The winning streak continued at St. Mary’s.
For the last 11 school years, the Spartans have won at least one state title. And they took care of two of them between January and November in 2017.
The first was boys hockey, accomplished in March with a 4-2 win over Framingham for the Division 1 state crown; and the second one was two months ago, when the Spartans defeated Weston, 292-300, to win the Division 3 golf championship.
Along the way, in another stellar season at the school, St. Mary’s boys basketball team reached the Division 4 state final before losing to Maynard in a rematch of the 2016 game; and the football team won the Division 7 North championship before their undefeated season came to a halt with a 28-20 loss to Mashpee in the state semifinal.
If the St. Mary’s championship streak was the top story in the region, then 1A had to be the tremendous football seasons enjoyed by four of Lynn’s five schools, collectively.
In an unprecedented season on the gridiron, Tech, English and St. Mary’s reached double-digit victories — the Tigers for the first time ever — and Lynn Classical won its first five games before suffering the first defeat among the aforementioned schools.
For all that — along with Marblehead’s equally stellar 10-1 season — only one school emerged with a title, and that was Tech, which rolled over both Franklin County and Nashoba Regional to win the state vocational championship. It was the third such title for Tech, and the second for coach James Runner.
There were several themes and events that dominated the year. In late June-early July, the U.S. Senior Open was held at Salem Country Club in Peabody, won by Kenny Perry. The tournament proved to be a magnet for local golfers who either worked as marshals, caddied, or simply got tickets to watch.
With few exceptions over the four days, the tournament benefitted from spectacular weather, even though a late-arriving and slow-to-develop spring threatened to get in the way. And even though several marquee golfers withdrew, the field still packed a powerful punch.
The year 2017 was also the 50th anniversary of the night, on Aug. 18, 1967, when local legend Tony Conigliaro was beaned by a Jack Hamilton fastball. Conigliaro’s career was essentially ruined that night, even though he recovered enough to play two more full seasons and parts of two others.
There were nights held in his honor both in Lynn and Boston, but the Red Sox did not use the occasion to retire his No. 25, even though there had been rumors that might happen.
Collegiate sports played a bigger-than-usual role on the local scene this year. Lynn’s Katie Burt became the winningest goalie in Boston College women’s hockey history, and also backstopped the Eagles to a second straight appearance in the women’s Frozen Four.
Saugus’ Mike Vecchione was a finalist for the coveted college hockey Hobey Baker Award — seen as the sport equivalent to the Heisman Trophy. The Union College forward, a Malden Catholic graduate, did not win it, but as a consolation prize, he signed with the Philadelphia Flyers.
And Worcester State’s Justin Lewis, a Lynn Tech graduate, won the Division III national championship in the high jump.
And speaking of track and field, it was a stellar year for Marblehead native Shalane Flanagan, even if didn’t start off very well. Flanagan had to pull out of the Boston Marathon due to a stress fracture in her back, but recovered in time to become the top women’s finisher in the New York race — the first American woman to win since 1977.
Bbb
The year started off tragically with the death, in late January, of Lynn English basketball coach Mike Carr, who succumbed to cancer. Carr had become ill the previous winter, and nearly died then. But he recovered enough to resume coaching at the beginning of the 2016-2017 season.
Steve Stranahan, his best friend, finished out the year and despite the tragedy, the Bulldogs made the state tournament.
Former Lynn Tech star Antonio Anderson, who was on the Memphis team that made the NCAA men’s Division 1 final in 2008, was named coach at English over the summer.
Both the hockey and basketball tournaments provided many thrills — the biggest being St. Mary’s run to a state title. The championship helped erase the bitter memory of an overtime loss a year earlier in the state final.
The win came in coach Mark Lee’s 30th year behind the bench. And the year was just getting warmed up for Lee, who was inducted into the Massachusetts State Hockey Coaches Association Hall of Fame in May.
The Spartans closed out the year by springing two straight upsets, one over Austin Prep and the other over Hingham, to win the Christie Serino Christmas Tournament, which is hosted by Malden Catholic.
St. Mary’s boys basketball team tried mightily to win a second straight boys basketball title in Division 4. The Spartans made the final, where they played Maynard for the second straight year. But after the Spartans beat the Tigers to win in 2016, and then came from an eight-point deficit during a regular-season game to win again, the Tigers got their revenge in the state final to win their first championship in any sport. However, along the way, St. Mary’s came from way back to defeat Cathedral in the state semifinal.
Also in the winter tournament, Tristan Shelgren of St. John’s Prep won the state championship in the mile. It was the beginning of a great year for Shelgren, who won the state and Northeast cross country meets.
