The Concord High School Nordic program is proud of nine straight Division I titles, but winning the New Hampshire Coaches Series, against teams from all NHIAA divisions and clubs from across the state, is especially satisfying.
Concord junior Cameron Brochu finished second in Saturday’s skate race at White Mountains and senior Nate Nichols finished seventh in the field of over 140 skiers, leading the Tide boys to the team title in the two-part N.H. Coaches Series.
The Tide entered Saturday’s race in second place as a team, thanks to Nichols’s win in the classic race at Whitaker Woods two weeks ago.
Concord had the best combined scored of 69 points, topping runner-up Kennett (92), who had the individual winner of Saturday’s race, Aidan Hagerty.
Hagerty clocked a 5K time of 11:18.7, not far ahead of Brochu (11:26.9).
“For most of our races (Brochu) is our number two skier, but today was a breakout day,” Concord coach Sam Evans-Brown said. “Today was a good day for Cam’s style of skiing. He really thrives when the conditions are hard. The course was really icy and there were some gnarly corners on the downhills, so you need a lot of balance which favors Cam’s strengths.”
Senior Ollie Spencer (13th) and freshman Eben Bragg (31st) were the other scorers for Concord.
Moultonborough (220), Lebanon (224), Plymouth (232) and Kearsarge (238) rounded out the rest of the top six teams. Inter-Lakes (285) finished eighth and Bow (313) finished 10th out of the 15 teams that had team scores in both races.
Hunter Burns (24th), Ben Boulton (40th), Trevor Pauling (42nd) and Thomas Lick (52nd) were the scorers for Kearsarge.
Ian Daly (12th), Parker Caswell (51st), Aidan Carney (53rd) and Clayton Hornkohl (tied 65th) scored for Inter-Lakes and Christian McDonald (36th), London Warburton (41st), Sam Berube (57th) and Sam Selleck (tied 65th) scored for Bow.
Belmont’s Zach Ennis (11th) and Hopkinton’s Simon Doneski (60th) were the top finishers for teams that did not score.
Kearsarge’s Marliese Baer (10th) and Concord’s Heather Deacon (13th) were the top local skiers in the girls’ race and their two squads also battled it out in the team standings, with Kearsarge (104) narrowly besting the Tide (108) for second place.
Concord was third entering Saturday’s race (thanks to Deacon’s fourth-place finish in the classic race) and trailed the Cougars by 20 points, but the Tide had the second-best team score in the skate competition and gained 16 points on Kearsarge.
“The girls’ skate race was substantially more competitive than the classic race,” Evans-Brown said. “It’s great that the girls did better against Kearsarge this week. It’s indicative of the work the girls put in.”
Kennett (48) won the girls’ team title with the best combined scored, while Fall Mountain (166) and Hopkinton (214) finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Inter-Lakes (221) was seventh and Bow (494) was 11th.
Perrin Milliken of Ford Sayre’s club won the individual title.
Lili Baer (tied 14th), Jenna Bears (32nd) and Marlia Richer (50th) were the other scorers for the Cougars.
“Our top four skiers are ninth- and 10th-graders, so I’m very pleased with their progress as skiers this year,” Kearsarge coach Kevin Lee said. “We have some really hard workers and it shows in the results.”
Katie Watt (26th), Michaela Hayes (41st) and Brenna McNamara (44th) were the other scorers for the Tide.
Emma Rothe (23rd), Caroline Loescher (30th), Lillian Eckberg (52nd) and Carley Kanter (71st) scored for Hopkinton.
Maya Weil-Cooley (16th), Alison Haight (27th), Catherine Leberman (43rd) and Willow Strother (69th) scored for Inter-Lakes and Brianna Boone (67th), Gwen Molind (77th), Isabelle Dolcino (93rd) and Elizabeth Parker (95th) scored for Bow.
