George Stevens Academy EAGLES

Winter Post-season Scrapbook

Penobscot Bay PressCommunity Information Services

Special PulloutSection

to The Weekly PacketFebruary 20, 2014

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Inside:

Boys & girlsswim team,

2

Girls basketball,

3

Wrestling, 3

Boys basketball,

4

Congratulations to the teams from:

At top, Eunice Yang, a freshman member of the first Eagles varsity swim team, placed eighth in the Maine state championships intwo events. Above, the Eagles boys basketball team plays hard in the quarterfinals against Lee Academy at the Cross Center inBangor. Photos by Franklin Brown

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Freshman Maya Pelletier was part of the relay teams that broke school records at thestate championships. Photos by Franklin Brown

Junior Cedar Slagle swims as a member of the girls record-breaking relay teams.

Freshman Erik Taylor-Lash swims the boys 200-yard freestyle at the Penobscot ValleyConference.

From left, Garrison Looke, Alex Wang, Lucas Theoharidis and senior DevonOppedisano placed in the Penobscot Valley Conference 200-yard medley relay.

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2 Winter Post-season Sports, February 20, 2014 The Weekly Packet

First varsity swim team makes waves at state championships

Nicholas Steenberg, a senior member of the boys relay teams.

Yang places in top 10in 100-yard races

By ANNE BERLEANTBLUE HILL—Competing at the varsity

level for the first time, the Eagles swimmersfollowed a solid finish at the PenobscotValley Conference championships by quali-fying for the state finals in relays and indi-vidual events.

The finals were held at Bowdoin Collegeon February 17 and 18, where freshmanswimmer Eunice Yang pulled off two top-eight championship finishes in the 100-yardfreestyle and 100-yard breast stroke.

The team broke school records in the 200-yard medley and freestyle relays, withjuniors Emma Richardson and Cedar Slagleand freshmen Maya Pelletier, Emma

Whittaker-Larson and Yang.Pelletier broke six minutes for the first

time in the 500-yard freestyle in the consola-tion finals. As a team, the girls placed 14thout of 32 teams.

On the boys side, Coach Don Driscollbrought six swimmers to the states. SeniorsDevon Oppedisano and Nicholas Steenbergteamed up with sophomores Alex Wang andLucas Theoharidis and freshmen GarrisonLooke and Evan Soukup to swim in threerelays.

“It was an extremely exciting season foreveryone,” said Driscoll. “They improved atremendous amount from day one to the endof the season…There were some victories inthis first year team. It was just a great year.”

The girls finished 3-4 and the boys 4-3 inregular season meets, Driscoll said. “It was agreat start to varsity swimming at GSA.”

Senior Jennifer McKenney gets ready toshoot in the prelim playoff game againstWashington Academy. Photo by Franklin Brown

From left, sophomore Hanna Gutow warms up with senior Charlotte Reiter before theplayoff prelim game tip off. Photo by Franklin Brown

Senior Henry Bowden wins his second match at the Penobscot Valley Conference. Hewent on to place fourth at the state championships. Photo by Franklin Brown

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The Weekly Packet Winter Post-season Sports, February 20, 2014 3

Young team, new coach surge into post seasonWin 9 of last 13games before fallingin prelims

By ANNE BERLEANTBLUE HILL—The girls basketball team

scrambled to the #8 spot to secure a berth inthe playoffs, winning nine of its last 13games after a shaky start when the seasonopened.

“We started out the season losing our firstfive games,” said Coach Bill Case. “At homewe did well defensively from the start…Onthe road we lost games by large margins.”

Hard work pays off, for a young team witha new head coach.

“We got our first win on December 28against Central,” Case continued. “Fromthen on we were rapidly improving as indi-viduals, but more rapidly improving as ateam.

“The biggest improvement was their

unselfish and more disciplined play thanthey showed in the early season.”

Seniors Jennifer McKenney and CharlotteReiter played their last game as Eagles in theprelim playoff game.

But even with home court advantageagainst Washington Academy—ranked onespot below, but the victor in both games theyplayed this season—the girls fell 43-32.

“Captain Jen McKenney showed greatleadership on and off the court,” Case said.“Charlotte gave us some good minutes asguard.”

With a young team, McKenney “helpedthe younger players immensely,” whileperforming “outstanding scoring andrebounding games.”

Those younger players, including seasonpoint leader and freshman Morgan Dauk andsophomore starter Hanna Gutow will jointhe more seasoned varsity players next year,like junior starters Alice Dillon and MeganNowland and a “core of upcoming seniors.”

“I believe these girls and Morgan Dauk arevery committed to continuing the successthat we have seen this year,” Case said.

