Candia News : High School Sports

Auburn boy awaits word on national Punt, Pass & Kick standings

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:20:00 GMT

Joey Dudek of Auburn has no immediate gridiron plans. That doesn’t mean the son of former Plymouth State standout, Heisman Trophy finalist and Denver Broncos running back Joe Dudek isn’t using his football pedigree to great advantage.

Joey Dudek, 11, won the 10- and 11-year-old division of the local NFL Pepsi Punt, Pass and Kick competition at MerchantsAuto.com Stadium in Manchester on Aug. 7. He also won the sectional competition in Bristol, R.I., on Oct. 14. Then he took the practice field at Gillette Stadium on Oct. 28 prior to the New England Patriots game against the Washington Redskins.

There, after receiving three complimentary tickets to the game for reaching the regional competition, Joey beat all competitors to put himself in position to advance to the national final.

“Punt, pass and kick, for a free type of event, is really first class,” said the senior Dudek. “I mean, it was great to get the tickets to the game and have the opportunity to really enjoy the experience.”

Joey must now wait. His score of 277, which combines his punting, passing and kicking distances, is currently No. 2 in the country.

Fifteen groups of aspiring athletes have competed to date, but there are still 17 groups left. The top four scorers compete at an AFC playoff game in January.

“We’re watching the scoreboard because if he has to start practicing again, we have to find a warm place to do it,” said Joe Dudek.

While elated with his showing at the competition thus far, Joey said the experience has its drawbacks.

“It’s exciting, but I’m frustrated I have to wait to hear if I make the finals or not,” he said. “I kind of wanted to be one of the last people to go, so I had a better idea of what I had to beat.”

Joey’s mother, Jodi, said her son nearly didn’t compete.

“We’ve asked him every year, and each year it’s, ‘No, I think I’m all set.’ But a couple days before the event this year he decided, ‘Yeah, I’ll give it a try,’” she said.

Still, Joey is the first to admit he’d rather be playing hockey or lacrosse.

In addition to his father’s storied football accomplishments, his mother played high school softball and basketball and college field hockey, where she received an Olympic invite before injuring her knee.

“He’s got a nice combo (of athletic genes), and he is a good athlete who seems to pick up any game and do very well after practicing for just a little while,” said Joey’s father. “He works very hard at all the sports he puts the time into.”

In addition to excelling on his travel hockey and lacrosse teams, the sixth-grader tried out for and made the middle school ice hockey team in Derry.

And that is just fine with his father, who said he and his wife encourage Joey and his 7-year-old sister, Taylor, who has already developed a fondness for competitive swimming, to participate in whatever they enjoy.

“I didn’t play organized football until sophomore year in high school, and frankly, if you’re a good athlete, you can take it up right away,” said the former Plymouth State star. “So I’d rather see him take it up later and enjoy now what he wants to do, especially with hockey and lacrosse being sports where you have to develop skill at an earlier stage to be successful.”

Candia star is a multiple threat for rising SNHU program

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 21:54:00 GMT

BY MATT STOUT

Sometimes you can’t deny what you are. And by no means is Maura Murphy doing that.

But past all her lacrosse program records, her accurate shooting and her knack of making goaltenders feel sorry they ever stepped in net, the Southern New Hampshire University sophomore attacker wants to be remembered as more than just a scorer.

In less than two years with the No. 10 Penmen, Murphy has helped build a fledgling program into a contending power. She’s seeing the field better than she ever has, hitting open teammates and playing tougher defense.

A three-year captain under her coach and father, Bryon, at Pinkerton Academy, the Candia native “gets the whole team concept,” said SNHU coach Mary Squire.

“It’s not about getting the job done herself,” the fourth-year coach said.

Yet, when Murphy spins past a defender 25 feet from the net, slices through a blockade of opposing sticks and whips a shot past a goalie – that’s 77 career goals and counting following a 10-8 loss to Merrimack College on Tuesday, April 24 – she’s a scorer out there.

Just remember she’s not out there just to score.

“I think some people look to me as a finisher, but I just try to do as much as I can,” Murphy said Thursday, April 19, following a 12-9 win over rival Saint Anselm College, a game in which she netted four goals and added an assist.

“In high school, that was a big part of what I did, but when I came here, there are a bunch of people who can do that," she continued. "So having to play defense and contributing, it’s not just scoring but doing everything.”

So far, she’s had no problem with that. After scoring 46 goals and 56 points last season as a freshman – both program records entering Tuesday – Murphy has become one of the team’s most marked forwards this season. As a result, she’s worked on her individual moves to allow chances for both herself and her teammates.

