Apologies for the long delay in posting the final version of the season previews. While most teams already are a few games into it, there still is almost two months of hockey left. So let’s get to it.

NORTHEASTERN SOUTH – After barely sneaking into the postseason in 2008, Marblehead didn’t have much in the way of expectations. But following their sterling run to a sectional title, the Headers certainly will be on everyone’s radar now. While still a young team, Marblehead has plenty of experienced players back from that ride as it tries for a repeat. Not surprisingly, the title defense begins in the defensive end with senior captains Aaron Reny in goal and Mike Cohn on the blue line. Junior Anders Gundersen rotated between forward and defense and will continue to show his versatility, while sophomores Jake Kulevich and Ben Koopman round out a solid group in back. Senior Chris Donahue joins Gunderson up front, along with Tyler DeCotis and Colby Bates. … Swampscott was one of the Marblehead victims in the playoffs, dropping an overtime heartbreaker. The Big Blue also will rely on a strong and experienced defense led by NEC All-Star Jake Donahue. Captains Sam Rakoc and Ben Wollerscheid and fellow senior John Pelletier add to the depth with junior Miles Rutkowski. The question is whether the Big Blue can pick up some of their lost scoring punch, with junior Justin Massey and senior A.J. Zarinsky the top candidates. … There are plenty of new faces for the Lynn Jets, beginning with the fact that Lynn Tech has folded and merged with the co-op team. Also, Joe Conlon steps behind the bench on an interim basis while Al Melanson recovers from an ailment. Conlon welcomes back 18 players, with the bulk of the senior experience on defense with Sean Crowley, Jack Erekson, Tim Shirley and Dave Stevens. … Salem also gets some reinforcements from Hamilton-Wenham as it continues to rebuild. Watch out for league all-star Justin Engdahl and fellow senior Tyler Daniels.

OLD COLONY LEAGUE – While Div. 1 programs Barnstable and Bridgewater-Raynham have controlled the league of late, don’t be surprised to see the “little guys” making some noise this season. … Attleboro has plenty of scoring back, starting with the top line of junior Pat DeMontigny and seniors Derek Beauregard and Bryan Fricot. Beauregard was second on the team in points behind DeMontigny despite missing part of the season with injuries. Junior Derek Burns also returns from an injury-plagued season to join classmate Tyler Dias and sophomore John Beauregard. Seniors Josh Ogden and Jesse Lee and junior Chad Caldwell anchor the defense for the Blue Bombardiers. … Dartmouth is similarly optimistic after graduating just three seniors, with the top two returning scorers in the league in senior Jake Chouinard and sophomore Garrett Allen. Coach Mike Capello says junior Dylan Santos is an excellent two-way player at center and will lean on all-star senior Nic DeMello to carry the defense.

PATRIOT LEAGUE – With three Div. 2 schools joining the fray, things will only get even more difficult on a nightly basis for the rest of the clubs, but each has more than enough talent to be up to the task. … Pembroke made plenty of noise a year ago, but the Titans had a young squad and should benefit from the extra season of experience. Junior Ryan Kulik already is a 100-point career scorer and will be the focal point on offense, but there could be even more strength on defense. Juniors Jared Wiedemann and Joe DiPietro return and will provide steady two-way play in front of goalie Shane Joyce, who had a brilliant freshman season in 2008. … Rival Silver Lake looks ready to be a force once again with eight seniors at forward. Doug Dromey, Jake Menton and Chris Lyons all were double-digit scorers. Jake Luque is the top returning defenseman, and the Lakers will need to replace standout goalie Dan Brady. … Scituate will be hard-pressed to continue its brilliant run of the last two years with just four seniors and two juniors, but never count the defending state finalist out. One of those veterans is junior goalie Jamie Murray and he will guide the Sailors, who will look for increased production from forwards Kevin Lyons, Brad Stenbeck, Mike Koulopoulos, Brian Pratt and Pat Falaro. Mike Cook, Matt Lyons, Brian Collins and Harold Gerbis are the top defensemen. … Middleboro coach Tim Kinch expects leadership and good chemistry to be a big plus for the Sachems, thanks to all-star forward Scott Chamberlain and fellow senior captain and defenseman Rich Leonard. Forward Joe Braasch and goalie Jarrid Pike, also both seniors, also will help in that regard. Defensemen Pat Kinch, Matt DeLuca and Rick Ezerins bring experience, while junior Chris Crepeau hopes to add scoring pop after missing most of last season with an injury. Sophomore Zac MacAulay is another player to watch.

