Not every team can have a perfect season, and the Silver Lake High football team had theirs come to an end last Friday night.

After winning their first three games of the season, the Lakers were handed their first loss of the season, 39-22, by the Hingham Harbormen on the road.

The Harbormen struck first in the game–and it did not take the Lakers long to respond. In the first quarter, Tanner Boyd threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Bobby Ohlson to tie the game at six apiece. Boyd completed his pass to Nate Thacker on the 2-point conversion to give his team an 8-6 lead.

That lead would not last very long, however. The Harbormen scored on a 45-yard screen pass under one minute later to take a 12-8 lead. Less than five minutes later, they added another score on a 21-yard quarterback run. They hit their extra point and took a 19-8 lead into halftime.

The Lakers fought back and Phil Lashley (22 carries, 106 yards) scored from two yards out in the third quarter. They also hit their 2-point conversion to make it a 19-16 game.

Unfortunately for the Lakers, the Harbormen had a 60-yard touchdown pass just 20 seconds later to pad their lead.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Lashley punched in a 5-yard touchdown run to bring the Lakers within five points, but that was as close as they would come to a win.

The Harbormen padded their lead with two more scores in the fourth quarter. First, they threw a 25-yard touchdown pass and a few minutes later, it was a 10-yard touchdown run that gave them a 39-22 lead. At that point, the Lakers did not have enough time to make a comeback.

The Lakers move on to face Duxbury next Friday, Oct. 6 at home (7:00 p.m. start time).

Maybe it took longer than they wanted, but the Silver Lake High football team was able to prevail on homecoming last Saturday.

In overtime, the Lakers were able to pull off a 20-14 win over the Quincy High Presidents. With the win, the Lakers improved to 3-0 on the year.

The first quarter of the game was rather uneventful. There was no score, although it would not take the Lakers much time at all to take the lead. Midway through the second quarter, Phil Lashley punched in a 4-yard touchdown run to put his team up 6-0.

With three minutes left in the first half, Quincy ended up taking the lead. They returned an interception 70 yards for a touchdown. Their extra point attempt was good, which gave them a 7-6 lead. Even so, they would not go into the locker room for halftime with a lead.

The Lakers retook the lead on fourth down with five seconds remaining in the first half. Quarterback Tanner Boyd connected with Diamani Williams on a 25-yard touchdown pass. The Lakers also had a successful 2-point conversion, giving them a 14-7 lead.

In the second half, the Lakers gave up another touchdown and Quincy hit their extra point. Since the Lakers could not score in the second half, the game went into overtime.

The Lakers defense was sharp; they prevented their opponent from scoring on their first overtime possession.

When the Lakers got the ball, however, it did not take them long to score. On their third play, Lashley, who ran for over 150 yards on the day behind a stout offensive line, punched in a 3-yard touchdown to give his team the lead and the win in overtime.

The Lakers move on to face Hingham on the road this Friday, Sept. 29 (7:00 p.m. start).

There is plenty of talent back on the Silver Lake High girls’ soccer team this season and because of that, they should be one of the stronger teams in the area this season. They will also likely be a tough opponent in the playoffs if they do what they are capable of achieving.

After all, they are coming off a relatively strong season where they battled to an 8-8-3 finish, a performance that was good enough for them to earn a spot in the playoffs. From that team, they are returning nine of their starters–which is most of their team’s top contributors from last season.

Of those nine players coming back, two of them were Patriot League All-Stars last season. Both Ali Crawford and Izzy Ruprecht got the nod in 2016, beating out several other players on quality teams for the honor. This year, they will be vital pieces of the team with Crawford leading the attack and Ruprecht on defense.

Hannah Vogt and Morgan Palma were two of the Lakers’ strikers last season, and they are back once again. Palma had 11 goals while Vogt added eight more. They will be joined by both Jill Wohlgemuth and Morgan Wohlgemuth on the attack while Mel Coughlin and Tayla Mayberry bring strong experience to the team’s defense. Once again, Caity Smith will be in net for the team this season after excelling last year.

So far the Lakers are off to a 2-2 start. Their first loss came against a tough Whitman-Hanson opponent, who made a deep playoff run last season. Regardless, the Lakers are in a good position to finish this season with an even better record than they had last year.