“I am not sure who will and who will notreturn, but we do have a large contingent ofupcoming juniors who played JVs for us andsome others from this year’s freshman team.I feel there is reason to be optimistic for thefuture.”

Freshmen wrestler Liza Moore workstowards a pin in her consolation round atthe Penobscot Valley Conference champi-onships. Photo by Franklin Brown

coach. On a Facebook post after the champi-onships, he wrote that he had a “great time”coaching at the high school varsity level. “Itwas kind of bitter sweet yesterday that it wasover.”

A “great, great year”for Bowden

By ANNE BERLEANTBLUE HILL—Senior Henry Bowden

finished his Eagles wrestling career placingfourth at the Class B state championships,held at Bowdoin College on February 15.

Battling in the 132-pound weight class,Bowden entered as a top five seed, beforelosing to Dexter in the consolation round—the same wrestler who beat him at Bucksportthe week before. At the Penobscot ValleyConference meet on February 1, he posted a2-1 match record before a loss in the conso-lation round.

“He [had] a great, great year,” said first-year Coach Corey Nightingale.

Also wrestling at the states were freshmanLiza Moore (126 class) and sophomore AlexOverlock (195 class).

Moore notched her first “actual win” oneweek earlier, at the Bucksport meet thatdetermined the seeding for the state champi-onship. (Class C does not hold a regionalmeet before the states.)

“I told her it’s a learning thing,”Nightingale said. “She’s a true first-yearwrestler…I still have high hopes for her.”

Overlock, who lost his post-seasonmatches, “will return” next year, Nightingalepredicted, with a year of meets and matchesbehind him.

Nightingale is a seasoned middle-school

Eagles wrestle into the state championships

Senior Alex Heilner takes a shot in the last minute of the quarterfinal against LeeAcademy. Photo by Franklin Brown.

From left, seniors Philip Shaheen and Finn McMahon-Allwine in defense of the ball atthe start of the third period against Lee Academy. The Eagles were the first Class Cteam to play at the new Cross Center in Bangor. Photo by Franklin Brown.

Senior Brett Ingraham slips past LeeAcademy defense in the quarterfinal gameat the Cross Center in Bangor. Photo byFranklin Brown.

Senior Cooper Smallidge shoots in thequarterfinals against Lee Academy at theCross Center in Bangor—and it’s good.Photo by Franklin Brown.

4 Winter Post-season Sports, February 20, 2014 The Weekly Packet

Boys slide into playoff quarterfinals

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“We played hard…wedidn’t give up”

By ANNE BERLEANTBLUE HILL—With a 9-9 regular season

record, the Eagles slipped into the lastplayoff spot and proceeded to upset #6Dexter in the prelim game. This set them upagainst #3 Lee Academy in the first Class Cgame, played at the new Cross Center inBangor.

The Eagles pulled it out against Central,and in the playoff prelim game at Dexter,“came out on fire,” Carter said.

“We were up early 12-0. [Senior Brett]Ingraham hit two threes to start the game. Itlooked like it was going to be a blowout.”

But by halftime, the team fell behind 33-26.

“We dug in on defense,” Carter said, andwent eight for nine from the foul line in thefourth quarter to pull out a 59-53 win. “Thatwas pretty huge.”

Against #3 Lee Academy in the quarterfi-nals, the Eagles fell 75-58.

“I was really proud of them,” Carter said.“We played hard the whole time. We didn’tgive up. We could have packed it up, but wedidn’t.”

With five seniors graduating—BrettIngraham, Philip Shaheen, CooperSmallidge, Finn McMahon-Allwine andAlex Heilner—Carter said he is looking tothe juniors and younger varsity players tostep up.

“We have a lot to improve upon. We havea lot of ability. We have a lot of talentreturning,” he said. “The seniors have beenreally good all year. We played as ateam…they stayed positive. It was a goodteam year.”

Junior and point leader Kelsey Allen willreturn for his third year as starting pointguard, Carter said. “He’s my top scorer. WillEntwistle improved tremendously. I’mlooking to him to pick up the defensiveintensity from Finn McMahon-Allwine.

“Our goal next year is to go deeper. ClassC was really competitive this year…it’sgoing to be very competitive next year,again.”

“We played hard thewhole time. We didn’t

give up. We couldhave packed it up, but

we didn’t.”—CoachDwayne Carter

But it was their final game in the regularseason, against Central, that edged them intothe post season. The team was in the #13spot, two spots behind qualifying for post-season, with only one ranking point betweenthe fifth and 14th place teams.

“We went into it and played it like aplayoff game because it really was,” saidCoach Dwayne Carter. “We knew that wehad to win.”

“With a week to go, it was one pointbetween each team between fifth and 14th[place].”