Sports Update

Xavier Hazard going high to the rim for EP. Marley Nicini photo.

Townies Trey Resendes. Nicini Photos.

EP victory

EP heavyweight westler Machar Francis with the match ending exciting pin for the Townie win over North Providence. Team photo.

Charlie Phillips of EP continuing to excel all season. Picking up another win at divisionals.

Townies Charlie Phillips takes the 138 weight class championship in the Gorman Memorial Tournament in January.

Townie wrestlers finished second at the Brendan Grant Memorial wrestling tournament held in Belmont Massachusetts.

EPHS wrestlers at the Brendan Grant Memorial wrestling tournament held in Belmont Massachusetts.

EPHS Boys Indoor Track team. Nicini photos.

Dylan slavick, Cam Evora and Kenaz Ochogwu with High Jump medals at Metro Divisionals.

EPHS Girls Indoor Track team for finishing 4th in the Sullivan Divisionals last evening. Nazarae Phillip took home first place in the 55 and 300. Kandace Daniel took home 2nd in the 55 and 3rd in the 300.

EPHS students dress for The Herd at Townie athletic contests. Marley Nicini photo.

JJ Renaud at the foul line sinking a shot for RMS in win vs. Barrington MS.

RMS Girls Basketball Team

Asst. RMS coach Brian Ferreira left and MMS coach Bobby Rodericks at state Futures wrestling tournament January 29th.

MMS and RMS wrestlers at state tournament January 28th.

Posted Monday, February 6, 2023 1:01 pm

by Bob Rodericks

EPHS Boys Basketball – Coach Andrade Nets 100^th Win
The boys basketball team improved to 8-4 late last month in a big win over Mount Pleasant, 78-51. The Townies have been without their senior standout scorer Max Collins to injury since the end of December. The well-balanced team has stepped up without the top scoring hand of Collins. The team has league wins over East Greenwich, Narragansett, North Providence, Cranston East, North Kingstown, Woonsocket, Westerly and Mount Pleasant. The losses have been to LaSalle, in a thrilling one point game at LSA, and to Cumberland, Hendricken and Classical. The anticipated rematch against LaSalle will be on February 8^th at EPHS. The team will also face St. Ray’s, Smithfield, Narragansett, Barrington and East Greenwich in February.

The team traveled to Portsmouth in January and came away with a 77 to 47 victory. The Townies were led by Kemaire Dublins 16 points, Trey Rezendes 22 points, and Xavier Hazards 17 points. Coach Joe Andrade also achieved his 100th win as Townie head coach. “I haven’t given much thought to winning 100 games as a coach,” said Andrade. “The kids score the baskets, play defense and earn the wins. My goal is to teach and guide and watch them mature,” said the low-key coach. Andrade is also the impetus behind the group of Townie students forming ‘The Herd’ – a student support group growing every day. Another goal for Andrade is to bring a state championship to East Providence. The last basketball championship was in 1976 when the Townies beat LaSalle.

In other action last month, the Townies defeated Westerly 77-54 in an away game. The East Providence defense was tenacious as they held Westerly to only 2 points in the first quarter. While the defense was playing exceptionally, the offense did their part. Junior Trey Resendes 20 points for the game including 10 of the Townies first 17 points. “Trey has been consistent for us all year and is tough for opponents to defend against,” said coach Joe Andrade. Xavier Hazzard was high scorer with 22 points (four 3 pointers), Derrell Liggins had 9 key points late in the game and Jayden Cadwell added 6 to help finish off Westerly.

EPHS Wrestling Heading into States
The wrestling squad under the direction of veteran coach Tom Galligan continues to look good as they defeated North Providence on January 26th in a match that went right to the end for the Townie suspense filled win. The Townies scored the tough win after heavyweight Machar Francis pinned his opponent at the end to win it 36-35.

EPHS Indoor Track
The EPHS Boys Indoor Team finished 6th in the tough Metro Divisionals in an end of January meet. Kit Ruddock placed third in the 300 and 4th in the 55. Dylan Slavick and Cameron Evora tied for third in the High Jump and the 4x200 team of David Vieira Lucas Santa Cruz, Kwam Gillard and Kit Ruddock placed 4th. It was a solid day for the Boys. The team next competes in the Class Championships in early February at the Providence Career & Technical Athletic complex.

EPHS Girls Indoor Track team finished 4th in the Sullivan Divisionals last month. Nazarae Phillip took home first place in the 55 and 300. Kandace Daniel took home 2nd in the 55 and 3rd in the 300.

EPHS Fledgling Gymnastics Squad Improving
The second-year co-op gymnastics team from EPHS/Rogers competed in the team’s second meet of the year in a tri-meet match with Mt. Hope and Westerly high schools on Sunday. The squad continues to build on their skills and confidence. The 6-member squad continues to impress and held their own in a tight meet finishing with a total team score of 109.05. Westerly High won the competition with a 119.45 score.

“Carter Bessette, a sophomore from EP, has really stepped up this year,” said coach Casey Rapp. “Last year as a freshman, she only competed on floor. This year, she has consistently competed in the all-around and become our leading scorer,” added Rapp. Senior Captain Makena Petsch continues to contribute in the all-around and add more difficulty to her routines. Brettyn Newsome, senior captain from Rogers, has greatly improved on vault and added difficulty to her bar and beam routines to help increase her scores. MK Boudreau, a senior from EP, is a newcomer this year and has worked hard to compete in the all-around. Her floor routine is a crowd pleaser and she has become more consistent with her skills. Lily McKenna (freshman, Rogers) competed a new vault to add to the lineup. Jade Taswell (freshman, EP) had a huge improvement in her floor score.