SOUTH COAST CONFERENCE – After running the table in the league last season, Bourne returns a solid cast of seniors as it tries for a repeat. Jim Duane and Shaun Gordon will lead the Canalmen up front, with Jake Lennon on defense and Scott Cody in goal. … Old Rochester/Fairhaven has a new coach in Scott Hartley, who was an assistant for the co-op team a season ago. That will ease the transition, as well as good leadership with one of the league’s top returning scorers in Brennan Goguen, along with linemate Chris DiBiasio and defenseman Jon MacDougall. … Senior Dylan Antell and junior Tony Richards will provide firepower for a Wareham squad that is looking to integrate several freshmen into the lineup. Curtis Garcia rounds out that top forward line for the Vikings, and Logan Cedarholm is one of the team captains and the top player on the blue line. … Greater New Bedford will lean heavily on Marc Frey, one of the league’s top scorers a season ago.

SOUTH SHORE LEAGUE – Norwell is another defending league champion going through a transition of sorts. The Clippers graduated some serious scoring punch and also have a new coach, as Jim Casagrande has come over from Rockland to take the reins. The good news is the Clippers still look solid on defense with Josh Adams, Mike Driscoll, Tony Ferzoco and Mike Verrochi all back. Garrett Duffy and James McAteer will try to pick up the scoring slack. … Mashpee/Upper Cape Tech has established itself as one of the league contenders. Nick Villa is solid in net for the Falcons with Kevin Byrne the top defenseman and Liam Sullivan among the leading forwards. … Harwich joins forces with Chatham this season, which should help keep the team in the thick of the race. Senior forwards Tanner Ellison and John Devlin are players to watch for the Crusaders. … After just missing out on a tournament berth a season ago, Abington/East Bridgewater is hoping to take the next step behind the play of captains Zach Concannon, Mike DeCarvalho and Chris Dion. … Carver/Sacred Heart has a new coach this season with Gerry Ciarcia taking over for Tony Rota. Ciarcia’s son Cal led the team in scoring a season ago and the SSL All-Star is back for what he hopes will be a bigger junior campaign. Junior Alex Cruz also was a league all-star in 2008 and sophomore Matt Donovan is back for his second season in net. … Cohasset suffered some heavy losses from the team that finished second in the standings last season, but does have one key returnee in the right place. Goalie Jonny Wade was a league all-star and now is a captain in his senior season as he tries to guide the Skippers back to the postseason. … Hull’s strength is on defense with senior Tim Brady (league all-star), junior Devin Lawless and sophomore Joe Curran all back in uniform for the Pirates.

TRI-VALLEY LEAGUE – After a three-horse race to the top of the league standings a year ago, Ashland is hoping it has what it takes to surge to the front. The Clockers return 20 of 22 players, a group that still is predominantly juniors and have two years of varsity experience already. But the Clockers also have a pair of senior captains in their fifth varsity seasons in defensemen Matt Morris and Sean Pyne, who join junior Mac Denaro and St. John’s transfer Ryan Menard on the blue line. Juniors Chris Weilandt, Pat Curtis, Barrett O’Neill and sophomore Kyle Murray are the top forwards, with senior Connor McLaughlin and junior Matt Jollimore in goal. … Medway survived the battles to win the TVL title a season ago and the Mustangs will remain a tough out. Senior forward Dan Marrano was a league all-star in 2008 and is a captain along with Ryan Sandberg. Junior Ted Davenport will supply some scoring touch. … Westwood returns league all-star Joe Maher in net, but Wolverines coach Mike Welby expects to continue a rotation with sophomore Chris Treon also getting time. Dan Abbott and Justin Kucher were TVL All-Stars and the senior captains return to anchor the defense, while Freddy Tonsberg sparks the offense. Al Royer, a versatile player who will split between forward and defense, returns from junior hockey, while Westwood also will look for offense from sophomores Kevin Gavin, Brett Egizi and Brandon Tonsberg, as well as juniors Mike Musto and Rob Ventura. … Bellingham is off to a strong start, already topping its three wins from a year ago thanks to the play of goalie T.J. Collachio, defenseman Matt Melanson and forwards Steve Hole and Dallas Cook. … Mike Balzerini, who was an assistant at Dover-Sherborn two years ago, returns to the Raiders program in the top spot. D-S fell just shy of an elusive tournament berth in 2008 and Balzerini hopes to get his team over the hump led by forwards James Ebzery (senior) and P.J. Copponi (sophomore), as well as solid senior defenseman Charlie MacDonald and goalie Eamon Murphy. … Medfield is another squad set to make great strides from a year ago. Toby Carlow assumes coaching duties full time after serving as an interim to end last season. He will count on seniors Brett Hayes and Mike Dolan up front and Al Riccadelli in net. Seniors Brandon Cioto, Eric Donald and Sean Lyons key the defense. … Steve Martin replaces longtime coach Peter Torilli at Holliston and will look to seniors John Themeli at forward and Jack Fitzgerald on defense to ease the transition. Martin has liked the play of forwards Jack Willard and Kenny Foskette, as well as junior goalie Tommy Donovan. … Martin previously was an assistant at Hopkinton, which is going through a rebuilding phase after graduating 11. Senior Mike Richardson is back in goal and is a captain along with senior forward Sam Riga.

