NH Elite Captures Two State Titles

In just their third year of existence, the NH Elite program won NH AAU State championships in both the 9th and 10th grade divisions. The tournament was held this past weekend at the Rockingham Athletic Club in Plaistow, NH. NH Elite's 10th grade team was led by Jourdain Bell (Bishop Brady), Brett Hanson (Manchester Central), Austin Franzen (Merrimack), Luke Testa (Pinkerton), Ryan Brown (Bedford) and Zach Bergeron (Campbell).

Their 9th grade team was led by Joe Bell (Bishop Brady), JT Thompson (Phillips Exeter), Spencer DeLand (Farmington), Connor Walsh (Trinity), Julien Buffalino (St. Paul's) Anthony Primavera (Winnacunnet) and Bryant Holmes (Exeter). Joe Bell played for both teams.

"We did it by playing unbelievably great man defense" said NH Elite Director Dustin Freeman, who coached the 9th grade team while Trinity assistant Matt Lemieux coached the 10th grade squad. "Our defense negated opposing teams who were more athletic. A huge part of our 10th grade team is the Bell brothers, they played great defense. And on the 9th grade team Joe Bell and JT Thompson were absolute lockdown defenders. Thompson is tough as nails."

New England Shooting Stars 15s Win NH Girls AAU State Championship

Derry, NH - The SportsZone hosted over 72 teams for the AAU girls district qualifying tournament for the National Championships. The New England Shooting Stars won the 15U 10th grade tournament championship, in spite of being without one of their top three point shooters, Colleen Frey, (Pelham, NH) due to a shoulder injury.

The Stars first opponent was the Barrington Storm and found themselves trailing by one, 28-29 at half time, the Stars stayed in the game in large part to hitting 8 out of 10 free throws and Brittney Roche (Londonderry) hitting two key three pointers (8pts total), and Tayler White (Keene) with 6 points. The Stars defense held the Storm to 21 points in the second half; while Vanessa Fleury (Lebanon) scored 11 points in the second half (15pts. total) and secured 10 rebounds, while Rachael Cormier (Andover, MA) and Megan Collins (N. Andover ,MA) supported her efforts with 10 and 9 points respectively, securing a 54-50 victory.

Bedford Football's Rapid Ascent to the Top

Bedford has only had a varsity football program for 4 years, yet a whopping 5 of their former players from the Class of 2013 are headed off to play D-I or D-II college football in the fall. This is a tremendous accomplishment for any program, especially one that is still so new. The first Bulldog to commit was Will McInerney, a 6-foot-7, 275-pound lineman who accepted a scholarship to play at the University of New Hampshire. McInerney was sidelined for the 2012 season with a knee injury, but is certainly one of the state's most feared linemen.

QB James Caparell and WR Brian Collins have grown up playing together with Caparell throwing passes to Collins. They were a lethal combination at Bedford, and now they'll continue playing together at the University of Rhode Island. Caparell was the state's leading passer as a senior in 2012, throwing for 2,265 yards and 25 touchdowns, and Collins was his leading receiver.

David Cannone, who started at fullback and linebacker for Bedford, will be attending and playing football at Bentley University, a Division II program in the Northeast-10 Conference. He has a nose for the ball and always leaves it all out on the field. Cannone will play at Bentley alongside former Bulldog Mike Gardiner, who started at WR and DB at Bedford before moving to Texas for his senior year. Gardiner attended Southlake Carroll in Texas and was their leading receiver.

Bedford made the D-III title game in 2011, with all 5 of these players in the starting lineup. In 2012 they moved up to D-II and made the finals. It is scary to think how good that team would have been if McInerny was healthy and if Gardiner was still at Bedford. It has been a great 2 year run for their program, and you have to give a lot of credit to the kids on the team, as well as head coach Kurt Hines and his staff. The Bulldogs have a strong pipeline of talent coming up the ranks as well, so they will likely continue to be a dominant team, even now that they will be in Division I moving forward.