And in swimming, Sabrina Bunar of Lynnfield was the Division 2 state diving champ. Also in the pool, Marblehead finished as the state runner-up for Division 2 girls, and St. John’s Prep the runner-up for boys, and Classical continued its dominance in the Lynn City Swim Meet.
English wasn’t the only basketball program that changed hands. Swampscott’s Dave Born resigned during the season, with Justin Fucile taking over in the interim, and then being hired permanently later in the year.
Tom Grassa stepped down after a legendary 30-year career at Lynn Classical, but the job was kept all in the family as son Jasper, who was a standout player both for the Rams and at Bentley University, took over the reins.
Paul Moran stepped down as Saugus’ basketball coach two games into the season, for health reasons. For the time being, Mark Bertrand has stepped in.
And in hockey, longtime Lynn Jets coach Joe Conlon resigned, and assistant Mike Roberts was hired for the position.
Some other fallout for the winter: Winthrop announced the end of its girls hockey co-op with the Lynn and Saugus schools, and Lynn native Tommy Rowe was let go as coach of the Florida Panthers. And Peabody’s Marcelo Rocha, it was announced in February, was Massachusetts’ cross country Gatorade Award winner for Massachusetts.
Spring was a time to catch our collective breath after a busy winter. Only Swampscott softball and St. John’s Prep baseball went particularly far in the tournament — the Big Blue reaching the Division 2 North final while the Eagles, once again, made the Super 8 final before bowing — this time to St. John’s of Shrewsbury.
Lynnfield coach Craig Stone notched his 1,100th career victory between wrestling and girls tennis. His Pioneers tennis team won the Division 3 North tournament before bowing out to Martha’s Vineyard.
Classical baseball and softball both had lengthy season-opening winning streaks, but despite winning the Northeastern Conference title in both sports, they fell in first-round tournament games, the girls to Haverhill and the boys to Marblehead.
Softball pitchers Mia Nowicki of St. Mary’s and Austin Prep’s Logan MacDonald engaged in a three-part rivalry over the spring. but it was Austin Prep getting the upper hand in the Division 3 North semifinals.
It was a memorable spring for Classical’s Elie Kalambayi. He won the Division 2 state championship in the triple jump with a 44-7 1/2, and, after strong showings in both the all-states and New Englands, advanced to the nationals in North Carolina. Lynn Tech also won the state vocational track title, and Lynnfield’s Kate Mitchell was fifth in the national emerging elites in the 800
In the summertime, Peabody’s Little League softball and baseball teams won the District 16 all-star tournaments, but neither advanced beyond that. Lynn’s junior softball team made the state tournament, and both the 13- and 14-year-old Babe Ruth baseball teams from Lynn made the state semifinals, but they lost both ends of a doubleheader at Fraser Field. Lynn Shore Little League repeated as Lynn City Series champion.
And in golf, Judy Johnson and Tara Johnson-Friedman won the championship in the state WGAM Mother-Daughter Tournament.
The school year opened with new athletic directors in Saugus (James Bunnell) and Peabody (Bob Bua), a new football coach at Classical (Brian Vaughan) and a new football program at KIPP Academy, under the direction of James Rabbitt.
After a 2016 season in which Classical and English won five games between them, both schools underwent startling transformations. English, under third-year coach Chris Carroll, emerged as an elite team with the likes of Item All-Stars Matt Severance, Prince Brown and Jacob Miller, as well as a devastating running attack, to win the Northeastern Conference South, win 10 games and soundly defeat Classical, 38-0, on Thanksgiving. The Bulldogs made the Division 3 North final before bowing out of the tournament.
Also reaching the Division 8 North final was Tech, which then went onto win the state vocational title. Stars such as Steffan Gravely, Keoni Gaskin and Emerson Ramirez emerged for the Tigers.
Marblehead, too, won 10 games and reached the Division 4 North final before losing to Melrose, the eventual Super Bowl winner in the division.
Classical, under Vaughan, won its first five games before Somerville finally handed the the Rams a loss. Swampscott won it first four games before losing to English at Blocksidge Field in a battle of unbeatens. Over the winter, spring and summer, Blocksidge had undergone extensive renovations and opened in the fall with a new turf field, new bleachers, and extensive landscaping. Also opening a new field in the fall was Winthrop.
St. Mary’s was the only area team to win a sectional. The Spartans defeated Brighton in the Division 7 North final, but fell a week later to Mashpee, the eventual Super Bowl winner.
KIPP, in its first season, won three games.
In other sports, Danvers won the Division 2 state championship in girls soccer, and, in addition to the golf team’s state title, St. Mary’s boys soccer finished the regular season with no losses, including a win in the Lynn city tournament, but bowed out in the state tournament.
