Malcolm Gauld
It’s a good thing that our fall teams have not left it all out in the field… Huh?… That’s because some of them are still competing in the post-season.
On Saturday (11/17), the 7 & 1 Wolfpack from Woodstock will take to the gridiron against 7 & 1 St. Lukes (New Canaan, CT) in the Dan Rorke Bowl with a New England championship on the line. The game is scheduled for 12 Noon at the Kingswood-Oxford School (W. Hartford, CT). At risk of understatement, Coach Sean Saucier’s football team is in the midst of a dramatic reversal of fortune, having gone winless last season and logging but one victory the year before. So join me Saturday to celebrate Hyde’s first ever post-season appearance.
Moving to soccer, not only are the Hyde-Bath men headed to the New Englands, they’re going in as the #1 seed! The Phoenix will open against 8-seed Rocky Hill School (RI) at Berwick Academy on Wednesday The semis will be played on Saturday and the finals are tentatively scheduled for Sunday morning at Middlesex School (MA). If the Phoenix advance that far, it will be a very busy day for co-captain Ethan Morrow ’13 (Huntington Beach, CA) who has been selected to play in the New England All-Star Game later that day.
Although all other Hyde teams have concluded their fall seasons, I would be remiss if I failed to give special shout-outs to two others:
1) After thoroughly dominating the MAISAD (Maine Independent Schools) meet, the Phoenix men’s cross-country took the long ride down to Millbrook School (NY) for the New Englands where they finished in second place among 24 teams… just 1 point separated them from 1st place honors! These guys carry some of the same swagger I remember in Hyde’s early-80s teams. Great job!
2) I have been taxing my memory and that of our most seasoned veterans to recall any Hyde team that has ever experienced the dramatic turnaround that the Lady Phoenix soccer team enacted this fall. During the first half of the season, not only did nothing seem to go right, their lackluster attitude even earned them a motivational session with yours truly. After losing to Hebron by blow-out scores of 6-0 and 4-0, our women drew the Lady Lumberjacks in the first round of the MAISADs where they fell down 2-0 early in the contest. Then, with less than 10 minutes remaining, they tied the game at 2-2. After two scoreless regular overtimes and two more scoreless sudden death OTs, the game would be settled by penalty kicks. On our final chance, Carolyn Moore ’14 (Harpswell, ME) blasted the ball past the goalie to earn both the victory and a trip to the finals against Gould. While the season may have had a bittersweet ending with a 2-1 loss to Gould (in the 2nd sudden death overtime!) in the finals, our women finished strong and set the table for next year. Hey, we don’t rebuild… we reload!!!
Onward (to winter), Malcolm Gauld
