Wednesday’s Nordic ski meet at Gunstock Mountain was packing heat.
Substituting paintball guns for rifles, more than 100 high school athletes took part in a Nordic biathlon.
“The paintball biathlon at Gunstock is an annual favorite for skiers and coaches,” Bow Coach Chris Naimie said. “In a year that has provided many challenges with getting time on snow, the folks at the Gunstock Nordic Center and from the Gunstock Nordic Association did an impressive job by preparing a mid-winter quality course.”
The racers made one lap around that 1.4K course, stopped to shoot at four targets, made another lap, shot at four targets a second time and then finished with a third lap. For each target hit, 10 seconds were taken off the final time.
Gilford’s Sander Valpey made the most of this unique event as he had a race time of 12:10, but he hit all eight targets to finish first overall on the boys’ side with a final time of 10:50. Valpey was the only athlete to hit all the targets. The next highest total was six.
The host Golden Eagles swept the top three spots as Josh Valentine (10:58) and Mark Young (11:48) finished behind Valpey. Valentine had the lowest race time with an 11:28, but he hit only three targets.
Belmont’s Zach Ennis was fourth overall with a final time of 12:37 and Bow’s Sully Blair was fifth (13:24). Bow’s other top finishers were Bryce Northrop (10th, 14:51), London Warburton (11th, 14:58) and Christian McDonald (12th, 15:02).
Bishop Brady’s Treybig Garin (43rd) and Jeremy Bates (46th) also competed.
The top local finisher on the girls’ side was Bow’s Sohani Demian, who was fourth overall with a 17:53 final time. Demian was joined in the top 10 by teammate Isabella Urbina (sixth, 18:32), and Bow’s Gwen Molind finished 11th.
Gilford’s Abbie Fillion had a nice day on her home track by finishing seventh overall in 18:34. And Bishop Brady’s Mary Trafton was 36th.
Coe-Brown 75, Plymouth 35
Key players: Coe-Brown – Brody Ashley (15 points, 7 rebounds), Sam Lupinacci (12 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists), Scott Spenard (10 points), Dylan Andrews (7 points), Jacob Snow (6 points), Kyshaun Rowell (6 points), Shawn Spenard (2 points, 3 assists, 5 rebounds)
Highlights/key moments: The Bears took off for a 15-7 lead in the first quarter. They poured in 31 points in the third quarter to pull away for their eighth-straight win.
Coach’s quote: “We were good defensively and the bench played extremely well.” – Coe-Brown’s Dave Smith
Records: Coe-Brown 8-1; Plymouth 2-7
Hollis-Brookline 41, Bow 37
Key players: Bow – Ben Guertin (15 points), Nate Alford (8 points, 8 rebounds), Matt Scanlon (8 points, 6 rebounds)
Highlights/key moments: This was the second low-scoring affair this month for these two teams, and the second win for Hollis-Brookline, which claimed a 36-35 decision on Jan. 6 at Bow. Wednesday’s game came down to the bitter end as the Falcons trailed by just one, 38-37, with a minute left before the Cavaliers made a pair of free throws and Bow missed a needed 3.
Coach’s quote: “This was a good old-fashioned rock fight. We just need to keep moving forward and these tight ones will start to fall our way.” – Bow’s Chris Gaudreau
Records: Bow 3-4; Hollis-Brookline 6-1
Hanover 68, MV 47
Key players: Merrimack Valley – Jake Hebert (13 points), James Shattuck (13 points), Ryan Defina (10 points)
Highlights/key moments: The Pride played a good first quarter, but things went downhill from there.
Coach’s quote: “We.” – Bow’s Chris Gaudreau
Records: MV 2-7; Hanover 1-4
Winnisquam 62, Franklin 53
Key players: Winnisquam – Thomas Marchese (22 points), Logan Morrison (13 points, 10 rebounds), Kyle Mann (14 points), Isaiah Singleton (11 points, 8 rebounds); Franklin – Matt Hennessy (14 points), T.J. Laramie (10 points), Jayden Torres 12 points
Highlights/key moments: Franklin held a 41-37 lead going into the fourth, but the Bears erupted for 21 points in the final frame with a balanced attack – eight points from Marchese (who was 16-for-16 from the free throw line), seven from Morrison, six from Mann and four from Singleton.
