dave said. “‘I think he has a crush on one of those girls. He’ll have an in if you’re coaching them.’” Dave took the job.

After that season, Dave said parents chased the head coach out. Dave was asked if he would take over from her. He wasn’t happy with the school letting the parents treat the coach like that so he said no. He told the coach, a young woman named Celeste Best, that he would not taek the job. She said, “I’d much rather you coach the team than have somebody from the outside come in.” Dave also saw some of the outside candidates and was not impressed. He said he’d think about it, and then he applied and interviewed. “They ended up offering me the job,” Dave said, which was for the 2002-03 season.

Dave knew right away he had a potentially very good team on his hands. He had a group of girls he had just coached as freshman (Kate Maurer, Hayley Janelle and Megan Wyand) combined with the seniors Brittney Cross and Lindsay Laughton. “This is a team that could go a long way,” he thought to himself. “Brittney and Lindsay were great leaders and really embraced those younger kids.”

The coaching changeover happened in the spring, so that allowed Dave the chance to coach the girls over the summer, which helped get ready for the season. They certainly didn’t talk about going undefeated. What they did talk about was playing 25 games, which was the maximum they could play if they played their full regular season and then went to the finals of the holiday and state tournaments. “We began chanting this thing – one down, 24 to go. Two down, 23 to go,” he said. 

The moment when the Bobcats truly realized they could win the Class I championship came during the Manchester holiday tournament semifinals against preseason Class L favorite Nashua. Dave felt his team could compete with Nashua. He did not expect to win. “We ended up beating them,” he said. “We got a good lead. The last minute and a half, Brittney pretty much dribbled out the clock. They fouled her and she made some foul shots and we won.” They won the championship game as well.

When the Class I tournament rolled around, OR was undefeated and No. 1. “I mentioned the pressure of the undefeated season,” Dave said. “When we started this, the idea was to play 25. It wasn’t to win 25.”

But win 25 they did. At the end of the road was John Stark in the final at Saint Anselm College. They beat them for the title, 50-41. A 25-0 season – the program’s first title in 25 years. Nashua won the Class L championship over Alvirne, 51-48. But since Oyster River had beaten them in the holiday tournament, the Bobcats could rightly claim they were the best team in New Hampshire, and Dave was the first Granite state coach to guide both boys and girls to a state championship.

“I didn’t want the season to end,” said Cross, who scored her 1,000th career point in the championship game and then played at the next level at the University of Vermont. “We wanted to get one more win each time so we could keep it going.”

Cross never recalls feeling any pressure with being undefeated as the season progressed. “He must have done a pretty good job with that,” she said. “Obviously we were aware we hadn’t lost. We were aware of what was at stake each game. I really just remember us just enjoying competing together and finding a way to win.”

Cross felt that Dave “had a lot of confidence and belief in us. I can remember that as an individual. I was kind of an undersized point guard. I wasn’t really getting recruited. I was probably lacking a little of the confidence I needed to get to the next level or to lead the team in the way I was capable of. Coach Nichols did a great job of instilling confidence and belief and expectation in me personally, and then as a result in the team that we could do it, to compete for a state title.”

Two years later with that strong group of sophomores now seniors – Janelle, Maurer and Wyand – the Bobcats lost in the championship to Hanover. They came back with a new team in 2005-06, lost one game in a holiday tournament, and went on to win the state title over Kearsarge, 45-33.

Jill Friel was a freshman on that team as the sixth man. She was the youngest of former University of New Hampshire men’s basketball coach Gerry Friel’s five basketball children. All played for Oyster River. All scored 1,000 points, and all went on to play Division I college basketball (Jill at UNH). She said she was fortunate to have some great seniors to look up to in Nicole Casimrio, Chelsea Evans and Sam Brown, as well as juniors Kelsey Cross and Emily Jasinski. “They all taught me the ropes,” she said.

Friel was particularly appreciative of how Dave handled her. “He treated me as an individual,” she said. “He acknowledged and was aware that my family had a reputation; that I would have eyes on me. He acknowledged that. But he treated me as an individual. What do I want to get out of being on the team? What did I want to get out of myself? Our relationship was about our team and how I would contribute to that team. It wasn’t about my family’s legacy or comparing or contrasting my siblings. He navigated that well.”

Fast forward to the 2008-09 season. Friel was now a senior. She was the centerpiece on the Bobcats along with sophomore center Danielle Walczak. In an early battle between top teams, Oyster River was hammered at home by defending champion Hanover, 71-39. After the game, Dave told the team, “I still have a lot of faith in you guys, but obviously we have a lot of things to get better at and things to work on. This is good that we can use this the rest of the season as motivation.”

Hanover coach Dan O’Rourke, who introduced Dave at the Hall of Fame ceremony, remembered that game. “When I went through the line to shake Dave’s hand, there was that face, a look of determination.” O’Rourke recalled the rest of the season, checking the NHIAA standings and seeing that Oyster River was winning and winning and winning. The Bobcats never lost another game.

Meanwhile, Friel recalls that early-season loss. “That was really the touchstone of the year,” she said. “The snapshot of it was if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. We lost by 30. We got absolutely demolished. We knew how far we had to go. On the other hand, we knew we had strong centerpieces in myself and Danielle Walczak. It was also about how do we get the rest of the pieces to fit.”

One thing Dave did that Friel thought worked well with the team was to move the Hanover game into the rearview mirror and focus on being the best team in the Seacoast area, which had some very good teams in Portsmouth, St. Thomas Aquinas and Coe-Brown. “If we can dominate the Seacoast, we’re in a really good position; we’re demonstrating that we’re getting better and we at least have the capability to excel. It was mentally breaking it down into smaller goals. If we were making sure that we won our neighborhood that would progress us to eventually take down Hanover.”

