While others celebrate the end of the year with eggnog, presents and relished time with friends and family, we took a look back at 12 months worth of Neighborhood athletics.

The calendar contributions came from Neighborhood squads at all levels. Some hoisted championship trophies in repeat triumphs; others walked away with consolation medals. Seniors signed national Letters of Intent, while young stars made names for themselves, assuring lasting legacies in their respective sports.

Trying to cull the year’s best victories, unbelievable individual performances, disappointing losses and unforgettable upsets was difficult, as 2006 was packed with plenty of worthy moments.

You could argue West’s golf team finishing in the top three in the state or the girls team taking second at this year’s Division I Alpine Ski championships were 2006’s brightest moments.

Maybe Michelle Winning taking over as the new head coach of West’s girls soccer team, trying to defend back-to-back state titles under Class L legend Jack Amero, was the year’s top story.

It could have been Derryfield’s boys tennis team winning its fourth straight Class M-S title, or when the Lady Cougars won the title for the first time in four years.

The continued success of Bedford Little League’s 10- and 11-year-old team also made quite the case for the Year in Review’s top prize.

But, after the dust from our debates settled, the year’s biggest headline belonged to West’s girls tennis team, winners of the Class L title for the first time since 1989. It marked West’s first trip to the finals since 1991.

It took nearly four days and two restarts before the Blue Knights finally celebrated their 5-4 nailbiter of a win over Spaulding on June 5.

After originally squaring off on June 1, the match was called, with West leading, 4-2, after singles play, due to rain. Two days later, rain again washed out the match after West fell behind in all three doubles matches.

Holding a 5-4 lead when play resumed, Spaulding’s No. 1 team finished off West junior Lindsey Auer and sophomore Kayla Denoncourt, 8-5, before the Red Raiders’ second team turned their 5-3 lead over No. 1 singles player Beccy Warren and sophomore Sam Jean into an 8-5 win.

That left Liz Mahler and Ali Shakra, who turned a 5-4 deficit into a 7-5 lead, only to have Spaulding’s No. 3 duo tie the match at 7-7.

With both teams and their supporters watching, Mahler skipped a volley by her opponents to take the 8-7 lead, and with Shakra serving for the match, West fought to a 40-30 advantage before Mahler played to the net and finished the point for the title.

The Blue Knights rolled to a 14-1-1 record while earning head coach Steve Houle his second championship plaque. “The chemistry has to be right, the support has to be right, and if all those things don’t come together, you don’t get a 9-7 win,” said Houle. “The sacrifices were there. When they say, ‘We worked so hard for this,’ they’re telling you the truth.”

Nearly 600 females were honored at the 19th annual Women’s Athletic/Academic Awards in February. West High’s Brenna Hagey, a member of the Blue Knights field hockey and tennis teams, received an award.

At the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletics Association’s swimming and diving championships, the West boys placed 24th. The girls team earned 16th place with 29 points.

On the same day, the West girls track and field team took third place at the NHIAA indoor track and field championships.

On Jan. 31, Blue Knights athletic standout Alyssa Thayer scored her 1,000th point in West’s 55-51 girls basketball loss to Bishop Guertin of Nashua. Thayer became the first female to reach the plateau in seven seasons.

The West girls gymnastics team placed 20th at the NHIAA state meet. Later that day, the girls of West spirit performed at the University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore Center and took home 11th place.

Hitting the slopes, the Blue Knights girls squad placed second, with 665 points, at the Division I Alpine Ski championships.

Two days later, the boys schussed their way to a fifthplace finish with 606 points.

“It’s been a long season and to come in fifth is a huge deal to some of these first-time team members,” said West head coach Wayne Quiet.

Under head coach Don Pinard, 13th-seeded West ended its season in a 66-42 loss to No. 4 Timberlane in the first round of the Class L girls basketball tournament. The Blue Knights finished their year with a 9-9 record, marking the third time the club finished with a .500 record.

Meanwhile, BG’s girls hoops club surprised more than 500 fans and upset No. 3 Londonderry, 45-43, in the Class L quarterfinals.

