Pelham News : Bow

Pelham falls to Bow, drops in standings, must rebound quickly

Salem Editor — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:45:00 GMT

It’s a task Tom Babaian hasn’t faced in recent years, but the Pelham football head coach must now help his team find a way to bounce back.

After producing undefeated state championships the last two seasons, the Pythons are now 1-2 in Division V play following a heartbreaking 17-14 loss to visiting Bow High School on Friday, Sept. 25.

Pelham clung to a 14-10 lead midway through the fourth quarter, but the Falcons took control of the ball with 6:26 remaining in the contest and drove down to the Pythons’ 10-yard line with 30 seconds remaining.

Bow’s Austin Hill threw a corner end zone fade to a tightly covered Tom Poitras, but the 6-foot-6 receiver reached over the head of the defender and hauled in the go-ahead score.

“We had it covered perfectly. What else are you supposed to do?” said Pelham’s head coach, Tom Babaian.

The Pythons responded rapidly with a threat of their own as Tim Schaffer took the ensuing kickoff and returned it to the Bow 43-yard line with 17 seconds remaining.

Quarterback Joseph DeAngelo had one clean shot at the end zone, but the well-thrown ball fell through his receiver’s hands, and he was sacked while scrambling on the next and final play of the game.

DeAngelo gave his team a lead early on, scoring the game’s first touchdown on a quarterback keeper in the first quarter.

Bow struck back late in the second quarter to knot the score, but DeAngelo and the Pythons answered the call on a 41-second drive that culminated with a touchdown pass to freshman Kevin Cheam with 1:49 remaining until intermission. The second half, however, belonged completely to the Falcons, who possessed the ball for 19 of a possible 24 minutes while pounding into the teeth of the Pelham defense.

The Pythons missed an opportunity just prior to Bow’s game-winning drive. With 8:13 remaining in the contest, Conor McColgan leveled a Bow ball carrier, jarred the ball loose, and Josh Luciano scooped it up at the Falcons’ 31-yard line. But four plays later Pelham turned the ball over on downs, setting up the frantic finish.

Pelham went 22-0 combined in 2007 and 2008, but Babaian said it’s unfair to compare this year’s unit to those teams because of the skilled players and leaders who graduated.

“We are nowhere near the team we were in ’07 and ’08. You have to put that all behind,” said the Pelham mentor. “A lot of (the early struggles) are that they’re still trying to find each other, figure out what their teammates can do.”

Bow head coach Paul Cohen said his team knew coming it faced a difficult foe … and may have to again.

“Do I think they’re a team who can be one of the top contenders in the division? Absolutely,” said Cohen. “If we see them again, we’re going to have to prepare even harder.”

Babaian said his team wants that chance.

“We’re hoping,” he said. “That sure would be nice to get another shot at them.”

Pelham and Bow stumble around gridiron, but Pythons take win

Salem Editor — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:18:00 GMT

BY MATT SCHOOLEY

Tom Babaian wasn’t impressed with his team’s performance. Paul Cohen wasn’t pleased with how his squad played either. But someone had to come out with a win.

Babaian’s Pelham football team defeated Cohen’s Bow Falcons, 35-20, on Saturday, Oct. 4, in a turnover-plagued contest that helped the Pythons improve to 3-0 on the season.

“We were very sloppy, we didn’t execute well, we didn’t hold the ball well, and playoff teams can’t do that,” Babaian said. “Any time you can come out with a win is good, but we’re going to need to work on things if we want to go deep in the playoffs.”

The two teams combined for 11 turnovers, and while his team’s execution was poor, Cohen liked his team’s attitude.

“We made a lot of mistakes, and obviously they capitalized on those,” Cohen said. “We were undermanned coming in and then lost a few more guys during the game. I was happy to see them battling, and happy to see they refused to quit.”

Pelham recovered a fumble at the Bow 23-yard line with 9:17 remaining in the first quarter and cashed in when quarterback Joseph DeAngelo lobbed a pass to a diving Tim Schaffer in the end zone, giving the Pythons a 7-0 lead.

It looked as if the Pythons might be in position to cruise to the easy victory after Josh Luciano broke free on a 43-yard touchdown scamper with little more than five minutes remaining in the first quarter.

But the Falcons struck back with a big play of their own, as quarterback Austin Hill threw a short pass to wideout Tom Poitras, who did the rest of the work, breaking free and running down the sideline for an 85-yard score.

Although Hill and Poitras did connect for another touchdown with 11 seconds remaining in the contest, Bow never challenged again.

Luciano contributed in nearly every aspect for the Pythons, running for a score, catching another, taking snaps at quarterback, and also intercepting two passes.

Hoping to defend its undefeated state championship, Babaian is fully aware his squad is going to face top efforts from every team it plays the rest of the way.

“We know we’re marked, and everyone wants a piece of us,” he said. “We have got to get better. We aren’t where we want to be right now, but hopefully we can get there.”

Pelham field hockey team thoroughly outplays Bow but falls at home, 2-0

Salem Editor — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:15:00 GMT

BY MATT SCHOOLEY

The Pelham field hockey team created more scoring threats, but Bow made its chances count, earning a 2- 0 road victory. Although the Pythons spent most of the afternoon on the attack, the Falcons scored a goal in each half, defeating Pelham on Friday, Sept. 12.

Bow’s Kristen Chulada corralled a loose ball in front of the net and pounded it home, giving the Falcons a 1-0 advantage heading into the half. Falcons goalies Lydia Crisp and Sarah Starempfer split time in net, combining for the shutout.