When the dust settled on the Class I season, Oyster River and Hanover were the last two left standing in the championship game at Southern New Hampshire University. Hanover had everyone back from the previous year’s championship team, but there was a lot of fighting amongst themselves. They had several very good big players and an outstanding guard, although Dave felt Walczak was the best big player in the tournament, despite being only a sophomore. Friel, of course, was a top-notch guard.

“Sure enough, we met in the final,” said O’Routke. “Again we held them to 39 points, which was great. In my career, we only lost two or three times when we held a team under 40 points. That was always my goal (to hold the opposition under 40).

“Unfortunately, Dave’s team came out and played one of their best games. It was a defensive battle and they held us to 33 points and he won (39-33).”

A key part of the game was indeed defense. While Friel was held to four points (but also seven assists), she held Hanover star guard Lizzie BelBruno scoreless. Walczak had a monster game with a game-high 15 points and 11 rebounds.

“Everybody else stepped up. That was the biggest difference between losing by 30 early in the year versus so many different parts of the team we could lean on in those moments if they’re going to shut myself down,” said Friel.

Dave recalls at halftime the Bobcats were up 22-15. Friel was shooting around at halftime while Dave sat on the bench. Her brothers, Keith and Greg, called her over to offer advice. When she came back to the bench, he asked her what they talked about. She said they told her she needed to score if they were going to win. Dave looked up at the scoreboard, which showed a seven-point lead despite Friel not scoring. “I think we’re going pretty good,” he said. Friel shook her head up and down. “I think so, too,” she replied.

Hanover got as close as two points at 4:59 of the fourth quarter (26-24) before Friel fed a lob to Walczak for two points and the Bobcats were on their way to the win.

Friel said it helped that Dave trusted her, especially as she got older and became a captain. That was important. The idea that this was a collaborative effort. “He allowed me opportunities to be a leader without his voice and with his voice,” she said. “I’m really appreciative of that. I also feel that the most important thing he did was make me and all of us feel like we controlled our own destiny. Whether that’s how we lead or that’s how we play, we had a say in those things in how that looks.” 

Friel paused for a second, adding, “It comes down to him recognizing us as individuals and allowing that room. I think he had a preferred method of how he wanted us to play. But ultimately he was really flexible in leading the team to what we were capable of.” 

Dave coached through the 2012-13 season, although with far less talent at point guard, the Bobcats never achieved the success of those teams in the 2000s. He also saw the writing on the wall. Some administrators weren’t happy with him, so he decided not to fight it and moved on. That opened the door to new opportunities as a scout and an assistant coach. 

Two friends and opposing coaches, O’Rourke and Ed Tenney (Sunapee), asked him to scout for them during the 2013-14 season in the Seacoast area. So he went to Class I girls games for O’Rourke and Class S boys games for Tenney, who was now a boys coach after battling Dave as a Class I girls coach at Kearsarge.

That scouting evolved into an assistant coaching position at Hanover. Halfway through the Class I season, Dave said to O’Rourke, “I’ve done so much scouting and telling you how to beat these teams, but I don’t know your team very well.” O’Rourke invited Dave to come up and spend the night in Hanover. He went to a couple of practices and then a couple of games. Dave would sit in the bleachers and write up reports.

Eventually Dave was invited to sit on the bench with the team as a full fledged assistant in 2015. When he wasn’t scouting, he was at the games on the bench. “They had some really good teams,” said Dave, who has been involved with the Hanover team in some fashion for 12 seasons, including championships in 2019 and 2022 – 50 years after he was part of his first state title at Milford in 1972. “I would scout the toughest opponents and would show up (for those tough games).”

During the 2021-22 season, Dave scouted Bow seven times, Hanover’s eventual championship opponent. “I knew what they were going to do before they did it,” he said. “I knew them so well.”

There was a reason Dan O’Rourke wanted Dave as part of his Hanover staff. “Dave has found success wherever he’s coached. Most importantly, he’s done it the right way. He’s a man of integrity, high moral character. He’s done it with commitment, respect and he’s created the culture.” Like Jill Friel said when she came in as a freshman, his program was something you wanted to be part of because it was a winning program.

Looking back, Dave said as a head coach “I always felt kids needed to have fun. A lot of kids are getting pressured to focus year round on soccer, volleyball or whatever it is. I never wanted kids to focus year round on basketball. But I wanted them to play as much as they could. I always offered opportunities. I helped kids get on AAU teams. I talked to the coaches. I prepped them for tryouts.”

He ran local summer leagues, summer camps and held open gyms. That was something that struck Jill Friel. “Dave’s differential is that he always shows up,” she said. “He was always willing to put in the extra time. Summer leagues. Summer camps. That’s him volunteering for us to have the best possible experience. I find that even more remarkable as an adult that he continued to show up and invest in others.” The simple act of caring and then acting on it was a big part of who Dave Nichols was as a coach. He could see a player or group of players for who they were, adapt to their strengths and then mold them into a successful team that was having fun, while always making sure there were opportunties available to improve. That was a true hallmark of his coaching.

Mike Whaley can be reached at whaleym25@gmail.com

Nifty at 50: Oyster River’s ‘Rag Tag Bunch’ snared first title in 1975

By: Mike Whaley

When the Oyster River High School boys won their first state basketball championship 50 years ago this month, there was no indication that might even be possible until the second half of the Class M season.

The previous year had not gone particularly well due to a lack of cohesion. The Bobcats went an uninspiring 8-10 to make the tournament, and then were quickly bumped out by rival Newmarket.

Doug Sumner recalls in the spring of 1974, the returning players were playing pickup basketball in Dave Durkee’s driveway. It started getting a little chippy. Everyone stopped, recalled Sumner, and there was the realization that they needed to unite for their senior season and dispense with the division and backbiting that plagued the ‘73-74 campaign if they were to challenge for a state title “We had to all be moving in the same directions,” Sumner said.

