By Eddie Baker
Sports Editor
3/19/09
Congratulations to Milton High School’s fine boys’ basketball team on their championship season. The Wildcats are coached by Sean LoPresti and his assistant coach, Billy Donovan (they say the latter will soon be hearing wedding bells). Milton has now won the title in the 1980s, ’90s and this decade. Quite an accomplishment. Great job, Milton High!
Prior to their title victory over Hoosac Valley, in as thrilling a high school basketball game as I have seen in a long time – and it seemed that it was watched by everyone in the town – Milton High came from behind to edge Woburn, 70-69, to win the Eastern Massachusetts championship.
This game took place a week ago at the TD Banknorth Garden. Milton took the lead in the first period but gave it up midway through the period and trailed all the way until the final minutes. The Wildcats, who took the lead with about 30 seconds left, trailed by 1 on two foul shots with 18 seconds left. Then, a clutch basket by sensational Milton High freshman Rene Castro – who came off the bench to score 23 points, 7 of them coming in the last minute – clinched the victory for the Wildcats.
In case you were not aware, this was only Rene’s eighth game with the varsity and he wore his junior-varsity jersey.
Once again, having a big, beautiful building to play in like Copeland Fieldhouse, which has quite a few similarities to the Garden and also to the University of Massachusetts at Boston (where they played Catholic Memorial the game before) really helped the Milton High team.
A lot of Milton fans who bought tickets at the door last week for the Milton vs. Woburn basketball game thought the price, $13, was very high. However, the way the game turned out, it was well worth it.
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Congratulations are also due the Fontbonne Academy girls’ hockey team for winning the Division 2 state championship. The Ducks beat Whitman-Hanson-Pembroke March 15 at the TD Banknorth Garden to win it all. Hats off to Fontbonne!
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As most of you Milton sports followers know, Milton High is going to have sports teams this spring. There was a question a couple of months ago whether they could afford it, because the school budget was running low. But parents, athletes and sports fans rallied, organizing walks, socials, etc., and successfully ran these events to get the money to let Milton High stars play spring sports. This was the third year in a row they did it, although there was a great chance this time that Milton High might not be able to afford the teams.
I, along with quite a few other Milton High sports followers, praise everyone who participated in running these events to get the spring money. Maybe these social events should be run on a yearly basis, but I don’t think that a threat should be made about dropping the spring sports. If the high school continues to do this, it is sure to lose some more athletes to outside schools. If spring sports like baseball, softball, tennis, track, etc., are your thing, why would you stay at Milton High if spring sports may not be held?
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We don’t often agree with former Hilltopper and St. Agatha star Bruce Bird but this time we do. Bruce says that he would like the Boston Herald’s social column, The Inside Track, to go a week without mentoring the name of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
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The Cunningham Men’s Bowling League is looking for bowlers. The league, one of the oldest in America, is held from September to June every Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Cunningham Park Gym. This is a wonderful way to get a workout, meet other Miltonians and have fun, and it won’t cost you a lot of money. And this is a good time to join, as there are openings and if you like it, you will be all set for next year. Just go up to the gym on a Tuesday or Wednesday evening and see one of the team captains.
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Former tennis great Ivan Lendl has put his 450-acre house in Goshen, Conn., which has 10 bedrooms and 12 baths, up for sale. He is asking $25 million for it. It also has an indoor and outdoor pool, a gym, a horse stable and, of course, a tennis court. Ivan, of course, who won eight grand-slam titles, is now really into golf.
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Boston College star outfielder and former Milton Legion and Catholic Memorial standout Marc Perdios, who has been hampered by a leg injury as well as an arm injury, has been red-shirted this year. This will give him five years at BC.
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Don’t forget now, you Milton stars, to get going with raking and fertilizing your lawn. It is good to get as much done as possible around St. Patrick’s Day, as long as it isn’t too wet.
