January 3, 2014
By Ellen Oliver
Basketball – Boys
Home Sweet Home, could be the motto for the start of the Nashoba boys’ basketball team. After winning the season opener 55-51 over Algonquin on December 19 at home, the boys’ lost to Wachusett 53-61 at an away game. Back on the home courts again, the Chieftains quickly regained their footing to defeat Oakmont 71-54 and Gardner 74-41. The boys’ are 3-1 with the three wins to date coming at home.
file photo: Jonathan Daisy, DaisyDesignPhotography.com
Basketball – Girls
After coming off two seasons with deep playoff journeys, the Nashoba girls’ basketball team is off to another strong start. The girls’ opened with a 48-44 victory over Algonquin on the road, then hosted Wachusett and earned a 57-44 win, followed by another road trip to Gardner where they once again scored 57 points to the Wildcats 26.
Ice Hockey – Boys
The ice hockey team lost its footing in the season opener, falling to Lunenburg 1-0. The team got progressively better, skating to a tie with Ludlow on December 21, and then earning a decisive 4-1 win over Gardner on December 28. The tie with Ludlow was a heartbreaker as the Chieftains led 3-1 after two periods. Nashoba closed out 2013 with another tie at Leominster with each team netting four goals.
Ice Hockey – Girls
After the girls ice hockey co-op arrangement with Gardner and Leominster fell apart this year, Nashoba joined up with the Algonquin-Hudson-Marlborough girls’ hockey team. Playing for the tomahawks are two Nashoba players: Janice Bolton on varsity defense and Caitlyn Almy on the JV team.
The Nashoba girls have been good luck for the T-Hawks. After opening with a 1-1 tie over Cathedral in Springfield, the combined team has three wins and only one loss. The girls defeated Leominster 2-0, lost to Methuen 7-1 and defeated Mansfield 7-0 and Dover-Sherborn 3-1.
Wrestling
In their first meet of the season, Nashoba swept the competition during a quad meet in Needham on Saturday, December 14. Nashoba defeated Whittier Tech of Haverhill 42-19, Boston Latin 52-20 and Needham 51-21. Nashoba won 28 out of 41 matches with 18 matches won with pins and 12 of those pins occurred during the first period.
Nashoba also began its defense of last year’s Mid-Wachusett League championship with a 42-22 victory over Marlborough on December 18. The wrestling team grabbed the championship trophy at the annual Early Bird Tournament at Marlborough High on December 21, sending four wrestlers to the finals.
Swimming/Diving
The swim and dive team is still looking for their first win after three opening losses. The Chieftains were defeated 94-72 at Westborough on December 13, lost 95-74 to Algonquin on December 19 and then fell to 87-79 hosting Tantasqua in their home waters on December 20.
Indoor Track
The boys’ and girls’ indoor track teams got their season started with strong performances at the Don Woods and MSTCA invitational meets. At the Don Woods Invitational on December 14, Mark Puleo won the 2-mile (10:31.1), Adam Heislein took the mile (4:58.7), Matthew Boelens was 1st in the 1,000 (2:58) and John Militano found himself in a three-way tie for top honors in the 55. Sarah Militano won the 55 in 7.3 seconds and Kristina MacLure was 1st in the 300 with a time of 43.8.
At the MSTCA invitational on December 18, Puleo was 4th in the two-mile (10:07.11), Boelens was 4th in the 1000 m and John Militano placed 6th in the 55 dash (6.99). Sarah Militano was 2nd (7.35) and MacLure third in the 55 (7.50) dash and switched places for the 300 dash with MacLure second (42.29) and Sarah Militano at third (43.68). The boys took 4th in the 4×800 relay (9:12.45) and the girls placed 5th in the 4×200 (1.58.08).
In between the invitationals, the girls and boys teams defeated Hudson, the boys winning 57-34 and the girls defeating the Hawks 50-41.