Palladino’s FT Nips Saugus, 72-71

Chris Palladino sank the front end of a 1-and-1 with three seconds to play to give the Revere High boys basketball team an exciting 72-71 triumph over Saugus last Tuesday.

The teams had battled fiercely in the final minute, with Revere breaking 69-69 deadlock with a bucket, only to see Saugus knot matters at 71-71 with just 12 ticks left on the clock. RHS head coach Rick Hayes called a timeout and drew up a play directed to Palladino in the high post. Chris was fouled when he got the ball and made good on his first shot from the charity stripe to provide the deciding margin. Saugus was able to get off only a desperation shot at the end.

After a tight 18-17 first quarter in favor of the Patriots, Revere went on a nice run in the second frame to take a 40-29 lead into the locker room at the half. However, Saugus fought back after the intermission and whittled the deficit to three, 52-49, by the third buzzer, setting the stage for the dramatic final eight minutes of basketball.

The Patriots enjoyed great success from three point land, led by Tommy Sor, who drained four attempts from beyond the arc to garner the majority of his team-high 16 points. Dom Boyce (11 points) and Mike Dreeszen (nine points) hit a trio of treys apiece and Geo Gomez (six points) added one three pointer.

Other scorers for Revere were Palladino with 15 points (the old fashioned way), Alex Urena with eight, Mike Ciambelli with five, and Jason Seigal with two.

The Pats journeyed to Lynn English Friday for a matchup with the perennial power Bulldogs. After trailing by 11 after the first frame, Revere sliced the margin to six, 42-36, at the intermission.

However, a full court press by English to start the third period resulted in a number of Patriot turnovers that allowed the Bulldogs to enlarge their margin to a 72-49 advantage by the third buzzer en route to a final score of 88-63.

Joseph Aud lit up the scoreboard for the Pats with 24 points, including four of five attempts from three point land. Seigal and Urena hit for nine apiece; Ciambelli, Dreeszen, and Gomez added six each; and Palladino chipped in two.

The Patriots, who now stand at 6-10 on the season, must win all four of their remaining games in order to qualify for the state tourney. They began that stretch last night (Tuesday), hosting Lynn Classical. Hayes and his crew will entertain Salem Friday and Beverly next Tuesday.

Fitzpatrick wins NEC 600 title

Michael Fitzpatrick added another jewel to his crown of glory in his stellar high school track career by capturing first place and the league championship in the 600 meter race at Thursday’s Northeastern Conference All League Meet at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center.

Fitzy sped to victory in a time of 1:25.55 and never was seriously challenged, outracing his nearest competitor by 1.14 seconds.

Although Mike was the only Patriot boy to claim an NEC title, a number of his teammates came home with ribbons for finishing in the top six positions to give the Patriots a strong fifth place team ranking among the 12 teams in the NEC.

Joey Ritchie grabbed second place in the long jump with a leap of 18’, 1”, just five inches behind the winner. Joey also qualified for the finals in the 55 meter dash, but finished just out of the money in eighth place in 7.09.

Karim Sahila took third place in the 55 meter hurdles in 8.60 seconds. Omar Morales tossed the shotput 43’, 9” to earn a fourth place ribbon, as did Robert Rose in the 300. Nushi earned a point for the Revere with a sixth place effort in the mile in 5:01.36.

Other Patriots who competed in the meet were: Tarik Maddrey in the high jump with a leap of 5-8, which tied him for the fourth best jump, though he finished in eighth spot based on more misses at the lower heights; Younes Hartout competed in the dash, finishing in 13th  place in 7.24; Kane Scott-Dimasso finished in 13th position in the hurdles in 9.65. Johnny Lopes raced to a strong ninth place showing in the 300 meter dash in 38.42; Abel Alcanter ran a 1:38.53 in the 600, good for 18th place; Rawlings Toglon and Mohamed Benzadok turned in fine efforts in the 1000 meter race, finishing in 12th and 13th place respectively in times of 3:01.05 and 3:04.51; Issam Lfalaki ran the mile, clocking a fine time of 5:17.27;  John DelloRusso took 10th place in the two mile in 11:20.46 with teammate Marvin Vasques in 12th in 11:36.85; and Vito Licata tossed the shotput 41-9.75 for a strong eighth place performance.

The Revere boys also earned points in all of the relays, taking fifth in the 4 x 200, fourth in the 4 x 400, and fifth in the 4 x 800.

The 4 x 400 quartet of Fitzpatrick, Rose, Sahila, and Lopes had an apparent victory when some bad luck befell them. Lopes lost a shoe during the handoff (a teammate had stepped on his foot) and ran in his sock on that one foot. However, the sock started to come out down the stretch, causing him to trip and fall in the final 50 meters, allowing three competitors to race ahead. Still, Johnny got up and gave Revere a fourth place finish.

