City honors English girls

LYNN – The English High girls basketball team was honored by the mayor and the City Council Tuesday night at City Hall.The Bulldogs had plenty to celebrate. They finished the season with a 25-1 record, the best in the team’s history. Their ride ended on the parquet at the TD Garden with a loss to Braintree in the Division 1 state semifinal.?They accomplished something really special,” coach Fred Hogan, who stepped down at the end of the season, said.Hogan said English was one of only two teams in the state to win 25 games, the other one being the boys team from Putnam Vocational Technical High School in Springfield.Hogan said before the team headed to The Garden to play Braintree, the coaches told them to “soak it all up,” because it’s really special.?They gave it everything the possibly could,” Hogan said.Hogan said the road to a near perfect record included wins over the Division 2 (Arlington Catholic) and Division 4 (St. Mary’s) state champs, as well as a win over the defending Division 1 state champion Central Catholic, which had 21 wins. The Woburn team the Bulldogs defeated in the tournament finishedw ith a 20-3 record.?This is the first year on one can say we took the easy road,” Hogan said.Mayor Judy Flanagan Kennedy presented all the players and the coaches with citations from the city. There was also a special citation for Mike Stinson, the father of player Catherine Stinson and coach Gabrielle Stinson, who died unexpectedly last week. Stinson had done the score book for the team all four years that his daughter, Catherine, played and for the four years Gabrielle played.?Mike touched everyone,” Hogan said. “He was so good to the kids. He would always have candy for them on the scoring table. He was such a positive person to have around. We all loved Mike and we miss him dearly.”Catherine and Gabrielle accepted the citation, which was made out to “Lynn English Girls Basketball Greatest Scorekeeper.”?He was the best father you could ever have,” Catherine Stinson said. “I’m really happy the English High basketball team made him proud.”City Councilor Buzzy Barton, who coached the English High girls team (and the English boys team) at one point, commended Hogan for a great season.?He reached goals that have never been reached by an English High girls team,” Barton said. ‘He made the city proud.”Kennedy was also proud of the team’s accomplishments?It’s always good to see Lynn kids doing something that makes us proud and shows off the good things we have here to other communities,” she said.