Redmen Roundup -- Rough Day For TMHS Track, Hockey Teams

If there's one thing _coach Peter Molloy has learned over the years, it's that drawing up a defensive game plan is a waste of time in track and field.

"My big saying in track and cross country is 'There's no defense.' You can't stop somebody if they're doing well," Molloy said after watching his TMHS girls team perform extremely well and still come up short, 54.5-31.5, against Billerica Wednesday afternoon at Lawrence High.

The Billerica team is talented and deep this year, and Molloy talked to his team about that before the meet.

"I told the girls that in order for us to even have a chance, you've got to do everything right," Molloy said. "And we pretty much did everything right. It was just a matter of, they're just better than us."

As usual, senior captains Jess Bridle and Sarah Hogan did their part in keeping the Redmen competitive. Hogan switched back to the 50-yard dash and beat Billerica's talented Katie Mulkerin, taking first in 6.5 seconds. That allowed Bridle to move down to the 600, where Billerica was deep and Tewksbury needed points. Bridle cruised to a first-place finish in the 600 in 1:48.0, and sophomore Jen Schultz stepped up in the 300 (Bridle's usual spot)  and earned her first career varsity win with an impressive 46.2 second clocking.

_ also won her fourth straight race in the 55-yard high hurdles, but it still wasn't enough for the Redmen, who fell to 2-3 on the season with the loss.

Billerica did most of its damage in the 1000 and the mile, where the Indians took 17 out of a possible 18 points. They also ended Tewksbury senior shot putter Lisetta Jacintho's four-meet unbeaten streak, as Stephanie White, one of the top shot putters in the state, took first place. Jacintho threw a season's-best 35-feet, 11.25 inches, but still lost to White by almost four feet.

Tewksbury's other point scorers were freshman Alyssa Zurawski, who took second in the high jump and third in the hurdles, and sophomore Kylie Sedgwick who took third in the 50-yad dash. Quigley took a share of third in the high jump, while sophomore Ashley Callahan was third in the 300 and sophomore Rachel Eatherton ws third in the mile. Matilda Matovu took third in the shot put.

BOYS TRACK TEAM FALLS TO BILLERICA, 46-40

The Tewksbury High boys track team saw personal best performances from several athletes, but still came up just short against Billerica, losing 46-40 to fall to 0-4 on the season.

_ran a personal best 6.9 seconds in the 50-yard hurdles to lead a sweep in that event, and junior John Fiorello threw a personal best 46-3.25 in the shot put to lead a sweep in that event, but Billerica was too strong in the middle distances and pulled out the win.

Tewksbury's other winners were _ who took the two-mile in a personal best 10.22.6. and Brian Amaral, who won the mile run in 4:46.6.

Kip Horahan took second in the 1000 in a personal best 2:44.4. Nick Souza (second) and Joe Poli (third) followed Matovu across the finish line in the hurdles sweep, while Christian Taylor and Steve DeFrancesco took second and third in the shot put behind Fiorello.

_ was second in the 50-yard dash and took a share of second in the high jump, tied with Matovu and Poli. CJ Sutherland took third in the 600, Khalil Saraff took third in the dash, and Tim Conklin ran third in the two mile.

"The kids are competing, they're doing their best, so I can't really complain," said TMHS coach Bill Meuse afterward. "The 600 again was our Achilles Heel. Billerica had too much for us in the middle distances."

WESTFORD WHACKS TMHS HOCKEY TEAM, 5-2

Things started out bad and never really improved for the Tewksbury High hockey team Wednesday night, as Division 1 powerhouse Westford Academy scored a goal just 1:06 into the game and cruised to a 5-2 win over the Redmen at Skate 3 Pavillion in Tyngsboro.

The five goals-allowed tied a season high for most goals-allowed in a game, as the usually hard-hitting Redmen lacked their signature aggressiveness and fell to 8-2-1 on the year. The loss snapped a nine-game unbeaten streak for Tewskbury

"That was about as bad as it gets," TMHS coach Derek Doherty said. "They beat us to the puck. You've got to set the tone early, you've got to win some battles and you've got to play with some fire, and we didn't have that tonight."

Freshman forward Ryan Petti was able to tie the game at 1-1 at the 4:20 mark of the first period, with assists going to big brother Derek Petti and defenseman Shannon Alukonis, but the deadlock lasted only an instant. Just 16 seconds after Petti's goal, Westford's Cam McDonald scored out of a scramble in front of the Tewksbury net, and the Grey Ghosts were ahead to stay.

Westford added a heart-breaking third goal with just 19 seconds left in the first period, when Jay Drapeau stole the puck in the Tewksbury defensive zone and beat TMHS keeper Kyle Paquette to make it 3-1.

Tewksbury got one back just 3:17 into the second period when senior forward Chris Connors scooped up a loose puck and scored his third goal of the season (unassisted) to narrow the gap to 3-2. But Drapeau (two goals and two assists in the game) restored Westford's two-goal cushion at the 7:00 mark of the second, and Pat Houghton added a third-period insurance goal, putting the game out of reach.

"We didn't play well," Doherty said. "It was uncharacteristic of our guys. We didn't play a physical game. We actually played very tentatively.

"It shows that you have to work hard every game," Doherty added.

The Redmen will have two days to sharpen their edge before taking on Merrimack Valley Conference/Dual County League rival Lincoln-Sudbury in an important MVC/DCL Division 2 game Saturday afternoon.

"I don't want to take anything away from Westford," Doherty said. "They're a very good team, top 10 in the state. But we better come prepared to play better on Saturday."

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