Another factor that played into all of this is that half of the team was made up of soccer players, which was Oyster River’s primary sport. That spring talk Sumner referenced also pertained to soccer. The Bobcats went onto have a great season, losing their only game in the state championship to Kearsarge in overtime – on corner kicks no less when that was used as an unfortunate tiebreaker.

Despite that pact, senior-ladened OR, dubbed the “Rag Tag Bunch.” did nothing in the early going of the 1974-75 season to suggest that a magical run was in store. In fact, the Bobcats struggled through the first half of the season at 4-6, the low ebb coming in Milton to Nute High, a demoralizing 68-52 drubbing.

These six members of the 1975 champs gathered for a 50th reunion on March 8. From left are Phil Reilly, Bill Shackford, Doug Sumner, Mike Whaley, Randy Kinzly and Jim Murphy.

The biggest change that helped turn the season around was to move two talented, but underutilized, underclassmen into more prominent roles in the starting lineup: junior forward Bill Shackford and sophomore guard Randy Kinzly. From that point on, Oyster River blossomed. The Bobcats went a stellar 8-2 to finish the regular season at 12-8.

It is important to note that the Bobcats played a brutal schedule that season, which undoubtedly helped prepare them for the playoffs. Of their 20 games, 16 were against tournament teams, including six vs. Class I squads Somersworth, Timberlane and St. Thomas.  “We were never badly beaten and it certainly made us ‘play up’ to competition,” said Shackford. 

Other than the Nute debacle, no team handled OR. Although they lost twice each to Somersworth Timberlane and Pittsfield, they were in every game. Pittsfield ended the season with a perfect 20-0 mark. The Bobcats dropped their opener at Pittsfield, 51-50, and then lost to them a few games later at home, 69-61. However, in that game, OR was ahead when Sumner cracked heads with classmate Durkee, requiring five stitches over an eye. He missed the rest of the game and Pittsfield won.

Sumner and Durkee, a co-captain, were two starters in the forecourt at a solid 6-2 and 6-4, respectively, along with the six-foot Shackford, while Kinzly was at one guard in the backcourt with senior co-captain Jim Murphy. Senior Steve Grant, a 6-1 forward/guard, was the super sub off the bench to complete the rotation OR used for the most part during the remainder second half of the season, along with senior guard Chris Congdon who saw spot duty in the backcourt spelling Murphy and Kinzly.

Bill Shackford.

Other games of note: The 134-51 thrashing of Raymond. Although there are no official state records for the regular season, that 134 has to be in the running for the most points in a single game (that’s 4.2 points per minute). OR beat rival Newmarket at home in double overtime, 49-45. There were also two hard-fought wins over Class I St. Thomas, 77-74 and 74-69. After the embarrassing loss to Nute in December, the Bobcats came back to beat the Rams at home, 60-54.

When the tournament rolled around, the Bobcats were seeded fifth behind No. 1 Woodsville, No. 2 Pittsfield, No. 3 Hinsdale and No. 4 Newmarket. Also making the 12-team field from the old Southeastern League were Nute, Farmington and Epping.

Doug Sumner.

Oyster River opened up the tournament at Plymouth State University vs. No. 12 Epping, who they had defeated twice during the season by 20 and 17 points. Murphy led the way in this one-sided affair (73-40) with 17 points.

Murphy was a master entertainer and the clear team leader. His boombox blasted a mixed tape in the locker room and during bus trips with him in the back colorfully leading lively team singalongs. The playlist featured, among others, Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock,” “Elderberry Wins,”and “Benny and the Jets,” as well as Jim Croce’s “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown,” Harry Chapin’s “Taxi” and “Chantilly Lace” by the Big Bopper.

Murphy was also the emotional spark plug. He fired up the Bobcats before each playoff game. The team would gather in the entryway to PSU’s Foley Gymnasium before they hit the floor. There Murphy would get everyone psyched up with his impassioned antics, pumping his fist and chanting with everyone joining in until the energized Bobcats were united as one before taking the floor for layups.

In the quarterfinals, the opponent was rival Newmarket, who had given the Bobcats one of their two second-half losses (66-58 in Newmarket). The season could have ended then and there. The Mules jumped out 14-4 after the first quarter, which would have been a death knell during the first part of the season. But one thing this OR team did well by that point in that season was not to get frazzled. They worked their way back into the game to trail 22-18 at the half. The second half was all Oyster River. Led by Murphy’s 14 points, OR took control 38-32 after three stops, en route to a 50-40 win. Shackford added nine points and Kinzly tossed in eight.

That set up a semifinal match with unbeaten Pittsfield (21-0), after Woodsville dispatched defending champion Hinsdale in the earlier semi, 42-37. One could make an argument that this was the championship. It was certainly worthy of being the nightcap on the semifinal card. At the end of regulation, nothing had been decided – tied at 42-all. Ditto after one overtime, 44-44. Led by Murphy and Kinzly, the Bobcats were finally able to get some separation in the second OT, outscoring the Panthers 13-6 to win, 57-50. Murphy and Kinzly each had 17 points, while Shackford chipped in with 10.

It was Oyster River’s third trip to a championship game. Previously, Bobcats teams had lost in two finals – in 1964 to Newmarket, 51-45; in 1967 to Tilton-Northfield, 64-59 OT.

Dave Durkee.

“Beating Pittsfield in the semis was like getting over a hump,” said Murphy. Sumner recalls going out for the second overtime and before the jump ball having a brief exchange with a Pittsfield guard who he had battled against for four years. “We shook hands and one of us, probably me because I don’t shut up, said ‘the winner is going to beat Woodsville.’ We looked each other in the eye and nodded.”