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For you professional-tennis followers, the Hall of Fame Tennis Tournament run in July at Newport, R.I., has announced that professional U.S. tennis player Marty Fish is the first to sign up. Fish has won 13 singles titles. The Hall of Fame has also upped the total prize money this year to $500,000.
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Magna Entertainment, whose Pimlico racetrack hosts the Preakness horse race, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
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The Wall Street Journal is now running a sports page every day.
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We were surprised that for three days in a row, The Boston Globe published the wrong site (Brockton) and the wrong date (Thursday) for the Milton vs. Franklin boys’ basketball game, which was held earlier in the tournament. Even the big boys make mistakes.
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You never know what will happen in a sport, especially basketball. Did you see in the first round of the Northeast-10 League playoffs that all the seeded teams who held the home-gym advantage lost?
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You know, Harvard’s basketball team may not have had a great season, finishing seventh in the Ivy League, but they pulled off two big upsets, beating BC by 12 points and league champion Cornell by 1.
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Tim Knightly says that for BC to improve in the really tough ACC women’s basketball league, they are going to have to recruit a lot of faster players.
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There was certainly a great turnout at St. Mary of the Hills two weeks ago at the Mass held for well-known Milton walker Irene Manning, the mother of all those Milton athletes.
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In a recent edition, USA Today listed the Hall of Fame Tennis Club in Newport, R.I., as one of the best places to watch and play tennis.
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Former BC High star, Colin MacIntosh, had a really good year at the University of Vermont and made the American East All-Star third team in basketball. He is a senior.
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The Parks and Recreation Department is once again planning on having its annual fishing tournament on the second Saturday morning in May at Turners Pond. This is a beautiful time of the year to walk around Turners or any other pond, as the birds are coming back to the area. If you see ducks, notice how the males are swimming in circles around the females as the mating season starts.
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The ninth annual Women’s Ice Hockey Tournament, an NCAA event, is on this weekend March 20 to 22, at Boston University’s beautiful Agganis Arena. This is the women’s Frozen Four.
The semifinal games are Friday, March 20, at 5 and 8 p.m. The championship game is Sunday, March 22, at noon. At this writing, there were tickets available at (800) 566-3288, ext. 184.
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Applications for the annual 5K and 10K Milton Road Race are out early this year. They are available at the Milton libraries and at the Town Office Building. The race is Tuesday, June 9.
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Did you know that highly successful Milton High basketball coach and teacher Sean LoPresti is also an assistant football coach at BC High?
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I get a lot of questions as to how long I have been writing sports columns. To my knowledge, I have been doing it since 1966, when I was the recreation director and did it to help out an old pal, the late, legendary Sam Brogna.
Lately, to my knowledge, there haven’t been many Milton stars writing local weekly sports columns. However, in the 1950s and ’60s, we remember the Milton stars all had popular columns in the local papers. Do you remember any of them? There was Phil Van Neste, Dick Lamere, Bucky Harrison and Dan “One Arm” Healy.
If there are any others you readers can remember, e-mail or drop me a line at this paper. By the way, we saw Phil at a couple of Milton High basketball games this year and he looked great. He now lives on Cape Cod.
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The Rev. Tom Foley, the well-known Wollaston Golf Club golfer, gave a nice homily recently at the funeral Mass of his friend, the Rev. Rob Tyrell, another good golfer. Rob, a member of the sports-playing Tyrell brothers, hadn’t been feeling so well lately.
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Well-known Milton and Boston College star and author Reid Oslin says that his new book, “The Vault,” which takes you through the years of BC sports with plenty of pictures and easy reading, is selling well.
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Did you know that popular Milton High Principal John Drottar, who really likes sports, played his
basketball at Sacred Heart High School in Weymouth?
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That well-known Milton, Everett High and Boston University football star, Frank Giuliano, has two baby sheep at his house again this year and his neighbors are welcome to view them. He keeps them until Easter, then brings them back to the farm.
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Former Milton High star Rich Hill was expected to make a spring training start for the Baltimore Orioles this week.