There were many memorable moments and storylines from 2019. Gazette reporters Kyle Grabowski and Gage Nutter picked through the seasons and compiled their top 10. The following are selections are from the winter high school season:
The state final runs by the Northampton and Hopkins Academy girls basketball teams sprung from disparate beginnings. The Blue Devils were defending sectional champions returning most of a proven core. The Golden Hawks were led by a first-year coach and missed the previous postseason. Both won Western Massachusetts championships, Northampton in Division 2 and Hopkins in Division 4. Both prevailed in their respective state semifinals before falling in the state championship game. Parallel journeys that inspired both sides of the Calvin Coolidge Bridge.
Don’t count out the champs. Easthampton entered the Western Massachusetts Division 3A ice hockey tournament as the fifth seed. The defending champion Eagles handled South Hadley in the quarterfinals by four goals, top-seeded Amherst Regional in the semifinals by four goals and repeated as champions with a 5-2 win over Belchertown in the final. Along the way, senior forward CJ Tenczar notched his 100th career point in the semifinals.
The top seed didn’t embolden Oliver Schalet. At the Division 2 state championships, the Northampton sophomore swimmer touched the wall first in the 100-yard freestyle. He took a moment to survey the scoreboard and double check his lane. No one was faster. Schalet never considered himself a 100-freestyler after dabbling in many events during the season. Now he’s etched in history as a champion.
The final 4×400-meter relay decided the PVIAC girls indoor track championship. South Hadley needed to win and for Northampton to finish no better than fourth. The Tigers held their end of the bargain, while the Blue Devils landed fourth by .39 seconds, allowing South Hadley to repeat as champions.
The thinnest of margins separated Benjamin Gordon Sniffen from an All-State 1,000-meter title. He was second to Boston College High School’s William Cole-French by .01 seconds, finishing in 2 minutes, 30.95 seconds. Gordon Sniffen won the Division 4 championship in the event. At the same meet, Amherst Regional’s Sophia Jacobs-Townsley won the 2-mile and contributed to the Hurricanes championship 4×800 relay. The Hurricanes additionally captured the boys 4×200 and 4×800 crowns.
Bib 41 didn’t hang well on Frontier Regional skier Corriann Delaney at the alpine state championships. Delaney showed how misplaced it was by finishing second in the giant slalom at Wachusett Mountain. She also placed 18th in the slalom.
Brigitte Goeler-Slough led the Longmeadow girls hockey team to its most successful season ever. The Northampton senior scored 24 goals and 10 assists as Longmeadow advanced to the Division 1 state semifinals. They fell 9-1 to Methuen/Tewksbury in the semifinals after a three-game run as the No. 7 seed. Goeler-Slough started her high school hockey career as a goalie at Easthampton and ended it as one of Longmeadow’s all-time leading scorers.
The 100-yard butterfly event at the Division 2 Central/West girls swimming and diving championship was the closest of Ruby Gottlieb’s career. The Northampton junior came into the meet as back-to-back champion and edged Minnechaug’s Margaret Petruzzelli by 0.2 seconds to win her third straight sectional title. Gottlieb finished second at the state meet in 57.87 seconds.
Hampshire Regional junior Michael Baldwin and Frontier Regional sophomore Jackie Phong conquered the Western Massachusetts Division 3 wrestling tournament to emerge as sectional champions. Baldwin bested Hampden Charter’s Tyreece Cherival 9-2 in the 160-pound final, while Phong pinned Isiaha Hartman-Caesar of Taconic for the heavyweight championship. Baldwin finished third at states.
Two longtime area boys basketball coaches stepped away from the sideline. Bill Rigali coached the Purple Knights for 37 years and won five Division 1 Western Massachusetts titles in his tenure. Jim Matuszko coached for 35 years and led the Hurricanes to a Division 1 Western Mass. and state title in 2003.