Arsenault Commits to Plymouth

One of the top 3-sport athletes to come out of New Hampshire in the past few years has made his college decision, as Curtis Arsenault (Berlin, NH) has committed to Plymouth State University where he will play both basketball and baseball. Arsenault was an all-state player at Berlin High in basketball, baseball and soccer. He played all 3 sports this past year as a post-grad at Phillips Exeter Academy, and he was recruited by colleges in all 3 sports. Arsenault was kind enough to do an exclusive interview for the NH Notebook, proving an in depth breakdown of how the recruiting process went for him and what lead to his commitment to Plymouth St.

"Going to PEA helped me get a lot more interest from coaches in all 3 sports" said Arsenault, who scored 1,000 points, won a state title and D-III Player of the Year in basketball while at Berlin High. "I had 6 schools recruiting me for basketball, 2 for baseball and 2 for soccer. Endicott, Emmanuel, Clark, Lyndon State, Wheaton, and PSU showed plenty of interest for basketball. Endicott and PSU were the only schools that reached out to me about playing baseball and basketball. Clark and Wheaton reached out about me playing soccer and basketball."

Connors Commits to Bates

You hear the word 'unselfish' thrown around quite a bit from folks when describing basketball players. However, few players in the region fit that term better than Windham High senior Bernadette Connors.

"She's a 5-foot-9 wing player who never played the post before this year" said Windham head coach Joe Mason. "I looked at her and said, can you play the post? She said if that's what's best for the team then yes. That says a lot about her, as she was now going against players taller than her every game and she sacrificed her offensive touches. She didn't care about stats, and always put the team first."

Connors has helped lead the Windham girls basketball program to back-to-back Division II Final Four appearances, making the D-II all-state team both years. She was named Female Athlete of the Month for March by the NHIAA. And now she has committed to attend and play basketball at Bates College.

NH vs. VT Senior Games Are Back

As first reported by the Burlington Free Press, the annual senior all-star games between New Hampshire and Vermont are back on. The games had a 30 year run but the last year they were held was 2010. They were stopped though, because the organizers were no longer able to come up with enough funding to make them happen. But now the event is back on, but will just happen on a smaller scale.

This year's games will be played on Saturday, July 13 at Essex High School in VT. The girls game will be played at 6 pm, with the boys tipping off at 8.

The Twin State Classic used to be a tremendous, first-class event. The players, their parents, the coaches (and even some of the media) all got to stay in a nice hotel and have a fancy dinner and banquet the night before the games. The games were played on Division I college courts and were broadcasted by a professional crew with the DVD being given to each player afterwards. All of this cost money, and in 2010 the event cost over $26,000. Now they are bringing the event back, but without all of the bells and whistles. Organizers are now hoping to keep the cost under $5,000 for this year's event.

NEB Family 17's Making Noise on AAU Circuit

By: Jeremy Leveille
This past weekend was a big one for the NEB (New England Basketball) Family's 17U boys AAU team, as they got 2nd place in New England at the Super Regionals. The tournament was held at the Mass Premier Courts in Foxboro, MA. The team was led by Cameron Meservey (Bedford HS), Carmen Giampetruzzi (Trinity), Andrew Lowman (Windham HS), Isaiah Joseph (Manchester Central) and Taylor Grande (Bedford HS).

"I honestly haven't seen Meservey play that well in two years" said NEB coach Gregg Dorman, who has coached Meservey since he was in 7th grade. "He had one game where he had 40 points and 10 three-pointers. He caught fire and single-handedly won it for us."

The NEB Family went 2-0 in pool play, with a 58-29 win over MYCW and a thrilling 67-61 win over the Boston Warriors. Then in the quarterfinals they crushed the Central Mass Shamrocks 81-57, and they followed that up with an impressive 76-69 win over the Boston Titans. But then the NEB Family had to play in the finals just a half hour after their semi-final game ended, and they fell to a tough Mass Premier team 78-47.

Kehoe Commits to St. Joe's

By: Jeremy Leveille
Often times in high school basketball when a father is coaching his son/daughter it causes a sticky situation. However in the case of Emily Kehoe being coached by her father Tim at Lebanon it couldn't have worked out any better. Their family grew closer than ever, Emily had an undefeated state championship season as a senior, and now she has committed to St. Joseph's College in Maine where she will continue her basketball career.