– jclark@bostonherald.com

Andover high jumper Moira Cronin buried the field in the high jump at Sunday’s Auerbach Freshman/Sophomore Large Schools Championships and very nearly broke the Golden Warriors’ school record in the process at the Reggie Lewis Center.

The 5-foot-11-1/2 sophomore just missed on her third attempt at 5-6-1/4, minutes after winning the event, which earned her the Outstanding Field Event Performance award, with a personal best of 5-4.

Although pleased with her win and new personal best, Cronin believes there’s plenty of room for improvement in her first season of indoor high jumping. “I felt like I had good height,” said Cronin, who made the move to indoors after playing basketball as a freshman. “I didn’t sprint fast enough. I didn’t pivot (at the bar) enough and I didn’t flick my leg.

“Today I was hoping to hit 5-4. I want to go progressively better by an inch in every meet. I think I have an advantage because I’m tall.”

Cronin’s day wasn’t finished with her high jump victory. She finished a strong third in the 55-meter hurdles in 9.28 and was part of Andover’s third-place team in the 4×400 relay (4:25.08).

Like Cronin, Marshfield sophomore Meghan Landry is competing in her first indoor campaign after making the move from basketball. She also captured her specialty, leaping 15-4-1/2 for the win in the long jump. Landry outdistanced Dracut freshman Laura Kirsch (15-2-3/4) and Newton South sophomore Chloe Millman (14-10). “This is my first 15 of the winter,” said Landry. “I need to work on my height. I hit the board really well today.”

Landry finds the indoor track environment more distracting and vastly different from the spring season when it comes to jumping. “There’s a lot going on at once,” she said. “Outdoors you’re more focused because you don’t have everyone running around you.”

The winner in the boys’ mile was somewhat of a surprise, coming out of the second heat for the victory. Racing the event for the first time, King Philip freshman Chris Allen clocked a superb 4:48.71, a second faster than St. John’s Prep sophomore Patrick Murphy, who captured the seeded heat in 4:49.78. Murphy’s teammate, sophomore Ben Halpin, was third in 4:50.11.

“I wanted to stay at the front,” said Allen, whose seed time was listed as 4:58. “I thought they’d (seeded heat) be faster.”

Mansfield sophomore Ryan Petrella ran a steady race in the 600-meter run and moved hard entering the final turn to go by eventual third-place finisher Gilbert Brown of Gloucester (1:28.89) for a 1:28.12 win. Brockton sophomore Joel Rojas was second in 1:28.66. Petrella is hoping to break the Hornets’ indoor mark of 1:23 by the end of the season.

Newton South Sophomore Kathy O’Keefe was taking dead aim on the 3:05.77 record set by Silver Lake’s Hannah Rapalee in 2003, but fell just short with her 3:07.09. O’Keefe, who is coming off a strong cross country season, took over the pace with 500 meters left, leaving everyone behind but Tewksbury sophomore Leanne Tucker. Tucker hung tough but O’Keefe held her off down the final straightaway. Tucker was a step back in 3:07.15 while Dartmouth sophomore Devyn Pryor was third in 3:15.70.

