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SL football falls to Plymouth North

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The Silver Lake High football team faced a challenge, and came up short. After getting their first win of the season against Norwood the week before, the Lakers resumed their Patriot League schedule (they will face Patriot League teams for the remainder of the regular season). The Lakers faced off against the Plymouth North Eagles on Thursday, Sept. 30 and while the game was competitive, the Lakers came up short in it. They got beat 28-12 by Plymouth North and fell to 1-3 on the season.

Plymouth North struck first in the game. They had a 73-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter followed by a two-point conversion on the ground to go up 8-0. Plymouth North also had an interception early in the second quarter. However, the Lakers would score in the first half. The Lakers got a turnover on downs at the Plymouth North 36-yard line and capitalized. Austin Smith primarily moved the ball forward on the ground for the team and scored a two-yard touchdown with 4:27 left in the half; the two-point conversion attempt was no good.

The Lakers got a stop at the two-yard line with 11 seconds left in the first half, but Plymouth North would end up extending its lead in the second half. Plymouth North had a 22-yard touchdown catch with 1:13 left in the third quarter and a 44-yard pass shortly thereafter after forcing a Lakers fumble. That put Plymouth North up 20-6.

Plymouth North had a one-yard touchdown run and a successful two-point conversion run with 3:07 remaining. While the Lakers got a 28-yard touchdown catch from Seth Wakefield with under a minute left, they did not have enough time to make a comeback.

The Lakers next game will take place this Friday, Oct. 8 at home against the Whitman-Hanson Panthers (7 p.m. start time).

Around the Field at Silver Lake fall openers

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With school getting back in session, many of the Silver Lake High sports teams will soon be playing regular season games. 

For many of the Silver Lake High fall sports teams, the regular season starts next week. Here is a look at when some of those teams will be starting their respective regular seasons.

Cross Country

The boys and girls cross country teams have their first regular season meets of the season at the same time and location. They will host Scituate on Thursday, September 9 (4:00 p.m. start time).

Field Hockey

The Lakers start their season on the road against Duxbury on Thursday, September 9 (4:00 p.m. start time). 

Football

The Lakers open up their season on the road against the Plymouth South Panthers on Friday, September 10 (7:00 p.m. start time).

Boys Golf

The Lakers have the first regular season varsity event of the school year. They will host Hingham High School at the Country Club of Halifax on Tuesday, September 7 (3:30 p.m. start time).

Boys Soccer

The Lakers will kick off their season with a home game against the North Quincy Red Raiders on Friday, September 10 (4:00 p.m.).

Girls Soccer

The Lakers will kick off their season with a road game against the North Quincy Red Raiders on Friday, September 10 (4:00 p.m.). It will take place at North Quincy High School.

Girls Volleyball

The Lakers are set to start their season a little later in volleyball than they are in some other sports. Their first scheduled regular season game of the season will take place on Wednesday, September 15 at home against the North Quincy Red Raiders (5:30 p.m. start time).

MIAA indoor mask mandate will impact at least two Silver Lake fall sports

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The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association has adopted a temporary indoor mask mandate for fall sports in hopes of mitigating the spread of coronavirus. It will impact at least two of the Silver Lake High sports programs this fall: girls’ volleyball and cheerleading. Those are the two MIAA teams that the Lakers have in the fall that have their competitions indoors.

The mask mandate will also apply to any of the other fall teams, if they were to have an indoor practice. However, none of the other teams in question have their competitions in indoor venues.

This mask mandate will apply to athletes regardless of their vaccination status and will be up and will last until at least October 1.

“These are minimum required safety standards that are consistent with the practice of indoor and outdoor recess and indoor and outdoor physical education classes during the school day,” MIAA executive director Bob Baldwin said in a statement issued on August 26. “These standards will be reviewed prior to October 1.”

This marks a change in policy from the previous fall sports season — which also took place during the coronavirus pandemic. That time around, athletes also had to wear masks outdoors. Now, masks are optional for coaches and athletes competing outdoors.

The decision came shortly after Massachusetts Commissioner of Education Jeffrey Riley was granted the authority to mandate masks in all public schools across the state by the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

The coronavirus vaccine is available to anyone ages 12 and up in the United States. 

SL Alum pitching in Cape Cod League

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He pitched well in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League, and now he’s pitching in an even better league.

Silver Lake High alum Stephen Quigley, a Halifax native and member of the Wheaton College baseball team, recently joined his second summer collegiate baseball team of the year. He went from being a member of the Pittsfield Suns of the Futures League to being a member of the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod Baseball League. The latter is widely regarded as the top summer collegiate baseball league in the country.

