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Isaiah Nelsen smashed his career high with 29 points to lead North Andover past Manchester-Essex 76-68. The big man was 4 of 5 on 3-pointers. Colby Smith had two late lay-ups after Manchester made it interesting. Derek Collins came off the bench for his first significant minutes of the season.

With the seven of the top eight finishers at Bradford Ski Area yesterday, St. John's Prep easily swept past Andover and Masconomet to remain unbeaten in North Shore Ski League competition.

Kristin Hogan hit four 3-pointers on her way to a game-high 29 points and Taylor Nelson added nine rebounds as Georgetown clinched the Cape Ann League Division 3 title with a 58-34 victory over Manchester Essex.

One challenge down, one more to go.

With a depth-driven 45-41 victory over previously unbeaten Newburyport, North Andover locked up at least a share of the Cape Ann League boys track title. The Knights can win it outright if they beat a one-loss Masconomet squad in their last league meet Saturday.

A strong, deep St. John's Prep squad placed three of the top four skiiers to handily win its opener over North Andover, 103-32, despite Nate Miceli's seventh-place finish. The Knights recovered to beat Manchester Essex. Andover rode the efforts of Tom Suglia and Adam Risman to a split, beating Austin Prep and falling to Masconomet. Despite the best efforts of Owen Kallery, Haverhill lost to Austin Prep in its season opener.

Despite the mild winter, the ski season got underway at the Bradford Ski Area for local girls yesterday and Andover made a dominating statement. The Warriors whipped both North Andover and Manchester Essex and, led by winner Jess Kearns, had the top three places and four of the top five.

Trailing by 15 in the third quarter, North Reading's boys basketball team rallied for a 57-55 victory, handing Manchester Essex its first loss of the season. Tom Hogan had 17 of his game-high 23 points in the second half including two free thriows with 10 seconds left. Chris Capozzollo had 13 of his 15 points in the second half for the Hornets (4-4) and had a huge 3-pointer in the final minute.

GEORGETOWN – Manchester Essex’s defense looked mighty suspect on the first play from scrimmage but was impenetrable after that.

The Hornets held Georgetown to just seven points in a 28-7 Thanksgiving Day victory.

 Showing good balance, the Georgetown boys soccer team (12-1-3) clinched the Cape Ann league Division 3 title with a 4-0 win at Manchester. Leading scorer Matt Bitchell opened the scoring and was followed by Chris Birnie, Jared Warren and Andrew Nowak. It was Nowak's first goal of the season and it came on an assist from Will Soucy  his first varsity point.

NORTH READING — North Reading head football coach Jeff Wall called yesterday’s Northeastern Conference/Cape Ann League Division 4 matchup with Manchester Essex a grind. Fortunately for Wall’s squad, they were right in their element as they controlled the clock on offense and controlled the line of scrimmage on defense en route to a 14-0 win on homecoming. The win, North Reading’s fourth straight, moves them to 5-2 on the season. It has been quite a turnaround from 1-9 seasons in 2009 and 2010. “This game was a grind,” Wall said after his club’s second shutout of the gall. “(Manchester Essex) is a scary team, they’re tough and they’re big, but we executed and made plays on defense when we needed to make them. We bent a little bit but we didn’t break.” Manchester Essex (3-5) had it’s chances twice driving into North Reading territory late in the first half and late in the fourth quarter. North Reading, however, stopped the visitors on downs in the first half and came away with an interception late in the fourth. The Hornets were led by bruising running back Carl Lipani, who ran for 179 yards and a touchdown on 33 carries. Lipani, who also added a fourth quarter interception, now has 1,225 yards and 15 TDs this season. The junior wore down Manchester Essex, picking up several key third-down conversions. On the game North Reading converted eight of 11 third-down opportunities, which may have been the difference. The biggest came on North Reading’s first drive of the game when CJ McCarthy took an inside handoff 50 yards on third down and 10 for a touchdown and a 7-0 North Reading lead. North Reading can clinch its third winning season in the last dozen years with a win next Saturday at Hamilton-Wenham.