"Ever since I can remember basketball has been part of our family" Emily Kehoe told the NH Notebook. "When my mom couldn't watch me I would go to practice with my dad. When I started playing for my school team, I looked less than promising. I had to work hard to get where I am today, and my Father was a big factor in that. I never gave up, and my dad never gave up on me. Being the coaches kid was hard, and some days I wished I wasn't, yet those are the days I don’t remember. I remember the days where me and my dad left practice smiling, and I will remember ending our father daughter / coach player relationship with our championship. The bond that basketball has given my family is incredible. Playing for my dad was an honor, and I couldn't imagined ending it any other way. He has made me the hard working player I am today."

Introducing the NE Flames AAU Program

By: Jeremy Leveille
With AAU basketball season officially here, one program making headlines is the New England Flames. Formerly called the NH Flames, they are now expanding outside of the Granite State.

“We just got our first Vermont player, a 5-foot-10 fifth grader who plays for coach Leonid Gershgorin” said Frank Girginis, who is on the Flames’ Board of Directors.

Not only are the Flames adding players from other states, but they are also putting an increased emphasis on their older teams.

“We feel we have strong competitive teams in all age groups this season especially with the high school teams as we have a really talented incoming freshmen team coached by myself and Scott Purcell.”

Crusader Jamboree 2013 - Event Recap

Every year the kickoff to the girls AAU season is the Crusader Jamboree, put on by the NE Crusaders. This year's event featured some of the top talent in New England, including teams from the Crusaders and the Rhode Island Lightning programs. It's a great event, I just really wished they kept score during the games!

As far as players from NH go, Madison Springfield (Conant HS) stole the show at this event. It's scary to think she is only a freshman. Springfield and Aliza Simpson (Londonderry HS) are on the same team with the Crusaders, which should be a fun duo to watch. Unfortunately Simpson suffered a sprained ankle during the team's first game and sat out the rest of the day. Also sitting out was Ali Glennon (Bedford) with a knee injury which she suffered during the D-I championship game last month.

This event also featured a number of local players who won state championships with their high school teams this winter. Those players include Glennon, McKenzie Brown and Nikki Tucci (all from Bedford) and Courtney Walsh (Windham, NH) who led Central Catholic to the MIAA Division I state title.

The players who stood out the most were...

Schiebel Commits to Suffolk

Once Windham High senior Kelsey Schiebel decided she wanted to play college basketball, there was nothing stopping her from that goal. She has worked very hard, especially over the past year to become a better player. And now Schiebel has committed to Suffolk University, where she will attend school and compete to become the team's new starting point guard.

"My junior year spring AAU season was when it really all started to become real to me" Schiebel told the NH Notebook. "My freshman year of high school I started to play for the Bay State Blizzards under Kevin Barboza and that's when I really decided I wanted to play in college. Over the last four years training with Kevin and playing for him has totally changed me as a player. I worked out with him 2 to 3 times a week this summer and I think he's the one that really got me to that next level."

Suffolk competes in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) in Division III. This past season they went 23-8 (10-2 in conference play), and advanced to the conference title game before falling to GNAC power Emmanuel. Suffolk is located in the heart of Boston.

Hoops Hot Button Column - Part 2

This is part 2 of my article from the other day with the same title. I realized I had more hot button issues to discuss. In this article I discuss whether NH's private schools should be banned from the NHIAA, and also whether all-state voting should be done at the end of the regular season or at the end of the tournament.

Catholic School Controversy
Ok, so for the past couple of weeks, or ever since Bishop Guertin and Trinity advanced to the D-I boys title game, there have been people out there saying that NH's Catholic High schools should have their own league and that they should no longer be eligible to win NHIAA state championships. The argument is that these schools can draw kids from all over the state, and even other nearby states to come to their school, as opposed to public schools who can only have athletes from their local town(s).