Quigley joined the Commodores last week and made his debut this past Sunday. He pitched three innings and allowed one run which was unearned. He allowed one hit, walked a batter, and struck out a man. He is one of two Wheaton College players on the roster.

Towards the end of the Cape Cod League season — as well as at the beginning of the season — teams tend to have more local players. That’s the case as players either hit their limits in terms of pitch count or games played as well as needing to return to school early for workouts with their respective teams. Not to mention injuries are a factor.

Additionally, Quigley fared well for the Suns this summer. He pitched in five games and went 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA in six innings of work. He allowed three hits, walked two batters, and struck out nine men.

For Wheaton, Quigley is a two-way player. He batted over .300 in the spring, however, the focus for him this summer has been pitching.

The Cape Cod League playoffs are set to begin this upcoming weekend.

Kyle Cipullo and Ben Lofstrom named to All-Scholastic team

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The Silver Lake High football team had some standards on the roster this past spring, and a couple of those athletes recently got recognition for their achievements.

Each year, newspapers around the state create their own all-scholastic teams, and this past school year was no different. The Patriot Ledger revealed their football all-scholastic team last week, primarily composed of high school football players from the South Shore.

The list included a pair of Lakers athletes: Kyle Cipullo and Ben Lofstrom.

Cipullo made the cut for his skills on both sides of the football. He played both offensive and defensive line for the Lakers. Cipullo, who is 6-foot-1, had a strong career as a three-year starter who amassed six sacks and blocked three kicks. On defense this past school year, he had a pair of sacks and four tackles for a loss.

Football isn’t his only sport; he was a two-time Patriot League all-star for his wrestling.  His athletic future appears to be in football and is set to play for Anna Maria College (an NCAA Division 3 school in Paxton, Massachusetts) this upcoming fall.

Lofstrom, made the list for his play as quarterback in his Lakers career. He holds the school’s all-time record for both passing yards (4,621) and touchdown passes (42).

This past season, he had five touchdown passes in seven games for the Lakers along with 531 passing yards in what was a rebuilding year for the team.

This marks his second straight season making the all-scholastic list. He too is a two-sport athlete. Lofstrom was a Patriot League all-star in both football and basketball. He will attend Fairfield University in Connecticut.

SL boys lacrosse coach named Patriot League Coach of the Year

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The Silver Lake High boys’ lacrosse team enjoyed plenty of success yet again this season — and they received some recognition for it.

The team’s head coach, Derek Weckbacher, was named as the Patriot League Coach of the Year for boys’ lacrosse. It marks the third time that he has received the award.

Weckbacher has built the team from the ground up. He took over the program at a time when the team really struggled. In 2016, the team lost each of the first 17 games of the season. Their lone win of the season came over a struggling Milton Wildcats program. However, in the three years since then, he has compiled a record of 46-26 — meaning that despite that slow start he has a winning record in his career as a Lakers head coach. That record is 47-43 overall.

Since then, the Lakers have enjoyed plenty of success, becoming a perennial playoff contender. The team has had four seasons since then because there was no 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic. In each of those four seasons (2017, 2018, 2019, 2021) the Lakers have made the playoffs. And this year, the program reached another milestone. The Lakers got their first ever playoff win.

The Lakers went 9-6 overall and beat the Barnstable Red Raiders 11-6 in the first round of the playoffs before losing to Hingham in the MIAA Division 1 south quarterfinal round.

Since the Lakers had a strong season, they had five Patriot League All-Stars: Andrew Tilton, Jake Generazo, Kyle Neal, Tommy Condon, and Christopher Broderick.

The team’s season came to a close on June 22.

SL softball makes it to Division 1 South Semifinals

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The Silver Lake High girls’ softball team enjoyed success in two of their three playoff games last week before their season came to a close.

The team picked up a 17-5 win over the Hopkinton Hillers on Monday, June 21 to advance to the Division 1 South quarterfinal round of the MIAA postseason tournament. There, they also performed well in a bout against Mansfield on Wednesday, June 23. The Lakers won that one 8-5. However, in the Div. 1 South semifinal one day later, they ran into some trouble. The Lakers went up against a tough Bridgewater-Raynham opponent in the semifinal. They lost 14-1 on Thursday, June 24, bringing their season to a close.

After a blowout win over Hopkinton, the Lakers played a competitive game against Mansfield. The Lakers started the game from behind as Mansfield put up two runs in the top of the first inning. However, the Lakers had a myriad of contributors at the plate and scored in four of the six innings in which they had at-bats. Samantha Waters and Brianna Ghilardi each had a team-high three hits in the win for the Lakers. Meanwhile, Waters, Hannah Kelleher, and Quinn Slyker each drove in a pair of runs for the team. On the mound, Ghilardi went six innings, allowed nine runners to reach base and struck out nine batters as she picked up the win.