Carter Bessette scored 8.05 on the Vault, 5.8 on the Bars, 7.35 on the Beam and an 8.4 on the Floor. MK Boudreau scored 7.65 on the Vault, 5.45 on the Bars, 5.75 on the beam and a 7.9 on Floor. Lily McKenna scored 10.1 on the Vault and 5.25 on the Beam. Brettyn Newsome scored a 7.05 on Vault, 4.55 on Bars, 6.3 on Beam and a 6.95 on Floor. Makena Petsch scored 8.2 on Vault, 4.9 on Bars, 7.35 on Beam and a 7.4 on Floor. Jade Taswell scored 4.1 on Bars and a 4.1 on Floor.

East Providence Middle Schools in State Playoffs
Martin and Riverside middle schools are heading into playoff action in both basketball and wrestling as February begins. Updates will be posted on ReporterToday.com. In the meantime, here is a rundown of last month’s results:

The Riverside Middle School boys basketball team earned a playoff spot by defeating Tiverton MS on the road. Today’s win was the second in a row for the Vikings who most likely needed this win to have a chance to play for the middle school championship. “We’ve started out a bit slow as the season started, but the team has steadily improved,” said Viking coach Scott Breault.

The first half was a tight “frantic” half with RMS toughing out a 29-22 halftime lead. “Our defense stepped up big in the second half, limiting Tiverton to just 12 points,” said Breault after the game. “Our offense did their part, throwing in 24 2nd half points.” RMS was led offensively by Jayden Fernandez's 17 points, Aidan Martins' 14 points, and Jacob Stover's 11 points. Also contributing offensively was JJ Renaud with 7 points and Jehuriel Fernandez and Jake Iacavone, each with 2. The steadily improving team finished the regular season at 4-6 and should have a playoff game Tuesday.

Also in January, RMS defeated cross-town rival Barrington by a 48-36 score. The game started out close, but Riverside gradually ran away with the game hitting on key shots, showing some slick passes for scoring assists and playing great defense. It was the team’s 3rd win of the season and kept their playoff hopes alive. The team was down 11-5 early in the first half before closing the half on a 19-0 run to take a 24-11 halftime lead. “Our team tough defense continued into the second half leading to the victory,” adds coach Breault. RMS was led by Aidan Martins' 18 points, Jacob Stover's 13 points, Jayden Fernandez's 8 points, JJ Renaud's 6 points, and Jehuriel Fernandez's 2 points. Also contributing great defense was John Wooten, Future Patrick, and Eamonn Reddy.

Riverside Middle School Girls Basketball:
We are currently 6-2 heading into the playoffs. I do not have official word yet on who we will be playing, but we are definitely in the playoffs, I believe in either the 4th, 5th, or 6th seed. It is looking like we might play the Martin girls round 1 of playoffs, which should be a lot of fun if that's the case,” said coach Katie Kenahan.

The RMS girls lost a hard-fought game to Tiverton on Thursday, falling 55-58. The girls open round one of the playoffs on Tuesday, Details will be announced soon. Zarae Hall led the scoring with an impressive 25 points, While Jamie Andrews contributed 12. Abigail Raphael came alive with 9 points, while Jazyah Dugan added 4. Layla Bates and Shelby Quinn each contributed 2. We would like to wish our 8th graders luck as they wrap up their regular season… Chloe Sullo, Lailah Valles, Layla Bates, Abigail Raphael, Jazyah Dugan, Shelby Quinn, Captain Jamie Andrews, and Captain Zarae Hall.

Martin Middle School Boys Basketball started the season losing 3 of the first 4 games, “we've rolled off 5 of 6 to finish the season on a high note with a 6-4 record. We qualified for the playoffs and are not sure of our opponent yet, but the team is ready,” said coach Chris Kennedy. “We're led by really good guard play, and one of the best centers in RI middle schools. We will be a team to be reckoned with come playoff time,” Kennedy added.

Middle School Wrestlers
Martin and Riverside wrestlers will compete in the states the weekend of February 4^th at North Kingstown high school. On January 28^th and 29^th both schools sent their junior varsity wrestlers to the state JV championship meet at Coventry High. A combined 20 JV athletes from MMS and RMS were participating. Any wrestlers finishing in the top two grouping will go on to wrestle at the varsity championship. Riverside is coached by A.J. LaScola (EPHS 2000) and Martin is coached by Bobby Rodericks (EPHS 1998). Brian Ferreira (EPHS 1998) also helps out RMS. Ferreira has two sons wrestling for RMS. Ferreira and Rodericks wrestled for the ’98 Townies under coach Galligan. That 1998 team had three state champions and fell just short of the team state title. LaScola also wrestled under Galligan for EP. “We all help both schools and the high school. It’s the Townie way,” said Rodericks. Middle school tournament updates will be posted on ReporterToday.com.

Middle School Mayor’s Cup Game – Friday, Feb 3^rd at EPHS
In a relatively new school sports tradition of late, Martin and Riverside MS Boys basketball will play for the Mayor's Cup on Friday, Feb. 3rd, 4:30 PM at EPHS. Should be a fun atmosphere and good basketball. The game will be played regardless of playoff results.