Yes, it's true that the Trinity boys have made the Final Four 3 years in a row and that BG has made the finals in 2 of the past 3 years. It's also true that 3 of Trinity's top 6 players this year were incoming transfers, 2 of them transferred in right before the school year started and without those 3 players the Pioneers probably wouldn't have made it to the finals.

Still, even with that being said I am definitely in favor of allowing Trinity, BG and the rest of the private schools to stay in the NHIAA and be eligible for state titles here's why.

Girls Basketball Granite Games Recap

By: Ross Laorenza
All that stars were out for the Granite Games, Saturday afternoon at NHTI. The games, sponsored by the NHBCO, allow the state’s best play together on one court. It was great getting to see some of the talented athletes I covered during the season come together for some great basketball. Here is a recap of both the Division III vs. Division IV game and the Division I vs. Division II game.

Hoops Hot Button Column

The season might be over, but I still have plenty to say about boys and girls high school basketball. First off, congrats to Meghan Green and Jamie Sherburne from Bishop Guertin, who both picked up some big time awards in the last week. Green was named Ms. NH Basketball as well as Division I Player of the Year by the NHBCO, while Sherburne has won the 2012-2013 girls basketball Gatorade Player of the Year for NH. Both players have worked very hard to get where they are now, and will both be playing D-I college basketball (Green at BU and Sherburne at Niagara). They represent themselves well on and off the court.

Green and Sherburne have taken their games to new levels with the coaching of Scott Hazelton. He has taken the Cardinals to the D-I finals in each of his first 2 years at the helm, winning the championship in 2012. Their record during that span is 41-3. In addition to coaching them at BG, Hazelton also coached both players during the AAU season in 2012 with the Rivals Basketball Club.

Speaking of impressive 2 year runs for a new coach, how about Souhegan girls coach Jeremy Faulkner and Salem boys coach Rob McLaughlin? Faulkner won back-to-back D-II titles in 2011 and 2012, while McLaughlin won D-I Coach of the Year in those same 2 seasons. Windham girls coach Joe Mason also deserves a lot of credit. In the Jaguars first 3 years as a varsity program they have made 3 straight quarterfinal appearances and back-to-back Final Four runs.

NHIAA Season in Review

By: Jeremy Leveille

Top seeds Trinity and Pembroke took home the hardware in the NHIAA state tournament.

NHIAA Division 1 – Trinity 50 Bishop Guertin 46

Trinity earned hard fought wins over Nashua South in the semis and over Bishop Guertin in the finals. In both wins (and all season long) the Pioneers were led by senior forward Mabor Gabriel and junior wing Carmen Giampetruzzi (committed to Boston College for baseball).

To read this story in its entirety, click here

2012-2013 ESPN NH's All-State Team Announced

As many of you know by now, WGAM the Game has been sold and is now called, 'ESPN New Hampshire'. The staff of the station's high school sports coverage got together and voted on some end-of-season-awards. The awards were for Player of the Year, Coach of the Year and 1st Team, 2nd Team and 3rd Team all-state picks.

Players and coaches from any division were eligible for selection. Votes were submitted on Sunday and Monday, so regular season AND tournament play was considered by the voters. The voters were Sean Sendall, Chris Shuker, Joe Marchilena, Chris DeTurk, Nick Anastos, Rich Flerra, Nick Montecalvo, and yours truly Jeremy Leveille.

The award winners and all-state picks were announced Monday, live on the station's new show, 'High School Insiders', which is hosted by Nick Anastos and Rich Flerra. Without any further ado, here they are.

Trinity Defeats BG 50 - 46 For D1 Title

By: Tuesday and Friday
Carmen Giampetruzzi scored 18 points to lead Trinity to their 2nd State Championship in 5 years. With 16 seconds left in the game the title hopes of Pioneer Basketball Land laid in the hands of the All State junior as he stepped to the line. Trinity clung to a 48 to 46 lead as Giampetruzzi had a one and one FT. Giampetruzzi, who has a knack of being in these situations on a consistent basis, buried both FTs to give Trinity the 50 - 46 lead and the State Title.