Woodsville, of course, was by then a Class M power coached by the legendary John Bagonzi. The Engineers had won titles in 1969, 1971 and 1973. The trademark of Bagonzi’s teams was their full court pressure, which unraveled unprepared teams and sometimes even prepared ones. “Even though Woodsville was well coached and very disciplined, we were a very athletic group, who could run, shoot, and were tough, especially on the boards,” said Shackford. “We just had to beat their press and we worked hard on it leading up to the finals.” That was the key. Oyster River was ready for the vaunted Woodsville pressure. It bothered them here and there. But mostly they broke it until it worked against the Engineers in the second half when foul trouble began to pile up. 

Woodsville came out fast to take a quick 6-0 lead. But the Bobcats caught their breath, regrouped and tied the game as Shackford dropped in three long jumpers from the left corner. It was a dogfight from there – until the fourth quarter. It was tied (10-10) after the first quarter. The Engineers led 26-24 at halftime, before Oyster River threatened to open the game up in the third when they surged to a 42-32 lead. Woodsville ended the quarter with a 10-2 run to cut the lead to 44-42 after three, and then sliced the lead to one to start the fourth. That was as close as they got. It was still a game with just under six minutes to play, 51-47. Then Murphy and Kinzly combined for 12 points during a 13-2 surge over the next four minutes that built the lead to 64-49 to put the game out of reach. At this point, OR was breaking Woodsville’s press with ease as the Engineers started fouling out, eventually losing four players. The Bobcats ended up scoring 32 points in the quarter to pull away for the convincing 76-56 victory – the first of five state titles for the boys and the only one in Class M/Division III. The other four (1988, 1992, 1995, 1996) were in Class I/D-II.

Jim Murphy, left, and Randy Kinzly.

It was a huge night for the Oyster River faithful. Everything went right in the end. As a team, the Bobcats shot 57-percent from the field (25 of 44) and 70-percent  from the foul line (26 of 37). Murphy led five players in double figures with 16 points, followed by Durkee (15), Shackford (14), Grant (13) and Kinzly (10).

Oyster River’s final record was 16-8, which included 12 wins in their final 14 games. The Bobcats’ eight losses is certainly one of the highest totals in state history for a champion, but it speaks to their difficult schedule and their ability to overcome adversity to finally come together at the right time. The Bobcats that people saw in December were a far cry from the honed outfit that hoisted the hardware in March. Fifty years later, the “Rag Tag Bunch” may not have the game they once had, but their championship status remains undeniable.

***

The Bobcats held a 50th reunion on March 8 in Portsmouth. Six former OR players were on hand. Sumner recounted this rather odd story. Last summer, a fellow on a motorcycle showed up at the Sumner house in Exeter. Sumner wasn’t home, and his wife told the guy as much, so he drove off. He returned several weeks later and this time Sumner was home. The guy, it turns out, had played for Pittsfield HS during the 1973-74 season. He did not play the following year on the undefeated team, he said, because he did not get along with the coach. Why was he at Sumner’s house? He wanted to tell Sumner that had he played in 1974-75, Pittsfield would have defeated Oyster River in that semifinal game. Talk about not letting something go.

Mike Whaley can be reached at whaleym25@gmail.com

Milford hangs on to capture first title since 1979

By: Logan Paronto & KJ Cardinal

DURHAM, NH – Second-seeded Milford captured its first title since 1979 with a 43-36 win over No. 4 Oyster River in the NHIAA Division II Girls Basketball State Tournament at UNH on Saturday afternoon.

Vivian O’Quinn started off hot for Oyster River, draining two threes in the opening minutes of the game, to give the Bobcats a quick 6-0 lead. The Spartans chipped away at the lead and cut the lead to one, 12-11, at the end of the first quarter.

Alexia Bausha scored six points in the first and second stanzas to pace Milford. Despite her efforts, it was Oyster River who took the lead at half, 20-17.

The third quarter belonged to the Spartans who closed out the period on an 8-3 run, taking a 31-27 lead into the fourth.

The four seed would fight back in the fourth, cutting the lead to three with under two minutes remaining. Down the stretch Avery Fuller and Ellianna Nassy would close out the game from the free throw line.

Bausha scored a game-high 21 points for Milford, while Fuller added 10 of her own. O’Quinn led the way for the Bobcats win 13.

Check out the full photo gallery by Betsy Hansen…

The right approach: Maynard’s manner, efforts transformed Oyster River’s program

By: Mike Whaley

(This is the sixth in a series on the 2022 and 2024 inductees into the New Hampshire Basketball Coaches Organization’s Hall of Fame. The stories will run periodically during the winter season.)

Don Maynard was all about coaching the right way. Winning was certainly part of it, but Maynard was really concerned about doing things the right way. If you won, well, then all the better. Jeremy Friel, one of three Friels to play for Don, summed up his former coach like this: “Coach Maynard is the epitome of what a high school basketball coach should be: Organized, prepared, caring and fair. It was never about him and always about the team. The amount of time he put into the youth programs on Saturday mornings or with his basketball camps in the summer, from scouting to (logging stats from) games from film by himself, from organizing coaches clinics to summer league, and doing this all with teaching and a family is impressive. Being a high school coach myself now, I have an even greater appreciation for all of his efforts and time spent trying to make Oyster River basketball as competitive as it could be year in and year out. We were lucky to have him as our coach and at Oyster River.”

Don coached basketball at Oyster River for 26 years – 21 as a head coach (boys, 20 years). His coaching record was 310-168, which included three Class I boys championships in 1992, 1995 and 1996. He also taught physical education and served as the school’s athletic director. Last November he was one of seven inductees into the NHBCO Hall of Fame in Concord.

