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Year in review: Silver Lake football

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What the Silver Lake High football team has been able to achieve over these past few seasons is certainly impressive.

This past season helped the Lakers stay on the right track as they made only their fourth playoff appearance since 1980. The part about that which stands out most, however, is that they have made it to the playoffs in back-to-back seasons now.

Plus, they won a playoff game in each of those seasons and most teams across the state cannot say the same.

The Lakers finished the year at 6-5 despite not getting the result they wanted on Thanksgiving, falling to Pembroke.

The Lakers had a strong senior class this year which will be hard to replace. They will lose both their offensive and defensive MVPs to graduation, running back Phil Lashley and middle linebacker Matt Powell. Each of them were Patriot League All-Stars twice.

On top of this, their offensive line is going to look a lot different. In addition to Powell, Gavin Hamilton, Frank Perfetuo, Reed Grenon and Nate Thacker were all seniors this year, so there will be much turnover there.

Under center, the Lakers will have their third quarterback in three years next year. This was Tanner Boyd’s first and final season under center.

The Lakers had three quarterbacks listed on their roster this year with the other two being Jake Waters, a junior, and Jesse Miller, a sophomore. Waters proved himself as a valuable asset defensively this year, recording multiple interceptions while Miller competed for the starting job with Boyd during the preseason, so the Lakers have at least two options there.

Regardless of who is under center for the Lakers, they will have Diamani Williams and Bobby Ohlson back to throw to, the team’s wide receivers from this past season.

Defensively, the team will also be without four-year letterman Liam Kelleher, who recorded over 50 tackles this past season.

The Lakers have about nine months off before their preseason starts next August.

Lakers lose to Pembroke on Thanksgiving

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The Silver Lake High football team played a highly-contested bout on Thanksgiving this season, but this year it was the town, who used to be a part of the school district which came out on top.

Both teams battled, but Pembroke came out with a 25-28 win over the Lakers at Pembroke High School on Thursday morning. 

Early in the contest, the Pembroke Titans controlled the game. They scored a pair of touchdowns to go up 14-0 in the first quarter.

With about five minutes remaining in the second quarter, the Lakers responded when Diamani Williams took a punt return to the end zone for a touchdown. This and an extra point kick from Tyler Duggan made it a 14-7 game. On the final play of the first half, Tyler Boyd rushed for a 10-yard touchdown.

The Lakers also hit their extra point kick, tying the game at 14 apiece.

Boyd gave the Lakers the lead with 6:29 remaining in the third quarter on a quarterback sneak from the 1-yard line. Their PAT was successful, putting the Lakers up 21-14.

With 9:24 remaining in the ballgame, Pembroke took the lead. They intercepted Boyd and took the ball to the end zone. Pembroke also had a successful 2-point conversion pass to go up 22-21. Just five minutes later, the Titans had another rushing touchdown to go up 28-21.

The Lakers reacted quickly, however, with a 65-yard run from Phil Lashley that put the team in the red zone. From there, Boyd ran in the game-tying touchdown and Duggan kicked the extra point, tying the game at 28-28 with under two minutes remaining.

After this, the Lakers went for an onside kick–but they were not successful. With the ball, the Titans were able to find some success on the ground. This included a 30-yard run that put them in Lakers territory. With 35 seconds left, they rushed in a 5-yard touchdown and kicked an extra point to go up 35-28.

The Lakers had one more chance at scoring after that, but Pembroke intercepted them again, hampering their comeback effort.

With the loss, the Lakers finished their season at 6-5.

Halifax’s Emily Goodwin named to NCAA student-athlete leadership position

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One Halifax native has taken a leadership position in college athletics to go along with her spot on the Mass Maritime Buccaneers softball team.

Mass Maritime Academy junior Emily Goodwin, a Halifax native and class of 2015 Silver Lake Regional High School grad, was named to the NCAA Division III National Student-Athlete Advisory Committee as the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference’s representative, earlier this month.

The announcement was made by MASCAC (Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference) Commissioner Angela Baumann.
Goodwin’s three-year term with the position started as soon as she was appointed to it. She will be among a group of student-athletes throughout the region on a committee discussing the issues impacting college athletics and how the student-athlete experience can be improved..