“I wanted to stick with the leaders,” said O’Keefe. “I felt I could run a little faster.”

O’Keefe, who clocked a swift 5:04 mile as a freshman, is looking to drop below 5:00 this season and knows she’ll have plenty of company among her own squad. “I have a lot of milers on my team so that’s nice,” she said.

Brockton freshman Vanessa Clerveaux outdueled Newton North sophomore Amy Ren to win the 55-meter hurdles in 9.18. Ren was clocked in 9.26. Clerveaux said she concerns herself less with her competition, preferring instead to maintaining focus on her form during a race. “When I do the hurdles, all I see is the top of the hurdle and that I have to lead with my right leg,” Clerveaux said.

Andover sophomore Simon Vorees took the 2 mile in 10:11.51 to defeat Lowell sophomore Mike Giardina’s 10:16.13. Brookline freshman Chernet Sisay was third at 10:17.98. In the girls’ deuce, Franklin sophomore Megan Ross won with a time of 11:59. Connor McDavitt, a Wachusett sophomore, cleared 5-8 for a win in the high jump and Attleboro sophomore Don Caouette’s toss of 44-11 was good for a win in the shot put.

In Saturday’s Small Schools competition, Josh Quinnie of Hanover won the high jump and took second in the 55-meter hurdles to claim the Outstanding Performer plaque, while Miriam Mboya of New Leadership earned the Outstanding Performer in the girls meet with her victory in the 55-meter dash and third-place finish in the long jump.

To the surprise to no one, Boston Herald All-Scholastic lineman Brennan Williams of Catholic Memorial just announced that he will be attending UNC in the fall of 2009. Williams was being recruited by several of the top schools, but narrowed his choices down to UNC, Wake Forest and BC.
The rumors were flying since last Monday that Williams had already decided upon to UNC, but waited until today to make the announcement during the first quarter of the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio.
In addition to UNC, Wake Forest and BC, Williams had scholarship offers from Virginia, Michigan, Duke, Maryland and Florida.

Those in need of a high school football fix can tune into NBC at 1 p.m. for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Texas.
The game holds some local interest as All-Scholastic lineman Brennan Williams of Catholic Memorial will decide between UNC, Boston College and Wake Forest. The favorite appears to be UNC as word was roaming around at the Newton Garden City Classic last week (of which CM was one of the four hoops teams in the field) that Williams had already decided on UNC, but wanted to wait until the game to make an official announcement.
If Williams does select UNC, he will join an impressive recruiting group which includes some of his teammates in this game: wide receiver Joshua Adams (a former Cambridge star who transferred to Cheshire), defensive end Donte Moss (considered to be one of the top recruits in the country) and coveted running back/safety Donovan Tate.

Connor Stockdale had one field goal in the game, but it’s one the sophomore won’t soon forget.
The 6-foot-3 forward converted a terrific feed from Benyam Kerman into the game-winning basket with 28.7 left as Watertown overcame a pair of second-half deficit to defeat Lexington, 52-49, in a Middlesex League battle of unbeatens last night. Stockdale also scored the final point when he banked in the front end of two free throws with 9.9 seconds left.
This was hardly an offensive masterpiece as both teams scuffled mightily from the field. Both teams shots roughly 31 percent from the field (Watertown was 18-of-58 and Lexington was 17-for-55), so when Lexington opened up a 38-27 lead late in the third quarter, things looked bleak for Watertown.
But the Raiders dialed up Dr. Longball and finally got an answer. Having made just four of 22 from beyond the arc, Watertown knocked down three straight from trifecta town (two from Marco Coppola and one from Ricky Morrissey) to get a pulse entering the final quarter.
Even with All-Scholastic forward Danny O’Keefe (four points, 13 rebounds) going through a rare off-night from the field, the Minutemen seemed to have things under control when Mike Igoe (a game-high 15 points) hit a 3-ball to stretch the lead to 47-40 with less than four minutes left.
Watertown, however, had other things in mind. Kyle Stockmal finally got going, tallying seven of his team-high 13 points in the fourth quarter, but the two biggest plays came from Kerman. The senior guard was less than stellar (1-for-16) in the first 28 minutes, earning a spot on the bench for a few minutes.
Kerman responded to the bench by turning in two huge plays down the stretch. He picked Lance Greene clean and went in for a solo layup to slice the deficit to 47-44. Then, with the score tied at 49-49, Kerman was able to break down the Lexington defense and feed Stockdale for the game-winner.
It says a lot for Watertown that it was able to go into a hostile environment, missing nearly seven of 10 shots from the field, get outrebounded by nine (39-30) and still survive against a quality opposition. Lexington coach Bob Farias summed it up pretty nicely long after the game ended.
“Steve’s (Watertown coach Steve Harrington) got a lot of tough kids over there,” said Farias. “They were a lot tougher than we were tonight, that’s why they won the game.”
Anyone in attendance would have found it tough to disagree with Farias’ assessment.

