Doesn’t it seem like fall sports just began?
Seriously, remember? You got to wear t-shirts at games, and were probably drinking an ice-cold Gatorade – a nice change of pace before shivering inside of hockey rinks.
And that got me thinking…
Lynnfield High has seen so, so, so many great moments the past eight months. Now, of course, we can’t go through them all, but let’s reflect on a few.
Starting off, who could forget the Sonny Tropeano game? The football team took on heavily-favored Amesbury, and handed the favorites their first loss of the season.
But more importantly, Lynnfield did it for Sonny, a star youth football player in Lynnfield who passed away in elementary school from a rare form of lung cancer.
With the Tropeano family in attendance, that never-forget-Friday was dedicated to Sonny, and the Pioneers stormed the field once the clock hit its zeros.
You can’t script it any better than that.
On the basketball court, the Lady Pioneers were winless several weeks into the season.
That said, what if I told you they not only qualified for the state tournament, but won their first round matchup against Southeastern RVT?
Man, what a turnaround that was. To head coach Sue Breen and company, well done.
Another great coach inside of the athletics system: Michelle Roach, who helms the Peabody-Lynnfield-North Reading girls hockey team.
Back in early February, Roach snagged her 100th win behind the benches in a showdown against Newburyport.
To make the day that much sweeter, her entire team surprised her with balloons and posters after the game.
I talked to Michelle just moments after that. Let me just tell you – her reaction was as pure as it gets. She never saw it coming.
Oh, no big deal, but boys soccer coach Brent Munroe completed his 30th season this past fall. Better yet – his Pioneers went all the way to the Elite 8.
The moral of the story is – good coaching never goes out of style. Munroe’s team went 14-4-3.
Speaking of Elite 8s, the field hockey team got there, too. The group scored seven goals in two games to knock off Tahanto and Pioneer Valley.
I didn’t forget Craig Stone, head coach of the wrestling team. The man, somehow, picked up 1,200 wins between wrestling and tennis back in February.
Talk about killing two birds with one Stone.
I had the pleasure of talking to him for about 40 minutes after his accomplishment. And despite the wins, he, frankly, would much rather talk about the athletes he’s coached.
Craig, I’ll see you at 1,300.
Then there was, well, this past Sunday. The boys hockey team was given the Sportsmanship Award at the one and only TD Garden in Boston.
But, with a coach as classy as Jon Gardner, it shouldn’t have been a surprise. Man, what a well-put-together program they’ve got over there.
So, in the end, it’s been an eventful eight months over in Lynnfield-land. But with spring sports ready to swing the bat, or racket, or whatever, here’s to many more.