In the first week of Winter Sports action, there were no official games for Bulldog sports teams, but a few teams – namely, both basketball teams and Girls’ Ice Hockey – warmed up with scrimmages that gave us a preview of what’s to come over the course of this season.
Boys’ Basketball: Seniors Will Santos, Evan Santos, and Jared Nye, junior Matt Valles, and sophomore Jason Gamache are among the key contributors returning from last year’s D-3 State Championship squad. The losses of Jordan Menard, Ryan Beatty, and Tabor-transfer Noah Fernandes will hurt, but the boys look primed to make another run at a title. They looked sharp against Westport in an unofficial scrimmage on Saturday. On Tuesday, the boys will take on New Bedford High in a scrimmage at their gym and will stay on the road for a scrimmage against Somerset-Berkeley on Thursday. Their first official game is versus Seekonk on Tuesday, December 15.
Girls’ Basketball: The girls played well in an unofficial scrimmage against Falmouth High on Friday. Juniors Olivia Labbe and Sophie Church are the leaders of a young team that does not feature a single senior. “Our team is young, but we will be contenders in the SCC for sure,” Labbe said. The girls will scrimmage Mansfield High at home on Monday and will open up the season at Durfee on Friday night.
Girls’ Ice Hockey: This is the first time ORR has had a Girls’ Hockey team. To create a bigger team, the program will be a co-op with Bourne, Mashpee, and Fairhaven. It will be interesting to watch the Lady Bulldogs and their counterparts, as we don’t know what to expect out of their first season. After their jamboree at the John Gallo Arena in Bourne on Saturday, the Lady Bulldogs will officially open their season on the road against Pembroke on Friday night.
Boys’ Ice Hockey: The Boys’ team is a co-op program with Fairhaven High, which helps them to be more competitive. They’ve lost some good players in the last few years, so they look to rebuild on the fly and be competitive this season. The Bulldogs’ season starts with back-to-back games at the Hyannis Youth Arena. They will play Sandwich on Friday night and Dennis-Yarmouth on Saturday afternoon.
Girls’ Track: This always-powerful team looks to dominate the SCC yet again. Seniors Nina Bourgeois, Rachel Scheub, Zoe Smith, Elexus Afonso, Haily Saccone, Emily Josephson, Nicole Mattson, and Morgan Middleton represent a great group of leaders for this gigantic team of roughly 75 girls. The Lady Bulldogs start their season against Apponequet and GNB Voc-Tech on Wednesday, December 16 at Voc.
Boys’ Track: There are at least 85 boys out for track this season, meaning that there are plenty of great athletes ready to represent the Bulldogs. Some of the top performers could be junior hurdler Eli Spevack, senior distance runner Hunter Parker, junior sprinter/hurdler Will Hopkins, junior sprinter Mikey Morris, senior distance runner Drew Robert, and senior throwers Jarrett Johnston and James Estudante. The boys’ first meet will be on Wednesday, December 16 against GNB Voc-Tech and Apponequet at Voc.
Boys’ Swimming: The team is dealing with some difficult losses and will be led by a young group this season. They’ll face Pembroke on Friday night at the Kingsbury Club in Kingston.
Girls’ Swimming: Despite some big losses, seniors Teagan Walsh and Molly Richards represent good leaders for this 4th-year program. Their first meet will be Friday night at the Kingsbury Club in Kingston against Pembroke.
Below are the overall fall team records, followed by the conference records in wins, losses, and ties as of December 6.
Boys’ Basketball: (0-0-0)(0-0-0); Girls’ Basketball: (0-0-0)(0-0-0); Girls’ Ice Hockey: (0-0-0)(0-0-0); Girls’ Track: (0-0-0)(0-0-0); Boys’ Track: (0-0-0)(0-0-0); Boys’ Ice Hockey: (0-0-0)(0-0-0); Boys’ Swimming: (0-0-0)(0-0-0); Girls’ Swimming: (0-0-0)(0-0-0).
By Patrick Briand