Coach’s quote: “This is a big rivalry game for us and it was nice to get a win at their place, we haven’t done that in a few years.” – Winnisquam’s Kevin Dame
“We have to learn to be able to finish what we start.” – Franklin’s Michael Donnell
Records: Winnisquam 6-4; Franklin 3-6
Belmont 70, Sanborn 43
Key players: Belmont – Derek Stevens (15 points), Trevor Hunt (14 points), Matt Pluskis (11 points), Doug Price (9 points)
Highlights/key moments: The Raiders took care of business in the first three quarters, giving everyone a chance to play in the fourth.
Records: Belmont 8-1; Sanborn 4-5
Hanover 63, Merrimack Valley 63
Key players: MV – Megan Johnston (23 points), Carly Huckins (19 points), Abby Grandmaison (10 points), Lauren Pettingill (9 points)
Highlights/key moments: It was a frustrating night for the Pride, which led by 13 points in the fourth quarter only to see it slip away.
Coach’s quote: “We need to close out games a lot better. This is the first one that turned into a loss, so maybe it will sink in more to the entire program.” – MV’s David Huckins
Records: Hanover 6-2; MV 8-3
Coe-Brown 51, Plymouth 23
Key players: Coe-Brown – Shannon Riley (10 points, 11 rebounds), Ahna McCusker (9 points, 7 rebounds), Kerry Riley (8 points, 9 rebounds), Rebekah Hinrichsen (6 points, 2 rebounds)
Highlights/key moments: Coe-Brown’s pressure defense forced turnovers and held Plymouth to just eight first-half points. The Bears hit their offensive stride in the second quarter, scoring 18 in the frame, to take a commanding 31-8 lead into halftime and eventually break a two-game losing skid.
Coach’s quote: “We needed this win. We’ve had a little bit of a bad run, so now we can feel good about ourselves and hopefully keep moving in the right direction.” – Coe-Brown’s Joe Vachon
Records: Coe-Brown 6-3; Plymouth 0-9
Franklin 53, Winnisquam 50
Key players: Franklin – Zoe Kaplan (14 points), Brianna Judkins (13 points), Anna Doherty (12 points)
Highlights/key moments: Judkins hit a key jumper at the halftime buzzer to spark the Bears going into the break.
Coach’s quote: “A hard-played game by both teams. There were many runs by both teams during the game but we made the last spurt to pull out the victory.” – Franklin’s JJ Winters
Records: Franklin 4-8; Winnisquam 1-11
Newfound 48,
Prospect Mountain 43
Key players: Newfound – Amanda Johnston (17 points, 8 rebounds), Ashlee Dukette (13 points, 17 rebounds), Alexis Vantil (11 points, 7 rebounds); Prospect Mountain – Alison Brown (13 points), Emma Hardie (12 points)
Highlights/key moments: This battle of unbeatens lived up to the hype, especially in the first half as the two teams traded the lead. Newfound edged out by five in the third quarter and pushed its lead to 10 in the fourth before coming away with the win on the road.
Coach’s quote: “It was a great battle back and forth. There were numerous lead changes and it was good for the girls to play in a close game for 32 minutes.” – Newfound’s Karri Peterson
Records: Newfound 12-0; Prospect Mountain 10-1
Newport 39, H-D 17
Key players: Hillsboro-Deering – Fayth Grimes (6 points, 12 rebounds), Morgan Racine (4 points), Nicole Mooney (great defense)
Highlights/key moments: The Hillcats kept things close early, but the shots, including free throws, stopped falling as Newport pulled away.
Coach’s quote: “We are seeing improvement throughout different areas of our game. If we were able to knock our free throws down tonight we would of had a much closer game.” – Hillsboro-Deering’s Tiffany Lewis
Records: Newport 5-6; Hillsboro-Deering 1-10
BOYS’ HOCKEY
Concord 7, Memorial 0
Key players: Concord – Drew Livingston (3 goals, assist), Alex Marceau (2 goals, assist), Hunter Taylor (goal, assist), Matt Hauschild (goal), Ethan Donlon (two assists), Cormick McGonigle (assist), Anders Norton assist), Spencer Burgess (10 saves)
Highlights/key moments: The Crimson Tide built a 2-0 lead in the first period before blowing things open with four goals in the second.
