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 Concord High owned the year’s brightest moment: its boys tennis team reclaimed the Class L tennis title, and its golf team repeated as state champs. Maybe it was the Bow girls tennis squad hoisting the championship plaque. Perhaps the honor belongs to the Crimson Tide girls lacrosse team, which took home its second straight state title.

Debate all you’d like, but we have a number of reasons – 204 reasons, to be exact – why 2006’s biggest headline goes to the boys of Hopkinton High soccer, recently named Class M champions.

The Hawks finally soared to the state title after 204 minutes, 32 seconds of game time, spanning four days. On Thursday, Nov. 9, both teams played to extra frames, but this time the Hawks walked away with a 3-2 overtime win and the bragging rights that come from perching atop the Class M boys soccer mountain.

David Wood scored from 40 yards out with 2:53 remaining to tie the game, and Joe Dammann headed in a crossing pass from Matt Demers 4:32 into overtime to give Hopkinton the win.

“Just fight, fight, fight” is how Demers described Hopkinton’s attitude. “That’s how we look at it, and that’s how we like to play. We just came back and said, ‘All year, we worked for this. Every Saturday morning that we had practice, we didn’t do this for nothing.’ We knew we were going to win the state championship.”

After playing to a double overtime, 1-1, tie against top-seeded Gilford on Sunday, Nov. 5, the two teams met again to replay the game on Nov. 8. Another postponement gave the Hawks one more day to think about what it would feel like to bring home their first Class M plaque since 1984.

“ The makeup of the team allows for a lot of resiliency, and we have a lot of heart and we always bounce back from things,” Wood said. “We haven’t had to do it a lot this year, but when we need to, we’ve been able to.”

Before basketball and ice hockey champions were named, the Granite State’s best swimmers and divers were crowned at the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association’s championships held at the University of New Hampshire’s Swasey Pool. The boys of Bow took home fifth place with 111 points. Senior co-captain Steven Mulherin placed fourth in the 100-yard backstroke, while Matthew Card placed first in the 100-yard breaststroke. The Lady Falcons placed 14th with 31 team points.

Concord’s boys swim squad finished 14th, scoring 33 total points. Senior Alex Broadbent placed fourth in the 200-yard individual medley. The girls placed eighth with 67 points as Jennifer Corriveau took first in the 50-yard freestyle and second in the 100-yard breaststroke. Bow High’s Caitlin Fellows was one of nearly 600 females recognized at the 19th annual Women’s Athletic/Academic Awards on Feb. 6.

Dover ended Bow’s ice hockey season for the third straight time after knocking out the Falcons, 2-1, in the Division II semifinals.

“It’s never easy losing. To never get a chance at getting to the finals, it’s awful. It’s too bad. I feel terrible for them, that we couldn’t do more for them,” Bow head coach Tim Walsh said of his seniors, who’d been part of three Falcons teams that lost in the Final Four.

In Division I action, Concord was iced, 2-1, by eighthseeded Berlin in the D-I semis. Four minutes into the third period, with the game tied, 1-1, Concord’s sensational keeper, Matt Mosca, made a glove save on a Berlin shot. But the whistle didn’t blow, the puck got loose, slid between Mosca’s legs and over the goal line for the eventual game-winner.

Away from the ice, the Bow boys basketball team earned its first appearance in the Class I finals in more than 10 years with a 67-45 win over Kearsarge. The Falcons bowed to Pelham in the title match.

The girls of Concord gymnastics were joined by gymnasts from Bow and Hopkinton in the NHIAA championship meet. The Crimson Tide club finished fourth overall, while Stephanie Cormier placed ninth for the Falcons and Hopkinton’s Julia Lynch came in 34th. In front of a packed house at the University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore Center, Concord’s cheerleaders placed sixth at the NHIAA state competition. On Feb. 16, Bow’s girls ski squad earned the Division III Alpine skiing title.

The seventh-seeded Lady Falcons said goodbye to their season after a Class I girls basketball semifinal loss to Souhegan. Bow finished its regular season at 12-6.

After giving up 24 points on eight straight three-pointers in the fourth quarter, Hopkinton’s girls basketball team fell short in earning a trip to the Class M finals, losing to Newport in the semis.

Concord’s girls basketball team lost in the first round of the Class L tournament.

Meanwhile, on the mats, wrestling’s Meet of Champions brought together the Neighborhood’s best grapplers, including some from Concord and Bow. Falcons sensation DJ Meagher, fresh off his 140-pound championship at the New England Regional Tournament in New Haven, Conn., was named the MoC’s “Outstanding Wrestler.” Bow took home eighth overall, while the Crimson Tide finished second.

Spring

The Class I track and field finals was the stage, and the Bow boys 4 X 400 relay team delivered quite a performance, setting a school record after finishing the race in 3-minutes, 36.12 seconds. As a team, the boys finished sixth while the girls took home eighth. Bow was the only team in the state to score in all three relay races for both the boys and girls.

“When they get to that relay team, they’re ready to go and don’t want to let each other down,” said Bow head coach Dyrace Maxfield. “It kind of makes them tougher all year long.”

Concord’s boys track team placed sixth in Class L action. The girls were ninth. The Crimson Tide girls tennis team earned its first Class L playoff berth in two years before losing in the quarterfinals. Bow High’s boys tennis squad lost to Class I rival Kennett in the semifinals.

After a memorable upset by West last season, the Class L boys tennis title returned to the boys of Concord High when the Crimson Tide knocked off sixthseeded Keene, 5-1. The championship capped a perfect 17-0 season for Concord.