“We always knew Coach Maynard was passionate about basketball and really cared about the team, the kids and the community,” said Keith Friel, the school’s all-time scoring leader (2,148 points) and key player on back-to-back championship teams in 1995 and 1996. “He always brought energy and was very positive, especially in tough situations.”

Oyster River’s Brad Taylor, left, and Keith Friel celebrated back-to-back Class I state championships in 1995 and 1996. [Foster’s Daily Democrat photo]

Don grew up in Chelsea, Vermont, and attended college at Norwich University. He played two years of basketball for old-school coach Ed Hockenbury. Don recalls not really thinking about grad school until he received an inter-campus memo from Hockenbury to see him. It changed Don’s life.

He certainly wanted to coach. After he got done playing basketball, Don spent two years coaching the JV team at his high school in Chelsea. Hockenbury’s proposition was enticing. If Don wanted to be a graduate assistant, all he had to do was pay for room and board, the cost to pursue his master’s degree would be covered if he was a grad assistant. “The best year of college I had was my graduate year,” he said.

Don lived off campus with another grad assistant, Keith Boucher, who was also pursuing his master’s. Boucher is now the long-time women’s coach at Keene State College.

This is how Don got to Oyster River. He was invited to Boucher’s wedding, and there he met his future wife, Cheryl. She was attending the University of New Hampshire and living in Lee. Don moved to the area to be with her and started looking for work. He got a job teaching PE in Somersworth, which he did for one year in 1984-85. Cheryl was working as a certified occupational therapist at the Rollinsford Elementary School where she met Debbie Nichols who worked there. One day before basketball season, the two women were chatting. It came up that Don had played and coached basketball a little bit. Debbie mentions that her husband, Dave Nichols, is the head coach at Oyster River and he needs some help. Dave called Don up, and he was Dave’s assistant coach for the 1984-85 season. His foot was in the door.

The following year he taught PE in Barrington/Strafford, and was hired by Oyster River to coach four teams – freshman and JV soccer, JV basketball and varsity softball.

Oyster River coach Don Maynard, center, chats with Keith Courtemanche while Greg Friel twirls the ball during the Bobcats’ great run in the mid 1990s. [Foster’s Daily Democrat photo]

The following year he got hired to teach PE at Oyster River and kept the four coaching positions. He gave up the two soccer positions the following year, stayed with JV basketball and was hired as varsity baseball coach in place of softball. He became the head basketball coach in 1988. He gave up the baseball post to focus on one sport.

When Don took over the boys’ program in 1988, the Bobcats were coming off a Class I state championship under Nichols. Parental pressure led to his removal, although Nichols fought it and was eventually reinstated. At that point he resigned on his own terms.

Don was excited to be heading his own program. “I had an idea of what I wanted to do for offseason stuff,” he said. He got to the point where he had kids doing basketball pretty much year round except for a six-week window in September and October.

Don started a local AAU program called the Renegades, which involved grades 3-4 right up to high school. That carried through from the spring into the summer when there was summer basketball. Oyster River had a JV and varsity team that played in the summer league and also went to a team camp in Providence, Rhode Island. Between the league and the camp, the teams played 30 or so games. That’s’ not even mentioning Oyster River’s own camp held at the high school and run by Don. By the time all that was ending, school was starting up.

“That’s how the coaching experience was for years and years,” Don said. “I loved it. I’d see kids in first and second grade and then they’re coming up through the ranks and I’m coaching them in high school. You know what I miss? Seeing them get into it. Seeing the little kids come to the high school games. Having them in the locker room; little kids sitting on the lockers for the pregame stuff. Then they’d go out and form a line for the varsity kids to run through on their way onto the court. That was pretty cool.”

Don Maynard, back left, guided Oyster River to three Class I state titles in the 1990s, including back-to-back crowns. [Courtesy photo]

Don feels when he started the AAU program it gave basketball legitimacy in Durham. It made parents realize basketball is a pretty big deal too in a town where soccer had long been king. “For some reason, in their heads, that made it more valued, I guess,” Don said of the parents’ way of thinking. “It was more of a real sport, if that makes sense.”

The program really started to roll. “Seeing all those kids playing AAU. We had kids all over town wearing Oyster basketball and camp stuff. We were giving away Oyster River basketballs at camp. Whatever it took to get them hooked. We had it going pretty good, or at least I thought so.”

Don’s first state title in 1992 kind of came out of nowhere due mainly to the late enrollment through an exchange program of a 6-foot-4 Irish kid named Allan Conlan. “What a wonderful kid,” Don said. “Hard worker. Great fit. No ego at all. None of the kids on that team had egos.”

As Don recalled the team, Bryan Rutland was the shooter, Scott Poteet the point guard, and Russ DeForrest the other guard. “It was by committee after that,” Don said. “They just played hard. But they really defended.”

Don Maynard is pictured with his wife, Cheryl, and their granddaughter, Laney. [Courtesy photo)

Oyster River came on Conlan’s radar during the summer of 1991 when he played for an Irish team at an international basketball festival in Portsmouth. When Conlan came over, the Irish team stayed with families in the Durham area. Evidently, said Don, he had a good experience.

The festival was in early July. Come mid August and Don started hearing that Conlan was coming to America and that he wanted to go to Oyster River. Long story short, Conlan went through a recognized exchange program that had him lined up to attend the high school with a place to live by the first day of school. “It ended up being a great situation,” Don said. “He stayed with a family called the Belands. They treated him like a son. It could not have worked out better for everyone. He loved them. He loved Oyster River. He loved the team. He was a great kid.” Conlan loved New Hampshire so much that he stayed and went to college at Plymouth State, having a Hall of Fame career for the Panthers.

It was, however, no love fest with Oyster River’s Class I opponents who had to try to match up with the formidable Conlan. Unsurprisingly, the Bobcats were able to make a run, finding themselves in the championship at UNH on the final day of the Class I season against ConVal.

