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WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 SEPTEMBER 9, 2021
HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS SCHEDULE
THURSDAY
Golf
St. Mary’s at St. Joseph’s Prep (3)
St. John’s Prep at St. John’s (Shrewsbury) (3:30)
Saugus at Peabody (4)
Field Hockey
Lynnfield at North Reading (4:30)
Bishop Fenwick at Chelmsford (TBD)
Volleyball
Peabody at North Andover (5:30)
Lynnfield at Pentucket (5:30)
Lynn English at St. Mary’s (5)
Cross Country
Swampscott at Peabody (4)
FRIDAY
Football
Cardinal Spellman at St. Mary’s (5)
Saugus at Lynnfield (6:30)
Peabody at Revere (7)
South Hadley at Bishop Fenwick (7)
St. John’s Prep at Marshfield (7)
Boys Soccer
Newburyport at Bishop Fenwick (4)
Lynnfield at North Reading (6)
Girls Soccer
Newton North at Peabody (4)
North Reading at Lynnfield (4:15)
Field Hockey
Peabody at Masconomet (4)
Northeast at Bishop Fenwick (4)
Volleyball
Bishop Fenwick at Marblehead (5:30)
Peabody at Woburn (5:30)
SATURDAY
Volleyball
Bishop Fenwick at Wakefield (12:30)
Cross Country
Marblehead at Newburyport (10)
Bishop Fenwick at MSTCA Relays (10)
St. John’s Prep at Clipper XC Relay (10)
SUNDAY
Girls Soccer
Danvers at Peabody (2)
MONDAY
Golf
Lynnfield at Newburyport (3:30)
Peabody at Salem (4)
Boys Soccer
Triton at Lynnfield (3:45)
Girls Soccer
Lynnfield at Triton (3:45)
Arlington Catholic at Bishop Fenwick (3:45)
Field Hockey
Swampscott at Peabody (4)
Bishop Feehan at Bishop Fenwick (4)
Volleyball
Georgetown at Lynnfield (5:30)
Peabody at Marblehead (5:30)
Ipswich at Bishop Fenwick (5:30)
TUESDAY
Golf
Hamilton-Wenham at Lynnfield (3)
Arlington Catholic at Bishop Fenwick (3)
Boys Soccer
Peabody at Salem (4)
Girls Soccer
Salem at Peabody (4)
Field Hockey
Triton at Lynnfield (3:45)
Central Catholic at Bishop Fenwick (4)
Cross Country
Bishop Fenwick, St. Mary’s at Cardinal Spellman (4)
WEDNESDAY
Golf
Matignon at Bishop Fenwick (3)
Boys Soccer
Rockport at Lynnfield (3:45)
Arlington Catholic at Bishop Fenwick (3:30)
Girls Soccer
Lynnfield at Rockport (3:45)
Volleyball
Lynnfield at North Reading (6)
Cross Country
Pentucket at Lynnfield (3:30)
Peabody at Danvers (4)
Peabody golf falls to
Marblehead in opener
By Mike Alongi
PEABODY — Behind an under-par
performance from Matt
Weed and a host of other strong
showings, the Marblehead golf
team got its 2021 season off to
a great start by taking home a
42-30 win over Northeastern
Conference foe Peabody on the
road at The Meadow at Peabody
Golf Course Tuesday afternoon.
Weed had the performance of
the day on both sides, winning his
match 6-3 after shooting a score
of 1-under 35 and making birdies
on the fifth and seventh holes. He
was backed up by a strong outing
from Charlie Grenier, who shot a
39 and won his match 5-4. Chris
Locke (5-4), Jacob Hershfield (5-
4), Adrian Baron (7-2) and Chris
Cannuscio (6-3) all won their
respective matches, while Jack
Sontz tied his match 4 1/2-4 1/2.
On the Peabody side, it was
an uphill battle from the start.
In addition to having a younger
and more inexperienced lineup
than Marblehead, the Tanners
also went into their first match
without head coach Peter
Cronan, who tested positive for
COVID-19 last Friday. Scott
Meyers, who serves as an assistant
coach on the Peabody boys
soccer team, stepped in to fill the
role on Tuesday.
“It was a very encouraging
start to the year for us, because
I remember last year when we
played Marblehead we had a hard
time even getting to 20 points,”
said Cronan, who is also the head
golf professional at The Meadow.