This position is a major accomplishment for Goodwin not only because she was selected of all the athletes at Mass Maritime, but because she is just the second athlete from the school in the last eight years to be appointed to this post.

Over the past two seasons, Goodwin has been a valuable piece of Mass Maritime’s lineup. In 49 games, she has hit .274, knocked in 24 runs and a owned a .745 OPS in that span.

This past season, she made 21 starts at first base for her team and the Buccaneers had their best finish in the past decade at 7-17. Playing first base required some versatility on Goodwin’s part since it was not her natural position. Her freshman year, she played shortstop at school.

The Buccaneers softball season starts back up on March 15, 2018 with a road doubleheader against the Wentworth Institute of Technology (3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. start times), weather permitting because college softball and baseball games in March are often postponed if there is still snow on the ground or if it is raining.

SL Midgets Football win OCYFL Super Bowl!

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The Silver Lake Youth Football Midgets ended their season last week with the best outcome imaginable.

The Silver Lake Warriors had an excellent game against the Rockland Bulldogs in the Division 3 Old Colony Youth Football League Super Bowl, winning it by a score of 20-14. Not only did the Warriors win the Super Bowl, but they handed Rockland their first loss of the season in an all-around team effort.

The game was quite physical from the start. Rockland used this to their favor early on as they were able to take a 6-0 lead in the ballgame. Silver Lake was able to respond with two touchdowns of their own, however, to take a 12-6 lead. They held this lead for a bit, but the Bulldogs responded with a touchdown and a 2-point conversion to take a 14-12 lead.

In the third quarter, the Warriors, still trailing, found themselves on fourth down in Bulldogs territory. They gave the ball to running back Austin Smith, and he brought in the go-ahead touchdown from 35 yards out. A successful conversion gave the Warriors a 20-14 lead.

Silver Lake had a strong drive in the fourth quarter that could have put the game away, but they were stopped on fourth down with a few minutes remaining. This gave Rockland a chance to make a comeback. However, Rockland was unable to do so because their completed pass on the final play of the game just was not long enough. With the play clock at zero, the Warriors were officially champions after this.

The Warriors championship team was coached by Brian Kennedy. He was also joined by many assistant coaches including: Ed Carroll, Steve Peterson, Ed Scigliano, Doug Gilmore, Eric Johnson and Josh Straughn.

The win is certainly a positive sign for the future of Silver Lake High football since players from this team will be contributing there in just a few years.

SL Boys’ soccer falls to Brockton in playoffs

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The Silver Lake boys’ soccer team made a strong playoff run, but it came to an end last week. On Wednesday, Nov. 15, the Lakers fell, 4-1, to the Brockton Boxers in the Division 1 South Sectional semifinals at on the road at Marciano Stadium in Brockton. With the win, top-seeded Brockton advanced to the Div. 1 South finals, which was hosted at Whitman-Hanson Regional High School on Saturday, Nov. 10.

In their game against Brockton, Silver Lake fell behind by a goal eight minutes into the contest. This caused the Lakers to be more aggressive during the game. It also gave them a strong scoring opportunity with about four minutes left in the first half, but they were just shy of the score.

In the second half, Brockton started pulling away and took away the Lakers opportunity to make a comeback. Brockton put up three unanswered goals in the period to go up 4-0 but with a few minutes left in the game, the Lakers made their mark on the scoreboard. Owen Nally made it a 4-1 game, scoring a goal on a free kick. By that point, however, the Lakers did not have enough time to make a comeback, even though they were playing well.

The Lakers, who finished the season at 15-4-2, played well in the postseason. Their opening game against Durfee resulted in a 4-3 win on penalty kicks. In their next bout, they faced a Bay State League powerhouse, Braintree, and beat them 1-0. The win over Braintree in the quarterfinals got the Lakers to the Div. 1 South Semifinal game against Brockton.

Now that their season is over, the Lakers will lose nine seniors to graduation: defenders Brian Reilly, Michael Carey, Connor White, Casey Grindle, Keagan Nocher and William d’Entremont plus forwards Michael Donovan and Andrew Corcoran.