The sixth-seeded Cardinals added a little flare when Karalyn Spadaro hit a shot from half court with less than three seconds left in the first half.

Across town, Trinity’s girls basketball team escaped a Class L quarterfinal scare to stay alive in the tournament with a 55-53 win over Nashua South when freshman Alex Hall hit the game-winning shot with 26.4 seconds left.

“It was a Herculean effort,” said Pioneers head coach Pat Smith. “She hasn’t played like a freshman all year and didn’t play like she was a freshman tonight. She played like a senior and this was her last game.”

For the second straight season, top-ranked Bishop Guertin was iced at home in their first playoff game. The Cardinals were upset, 2-1, by Division I hockey foe Berlin. BG finished the season at 15-1.

After a solid season under head coach Ed Lemire, the girls of Derryfield basketball were knocked out of the Class S tournament by a quarterfinal loss.

Meanwhile, in the Class L boys basketball tournament, West watched its season end following a loss to Londonderry in the quarterfinals.

On the girls side, 2005 champion Trinity was done in by tournament underdog BG in a 52-46 semifinal loss.

After a 3-16 finish the year before, Bishop Guertin’s boys basketball team made a postseason appearance and survived until the semifinals, where it fell to eventual Class L champ Central.

On the mats, West’s Lance Mailloux helped the Blue Knights take 19th at wrestling’s Meet of Champions. Mailloux won the 215-pound title and posted a 40-0 record.

Bedford resident and West alumnus Greg Wicks signed his national Letter of Intent to play Division I football at the University of Rhode Island.

Bedford hosted the 32nd annual Bedford Rotary Memorial Road Race on May 20. More than 350 runners gathered at McKelvie Middle School to compete in either a 12K or 5K race – or both.

In addition to racers from neighboring states, runners from as far as Illinois, California and Tennessee showed up to compete.

Bedford’s Mary Jo Lupo placed second in the women’s group and 18th overall in the 5K race. Bedford runner Jennifer Wagner was the second woman to cross the finish line in the 12K.

Three days after beating Class L rival Salem in a regular season match, the boys of West tennis were bounced, 5-4, by the Blue Devils in the first round of the tournament. The Blue Knights finished the season at 10-2-1.

“It’s always volatile to travel to Salem,” said Blue Knights head coach Shawna Morley, who watched her team pull off one of the most memorable upsets for the state title just a year prior. “Playing on their turf, we knew it would be a high-energy atmosphere.

At the NHIAA Class L track and field finals, West’s girls team placed fifth with 38 points. The boys took 19th place with three points. The girls of Bishop Guertin took the title, while the boys finish 13th.

Bedford’s Mike Riddell and Andrew Schunk helped lead Bishop Guertin’s baseball squad to the Class L finals, but the Cardinals lost, 5-4, to Manchester Memorial on June 13.

Bedford’s Little League squad was knocked out of the District One majors winners’ bracket – and added another chapter to the Bedford-Goffstown rivalry – when Goffstown’s Jake Glauser hit a walk-off home run off starter Nate Harrington. Harrington hurled 5 1/3 innings with nine strikeouts and no walks.

McKelvie Middle School’s golf team took the runner-up prize in the Tri-County League championship match. The loss marked the second straight time McKelvie narrowly missed earning the title.

The Bedford majors all-star team fell, 6-2, to Atkinson in the losers’ bracket final. Bedford finished a memorable District One tournament run that included three games won by 10 runs or more. The squad scored the most runs of any district team with 54 in eight games.

The boys also had their dugout chants, some like other teams’, some their own.

“Si se puede!” was one, said starter Ryan Gancarz, who made his first tournament start against Atkinson, filling in for ace Sam McClain. “It’s from the World Cup. It means ‘We can do it!’” said Gancarz.

A Bedford rower and 2003 Derryfield School graduate, Kate Davison earned a spot on the U.S. Under-23 National Team. Davison competed at the World Rowing Under-23 Championships in Hazewinkel, Belgium, where she won a gold medal.