The Lakers next game is this Saturday, Sept. 23, at home against Pembroke High. The game has an 11:30 a.m. scheduled start time.

Luckily the Silver Lake High football team has some great blocking and excellent speed on special teams.

The Lakers were nearly handed a loss the first week of the season, but their kick returner, Diamani Williams, made sure that did not happen. With 1:20 left in the game, he had a 75-yard kick return for a touchdown to give his team a 24-19 advantage over the North Quincy Red Raiders.

That would also end up being the final score, so the Lakers ended up earning their first win of the season against a league opponent at Veteran’s Stadium in Quincy on Friday, Sept. 8.

Prior to the touchdown on the kick return from Williams, North Quincy had just scored and taken a 19-18 lead in the ballgame. If it were not for the return, the Lakers might not have come out on top, even though they had plenty of success on the ground throughout the contest.
In order for that to happen, the Lakers had to take the lead first. They did so on a 48-yard touchdown run from Patrick Lashley, a sophomore running back. Not only was the play a touchdown, but it was also a fourth down conversion at midfield, so it was certainly a game-changing play.

Phil Lashley also had a pair of touchdown runs for the Lakers in the contest; he ran for over 1,000 yards a year ago and is the Lakers primary back once again.

Senior Tanner Boyd got the start at quarterback for Silver Lake. In the preseason, he and sophomore Jesse Miller battled for the starting job.

The Lakers next game is their home opener this Friday, Sept. 15, against Oliver Ames. A week later, they host the Quincy High Presidents in their first game of the year against a divisional opponent.

Coming off a 6-12 season, it would be hard for the Silver Lake high volleyball team to be in a better position than they are this season.

The young Lakers team started out 5-6 last year, but injuries mounted and they finished out the year with that 6-12 record because of it, although they did finish out the year strong with a win. Regardless, the team is in a good position to do this year what they could have done last year if they were at full health.

The biggest loss for the Lakers coming into this season is their Patriot League All-Star libero Maggie Czarniak, who graduated last spring. Other than that, their starting lineup should look the exact same yet again.

Last year, outside-hitter Abigail Gallagher had a team-high 158 kills last season and was second on the team with 140 digs while setter Michelle Vaughan had 283 of the team’s 342 assists. Both of them are seniors this season.

Junior Alyssa Nelson will likely be the team’s top server yet again this season. She had a team-high 40 aces as a sophomore. Gallagher, Vaughan and fellow senior outside Lauren Hamilton, who was second on the team with 72 kills last season, also had 22 aces, so she should be a valuable server as well.

Sophomore Catherine Donovan stepped up midway through last season as a freshman on varsity player. The middle-hitter returns after leading the team with 23 blocks last season.

Defensively, the team will look to seniors Kristen Heath and Heidi Banden for leadership, both of whom played extensively last season and at opposite hitter, senior Rebecca Cullity brings valuable varsity experience to the team.

The Lakers open up their season next Monday, Sept. 11 at Marshfield High School. Their first home game is the following Friday, Sept. 15, against Plymouth South and has a 5:00 p.m. start time.

Over the course of the winter, the MIAA decided to revamp their football divisions, but the Silver Lake High football team made sure they were in the best position to excel.

Although last year the Lakers were a Division 2A program in the old Division 1-4A format, the state wanted to move them up to Division 3 under a new format that goes from Division 1-8. Both are eight division setups, but the state wanted to make sure they had schools in the right position. Ultimately, the Lakers worked out a deal at an MIAA realignment hearing in Dedham that allowed them to stick in Div. 4 which is essentially the division they were in last season since 2A last year was the fourth largest division.

Normally, the division alignments are based on student population, although there are many factors. Comprehensive schools, urban schools and vocational schools can be in lower divisions due to their lower athletic participation rates while private all boys’ schools have a multiplier that puts them in a larger division because they have an easier time fielding a lineup.

The Lakers are a Chapter 74 school who offers some vocational programs and 30 percent of the schools students partake in the vocational side of the school. While they are not a full-blown Vo-Tech school who could slide down Div. 7 or 8 with over 1,000 students enrolled, this does allow them to be a more competitive playoff team if they can earn a spot. If they do, they would  not have to face tough Patriot League opponents like Duxbury and Whitman-Hanson, who are in Div. 3 South for the playoffs since they are not Chapter 74 schools.