The 4 x 200 team consisted of Ritchie, Younes Hartout, Ricardo Maldonado, and Danny Rivera. The 4 x 800 foursome were Nushi, Benzadok, Derek Fortuna, and Alcanter.

“It was a great day for our team,” said RHS head coach Jack Mosko. “We recorded 15 personal records and came home with 17 ribbons.”

MacDonald wins NEC hurdles title

Revere High ace hurdler Racquel MacDonald handily topped the field in last Thursday’s 55 meter hurdles race to capture the Northeastern Conference championship in that event.

Racquel had the fastest time in the qualifying heat among the 21 entrants with a clocking of 9.37 seconds. She then turned on the jets in the final race with the top eight hurdlers to win with a time of 9.12, more than half a second faster than her closest competitor, who came in at 9.68.

RHS girls beat Saugus, now 7-6

The Revere High girls basketball split its two contests this week, defeating Saugus 43-34 last Tuesday and then falling by a 45-39 score to Lynn English Friday.

The Lady Patriots led all the way against Saugus, but never were quite able to shake the pesky Lady Sachems, who always seemed to creep back into the contest whenever Revere was creating some separation.

“We didn’t play our best, but give Saugus credit because they hung tough,” said RHS head coach Katelyn Leonard. “It was a battle right to the end and we did what we had to do to win. We wanted this game badly and we gutted it out with hard nosed defense.”

Venous Hamza lit up the scoreboard with a season high of 16 points and dished out five assists. Caitlyn Caramello turned in her usual all around effort with 12 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists.  Tiphani Harris had a solid night with eight points and nine rebounds. Alex Ambrosino contributed five points and Jen Fajardo added two.

Three nights later the Lady Patriots hosted Lynn English, a team which is ranked number four in the state and is undefeated atop the Northeastern Conference.

The contest was a fiercely fought battle from the outset, as Revere clearly was not bowed by English’s impressive credentials.

“Our girls didn’t back down from them,” said Leonard. “We came ready to fight and play hard.”

The game was evenly matched until the final two minutes. Revere trailed by two at the half and by just a single point after three frames. However, a couple of costly turnovers and some missed free throws by Revere (the Lady Pats missed 11 attempts from the charity stripe) allowed English to escape with a 45-39 victory.

“Although we lost, I was very proud of the way we played and stood up to the best team in the NEC this season,” said Leonard. “If we play with that degree of intensity in the rest of our games, we will do very well.”

Freshman Tiphani Harris turned in what Leonard termed “her best game of the year,” forwarding a nifty double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds. Fajardo was next on the point chart with eight, followed by Caramello (who pulled down 11 rebounds) with seven, Hamza with six, and Amy Rotger with four.

The Lady Patriots, who now are 7-6 on the season, were set to travel to Lynn Classical last night (Tuesday) and will stay on the road at Salem Friday and at Beverly next Tuesday.

RHS hockey team ties Lynn, 2-2

The Revere High hockey team battled Lynn to a 2-2 standoff Saturday evening at Lynn. Drew Lauria lit the red lamp at 4:24 into the game to give the Pats an early 1-0 lead. Marco Mazzarelli and Brandon Mastropietro earned assists on the marker.

Lynn evened the count midway through the second frame, but Shayne Cambria restored Revere into the lead two minutes later, assisted by R.J. Tiorano. However, Lynn continued the cat and mouse game to deadlock the contest before the period ended.

Both teams played up and down hockey over the final 15 minutes and both had their chances to score. However, RHS goalie Jon Papasadora and his Lynn counterpart both held the fort at their respective ends of the ice to leave matters deadlocked at 2- 2 at the final horn. The even nature of the game was evident in the shots on goal statistic, with Revere holding only a slight 32-31 edge.

The Patriots hosted Beverly, one of the top teams in the NEC’s North Division, three nights earlier and came out on the short end of a 5-1 decision. Revere battled Beverly fiercely through the first two periods, yielding just one goal in each frame to leave matters standing at a tight 2-0 entering the final period.

However, the Pats could manage only a goal from Pat Bartol, assisted by Peter Marino,  while Beverly lit the lamp three more times.

“We played well in both games,” said RHS head coach Jim Palumbo. “The team is working hard and improving, but we need to finish our scoring opportunities.”

Palumbo and his crew, who stand at 3-7-4 on the season, host Swampscott tonight (Wednesday) at Cronin at 6:30 and entertain former GBL rival Somerville Saturday at 5:10.