“That game was crazy,” Don remembered. “We got behind 18-4. ‘Holy crap, what are we going to do? Are we going to embarrass ourselves here?’ From that point, we gave up 33 points. We played defense.” OR won the championship in overtime, 58-51.

Some detractors felt it was unfair that the Bobcats had won the title with an exceptional exchange player. But, as Don noted, ConVal had a pretty good exchange force of its own in James Reilly, a 6-7 inside presence who Conlan knew from Ireland.

Don Maynard coached both of his sons at Oyster River High School – Steven and Trevor. He also coached his daughter, Riley. [Courtesy photo]

One memorable story Don has involves an angry parent who showed up at the shootaround before the championship at the Oyster River gym. He was complaining about, shocking as it may seem, his son’s playing time. He was firmly told to leave.

“What’s crazy, we’re getting our ass kicked (in the first half),” Don recalled. “The parent’s kid was an OK guard. I put him in. The first two times he touched the ball he nailed 3s and that really turned the game around in the second quarter. Isn’t that something? Part of me wanted to leave the kid on the bench. I gave him a chance. He goes out there and hits two huge shots.”

Brad Taylor introduced Don at the NHBCO Hall of Fame event. He thought the 1992 championship game was one of his coach’s finest moments. Taylor was there watching the game with a bunch of fellow eighth-graders. “You never noticed coach Maynard. He was never the show,” said Taylor. “But how he calmed his team down (after they fell behind big early). … We were in total awe of that ConVal team, but then they (Oyster River) came back and won in overtime. We sat there and said ‘that’s a guy we’re ready to play for.” It was incredible coaching. They were so undermanned compared to that (ConVal) team.”

After the 1992 championship, Don’s next group to come along is the best in program history – led by Keith and Greg Friel, the sons of former University of New Hampshire men’s basketball coach, Gerry Friel, who guided the Wildcats from 1969 to 1989. Given Oyster River’s long history of meddlesome parents, you might think this was going to be a problem. The opposite, in fact, was true. “Gerry might have been the best parent I ever had the opportunity to interact with,” Don said. “He was so supportive. He wouldn’t hesitate to say, ‘If my kid steps out of line, kick his ass.’”

Don could sit down and talk with Gerry about anything. “He wanted his kids held accountable,” Don recalled. “He wanted them playing both ends of the court. He was interested in body language and how they conducted themselves.”

Don said Gerry was never critical of him unless he felt Don was letting his kids get away with something. “If I wasn’t holding them to a high standard, he would be disappointed,” Don said. “But that didn’t happen often. He was great.”

In fact, for three or four summers, Gerry invited Don along to a coaches’ summit in Durham at the home of Knobby Walsh, a respected retired high school coach from Providence, Rhode Island. “He was extremely knowledgeable and extremely old school,” said Don of Knobby. “He would come to a game when Greg and Keith were playing, and he would take notes. He’d hand me four pages the next day of stuff he saw or things we should be doing. Sometimes it was a little intimidating.”

Don recalls the coaches’ summit at Knobby’s place. Gerry was there, of course, as was Dartmouth College coach Dave Faucher and Fairfield coach Paul Cormier, and several other coaches. “There were at least a half dozen sharing thoughts and ideas,” Don said. “I’m sitting there with my jaw on the floor.” As if it wasn’t a wonderful experience already for Don, in addition Knobby was a wonderful gourmet chef. He would periodically bring in mouth-watering dishes while talk of basketball carried on between bites. “That left an impression,” Don said.

When Keith Friel was a freshman in 1992-93, the team struggled but you could see that something good was coming. The following year, the team started slow, but ended on a hot streak and looked to be a dangerous team in the playoffs. After a first-round win, the Bobcats were doing a walkthrough the day before their quarterfinal game against No. 1 Lebanon at UNH. Keith seriously rolled his ankle. He tried to play in the game, but he couldn’t. Still, as Don recalled, they gave Lebanon a game, losing by a handful of points. “If he’d been healthy, I think we would have won that game and might be talking about three state championships in a row,” Don said.

Keith was the most celebrated of the five Friels, all of whom scored over 1,000 points at Oyster River and later played NCAA Division I college basketball: Keith (Notre Dame/Virginia), Greg (Dartmouth), Jennifer (UNH), Jeremy (UNH) and Jill (UNH).

The 1994-95 season was a very good one with a mostly underclassmen team. It was actually after January when the lone senior was declared academically ineligible. The Bobcats were very good. You had the two Friels, who everyone knew about. But the supporting cast and even the bench were top notch. Scrappy guard Brad Taylor, 6-5 Dan Kowal and sharpshooting Keith Courtemanche rounded out an outstanding starting five. The first few guys off the bench would have started on any other team, according to Don. “Sometimes they would come into the game and there was very little drop off,” he said. “That’s something I always took some pride in. On my team, you’d have a kid come off the bench, the skill level might be different, but they knew what they were doing. So it was obvious every kid was coached, not just the so-called starters. It didn’t matter if you were the ninth, 10th, 11th player. Whatever. You were going to get on the court and you were going to play hard and know what to do.” 

Three key reserves during that two-year title stretch were Doug Pitman, Gordon Matthews and Tom Getz.

The biggest challenge with that team, especially in 1995-96, was playing time. Because the Bobcats were winning by large margins, the starters were lucky to play half the game. “It was tough because obviously the kids want to play,” Don said. “They’d get a big lead and the next thing you know I’ve got kids sitting on the bench. I want to get them in the game. Sometimes that was a little tricky. I want them to play too.”

Don had the respect of the players. “If there was a problem, we could always talk to him – ‘hey listen, we need to pick up the pace or whatever.’ He was open,” said Greg Friel. “He was a physical education teacher. He had a grip on the school. He knew what was going on. He knew what kids were doing what.”