And in the loss to Bridgewater-Raynham, their opponent had plenty of offensive success early. B-R scored nine runs in the top of the first inning and three more in the inning after that. The Lakers got 10 hits in the game and Jayme Carr had a team-high three of those hits.

With the loss, the Lakers finished the season at 12-4.

Around the field

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Here is a look at how the Silver Lake High varsity sports teams fared last week

Boys Lacrosse

The Lakers had their season come to a close after facing off against a tough Hingham opponent in the Division 1 South quarterfinal. They lost the game 17-6 on the road on Tuesday, June 22. In the loss to Hingham, Brandon Cavicchi scored a team-high two goals for the Lakers. Other than Cavicchi, a few other players scored goals for the Lakers against Hingham. They include: Jackson Nugent, Chris Broderick (1 assist), Tommy Condon (1 assist), and Will Cronin (1 assist). It was the first varsity goal of Nugent’s career.

Softball

The Lakers picked up a 17-5 win over the Hopkinton Hillers on Monday, June 21. Two days later, the Lakers beat Mansfield 8-5 in the Division 1 South quarterfinal. However, their season came to an end with a 14-1 loss to Bridgewater-Raynham on June 24.

Track

Select Lakers athletes competed at All-States. On the boys’ side, Sam Shirikjian came in seventh in the triple jump and 10th place in the long jump on June 26. On the girls’ side, Riley Paskow had the top performance for the Lakers. She came in 20th in the 400 meter. Additionally, the girls competed in their Division 1 South championship meet on Sunday, June 20.

At that meet, Paskow came in fourth in the 400 meter and seventh in the long jump while Toni Ierardi came in sixth in shotput and seventh in discus.

SL girls softball walks off against Duxbury

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It came down to the last at-bats and they were three outs away from losing the game. However, the Silver Lake High softball team saw the challenge and they beat it.

The Lakers hosted the Duxbury High Dragons on Wednesday, May 26 and while they went into the bottom of the seventh inning down a run, they got two in the final half frame and came out with a 5-4 victory. The win put them at 7-2 on the season.

Nina O’Neil was among the heroes for the Lakers in the game. She had a walkoff single on a full count to knock in the game-winning run. It came on the third at-bat of the inning.

Lily Gustafson started the inning off by reaching base on an error by the shortstop. The next batter Delaney Callanan (2-for-4, 4 RBI) had an RBI double to center field, scoring Gustafson. Silver Lake then put in Autumn Fletcher as a pinch runner for Callanan. Fletcher reached third base on a wild pitch and then scored on O’Neil’s ground ball single to center field.

The Lakers used two pitchers in the game: starter Caroline Peterson and reliever Briann Ghilardi. Peterson went four innings and allowed two runs, neither of which were earned. She allowed five hits and four walks and struck out four batters.

Ghilardi pitched the last three innings in relief and allowed two runs, both of which were earned, on five hits and didn’t walk any batters. She had three strikeouts.

The Lakers had eight hits in the win. Other than Gufstafson, Callanan, and O’Neil, who had two hits apiece, Hannah Kelleher and Sam Waters also had hits for the Lakers.

The Lakers finished their regular season at 8-2 last week.

Johndrow gets job done in debut for Hartford this season

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For the fourth and final time, Jason Johndrow is back on the mound for the Hartford Hawks baseball team.

The former Silver Lake High standout, who graduated from the school in 2016, is a Halifax native and a grad student on the Division I team.

Johndrow made his season debut last week — and he did what his team asked of him. On Friday, March 26, he pitched against the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and faced one batter. He struck out the lone batter he faced in his team’s 8-4 victory.

As of the start of this week, Johndrow had pitched in 28 college baseball games in his career and had one start under his belt over parts of four seasons.

Johndrow joined the program in 2017 and while he made five relief appearances for the team, he missed the 2018 season due to an injury. He came back in 2019 and made his career-high in appearances with 18. That’s also the season he made a start on the mound. It also looked as though Johndrow would have a role as a regular in the team’s bullpen last year. He had made four relief appearances before the team had to cancel the rest of its season due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Johndrow’s team has enjoyed plenty of success early on in this season. They were 6-2 as of the start of this week. Their next games will take place this Friday, April 2, on the road against Stony Brook in New York. They have a doubleheader against Stony Brook where the first game starts at noontime. College baseball doubleheaders are typically seven inning games.