Greg Krause tasted stardom when the Bedford native began shooting scenes for “The Game Plan,” starring former professional wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

Former West High graduate Zach Piccola was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 2006 Major League Baseball draft. Piccola was assigned to Single-A where he went 1-7 with a 4.04 ERA in 13 games started.

Handfuls of Bedford runners headed to Goffstown to compete in the 27th annual Goffstown Gallop road race.

The all-stars of Bedford’s 10- and 11-year-old club were stopped after earning a berth to the finals and waiting a week for eventual opponent Pelham to emerge from the losers’ bracket finals.

Manager Tom French left Jutras Post 43 after 27 years and five state titles. French coached his final game on July 31, a 12-2 mercy-rule loss to Portsmouth. Bedford golfer Matt Burroughs won the New Hampshire State Amateur Golf tournament.

The Senior Babe Ruth Bandits of Bedford won the Babe Ruth Central League after a 7-1 win over Londonderry. It was the second time in three seasons the Bandits finished atop the league.

The 19th annual Granite State Senior Games featured 507 participants, a record number.

Senior athletes from Bedford included Ron Coble, who took gold in both the pistol shoot event and the golf tournament.

Coble participated in the 70- to 74-year-old men’s division.

Joining Coble in the winners’ circle was Doug Pryce, who competed in the 55- to 59-year-old men’s division and won gold in the table tennis event, and Richard Anderson, who won silver in the 80- to 85-year-old men’s 10- pin bowling event.

Bedford pitcher/center fielder Sean Lyons won the U15 AAU Division I baseball national title one year after his brother, Connor, did the same with a U13 club.

Fall

Trinity’s girls volleyball team, led by Bedford sisters Chelsea Smith and coach Emma Carole, was one of three squads with undefeated records before facing eventual Class L champion Salem. The Pioneers later earned a playoff berth.

Neighborhood News hosted its annual Pepsi Punt, Pass and Kick competition on Sept. 16. West High football players and Bedford natives Tyler Weber and Kyle Clarke competed for the first time. Weber came in first in the 14- and 15-year-old boys division, while Clarke took second.

In the 10- and 11-year-old boys division, Bedford’s Sam Barnard beat defending champion Sam Winslow. Barnard’s sisters, Hayley and Cassie, placed first in the 12- and 13-year-old and 14- and 15-year-old divisions, respectively.

Kyle Nagri finished first in the 8- and 9-year-old division.

West’s golf team came one stroke shy of tying Concord for the Class L golf title. The Blue Knights walked away with third place after a tiebreaker round.

Bedford’s Kyle Badger placed third at the state individual golf tournament, two days after the Class L tournament.

The Derryfield School’s golf team fell short of making a bid for its fifth straight Class M-S championship.

The Cougars finished fourth with a score of 427. On the soccer pitch, Derryfield’s girls squad fell in the Class S finals against Wilton-Lyndborough.

Under new head coach Michelle Winning, West High’s girls soccer team could not advance to its third straight championship game after falling in the quarterfinals.

The Blue Knights finished the regular season at 11-2-3.

On the boys side, West dropped a 2-1 decision to Pinkerton in the first round of the Class L tournament.

In making its second straight finals appearance, Derryfield’s field hockey squad again left the field as state runners-up.

West football’s playoff hopes were dashed following a 42-14 loss to Salem. It finished at 5-4.

After winning second place at cross country’s Meet of Champions, West earned a ticket to compete in the New England tournament. The Blue Knights finished fifth in the Class L meet.

At the fall NHIAA spirit competition, West placed seventh. Though there’s no way to mention every athletic achievement that graced our pages, it doesn’t take away from the stories of those who didn’t make it into our review.

So there it is: your year in Bedford Bulletin sports. That’s right, it’s yours. It’s your athletes, your teams and your time and hard work in competition for the last 12 months. We sat along the sidelines and enjoyed the ride.

And for that, we thank you.

Here’s to an unforgettable 2006, let the countdown to a sensational 2007 start.