Greg recalls before the 1995 championship game, all the players got Mohawk haircuts. Greg got the idea from Conlan when he shaved an Irish Shamrock on the back of his head before the 1992 championship game. Don even joined the team by shaving his head. “He was still young enough and hip enough. ‘All right  I can still do this. Let’s go.’”

Taylor remembers the Mohawk moment. In some ways it perfectly captured the loose and free-spirited nature of a team that Tayor said Don allowed “to be idiots 10 years before the Red Sox did. He let us be who we are.”

Taylor smiled, adding, “We thought on Gerry Friel’s homecourt we could embarrass our parents, our girlfriends, and everybody else as quickly as we could, and relax everybody. Lebanon didn’t know what was going on. We all looked like a band of idiots. We were misfits. But we were relaxed, chilled, and ready to go as massive underdogs in my opinion.”

The OR “misfits” did in fact beat Lebanon for the 1995 title, 55-52. As they got ready to defend its title, Don made sure that the Bobcats played the best competition. They played in the Queen City Invitational in Manchester over the Christmas break. They met Manchester Central in that championship before a huge crowd. “We absolutely got our asses kicked,” Don said. “It was a good experience. The kids realized they had to play defense to beat anyone. Central played defense. That was humbling.. But it had the kids’ attention the rest of the year.”

The season culminated with a repeat at UNH over Bishop Brady, 58-49 – avenging their only loss of the season to Brady in Concord. That’s another game Don remembers, not so much for the loss but for the fact that Brad Taylor nearly killed himself crashing into the stage. “He hit the stage head-on diving for a loose ball,” Don said. “I thought for certain he had broken his neck.”

Keith Friel said that Don “was always open to hearing and asking what we saw out there and what we thought and also being firm, too, for the most part. Like knowing when Greg needed to be kicked out of practice.”

The Friel boys were almost always matched up against each other in practice, which often became a volatile situation because they were so competitive. “He was constantly hacking me during every drill,” Keith recalled. “I’m like ‘Dude …’ I’v got him (Greg) chirping at me as we’re going head to head. I’m sure it was a lot to manage , but we were all very passionate about basketball.”  Of course, again, Don had the complete backing of the Friel parents, so any reasonable punishment was supported without question.

The Brady squad was no slouch with a core of excellent players, many of whom went on to play in college, including the Collins brothers and Marshall Crane. As Don recalled, the following season the Bobcats, with only Greg Friel back from the 1995-96 core, nearly pulled off a major upset over the heavily-favored Giants in the quarters at UNH. “It would have been the biggest upset of my coaching career,” Don said. “Instead, it’s one of my hardest losses.”

In the waning seconds of a tie game, Greg was fouled and stepped to the line to take two foul shots with two teammates back to defend. He hit the second one to give OR a one-point lead with 1.4 seconds to play. Brady’s Billy Collins quickly inbounded the ball after the make, throwing a baseball pass the length of the floor to Crane who somehow caught the ball under the basket with two defenders on him and was fouled trying to score. He made both foul shots for the win. “That was tough,” Don said. “To this day, I second guess that.”

It just went to show that you never know. Don mentioned a game just before the 1992 playoffs in which the Bobcats were throttled by Pembroke by almost 40 points. The Concord Monitor called it “The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.” Two weeks later, OR beat the Spartans by one point in the semifinals. “I tell kids, you never know,” he said. “That’s why you play the game.”

Don continued to coach through 2008. He coached another Friel (Jeremy) and later his sons, Steven and Trevor, and even, as an assistant, coaching his daughter, Riley. He enjoyed that experience. “”The only rule I had was, I would not talk basketball at home or in the car after practice unless they brought it up,” he said. “In the gym, I was ‘Coach.’ Any other time I was their dad.”

Trevor Maynard loved playing for his dad. He still gets the odd comment about how playing for his dad must have been tough. He pushes right back. “No, I absolutely loved it,” Trevor said. “Looking back, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.”

Not that Trevor had it easy. He certainly felt at the time that because he was the coach’s kid he had “to justify my playing time and be good enough so that when he put me in and I was getting my minutes, there was no doubt in my mind or anybody else’s mind that I was playing because I deserved it and not because I was the coach’s kid.”

That’s why Trevor worked so hard. “I didn’t want anyone to go to him and say ‘why the hell are you playing your kid when my kid should be getting playing time over him?’ I always tried to take that upon myself. I need to be the best one out on the court, so that when I do play every minute or I play a majority of the minutes, no one’s going to question that. Parents could be really tough, and he always handled those conversations really well.”

Don acknowledged that while he enjoyed the experience of coaching his boys, it was also tougher for them. “They were the first ones to come out of the game. Maybe they were the ones that had to more than prove themselves,” he said. “That part was a little bit tough.”

But the positives by far outweigh the negatives. Don’s kids were around the game at a very young age and that meant being around the Oyster River program. “They were in the gym during basketball camp and they were in the gym during basketball practice,” he said. “I think every one of my kids ended up being in a backpack at practice at some point. That’s the way it was. They grew up around it.”

Don’s final year was 2007-08 with the boys team, although he would coach the girls as the head coach later on. It was a great year until the end. The Bobcats put together the program’s only undefeated regular season, but were upset at UNH by Pembroke in the quarterfinals. The Spartans had a quality player who missed a chunk of the season, but was ready for the playoffs to make them a much tougher nut to crack than their lower seeding suggested. Don recalls in the final 10 seconds down one, his point guard was knocked down at the top of the key by several Pembroke players. “Game over. The referees left the court. It was just over,” he said. At the time, the tournament was running three referees, which was not the case during the season. Don said the referees looked at each other like it was someone else’s call. “No call is ever made. The horn goes off. Game over. ‘Are you kidding me?’” he said. “It ended up being my last game in Trevor’s senior year.”

