Beverly turning season around
The Beverly High ice hockey team hit rock bottom on Jan. 10 when athletic director John Lyons was forced to call off the team's game with Danvers after the resignation of head coach Larry Jacobs the day before. The Panthers were 1-4-2, without a leader and had little chance of qualifying for the state tournament. But behind interim head coach Bob Gilligan, who stepped into the breach, Beverly has salvaged its season.
After Gilligan took over, Beverly won five of its next seven contests, including a 4-1 victory over Danvers last Wednesday, the program's first win over the Falcons since 1999. The two ringleaders of the renaissance have been senior goalie Matt Lampert and junior center Brendan Fullerton. Lampert, the team captain, made 25 saves against Danvers, and Fullerton played a part in all four Panther goals, registering 2 goals and 2 assists. Beverly's only losses under Gilligan in the seven-game span were to conference heavyweights Winthrop and Saugus.
''These guys can skate with those teams," said Gilligan. ''It's a confidence thing that is building up, something that was lacking in the past. These boys are hungry and they want to show what they can do."
Beverly entered the week needing six more points to qualify for the state tournament, which was unthinkable when Gilligan took over. The former Beverly High hockey star said the credit for the turnaround goes to the players. ''They've responded pretty well," said Gilligan, who will decide after the season whether to apply to be permanent head coach. ''It is a tough thing to change coaches halfway through the year. They've shown a lot of character and I'm just trying to build on that."
Amesbury High coach steps down
Amesbury High boys' head basketball coach Les Childs has decided to resign after being diagnosed with a blood infection. The infection, which had gone undiagnosed until recently, has kept the 60-year-old off the sidelines since Jan. 9 and sapped him of much of his energy. Childs said he sleeps about 14 hours a day. He is taking antibiotics, but after consulting with his doctors and his family he decided to step down. ''Those are just the cards you're dealt and the kids have to deal with it and I have to deal with it," said Childs, who began his second and latest stint as Amesbury's coach in 1993. ''It was a great run for me, but it's time to step back and get my health back -- that is priority number one -- and just go from there." Childs's assistant, Roger Beaulieu, who has been coaching in his absence, will take over for the remainder of the season.
Northeast center sets school record Lost in the hoopla of North Shore Tech's pulsating 109-104 quadruple overtime victory over Northeast Metro Regional Vocational High on Jan. 23 was the record-setting performance of Northeast center Ronnie Ruggiero. The junior big man from Melrose set a school record by pouring in 45 points in a losing effort. Ruggiero, who has been playing for the Northeast varsity since he was a freshman and was named a Commonwealth Conference all-star last season, set the school mark the old-fashioned way, hitting just one 3-pointer. He had 14 field goals and 14 free throws to account for the other 42 points.
Two wrestling teams are winners Pentucket and Triton Regional High Schools are on opposite ends of the scholastic wrestling spectrum, but both programs scored landmark wins last week. The Pentucket grapplers scored their first victory of the season last Thursday, defeating Saugus, 42-28. They followed up their inaugural win with another one over Wakefield last Saturday. Triton, a powerhouse in the Cape Ann League in the last couple of seasons, set a school record for victories with 22 after sweeping a quad-meet against Wilmington, Woburn, and Greater Lawrence.
Here and there Marissa Gambale and Sklar Sabbag, both of Swampscott, and Caitlin Pinkham and Bianca Gallo, both of Peabody, were part of a quintet of under-13 soccer players from the Beverly-based Aztec Soccer Club that finished in the top 10 at the 2004 Got Milk National 3v3 Finals, which were held last month at the Disney Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, Fla. Gambale, Sabbag, Pinkham and Gallo were joined by Andover's Jessica Morrow on the Aztec team, which was one of 30 squads from across the country to qualify for the three-on-three, goalie-free soccer competition in the U-13 competitive female division.
The North Shore Spirit recently traded pitcher Wes Crawford to the Pensacola (Fla.) Pelicans of the Central League in exchange for outfielder Jonathan Wright. Crawford was 4-5 with a 3.03 ERA in 16 appearances, including 10 starts, for the Spirit last season. Wright hit .323 with 4 home runs and 33 RBI in 217 at-bats last year for the Springfield-Ozark Mountain Ducks franchise, the Pelicans previous incarnation.
Eric Schena of Haverhill was named Northeast-10 Conference co-Diver of the Week for the week of Jan. 18, after setting a Bentley College school-record for 11 dives on the 1 meter board against Saint Michael's with a combined score of 414.60.
