Rampage 2

RAMPAGE HOME

NEWS

SPORTS

FEATURES

CLUBS and ACTIVITIES

CREATIVE WORK

Athletic Director’s Notebook by Bill Devin

Winter Sports

The 2009-2010 winter sports season was an extremely successful and busy one at Lynn Classical High School.

The boy's basketball team, the girl's basketball team, the boy's hockey team, and the girl's hockey team all qualified for the MIAA State Tournament. We were also proud to host both the Walter Boverini City-Wide Basketball Tournament and the Paul Duchane Girl's Basketball Jamboree. The school honored basketball legend Dr. Eddie Robinson on February 2nd prior to the LCHS/Peabody boy's varsity game. In 1953 Robinson scored an amazing 64 points in a game against Beverly (a school record). Dr. Robinson continued his education and playing career at Yale University before launching a 26 year career in Radiology at Salem Hospital.

Lady Rams

After starting the season 1-4, the Lady Rams stormed back to finish at an 11-9 clip and land a berth in the state tournament. The Rams are blessed to have an excellent coach in Tom Sawyer, an executive at Exxon Corp and NEC Coach of the Year in 2008, who has steered his teams to two state tourney appearances in the last three years. Senior Captain Diamond Doe and Junior Captain Hannah Byrne paced the Rams in all offensive categories...both Doe and Byrne were selected to the NEC All-Star Team...look for Hannah to make a lot of noise this spring season with the bat (and glove) for Coach Chris Warren's talented corps of Lady Ram softballers...Sawyer also received fabulous guard play from soccer star Brianna Capone and spring track speedster Tashanna Brown...but the biggest surprise of the season was senior power forward Dora Malila who was a force all year on the boards...Coach Dennis Baldini and daughter Cara Baldini helped guide the junior varsity and freshmen teams respectively to fantastic seasons. Junior Varsity standouts included Roseanne Bautista, Thaliana Cuevas, and lefty sharpshooter Kim Eldred...Five "Fab" Freshmen players found themselves on the varsity roster for the opening round of the tournament vs Danvers: Monta Connolly, Danielle Moran, Messeret Kebede, Alina Garrity, and point guard Taylor Dumas...needless to say, Coach Sawyer is enthusiastic about the nucleus that returns next year...way to go Lady Rams!!!

Boys Basketball

Head Coach Tom Grassa has taken the boy's basketball team to the post season 23 out of the past 25 years since he has been at the helm. The Rams finished the season with a 13-7 record and were led all season by NEC MVP point guard (and Bentley bound) Jasper Grassa. Number "11" was absolutely sensational all season long and guided the team to an overtime victory against Woburn and was featured on Fox 25 News burying a last second shot to knock off the number one seed North Andover. The semifinals saw Classical lose a heartbreaker in the waning seconds of the game to Reading (68-67). The thousand point scorer Grassa had plenty of help from his supporting cast this winter. Big man Josh Cheever, Tony Wonde (NEC All-Star), and Ariel Ligonde (NEC All-Star) dominated the offensive/defensive glass while sharpshooter Nicky Grassa broke a school record for 3s in a game (9) by popping in 28 points against Everett. Carlo "CB" Buono and Josh "Q" Imaydi also supplied an offensive spark in the Rams balanced attack. The Junior Varsity squad led by veteran coach and Lynn firefighter Kenny "KT" Turner finished their campaign with a 14-7 record. Turner cited the strong play of forward (and Rams running back) Keith Nance, point guard Joelle Reyes (soccer player), and forward Derek Edmonds (baseball player)...and how about our freshmen basketball team? They finished the season with a 19-0 record!!! Undefeated baby!!! Coach Will Hayes and Coach Alberto Rodriquez stated that they had Michigan's version of the Fab Five: Eraldo "Special" Custodio, Jalen Brown, Salim Fort, Brian Saniford, and Nick Simpson...as well as some other key players in Brandon Pinnock, Joe Rock, and Ricky Doucette...the Rams hoop future looks very bright!!!

A Blast from the Past!!!!

Lynn Classical's nurse, June Blake recently acquired this photo of the 1914 LCHS Girls Basketball Team

Girls Hockey

Turning to girl's hockey...Lynn Classical had 3 players who laced them up this winter with players from Winthrop, Revere, and Lynn English High School...Coach Anthony Martucci's coop team finished the season with a 9-3-6 record before bowing out of the tournament to powerhouse Arlington Catholic...Senior Kelly Deveney was a stalwart on defense (1-7-8) while also earning NEC All-Star status as a soccer player in the fall...Chelsey Bartlett had an awesome season at forward (8-12-20) ...the fiery Bartlett looks to repeat her NEC All-Star season in softball as the Rams catcher...Freshmen Class President Casey McNulty was also a member of this year's tournament team...Casey played Varsity Soocer and plans on playing softball this spring.

Lynn Jets

The Lynn Jets Boy's Hockey Team, comprised of players from LCHS, LEHS, and LVTI had a break out year in the tough Northeastern Conference under the tutelage of Coach Joe Conlon by finishing the season with a 14-7-1 mark that catapulted them into the post season for the first time in their 3 year existence. The Jets received "gutsy" play from NEC All-Star defensemen Mike Duggan (4-8-12) and his defensive counterparts Ryan Powers (2-6-8) and Demetrius Polk (5-10-15)...Brothers Terry Finnigan (11-6-17) and John Finnigan (5-9-14) played together all season long on the second line...while Rams Ryan Coppinger (4-2-6) and Kyle Devin (6-5-11) shored up the "O" for the third line...look for freshmen Steven Petkevitch to jump into the mix next year...interestingly Polk, Duggan, and "T" Finn all scored goals in the 3-1 state tourney victory over Northeast/Malden...the Jets fell to undefeated Concord-Carlisle 5-2 in the semifinals...