While the Newton North boys basketball team was taking care of business in its own Newton Garden City Classic, the girls hoop team supplied some dramatics of their own. Trailing 46-44, Hallie Vitagliano throws in a shot from halfcourt at the buzzer as the Tigers hand crosstown rival Newton South its first loss.
An excited fan submitted the replay for your viewing pleasure. Anyone else who has tapes and would like to share them can send them to dventura@bostonherald.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUPTWugeYmg

Catholic Memorial learned a painful lesson in the finals of last night’s Newton Garden City Classic: falling behind 18 points at halftime is generally a recipe for disaster.
That was the case once again as the Knights fell behind 32-14 at the break and ended up losing 60-47 to Newton North. For a normally high-scoring team such as CM, the 47 points represented its lowest point total since a 55-46 loss at Xaverian on January 17, 2006.
Blame that on three factors
1) Poor shooting: the Newton North defense held CM to 33 percent shooting from the field (16-of-48), harsh stats compounded by the fact that the Tigers outrebounded the Knights by a healthy 40-21 margin, thus limiting second shots
2) Smart strategy by Newton North: Mindful of avoiding a track meet with the push the pedal to the metal approach favored by CM, the Tigers were very patient on offense, slowing the game down as they forced the visitors to expend extra energy at the defensive end.
3) Jeff Tagger’s ankle injury. The CM standout point guard injured his left ankle in Monday’s first round win over O’Bryant and was a game-time decision. Given the fact Tagger could barely navigate the steps in the gym before the game, it was amazing Tagger was able to gut it out and contribute nine points and 10 rebounds. But much of his quickness was sapped by the injury, something CM will be monitoring closely in the upcoming days.

As for the game itself, tournament MVP Craig Marriro made his presence felt early on, knocking down three treys as the Tigers scored 17 of his game’s first 20 points. The lead stayed in double digits throughout the rest of the half as the trio of Marriro, Geoffrey Woodberry and Greg Kelley accounted for 26 of the 32 points in the opening 16 minutes.
It was a nice turnaround for Kelley, the 6-7 All-Scholastic forward, who spent most of the first round win over Newton South saddled with foul trouble. Last night, Kelley responded with a solid 17-point, 10-rebound effort.
While NN got some offensive balance, the same could not be said for CM. The scoring was basically Allen Harris. The senior forward, who had 33 points against O’Bryant, tallied 11 in the half, leaving just three points (all by Tagger) contributed by the rest of the team.
But all good teams have one solid run in them and CM got theirs in the third quarter. Dan Brooks tallied seven points, while Kyle Lawrence added four as the Knights trimmed the deficit to 37-34 late in the quarter. Here is why Marriro walked out of the gym with his hands full of hardware as he hit two big shots to give the Tigers a 41-34 lead after three.
One of the highlights for NN in the fourth quarter, something which could pay dividends down the road, was the play of 6-8 freshman center Macam Bak Macam. Any time you have a 6-8 kid with athletic ability, the tendency is to expect to see Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne wrapped into one.
That hasn’t been the case so far as Macam, who is hearing-impaired, has struggled picking up the nuisances of NN basketball. But last night, Macam contributed a key blocked shot and asserted himself quite well in the paint. Maybe this is the breakout he needed from a confidence standpoint.
Joining Marriro on the all-tournament team was his cousin Geoffrey Woodberry, Harris, O’Bryant forward Ike Azotam and Newton South forward Tavone Wynder. Azotam had 22 points and 10 rebounds in a 65-55 win over Newton South in the consolation game.