Led by the No. 1 player in the state, Amber Chandronnait, Bow’s girls tennis team captured the Class I championship after defeating previously unbeaten foe Bishop Brady, 6-3. Chandronnait went on to win the individual state tournament before signing her Letter of Intent to play tennis for the University of Nebraska.

Concord’s nine fell to eventual Class L baseball champion Manchester Memorial in the quarterfinals of the tournament. The Crimson Tide advanced by beating No. 6 Spaulding in the first round but dropped a 6-1 decision to the Crusaders.

The Crimson Tide softball squad reached the Class L semifinals but fell to eventual state champion Salem.

Both Bow and Hopkinton High’s baseball teams absorbed season-ending losses in the Class I and Class M semifinals, respectively. Bow Memorial School’s track and field team took fourth in the state finals.

In their first season as a varsity program, the girls of Hopkinton lacrosse earned a trip to the Division III playoffs, making an appearance as the 10th seed. Hopkinton’s boys lacrosse squad suffered a Division III semifinal loss.

In Division II action, the Falcons boys lacrosse team lost in the state semis for the second straight season, an 8-7 defeat by St. Thomas Aquinas.

The reigning Division II girls lacrosse champion, Bow was dethroned after an 11-3 loss to Winnacunnet. The Falcons finished their regular season at 12- 1, with the only loss coming at the hands of Winnacunnet. “They buried us more than that in the regular season,” Bow head coach Chris Raabe said.

“We were way outhustled in everything – ground balls, shots on net. You name it and they beat us to it.”

Bishop Guertin of Nashua handed Concord’s boys lacrosse team a 15-10 loss in the Division I semifinals.

Meanwhile, the ladies of Concord lacrosse hoisted the Division I championship plaque as they cruised to their second straight title with an 11-4 win over Nashua South.

Summer

Connor Anderson, 10, of Dunbarton, finished second in the state in the 9- and 10-year-old division in the Drive, Chip and Putt Challenge. In Little League action, an 18- 1 loss to Bedford ended Concord National’s Division I tournament run.

Concord American dropped from the winners’ bracket after a tough, 11-10, loss to Suncook in the first round of the Little League District One majors tournament. The Bow Blue Jays won the Bow Little League minors division championship.

The Bow Falcons Baseball Club dominated the Granite State’s 40+ men’s baseball league with a 21-game win streak. Concord Legion Post 21 posted an 11-9 record, its best finish in the past 10 years.

The Granite State Senior Games included 16 events in nine days. This year’s GSSG hosted a record 507 participants.

Bow’s Jack Finan walked away with a gold medal in the 70- to 74-year-old men’s division at the GSSG’s 5K racewalk. Local trio Brad Hosmer, 66, Norman Gill, 53, and John Valavane, 55, competed in GSSG cycling events. Concord’s Hosmer won gold in the 40K road race, and silver in the 5K time trial and 20K; Gill took bronze in the 5K, 10K time trials and 20K road race, and gold in the 40K; Valavane earned gold in the 5K and 20K, and silver in the 40K. Dunbarton resident Lucille Gage won gold in the 55- to 59- year-old women’s division. Gage competed in the GSSG’s golf tournament.

Concord’s U14 softball team traveled to Virginia and won its second straight national championship.

Fall

Neighborhood News hosted its annual NFL Pepsi Punt, Pass and Kick competition on Sept. 16, where defending sectional champion Sam Winslow placed second in the 10- and 11-year-old boys division. His sister, Abbey, took home first place in the 8- and 9-year-old girls division. Damon Morin of Dunbarton finished third in the 10- and 11- year-old boys division, while Jacob Zylak took seventh. Bow’s Kyle Milne placed third in the 8- and 9-year-old boys division.

Dan Meserve, Hopkinton High athletics director, was named Class M Athletics Director of the Year. The win marked the second time Meserve earned the award in his nine-year post as AD.

The boys of Hopkinton golf placed sixth at the NHIAA Class M-S tournament.

Under third-year head coach Chick Smith, Concord repeated as Class L champions after edging Timberlane and West by one stroke.

The Derryfield School golf team’s four-year championship run ended after a fourth-place finish in the NHIAA Class M-S golf tournament.

Bow High fell to Merrimack Valley, 4-0, in the first round of the Class I field hockey tournament. The Falcons finished their regular season at 5-9.

In Class L action, the girls of Concord field hockey were brought down by a 1-0 quarterfinal loss. The seventh-seeded Tide finished the season at 9-6- 1.

Defending Class L volleyball champion Concord lost in the quarterfinals to finish its season at 11-7.

At the University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore Center, the girls of Bow spirit placed eighth in Class I competition, while Concord took 10th in Class L.

Both Hopkinton’s girls and boys cross country teams took second at the Class M-S championships. A week later, the Concord girls cross country club finished 10th at the Meet of Champions. In the Class L girls soccer tournament, West defeated Concord, 2-0, in the first round.

On the boys side, reigning champion Concord couldn’t repeat, losing in the semifinals. Following a perfect 16-0 record that earned the top seed in the Class I boys soccer tournament, head coach George Pinkham watched as his Bow High team was upset by ninth-seeded Lebanon in the quarterfinals.

After making their 10th semifinal appearance in 11 seasons, Hopkinton’s girls soccer team was again stopped one game short of the finals, this time by Raymond.

There was a lot to celebrate in 2006. Unfortunately, there probably are a number of stories and accomplishments that didn’t find their way into the pages of this sports section, though that hardly diminishes their importance. Having said that, bring on 2007.