It was a wonderful Homecoming Week at Old Colony, but Athletic Director Matt Trahan is even more excited about the days ahead — hopefully, Championship Week.
With volleyball, boys’ soccer, and football all looking at co or outright Mayflower League championships, it’s been a great October in the Rochester woods.
“Lots of good stuff happening this fall,” Trahan said. “We’re very excited.”
On Tuesday night, OC played Upper Cape, with a win clinching the Mayflower crown and a loss still keeping a co-championship in play. On Wednesday, it was a boys’ soccer showdown — also against Upper Cape, and then on Saturday the big trip to Cape Cod Tech with a football crown on the line.
A Mayflower crown would be the Cougars’ first since the late 1990s, thanks to a five-game winning streak after a season-opening loss.
“The coaching staff is doing a tremendous job, and the kids have bought in,” Trahan said. “They believe in the coaches and each other, and it shows.”
Trahan feels that the fall success is a product of some great senior leadership.
“It’s a very tight-knit senior group, and we knew it was going to pay off,” he said.
Those seniors were honored during Homecoming proceedings last week, including the thrilling 20-14 night win under donated portable lights vs Upper Cape last Friday night.
“The kids play to the very last whistle,” Trahan said. “Things get a little dicey, but they weather the storm and handle it.”
Trahan was proud of the crowd as well, which came out in force to support the Cougars. “It was wall to wall people, and that just changes the complexion of the football game. And I’m biased, but I think Old Colony, being out in the woods, with those lights, it’s just a beautiful scene.”
ORR
At Old Rochester, the Bulldogs bounced back with a 49-8 football win at Fairhaven that was a tribute to the power of blocking and carrying.
While the NFL and college football build their offense around short passes and first downs, the Bulldogs are a reminder that the running game is still king in high school.
ORR (5-1) won handily despite passing exactly one time all game, rushing for over 300 yards despite calling off the ‘Dogs in the second half. Desmond Dias, Will Garcia, Cole McIntyre and Harry Smith scored the touchdowns, and kicker Jonathan Borsari was 7-for-7 on extra points.
The Bulldogs now await their playoff seeding, and went into last week’s game ranked third out of 15 teams in Division 6 South.
ORR’s girls’ soccer team finally saw its 13-game win streak come to an end, tying Somerset-Berkley 2-2 when the visitors from SB fired home a late goal. But they will still almost certainly be South Coast Conference champs — as will the golf team, which won the title last week thanks to great shooting across the board.
Seniors Colin Fitzpatrick, Jason Gamache, and Jacob Yeomans have led the way for the golf squad.
Looking ahead, ORR looks to keep its field hockey team toward the top of the playoff seedings with a Friday game at Case, ORR’s girls host New Bedford and the boys face Dartmouth.
Also, there’s a rare ORR-Tabor Academy showdown on Saturday in volleyball, at 2:00 pm at the Tabor gym.
Tabor Academy
Over at Tabor, there have been more of the growing pains expected with the move to the Independent School League. The football team fell to BB&N, 42-12, and on the same day lost to Greenwich Academy in field hockey 4-1. It was telling that in the loss, Annie Berry scored for Tabor — the only goal allowed all year by their opponent.
One of Tabor’s best athletes is former Old Rochester basketball standout Noah Fernandes, who visited North Carolina State last weekend as he looks to play Division 1 basketball. He will team with Chris Herren Jr. this year in what will be an exciting team.
By Jonathan Comey