“Our guys are still really young,
so to see them come out and put
up a good performance in the first
match, that bodes well for the rest
of the year.”
For the Tanners, the lone
win of the day came from No.
5 player Michael Petro, who
won 6-3. Jacob Richards tied
his match 4 1/2-4 1/2 in the No.
8 spot. While the top part of the
lineup didn’t come away with
any wins, Peabody’s top four
players Ryan Brunet (3-6), Matt
Ryder (4-5), Mike Ryan (4-5)
and Matt Richards (4-5) all put
up solid performances.
“Our guys had to go up
against some really good players
(Tuesday), and they held their
own,” said Cronan. “For Ryan to
only lose 6-3 to a kid who shot
1-under and for Matt Ryder to fall
5-4 to a kid who shot 39, that’s
impressive. They may not have
gotten wins, but they played really
well.”
Neither team will have much
time to rest and think about
this one, as both are scheduled
to be back in action Thursday.
Marblehead (1-0) is set to host
Lynn Classical at Tedesco
Country Club, while Peabody
(0-1) will go on the road to face
Gloucester at Bass Rocks Golf
Club.
But with rain threatening to
cancel all matches on Thursday,
both teams may be off until Sept.
9 — which would give Cronan
enough time to get back to the
team after his COVID diagnosis.
“Our goal is to just keep
building as the year goes on,”
said Cronan. “We still have an incredibly
young team, and I think
we’re going to be able to rack up
a few wins this year after all of
our improvements.”
FILE PHOTO | SPENSER HASAK
Senior captain Steven Woods is one of only three returning starters for the Bishop Fenwick football
team this fall.
Bishop Fenwick football starting
over with largely new cast
By Mike Alongi
PEABODY ― It’s never easy
when a team graduates a large
senior class, but the Bishop
Fenwick football team has an
extra tough road ahead of it this
fall after graduating 18 players
from the 2020 team. Not only
that, but that 2020 team may
have been one of the best
Fenwick teams ever, according
to head coach Dave Woods.
The Crusaders were undefeated
this past spring, dominating
teams from start to finish
en route to a Catholic Central
League title.
“That very well may have
been the best team we’ve ever
had,” said Woods, now in his
24th season as the Crusaders’
head coach. “We graduated
18 seniors, and 10 of them are
playing college football while
one is playing college baseball
and another is playing college
lacrosse. But not only were
they talented players, they were
great kids and real leaders for
this team. Now, we’re basically
starting from scratch this year.”
The Crusaders are only returning
three starters from
last year’s team in senior captains
Steven Woods and Chris
Faraca along with fellow senior
William Gibbs. Junior captain
Costa Beechin is another
returning player who will be
looked upon for leadership on a
young Fenwick team.
“Those guys are going to be
depended on quite a bit for leadership
because they’re the only
guys left who saw the field last
year,” said Woods. “We treated
the spring season as a last goaround
for the seniors, so none
of the underclassmen really saw
the field.”
But, while that means that
Fenwick has a lot of inexperience
on this year’s roster,
Woods also sees it as an opportunity
for younger players to
step up and make their mark on
the team.
“A lot of those sophomores
from last year sat and watched
how the seniors operated, and
now they’re juniors and they’re
getting a chance to play,” said
Woods. “It’s been good to see
those guys really try to take
charge in practice and push for
a spot. It’s been a fun camp.”
It also helps that this fall’s
training camp is much more of
a normal one ― with two full
weeks of practices leading up
to the fall season. And with a
joint practice against Hamilton-
Wenham along with a scrimmage
against Danvers, the
Crusaders have gotten a good
look at where they need to
improve.
“It’s been a great two weeks
and we’ve made some strides,
but we also know we have a
long way to go,” said Woods.
“That’s just how it is when you
have such a young team, but
they guys have been enthusiastic
about practice every day
and they’ve been really getting
after it.”
All of that work has finally
led up to the first game week of
the season, as Fenwick prepares
to take on an unfamiliar opponent
in South Hadley Friday
night (7) at Donaldson Stadium.
“It seems like forever since
we’ve had a normal week of
preparation, so it’s nice to be
back in the groove,” said Woods.
“It’ll be an interesting week because
we’ve never played South
Hadley and we don’t know anything
about them, but we’re all
just excited to open the season
under the lights and in front of
our home crowd.”