Swimming

Head Coach Denise Silva and ssistants Christina Colella and Don McKenna had a huge turnout this winter in swimming. Senior Captain Katelyn Kidney finished her "storied" career at LHS by being named NEC MVP and breaking the city record in the 200 freestyle...at the State Meet the All American Kidney finished 3rd in the 200 freestyle and 4th in the 500 freestyle, Katelyn will be attending Bryant University (RI) next year on a swimming scholarship...Senior diver and NEC All-Star Tom Schumann broke the city diving record with a 223.10 performance...Tom also finished first in the NEC meet at Salem State College...Senior Peter Rondeau, Abby Field, and Rachel Tomerlin all had strong seasons for the green and gold.

NEC All Star Tom Schumann

Winter Track

Coach Ryan Hathaway's boy's track team witnessed Senior Chevere Archer snap the school record for the high jump (6 feet 1 inch)...Archer also ran the 50 and is being recruited by the University of New Haven, Merrimack, and Curry College to play football...Junior Daniel Omoregie made the NEC All-Star Team as a shotputter...his best throw this year was 44 feet 8 inches...Big Dan was also an NEC All-Star in football and plans on being quite visible in opponents backfields next fall...Girl's Winter Track Coach Lauren Phelps praised the seasons of Senior Captain Katie Thongchanh and Sophomore Hulerie McGuffie. Katie, who also captained the cross country team, was selected to the NEC All-Star Team and was undefeated in dual meets as a 50 yard hurdler... she finished 3rd in the 50 hurdles at the Reggie Lewis Center while competing in the NEC Meet...McGuffie placed 3rd in the NEC Meet (300 meters) and qualified for the states...look for the speedster to make an impact during the spring track season...

Senior Captain Katie Thongchanh

Congrats to Head Football Coach Tim Phelps and Head Winter Track Coach Lauren Phelps on the birth of their second son Luke... and congrats to Classical's beloved Athletic Trainer Tom "Triple T" Clark on his recent engagement...a big thank-you all of our winter student/athletes... Coach Melissa McCular’s basketball cheerleaders kept the crowd entertained all season long and will sorely miss Captain’s Jessica Laramie and Joleen “Jo Jo” Satterwhite next season…while the Jets hockey cheerleading coach Linda Hix’s daughter Captain Rachel Hicks will also be graduating in June. A big thanks to both of the cheerleading squads for their spirit and support…

Classical's Champion Softball Team Unveils New Banner

Coach Chris Warren, Hannah Byrne, Jenny Garrity, Fallon Gaudet, Jillian Adams and Rachel Carrol

proudly display their North Eastern Conference Banner

Last Friday marked the day of the second annual student faculty basketball game. However, unlike last year where the students dominated every aspect of the game, this year was different. The faculty under Mr. Phelps rallied with five seconds left after getting some help from the students when Phelps was fouled with only 2 seconds left in the game. Mr. Phelps sunk both free throw shots to put the faculty up 42 to 41, and basically sealed the game, and bragging rights, for the faculty and, especially, our two beloved vice-principals, Mr. Constantino and Mr. Sakowich.

I being a student at Lynn Classical, couldn’t help but see that the students were treated unfairly . I talked to coach Sloden after the game, and he wasn’t happy with, "the way his players were treated and that this game was stolen from his team." At the end of the first half the students were up by almost 15 points, after a fantastic first half by juniors, Jarell Bird and Jasper Grassa. The faculty had also seen an excellent half by Mr. Devin, Mr. Phelps, Mr. Zukowski and Mrs. Mack. Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. Upton also had a great first half too. However, during a fabulous halftime show by the school band, and The Informers, the score flipped giving the teachers the 15 point advantage over the students. Those score keepers and especially the referee had to be paid, at least a small fortune, by the teachers because of the calls that were seen in the second half.

Also, I didn’t believe time travel had been discovered yet either. During the second half, I saw the time keeper add 10 to 15 seconds on to the clock numerous times in order to benefit the faculty. What I am trying to say is, if the students played a fair game against the teachers the faculty would be annihilated. Nevertheless, despite the fact that the students got jipped out of a win, the faculty played hard and never gave up which ultimately won them the game. So, congratulations to the faculty, but I will assure you that this feeling will not last very long, because next year the students will be back, and will be expecting a win.

The Lynn Classical High School Department recently hired 3 new coaches for the upcoming spring season…

Lynn Classical High School graduate Peter Pappagianopoulos was hired to take over the Varsity Co-op Lacrosse position for the 2009 season. Peter has a solid lacrosse background having played at LCHS and 4 years as a defensemen for Salem State College. Prior to landing the varsity job, Pappagianopoulos coached the Junior Varsity team for 2 seasons. He currently teaches Biology and Chemistry at Lynn English High School.

Kathleen Miller, another former Lynn Classical student/athlete, will be taking the reins of the Girl’s Varsity Spring Track program. Miller graduated from UMASS/AMHERST and has spent the past 2 seasons as an assistant coach in Lauren Phelps Winter Track program. Kathleen is a special education teacher at Lynn Classical at The Grade 9 Academy.

Another Ram grad, Ryan Hathaway, has been hired to direct the Boy’s Varsity Spring Track squad. Hathaway is certainly no stranger to the Lynn High School sports scene. He has served as an assistant football coach and assistant track coach (winter and spring) at LCHS since 2004. Ryan graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and is employed by the Xenon Corporation.