Concord 2, Salem 1, OT
Key players: Concord – Drew Livingson (game-winning goal in OT), Liam O’Brien (goal), Cam Lariviere (assist), Spencer Burgess (14 saves)
Highlights/key moments: Salem scored on a power play to make with four minutes left in the second period to take a 1-0 lead, but O’Brien tied it on a power play with one left in the second. The third was scoreless. The Tide took a penalty 53 seconds into OT, but Livingston scored a shorthanded goal at 2:49 on a delayed Salem penalty.
Coach’s quote: “You don’t always play your best and tonight we didn’t, but we did enough to win the game. Great penalty killing in overtime.” – Concord’s Dunc Walsh
Records: Concord 13-2-0; Salem 6-8-1
Moultonborough-Inter-Lakes 7,
Laconia-Winnisquam 0
Key players: M-I-L – Alex Sorokin (3 goals), Garrett McCarthy (2 goals), Blake Dunlap (2 goals), Patrick Mohan (3 assists), Hunter Sanders (shutout)
Highlights/key moments: The Renegades snapped a two-game losing skid with their second victory over the Wolfpack this season.
Records: M-I-L 7-8-1; Laconia-Winnisquam 0-14-0
Pittsfield 84, Hinsdale 39
Key players: Pittsfield – Cam Darrah (32 points, 10 assists, 7 rebounds), Josh Whittier (22 points, 10 rebounds), Garrett Guerrero-Hadley (12 points, 11 assists)
Highlights/key moments: The Panthers used their full-court pressure to create havoc and forced the Pacers to turn the ball over often. The Panthers wrapped up the regular season on a 13-game winning streak and secured a top-two seed in the D-IV playoffs with the win.
Coach’s quote: “We were able to use the energy from Senior Night and our Coaches vs. Cancer Event in front of a packed house to get out to a solid start. The guys fed off the crowd and continued to up the pressure to another level. We ran the floor and shared the ball, combining for 26 assist as a team. We’re playing our best basketball right now and we’ll take next week to prepare for our first round opponent.” – Pittsfield’s Jay Darrah
Records: Pittsfield 17-1; Hinsdale 10-8
Hopkinton 68, Hillsboro-Deering 22
Key players:Hopkinton – Zachary Signor (12 points), Kevin Newton-Delgado (8 points), Caleb Yianakopoulos (8 points), Tyler Allen (8 points), Kevin McGrath (7 points); H-D – Zach Rowell (11 points)
Highlights/key moments: The Hawks took a commanding 22-2 lead at the end of the first and a 44-5 lead at halftime in Friday’s game.
Coach’s quote: “The team moved the ball well against H-D’s zone, hitting big shots. We rebounded well and transitioned quickly to offense allowing several fast break finishes.” – Hopkinton’s Stephen Signor
Records: Hopkinton 14-2; H-D 0-16
Hinsdale 56, Pittsfield 27
Key players: Pittsfield – Haylee Gilleney (9 points, 4 rebounds), Katie Rollins (7 points, 6 steals), Jaden Vincent (6 points, 3 assists)
Highlights/key moments: The Panthers played hard against the second-place Pacers, but could not contain Angelina Nardillo, who scored 13 of her 27 points in the first quarter to lead Hinsdale to a 19-7 first-quarter lead. The Pacers led 27-14 at halftime.
Coach’s quote: “Hinsdale is a solid team and we never stopped giving our best effort. I am proud of how we hard we played the whole game.” – Pittsfield’s Heidi Hall
Records: Hinsdale 17-1; Pittsfield 3-15
Laconia 56, Coe-Brown 36
Key players: Coe-Brown – Ahna McCusker (11 points, 14 rebounds), Lauren Curtin (8 points)
Highlights/key moments: Laconia had a narrow 26-23 halftime lead, but broke Friday night’s game open in the third quarter with a 19-9 run.
Coach’s quote: “We keep losing games in the second half. We just have to figure out how to continue to play strong in the second half.” – Coe-Brown’s Joe Vachon
Records: Laconia 9-8; Coe-Brown 6-10