Lakers prep for Turkey Day game vs. rival Pembroke

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There is only one game left on the Silver Lake High football team’s schedule, but it also one of the most hyped up games of the season.

The Lakers have had a successful season. Through 10 games, they are 6-4 and they won a playoff game before falling to Milton in a tight game in the second round. Now, however, their focus is on the Pembroke Titans. Since Pembroke used to be a part of the Silver Lake school district, they became the Lakers Thanksgiving Day rival when they got their own school.

This has not been the Titans best year to date, at 2-7, but they have played some highly-competitive games against quality Patriot League Fisher Division teams. For example, they beat Scituate, 24-6, earlier in the season albeit Scituate made it to the Division 5 South finals. Their other win came against Westwood, who knocked Silver Lake out of the playoffs in 2016. Plus, their games against North Quincy, Plymouth South and Hanover were decided by three points or less.

Against Pembroke, the Lakers may be able to enjoy some serious success offensively. After all, Pembroke is coming off a 60-42 loss to Barnstable. In contrast, the Lakers beat Plymouth South, 49-28, last week.

History is also on the Lakers’ side in this one. Last year, the Lakers beat Pembroke, 40-20.

The game against Pembroke will be the final game of 19 Lakers senior’s careers: Tyler Duggan, Daniel Collins, Tanner Boyd, Michael Toledo, Nicholas Frieburger, Eamonn Irving, Ryan Murphy, Nicholas Webby, Phillip Lashley, Liam Kelleher, Thomas Landers IV, Kyle Griffin, Matthew Powell, Matthew Gallagher, Gavin Hamilton, Francis Perfetuo, Reed Grenon, and Nathan Thacker.

After this season, the Lakers team could look quite a bit different since their quarterback, top running back and many of their linemen are seniors this season.

This year’s Thanksgiving game is on Thursday, Nov. 23 (10:00 a.m. start time) at Pembroke High School.

Laker Girls Soccer tops Dartmouth

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On Monday night, the Silver Lake High girls’ soccer team started off their postseason campaign with a strong home win in the first round of the Division 2 South playoff bracket.

The Lakers, who had a lot of momentum granted the immense success they enjoyed for much of the regular season had one of their best games of the season as they shut down Dartmouth, 4-0. With the win, the Lakers improved to 15-4-1 on the season and advanced the their section’s quarterfinal against Notre Dame Academy.

The first half of the game was tightly contested since Dartmouth’s defense and goalkeeping were sharp. Due to this limitation, the Lakers were limited to one goal in the first half. This score came from Morgan Wohlgemuth off a strong pass from Melanie Coughlin. Other than that, however, the game was close in the first half. It also stayed that way for the first 15 minutes of the second half before the Lakers broke out.

With 25 minutes left in the contest, Hannah Vogt doubled the Lakers’ lead with her first of two goals of the game. Just a few minutes later, Holly Reeder-Morning scored her first goal of the game to put her team up by three, and Vogt kicked in the team’s final goal of the game with four minutes left.

Allie Crawford had four assists while Caity Smith had a strong performance in net. Smith earned the shutout in the win.

A major reason why the Lakers have enjoyed so much success this season is because they are such an experienced team. They have 13 seniors on their roster.

In order to prepare for the postseason, it helped the Lakers that they played some tough Patriot League competition during the regular season. They faced the likes of Duxbury, Hingham and Whitman-Hanson, all of whom made the postseason. 

Silver Lake Football falls to Milton

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The Silver Lake high football team was close in their last game, but they were unable to keep moving along the playoff bracket.

The No. 3 Lakers were met with a difficult challenge as they faced one of the best teams on the South Shore, the No. 2 Milton Wildcats in the Division 4 South Semifinal game on the road. Milton threw well and was able to beat Silver Lake, 20-14, in Milton last Friday night.

Milton struck first in the contest, throwing a 30-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter to take a 6-0 lead. That would not silence the Lakers, however, as they were able to strike back

Early in the second quarter, the Lakers put down a big hit on Milton’s quarterback. This caused a fumble which Lakers defensive lineman Matt Powell was able to pick up. The Lakers drove downfield for about three minutes and finally, Tanner Boyd ran in a QB sneak from a yard out with 6:23 left in the first half. He also ran in the 2-point conversion, giving his team an 8-6 lead.

