No. 2 hitter Jacob Albert drove in four runs, while leadoff man Ethan Burgess and No. 3 hitter Cole Yennaco each had 2 RBIs as Pinkerton rolled over Concord 10-0 in five innings.
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Baseball, 05/22/21 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
Hunter Drouin poured in 7 goals to fuel Pinkerton to an easy 14-4 victory over Concord.
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Boys Lacrosse, 05/15/21 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
MANCHESTER, N.H. — Salem High hockey’s dream season had anything but a storybook ending with a state championship on the line.
Playing for their first state title in 17 years, the Blue Devils saw Concord strike for four goals in a devastating first period, and could not recover, falling to the Crimson Tide 7-0 in the New Hampshire Division 1 state championship game Saturday night at the JFK Memorial Coliseum.
“We got out-shot all season, and somehow found a way to win games,” said Salem coach Mark McGinn. “But we ran into a buzzsaw tonight. They got a few bounces and breaks and took advantage, and we couldn’t recover. The better team won today. We only had 10 shots for the game. We wish we could have found more shots and played better, but it didn’t happen today.”
The Blue Devils (13-2-0) entered the contest looking to win their first state title since the 2003-04 season. It was their first state title appearance since the 2004-05 season.
After struggling with slow first periods throughout the season, a sluggish start proved disastrous for the Blue Devils on Saturday.
Concord (16-2-0) — the New Hampshire 2019-20 co-state champs after the title game was cancelled due to COVID-19 — came flying out of the gates. The Crimson Tide controlled the opening minutes with crisp passes and big hits, then grabbed the lead 7:23 into the contest on a shot that was deflected in front of the net.
The Tide continued to dominate, and took a commanding hold on the game by scoring three goals in the final 6:03 of the first to make it 4-0 at the first intermission.
Meanwhile, the Blue Devils were limited to four total shots in the first period.
“It’s so tough to try to recover when you have a team like Concord that can move the puck and get it into our offensive zone fast and keep the pressure on,” said McGinn. “You have to get shots on goal. At the end of the first period, they had four goals and we only had four shots. If all of our shots went in, it was tied.
“Once you go down like that, you’re scrambling and taking chances. They got it out of our zone too easily. We couldn’t catch up. Hats off to them.”
Salem was able to slow Concord some in the second, but the Tide added another goal to make it 5-0 after two period.
The Blue Devils were again limited to four shots in the second, but did manage two strong chances, both on the stick of defending Eagle-Tribune MVP Ryan Pappalardo. First, he crashed the net on a shorthand bid, but the goalie was able to hold his ground for the save. Then, with Salem on the power play, Pappalardo had a rebound chance that was just covered up.
Concord again cushioned its lead with a goal 1:22 into the third period, then after a Salem player was whisted for a misconduct penalty, added one more score with 1:53 left to ice the win.
The score tied the mark for the most lopsided in a New Hampshire boys hockey title game since 1994. Concord lost to Bedford 7-0 in 2017.
Despite the loss, Salem finished with its best winning percentage (.867) since the 2014-15 season (20-1-1), Pappalardo finished his career with 126 career points (second in school history) and 58 career goals (fourth in school history).
“This doesn’t take away from everything this team did,” said McGinn. “It’s special getting here. I’d rather win than lose, but somebody has to lose.
“After everything we’ve been through, you can’t take away that we made the state championship and only loss two games. It’s tough to accept today, but tomorrow will be easier and I’m still very proud of these guys.
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Boys Ice Hockey, 03/13/21 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
I wanted to email (hopefully) before you heard it elsewhere and let you know that I've accepted an offer to become the North Shore Chamber of Commerce's new communications director. As I know you know, newspapers have been in my blood all my life and hold such an emotional attachment to me because of my dad. So the decision to leave behind my 30-plus year career at NOBMG papers was not an easy one. But I feel the position dovetails nicely with what I've been doing, while opening up the prospect for new opportunities in the future. I broke the news to David Joyner on Friday.
As challenging as the world of journalism has been, particularly in recent years, I can honestly say I've loved (most) every minute of it and am sad to be leaving aspects of it behind — especially the dedicated group of people I've been fortunate to have called my colleagues over the years. No one cares more deeply about community news than the folks at NOBMG. I feel we don't often say it to each other, but I have enormous respect for what you and the sports staff here does day in and day out to highlight the local sports scene. The enormity of the task is not lost on me, and what you are able to accomplish with the resources you have is truly remarkable.
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Wrestling, 02/28/21 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
Salem recorded four pins but fell short of Concord, 46-36, in the Division 1 semifinals. Among those with wins for the Blue Devils (8-2) were Cam Monahan (120), Ryan O'Rourke (126), George Boudreau (138) and Matteo Mustapha (145), all of whom finished the season undefeated.
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Wrestling, 02/24/21 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
Salem's wrestling team pulled a stunner, edging perennial powerhouse Concord 42-39, its first win over the Crimson Tide since 2003. Phil Giordano (113), Matteo Mustapha (145) and Matt Breton (182) all had pins for the Blue Devils. "A great win for our program," said coach Nick Eddy.
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Wrestling, 01/20/21 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
Timberlane's golfers ended its regular season with a flourish, defeating both Pinkerton and Concord to wind up with a 16-4 record. Jack Pepin and Zach Diamond both had 38s for the Owls to lead the way.
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Golf, 10/06/20 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
The Salem girls basketball team saw its season come to an end with a 69-64 overtime loss to Concord in the first round of the Division 1 tournament. The Blue Devils were led by 26 points from Jordyn Franzen and 16 from Olivia Murray.
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Girls Basketball, 03/04/20 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
Joey DaSilva finished with a team-high 19 points, and Windham hit some big free throws down the stretch to hold on for a much-needed 51-48 win over Concord. The Jaguars (7-7) are fighting for playoff seeded in NH Division 1.
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Boys Basketball, 02/25/20 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
