Wareham winter sports teams make good showing

Feb 17, 2016

Fall wasn’t so good for Wareham High School sports, but the winter has proven to be much more successful.

After going 6-1-90 collectively, two Viking teams have a chance at the postseason, and members of both the track and field team and the co-op wrestling team either have or will compete in state meets.

The hockey team has what appears to be the best shot of skating to the playoffs, needing one win in the final three games remaining against Upper Cape, Durfee, and Dighton Rehobeth.

Wareham-Carver beat Upper Cape 7-2 Tuesday night, and will face them on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the Vikings (8-7-2) will play Durfee, whom they previously defeated, and is in Fall River against Dighton Rehobeth.

“I think we got a great chance, but I don’t let them know that,” said coach Rich Valatkevicz. “I told them one game at a time. We need to focus on the next game and not the two after."

"It looks good, but I try not to look too far ahead," he continued. "I don’t want to get into this just to get into it. I want to try to win out and get a higher seed. I wanna do something with it.”

“It’s a success story,” said Athletic Director Ed Rodrigues. “It’s been a while since the hockey team made the tournament.”

At 8-9, the girls basketball team has a shot at South Sectionals, needing a win in their final game against New Bedford Wednesday night.

The Vikings beat New Bedford earlier in the year by 13 points.

“(Before the season) I thought we had a shot at making the tournament,” said coach Dave Brogioli. “I think we’ve battled more injuries this year than I ever have as a coach, but if we get a win here and get healthy, we have a chance at pulling off an upset.”

“All in all, it’s a pretty young group. We only have two seniors,” he added. “I think we’re about where we should be.”

In track and field, Paige Feshkens placed 15th at the Division 4 Indoor Track Championships in the 1000-meter at 3:16.08.

The girls 4x200 relay of Adrianna Santos, Paige Cogswell, Jillian Rawding, and Chayla Ewing placed seventeenth overall at 1:51.70.

Wareham was represented by two girls in the 55-dash, as Chayla Ewing ran a personal best 7.66 (11th) and Rawding personal best of 7.77 (15th). In the shot put, Lexie Calvin tenth with a throw of 32’ 5”.

On the boys side, Ryan Bonfiglio ran a 6.81 in the 55-meter dash, good for eighth in the tournament.

“It was good. We ended up going 6-3 overall and 5-3 South Coast Conference,” said girls coach Chris Gardner, who said the program is going in the right direction having placed third at the South Coast Conference meet. “It’s good for us. We don’t have a huge team, but we always have talent. We’re getting more depth.

They may not be headed to the playoffs, but the Wareham Vikings boys basketball team has something to build on.

Wareham (8-11, 7-9 South Coast Conference) upset the now 15-3 Bishop Stang Spartans at home on Tuesday night, knocking off one of the top teams in the area 63-56.

The Vikings did so by shutting down Spartan stud Brycen Goodine, the fifth-leading scorer in the state at 21.3 points per game, as well as Damian Perry, who is eleventh in the state at 17.5 PPG. Goodine had only eight points and Perry finished with 10.

Wareham was led by junior Jovahn Thomas, who finished with 24 points, just above his average of 22.3 PPG, making him the state’s fourth-leading scorer, one ahead of Goodine.

Thomas had four of the Vikings’ nine 3-pointers, with Ashantay Tavares knocking down two en route to a 12-point night. Jamiell Martin added 10 points for Wareham.

Wareham’s next game is at home against Cardinal Spellman Friday evening.

“The winter’s been pretty good,” adde Rodrigues, who said he expects to see a strong boys tennis team and a new softball pitcher to be joining the girls softball team in the spring. ” I’m expecting at least those two to do well.”