In the third quarter, Milton enjoyed continued success with their no-huddle offense and had a 7-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter to go up, 20-8. It was their second touchdown of the quarter. Late in the game, however, the Lakers started to rally back. They forced their opponent to turn the ball over on downs and on the seventh play of their new drive, Boyd ran in a 2-yard touchdown to put his team within six points with under a minute left to play.

This, however, would not give the Lakers a chance at a comeback. Milton was able to recover the onside kick and did a couple of quarterback kneels to run down the clock to zero.

Following the loss, the Lakers moved on to play Plymouth South on Thursday, Nov. 9 in a road consolation game. Now, their next game is at home on Thanksgiving against Pembroke (10:00 a.m.). 

SL volleyball clinches playoff spot

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The Silver Lake high volleyball team’s persistence over the past few years paid off for them last week.

On the final day of the regular season, the Lakers got their 10th win of the season to improve to 10-10 on the year. Since they had a .500 winning percentage thanks to their 3-1 win over a struggling Scituate Sailors team on Wednesday, Oct. 25, they clinched a playoff spot in the MIAA Division 2 South bracket. It will be their first playoff appearance since 2011.

In the first set, the Lakers quickly fell behind, 4-0. But for the rest of the set, they were downright dominant. They went on a 6-1 run to take the lead and thanks to some strong serving from Michelle Vaughan (three aces) and Abigail Gallagher (four aces), they were able to win the set 25-10.

The Lakers also went down by a couple points in the second set before they flat out dominated once again. They ended up winning that one 25-12. Although the Sailors won the third set, 25-23, they could not overcome the Lakers. Silver Lake ended up winning the final set 25-15.

Sarah Russo (five digs), Kristin Heath (four digs), Gallagher (four digs) and Catherine Donovan (two blocks) were a few players of the many players who excelled defensively in the win.

It was a good day for the Lakers to clinch the playoff spot too since the win came on senior night–and the Lakers are a senior-heavy squad. This year’s team has strong leadership with seven seniors on the roster: Lauren Hamilton and Abigail Gallagher, Heidi Banden, Sarah Russo, Alyssa Nelson, Michelle Vaughan and Kristin Heath. Making it to the playoffs this year was important for the Lakers because of how much varsity experience this team had accumulated.

The Lakers have some momentum headed into the postseason. They won three of their last four matches of the regular season

Lakers Football wins first playoff game 20-18

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For the second year in a row, the Silver Lake High football team won a playoff game.

This time, they defeated Dighton-Rehoboth, 20-18, in the first round of the MIAA Division 4 South playoff bracket in the last minute of their bout last Friday night.

With 52 seconds remaining in the game, the Lakers were able to take the lead on a 1-yard touchdown run from quarterback Tanner Boyd. Following the score, there was not enough time left on the clock for their opponent to respond. Before Boyd’s touchdown, the Lakers did not lead at any point in the game.

The Lakers’ defense set up that go-ahead scoring drive. Dighton-Rehoboth had a 4th-and-1 on the Lakers’ 42-yard line with about three minutes in the game and, unsurprisingly, they went for it. They did not convert, however. Linebacker Matt Powell, one of the Lakers’ captains, came up with a huge tackle for a loss to give his team a shot at a winning drive.

In the early part of the game, Dighton-Rehoboth was in control. They scored on a 55-yard run in the first quarter. Later in the quarter, they took advantage of a Lakers fumble in the red zone and turned that into a scoring drive to go up 12-0.

The Lakers did not get shut out in the first half; with less than a minute remaining, Boyd threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Bobby Ohlson to make it a 12-6 game.

Midway through the third quarter, Dighton-Rehoboth intercepted the Lakers and ran in a 23-yard touchdown the next play. The Lakers nulled the score though since Diamini Williams returned the next kickoff for a touchdown. Boyd then threw a 2-point conversion pass to Ohlson, to make the score 18-14.

The Lakers move on to face Milton in the second round of the playoffs on the road (Friday, Nov. 3, 7 p.m. start time).