Coach’s quote: “It was good to be able to get everyone good ice time tonight. Everyone contributed in the win.” – Concord’s Dunc Walsh
Records: Concord 8-1; Memorial 1-8
Bow 2, Windham 1
Key players: Bow – Chris Mead (goal), Ryan Tobeler (goal), Alex Killion (assist), Austin Beaudette (assist)
Highlights/key moments: Mead gave Bow a 1-0 lead with one minute left in the first period. After a scoreless second period, host Windham brought it back to even 4:41 into the third. Tobeler found the game-winner on a feed from Beaudette with 1:21 remaining to deal the defending Division II champions a second consecutive loss.
Coach’s quote: “It was good to get a win in a close, hard-fought game against a very good team. We don’t have much time to work on the mistakes we made tonight as we play Windham again on Saturday at Everett Arena, but it’s exciting to play a home-and-home against a team of Windham’s quality.” – Bow’s Tim Walsh
Records: Bow 10-1; Windham 8-3
Pembroke-Campbell 8, Sanborn 1
Key players: Pembroke – Dylan Fisher (3 goals, 3 assists), Nate Lamontagne (goal), Sean Moore (goal), Matt Tremblay (goal), Jayden Lamy (goal)
Highlights/key moments: Sanborn scored first about midway through the opening period, but Pembroke woke up and answered with Fisher’s first goal 30 seconds later. Lamontagne gave Pembroke the go-ahead score before the first intermission. Pembroke pulled away with four goals in the second period and two more in the third.
Records: Pembroke-Campbell 6-4
Concord 8, Keene 2
Key players: Concord – Olivia Branch (2 goals, assist), Ella Doherty (goal), Lilly Vezina (goal), Emily Forward (2 goals), Jill Dusseault (goal), Maddy Farrell (goal), Nicole Jones (assist), Maddy Audet (11 saves)
Highlights/key moments: Four goals in the second period by Doherty, Vezina and Forward (two) pushed the Tide well ahead for a comfortable win. Branch scored on a power play in the third, while Dusseault and Farrell added two more before the buzzer.
Records: Concord 6-3; Keene 2-4
Concord 51, Bedford 25
Key players: Concord – Sam Wagner (7-2 win at 113 pounds), Jake Linquata (6-1 win at 120), Ben Widmann (7-4 win at 138)
Highlights/key moments: Wagner’s win was the highlight of the night for the Crimson Tide, which also got seven wins by forfeit.
Coach’s quote:
Records: Concord 11-0
Bow 42, White Mountains 34
Key players: Bow – Michael York (win by pin at 120 pounds), Zach Anderson (win by pin at 126), Alex Boufford (4-1 win at 152), Aidan Hyslop (win by pin at 160), Jack Olsen (win by pin at 170), Chris Wheeler (win by decision at 195), Eli Baalouky (win by pin at 220)
Highlights/key moments: Bow got some unexpected points from freshmen Baalouky and Wheeler to earn the win at home.
Winnisquam 42, Mascoma 39
Key players: Caleb Mulleavey (win by pin at 126 pounds), Tyler Langill (win by pin at 160) and Caden Remillard (win by pin at 195).
Coach’s quote: “There were a lot of good matches and both teams fought for every point earned. It was a close match and it was good to see the team pull out the win.” – Winnisquam’s Paul Hrycuna
Records: Winnisquam 3-4
Bow first, Brady second
Key players: Bow – Alex Magini (3rd giant slalom), Ben Wachsmuth (5th slalom and GS), Jon Cook (6th slalom and GS), Tony Sampo (9th slalom, 7th GS), Sam Selleck (8th GS); Brady – Danny Bryck (2nd slalom), Garrett Cahill (3rd slalom, 1st GS), Matteo Ticli (7th slalom, 4th GS), Maz Marinace (9th GS); Gilford – Tyler Hanf (1st slalom), Christian Workman (4th slalom, 2nd GS)
Brady first, Bow second, Gilford fourth, Hillsboro-Deering fifth
Key players: Brady – Olivia Crainich (1st slalom, 2nd Giant Slalom), Silvia Caldesi (2nd slalom, 3rd GS), Kamryn Compton (3rd slalom, 6th GS), Sarah Vermette (5th slalom), Abigail Santis (6th slalom), Jane Bradley (7th slalom), Dana Fahey (10th slalom), Sarah LoPresit (5th GS); Bow – Megan Lavign (4th slalom, 7th GS), Jana Stich (9th slalom, 8th GS), Maddie Soucy (10th GS); Gilford – Jenny Hancock (1st GS), Bailey Hildreth (4th GS)