Looking back, Don recalls his practices which were always in motion with not much standing around. “We’d frequently start out with some ball control drills,” he said. “For 90 minutes I wanted my team moving. We didn’t do a lot of actual running or conditioning. I figured we had them going for 90 minutes. That was the conditioning.”

He also didn’t announce starters. “We’re a team,” Don said. “No one is going to have the title of starter. People would know. They’re part of the team. You’re not a bench warmer. You’re not a starter. You all have your own roles. We’re a team.”

In practice, Don would mix the players up. But at some point, he would make sure those who would be starting were playing together. “I just wanted every kid to feel like he had a role,” Don said.

The Oyster River experience was an excellent one for Don Maynard. “”I’m so appreciative of the quality of kids I had to work with,” he said. “I had so many kids who worked so hard. The older I get, the more I appreciate that.” And, of course, that appreciation works both ways, certainly more than the overly modest coach would ever care to admit. But it’s absolutely true.

Mike Whaley can be reached at whaleym25@gmail.com

Oyster River knocks off top-seeded Laconia, moves on to D-II final

By: Logan Paronto

DERRY, NH – No. 4 Oyster River used a 15-point fourth quarter to down top-seeded Laconia 39-36 in Division II semifinal action on Wednesday night at Pinkerton Academy.

The Bobcats would take a 17-14 lead into the half before all five starters contributed to their 15-point third quarter to give Oyster River a 32-23 edge heading into the fourth.

Laconia would surge back in the final frame, scoring 13, but Oyster River had already done enough to secure the win.

Olivia Anderson led the scoring for the Bobcats with a game-high 19 points. Vivian O’Quinn netted eight points, including the 1000th point of her career.

Macy Swormstedt tallied 17 for the Sachems with running-mate Maddy Mousseau added 11 of her own.

Oyster River will play No. 2 Milford on Saturday at UNH at 12 noon.

Laconia finishes its season with an 18-1 record.

Check out the full photo gallery by Jeff Criss of Perfect Photos…

Fourth-quarter flurry sends Sanborn to D-II final

By: Logan Paronto

ROCHESTER, NH – No. 3 Sanborn used a 19-point fourth quarter to pull away late and defeat No. 7 Oyster River 69-59 in semifinal action of the Division II state tournament on Monday night at the Rochester Recreation Center.

The Indians will make their first-ever appearance in the D-II championship on Sunday as they take on No. 1 Pembroke at UNH at 12 noon.

Dylan Rego (21 points) and Chase Frizzell (20) continued their playoff dominance in the win while Brandon Sarette added 12 of his own to the box score.

Matt Jernigan paced the scoring for the Bobcats with 16, with Brendan Kirby and Max Scopel both adding 14.

Oyster River finishes its season with a 15-6 record.

Check out the full photo gallery by KJ Cardinal…

Oyster River shatters three-point mark, moves to semis

By: KJ Cardinal

DURHAM, NH – No. 4 Oyster River knocked down a Division II girls tournament record 14 three-pointers as the Bobcats eased past No. 5 Pembroke, 66-48, in quarterfinal action of the D-II tourney on Saturday.

Vivian O’Quinn poured in a game-high 26 points, including six three pointers, to pace Oyster River and Wren Horne added 16 points with four threes. Caitlin Klein and Olivia Anderson netted 10 points apiece, each knocking down a pair of triples as well. For the game, Oyster River made just eight two-point fields goals.

The Bobcats broke their own 22-year-old record from 2003 when Oyster River made eight threes versus ConVal. The game also set the mark for the most combined threes made in a D-II girls tourney game with 20 as the Spartans made six trifectas.

The Spartans were led by 13 points, including three from deep, by Hailey Steinmetz, and 11 points from Anne Phillips.

The Bobcats advance to the semifinals and will take on top-seeded Laconia on Wednesday at Pinkerton Academy at 7:00 pm.

Check out the photo gallery by Michael Griffin…

Dulac’s halfcourt buzzer-beater lifts Oyster River past Pelham

By: KJ Cardinal

PELHAM, NH – Trailing by two with 2.2 seconds left, Oyster River’s Cole Dulac took the inbound pass, made two dribbles and threw up a half-court heave that banked in as time expired to give the Bobcats a 74-73 victory over Pelham on Friday night in the regular-season finale for both clubs.

Dulac finished with 18 points, including four three-pointers. Matt Jernigan led all Bobcats with a game-high 25 points, while Brendan Kirby (13), Max Scopel (10) both added double-digits.

The Pythons were paced by four players in double figures: Justin Bowlan (14), Shawn Bodenrader (13), Luke Estell (12) and Brady Hegan (11).

With the win, Oyster River finishes the regular season at 13-5 and will be the No. 7 seed for the upcoming Division II state tournament. Pelham falls to 14-4 and is in a four way tie for third.

Check out the full photo gallery by Jill Stevens…

Third quarter surge sends Oyster River past Manchester West

By: Tyson Thomas

DURHAM, NH – Oyster River used a 24-9 third quarter to erase a seven-point halftime deficit and come away with a 61-60 victory over visiting Manchester West on Friday night.

The Blue Knights led at halftime 34-27, but the Bobcats took the lead in the third by outscoring West 24-9 and never looked back. Oyster River connected on 13 three-pointers on the night.

The Bobcats were paced by Brenden Kirby (17 points), Owen Jacques (14) and Cole Dulac (12). Max Houde led Manchester West with 19 points, followed by 14 from Tevin Edmunds and 11 from Christoper Mejia.

The Blue Knights conclude their regular season with a home bout on Tuesday against Pelham, while Oyster River hosts Hanover on Tuesday.

Check out the full photo gallery by Michael Griffin…