Her eight assists put her on pace for the 10 she registered last year, but those totals don’t necessarily reflect her overall game, Bryon Murphy said.

They didn’t when she scored a program-record 229 career goals at Pinkerton, and they don’t now, when she ranks third with 39 points on a team that sits on the brink of even more program history.

At 8-3 and 6-2 in the conference with two regular-season games to play entering Thursday, April 26, the Penmen, in their fourth year, are in position to claim a top-four seed in the Northeast-10 conference tournament, a year after they made the playoffs for the first time and advanced to the semifinals.

Their No. 10 ranking in the latest IWLCA Division II national poll is also a first in program history.

Helping them get there were Murphy’s fellow sophomore attackers Jennifer Parro, with 53 points and 36 assists, and Libby Parent, with 49 points and 34 goals. They both rank in the top 10 in the conference in points per game, while Murphy, with 31 goals, does the same in goals per contest.

Yet, it was Murphy who was the most instrumental in leading the team to a 12-11 triple-overtime win over Bentley in last season’s NE-10 quarterfinals. Her “shining moment,” Squire called it, the then-rookie tied her own program record with six goals.

“I find that she pretty consistently saves her better games for better competition,” Bryon Murphy said, pointing out that as a freshman in high school, Maura scored six goals against Phillips Academy of Andover, Mass., a nationally-ranked team at the time, and five against Longmeadow, Mass., another quality program. “She relishes in that opportunity.”

She also knows she doesn’t have to do that every time. “We know we can sit it all on her shoulders. But when you can do that, if you have a player that has a bad game, you’re going to lose that game,” Squire said. “And she gets that.”

Little Green make pitch to erase ’06 glitch

Hooksett Editor — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 13:52:00 GMT

BY MATT STOUT

Last year was supposed to be the year. Eleven seniors, loads of talent, lots of pitching – the Manchester Central baseball thought it had it all, including a good shot to win Class L.

Instead, Central coach Andy Laroche said, three of its top players were suspended for 30 days after they were caught buying alcohol, the team was hampered by in-fighting, and, after eight one-run losses left them with a 5- 13 record, the Little Green found themselves out of the playoffs. “It should have been something better than that,” Laroche said.

A year later, it just may be.

This year’s Central team won’t enter its season-opener with Spaulding of Rochester on Wednesday, April 11, with anything approaching last year’s expectations. But after last season’s trying campaign, Laroche believes his players will enter stronger because of it.

Young players like Matt Shaughnessy and Candia’s Zach Lemire, now juniors and team leaders, gained valuable experience in replacing the suspended upperclassmen. Senior Mike Moody, this season’s No. 1 pitcher, took on more responsibility with the staff thinned. Junior Keith Trombley – a 6-foot-4, 230- pound Candia native who should catch the eye of more than a few scouts, Laroche said – also saw his first taste of varsity.

These are the good things Central is taking from a sub-par 2006. And these are the reasons this season shouldn’t be like the last.

“For us, it’s always been about getting to the playoffs, and once you’re in, anything can happen,” Laroche said, referring to the 13th-seeded Central team that won the 2000 Class L title. “So we’re trying to get back to that status.”

With a core group of seniors and a strong junior class, the Little Green intend on continuing that climb this spring.

Though admittedly short on pitching, Laroche said he’ll turn to Moody – a co-captain and owner of a good slider and drop curveball – and several others including Trombley, Lemire and Brendon McCarthy to produce enough strong outings to complement what should be a punishing lineup.

Senior Craig Martin returns to the top of the order and leads a group that includes Shaughnessy, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound hitter who may bat third; Kyle Maguire, a transfer from Massachusetts who’ll most likely handle duties at second and bat second; and a throng of power hitters – Trombley, Lemire and Anthony Malik – who, according to Laroche, “could all easily put it out of the park with an easy swing.”

Candia native Brandon Czaja is expected to play first base, Trombley said, while Jason Szelog should take over a spot in the outfield. Hooksett’s Ben Duckless also graces the Central roster.

If the Little Green can take a step forward as a program this season, the future looks even brighter with a large freshman class brimming with pitchers and the bulk of the team set to return next spring.

But Central is not going to get ahead of itself. It knows the perils of that.

“We have a lot of talent this year,” Lemire said. “We don’t have a lot of pitching, but we have a lot of fielding and defense. As long as our pitchers can make them hit some groundballs, we can make plays.”