With the Silver Lake Lakers football team wrapping up their season on Thanksgiving, fall sports are officially over for the school. And the same could be said for just about anywhere else in the state, except the few football teams who will be competing in State Championship games next week.
While there might not be any football, soccer, cross country, field hockey or volleyball until next year, there are still plenty of teams to go out and cheer for during the winter seasons.
Two of the four major sports in the United States — hockey and basketball — are winter sports and the Lakers have boys and girls teams in both.
It might also be worth noting the girls’ hockey team is a co-op program along with Whitman-Hanson and they were strong last year. Making the Division 2 South playoff bracket as the No. 12 seed, they were eliminated from the playoffs in the first round as they fell, 5-3, to Archbishop Williams. But they were a young team and finished the year 12-7, which makes them a team to watch.
Speaking of co-ops, the gymnastic team is paired together with Pembroke and last year, they succeeded together. Scoring 134.9 points in the Patriot League championship meet, they came away with a league title. They finished the year 7-1 in their first season in the Patriot League. Previously, they had been in the Cranberry Conference. A Patriot League All-Star her freshman year, Tori Newton, should be one of the team’s top performers this season. Expected to return 12 of their 18 gymnasts, watch for another strong season from the co-op this winter.
The boys’ hockey team and both basketball teams did not make the playoffs last season.
The wrestling team could be one to watch this year as they went 13-8-1 in their dual meets last winter. While they did lose Jake MacDonald, Aidan Bertram and David Pettingell, all of whom wrestled at All-States last season, the team as a whole last year was young — which should lead to positive results again this winter.
The Lakers also have track and swim teams, that compete in the winter.
Depending on the sport, this upcoming week will serve as either a tryout week or the first week of practice.