As we were leaving, we noticed a large commotion outside athletic director Tom Guisti’s office. Being the nosy sort, I stepped inside and saw Guisti and several staffers rejoicing.
They had just learned that the Newton North girls basketball team had just handed crosstown rival Newton South its first loss in dramatic fashion. Hallie Vitagliano threw in a shot from halfcourt at the buzzer to give the Tigers a 47-46 win.

Checked in with All-Scholastic lineman Brennan Williams of Catholic Memorial as he prepares to play in Saturday’s prestigious U.S. Army All-American Football Game in San Antonio, Texas.
“It’s been a great experience down here so far,” said Williams. “It’s pretty hot, a lot warmer than up there. We practice in the morning, then we spend the afternoon doing all sorts of team actitivites.”
As for the skill level of his teammates?
“It’s pretty impressive,” he said. “It’s not something you normally see in high school.”
We also asked Williams on the rumor making the rounds at the Newton Garden City Classic (CM was one of the four teams in the fields) that he had committed to UNC last Monday.
“I have not made any final decision yet, I will do so Saturday,” Williams said. “I have narrowed it down to North Carolina, BC and Wake Forest.”

The Oliver Ames girls softball were recently honored by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association for its academic prowess. The Tigers’ team grade point average of 3.820 ranked them ninth in the country among more than 1,100 schools. The only other Bay State to crack the top-50 was Wellesley (49th with a GPA of 3.330).
“This group of young ladies clearly understood the value of academics,” said second-year coach Bob Huckabee. “During the softball season we make it clear to them that books always come ahead if the bats. Batting averages can make you a winner on the softball field, but grade point averages can open the doors necessary to be successful in the game of life.
“This is a terrific honor for everyone involved in the softball program, including their families who provide a solid support system.”
Selected as NFCA Scholar Athletes were the following 12 athletes from Oliver Ames, all of whom carried a GPA of 3.5 or better: Sandy Anton, Karen Babbitt, Alexandra Bressette, Amanda Cowan, Amy Daniels, Sarah Hurley, Elizabeth Meyer, Jessica Rodriguez, Nicole Romero, Diane Schillinger, Margaret Silva and Kristen Vogler. In addition, Molly Cotter, Shauna Haggerty and Megan Healy all carried a GPA of 3.3 or better.

Took in the first round of the Newton Holiday Tournament earlier this evening at a packed house on the campus of Newton North High School.
As much as we hate to give credit to Paul Connolly (only kidding Shot Doctor), the Newton North boys hoop coach put together a solid field, one in which any of the four teams could conceivably win the tournament. In the opener, a pair of D2 South powers, O’Bryant and Catholic Memorial, put on a superb display of fast break basketball.
In the end, the difference was Catholic Memorial senior forward Allen Harris. The 6-foot-4 standout scored 12 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter as the Knights held off the Tigers, 75-72, to advance to tomorrow night’s final.
Even though O’Bryant lost, the Tigers certainly made a statement here. Playing without leading scorer Anthony Rivers (ankle injury) and with star forward Ike Azotam (18 points, 15 rebounds) in foul trouble, Juan Figueroa’s club made CM work for everything. Junior point guard Marco Banegas (17 points, six assists) was solid, while the bench made some timely contributions.
Don’t be shocked if these two teams meet again in March.

In the second game, the Battle of Newton, pitted Newton North and Newton South. It was hard to enjoy this one as a slew of whistles turned this one into a rock fight. Connolly loves having All-Scholastic Greg Kelley around, just not on the bench for the final 7:45 with five fouls.
Fortunately for the Tigers, Craig Marriro and Geoffrey Woodberry were on top of their games at the right time. The duo combined for 51 points in Kelley’s absence to offset a terrific 35-point effort by Newton South’s Tavone Wynder. The Lions might be 1-3, but keep an eye on them when they get Willie Lyons back later in the week.

O’Bryant-Newton South is 5:15, followed by Newton North-Catholic Memorial at 6:45. To those interested in attending, it is not a big gym, so get there early,