Last year was the Lakers’ first time in the playoffs since 1981. With some key players coming back from last year and the revised playoff formatting that allows for eight teams per region per division to make the playoffs, the odds are in their favor to make another playoff appearance this season.

Some of the best local soccer players gathered together despite their Patriot League rivalries and achieved one common goal.

Athletes from Silver Lake, Plymouth North and Duxbury and several other local schools came together while playing for the Liverpool International Academy of Massachusetts. Ultimately, the best talent the area had to offer was good enough to win the US Club Soccer National Championship in the Under-16 bracket.

The Liverpool club dominated their competition in the tournament, outscoring their foes 18-1 in the regional tournament. They competed in New Jersey during the regional part of the tournament, but the championship game against FC Europa was held at the Grand Park Sports Complex in Westfield, Indiana.

In order to get there, however, Liverpool really needed to battle.

Against Bruno United, Liverpool was down 2-0 with 12 minutes left, but they were able to put up three goals to stay alive in the tournament.

In the regional championship game against GPS New Hampshire. injuries were a problem for the Liverpool team during the tournament. They were missing five players during their bout, but they still had enough depth to prevail. A strong save from Justin Keating in the final seconds of the game kept Liverpool’s season alive.

Fellow Lakers Pat McMahon and Alex Loyd also competed for the Massachusetts Liverpool team during their championship run. Last year, McMahon led the Patriot League in scoring despite being a sophomore.

Since they were able to contribute to a team that proved they were the best in their respective bracket at the national level, it is safe to expect Keating, McMahon and Loyd to have productive years for the Lakers this fall.

Their Liverpool team was coached by Plymouth North head coach John Tocci. This fall, however, the Lakers players will be back to playing against him and meeting him and his team as rivals.

Geoff Diehl for US Senate
Press Statement

In his hometown of Whitman, Representative Geoff Diehl (R-Whitman) officially announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate.

With his wife, KathyJo, and his two daughters, Kaylee and Emily, by his side, Diehl declared his candidacy in front of a large crowd at the Whitman VFW. Kaylee Diehl introduced her father to the large crowd.

“Tonight, I am making it official. I’m a candidate for the United States Senate.  Massachusetts is too great for a part-time Senator. We need a Senator who will focus on the citizens of the Commonwealth,” said Diehl. “From the time you wake up in the morning and until you go to bed in the evening you should be working to help the people of Massachusetts. I think people should come first ahead of oneself. Our Senator needs to do their job by putting you first!”

Diehl has a proven track record of putting people ahead of politics. Three years ago he led the successful ballot initiative to repeal automatic gas tax hikes –saving taxpayers $2 billion.

“When Beacon Hill tied the gas tax to inflation, I knew we had to stop taxation without representation. Despite the odds and being outspent 31 to 1, working with the people we were able to repeal this costly tax hike saving taxpayers billions. Already, we have avoided three gas tax increases,” said Diehl. “While other people have focused on putting money in their wallets, I have focused on putting money into your wallet.”

Diehl’s speech emphasized a positive vision of being a proactive Senator who will put Massachusetts first, work to secure our borders, lower the tax burden, and grow jobs.

“I will be a jobs Senator who focuses on doing my job and creating more jobs for Massachusetts,” said Diehl. “I will not ignore the needs of communities such as New Bedford. I will fight to keep fishing licenses in our state.”

Diehl also took the opportunity to outline the differences in this race. He has been disappointed with Senator Warren who is more focused on her national profile rather than working in the best interest of Massachusetts. One key example of this, Diehl pointed out was how she voted against the 21st Century Cures Act.

“If she cared about our state, she wouldn’t have voted against a bipartisan measure to promote medical innovation and the development of new treatments for cancer and other diseases. Massachusetts is a medical research leader and she still voted against the bill,” said Diehl.

The program included sports talk legend John Dennis as the master of ceremonies, Casey Scholl of Pembroke singing the national anthem, and former State Commander Brian Martin leading the crowd in the pledge of allegiance. Officials attending included: Representatives Shaunna O’Connell, Jim Lyons, Peter Durant, and David DeCoste, and former New England Patriot Fred Smerlas to name a few.