“The defense’s ability to stop all of those chances was amazing, and the star of the game was obviously the defensive line,” said Bow’s head coach, Tracy Berube. “Even though a lot of the times they created those chances, they can back themselves up.”

For Pelham’s head coach, Linda Koehler, it was frustrating to see her team on offense so frequently without cracking the scoreboard.

“(We) dominated that game, but we were caught flat,” said Koehler. “It’s the second effort to put those back in (the net) that we need. We just need to learn how to win, and it goes back to having confidence.”

Berube agreed the Pythons controlled the flow of play, despite what the scoreboard indicated.

“We had to bring it back to basics,” she said. “I think they outplayed us, so you have to focus on going slow, making passes and hoping they find a rhythm. I can’t tell you what this is doing for our morale. Hopefully it gives them the confidence they needed.”

In the second half, Pelham continued pressing for the equalizer inside the Bow offensive circle, but Julia Romano added her first goal of the season with 4:38 remaining to seal the victory.

Romano had missed the majority of the preseason as well as Bow’s first three regular season games with an ankle sprain.

With the win, Bow improved to 1-2-1 for the year. The loss dropped Pelham to 1-2 on the young season.

Ali Meagher, Lindsay Davis and Kelly Knepper anchored the Bow defense to help blank Pelham, while Devon Lamoreux and Kally Riddinger kept the Pythons in the game on defense.

Koehler said it was Bow’s ability to switch from defense to offense that was difficult to stop.

“They transition very well from defense to offense, and they did it very quickly,” she said. “They took advantage of their opportunities.”

Pelham roughs up Bow, prepares (again) for Gilford

Salem Editor — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:41:00 GMT

BY MATT SCHOOLEY

The Pelham High School football team won’t have to dig too far into the archives to find game film for the Division V title game.

After overcoming a sloppy first half, the Pythons rolled past Bow High School 42-7 at home to set up a rematch with Gilford in next week’s D-V final.

Pelham edged Gilford on Nov. 2, 13-12.

Pelham’s offense struggled early on Saturday, Nov. 10, and the top-seeded Pythons clung to a 7-0 halftime lead vs. the fourth-ranked Falcons. However, Tyler Gant took the second-half kickoff to the Bow 10-yard line to grab momentum for Pelham.

Three plays later, Bruce Vieira rushed five yards into the end zone with 11:11 remaining in the third for one of his four touchdowns on the day. The 10-yard scoring drive was one of eight straight times the Pythons started in Bow territory.

“(Good field position) makes a huge difference in our offensive attack,” said Pelham head coach Tom Babaian, whose team fumbled multiple times in the first half. “They came out nervous. Being at home in a playoff atmosphere can be tough. They are only high school kids after all.”

Bow head coach Paul Cohen said the now 10-0 Pythons were simply stronger on both sides of the ball.

“They have a very powerful offense, and they were able to mix it up pretty nicely against us, and they stymied our offensive attack pretty effectively,” he said. “I told the team before the game we had to prevent major momentum shifts. We were knocking on the door early and didn’t score, and you can’t have that in a playoff game.”

The Falcons recovered a Python fumble at the Pelham 20- yard line with 10:27 remaining in the first quarter. The Falcons gave the ball back, fumbling at the 3-yard line.

Babaian said his half-time speech was simple.

“We talked about what had worked for us, and that we couldn’t play tense. We really had to get our act together and play more disciplined,” he said.

After Bow slowed Pelham offensively in the first half, the Pythons exploded for 35 second- half points. Pelham retains its home-field advantage, and the Pythons host Gilford in the championship game, which kicks off at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 17.

Game notes
Quarterback Joseph DeAngelo had 15 carries for 87 yards, two rushing touchdowns and a passing touchdown, in addition to an interception on defense to help lead the way for the Pythons.

Tough draw – Pelham erased from tournament after facing two strong pitchers

Salem Editor — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 18:34:00 GMT

BY RYAN O'CONNOR

One year after coach Ken Kaiser led the Pelham 10- and 11-year-old District I Little League all-star team to a state championship, he and many of his same players faced poor luck early in the 11- and 12-year-old majors tournament.

Five days after Pelham watched 11 of its first 15 batter, including the first seven, become strikeout victims to lefty Keenan Falck, it lost another tough pitching match-up to Bow’s Jack Yvars, 5-0.

“We had a tough draw this year, I think,” said manager Ken Kaiser of facing a 5-foot-8 flame thrower in the first round and then playing Bow, which had the added benefit of having already played two games, to help set up its ideal pitching match-up.

“The rules say you can’t pitch the same guy for two consecutive games, so even beforehand, I had already looked and saw that Bow had a pitcher who had pitched the entire first game.”

Cam Kaiser pitched four innings against Bow on Saturday, June 30, struck out three and gave up three runs on four hits, two unearned.

“The kids didn’t do the things we’re accustomed to doing,” said Kaiser. “Bow just made good defensive plays in the field and had some timely hits. Right through their order, one through nine, they had guys that could put the bat on the ball.”

In Pelham’s previous game, against Manchester South, what began as a pitcher’s duel turned into a 6-2 loss.

After being stifled by Falck for the first four innings, Pelham tallied.

Leo Moro, leading off, reached on an error before Nick Neary and Steve Toscano drew walks to load the bases for Jacob Vaiknoris, who came through with a two-run single.

Justin Moran, on the other hand, held Manchester South to a solo home run with four strikeouts in four innings and 75 pitches.

But in the bottom of fifth inning, two errors that Kaiser termed critical led to three unearned runs.

“Last year, we were able to sneak up on teams and surprise them, which we couldn’t do this year because teams are gunning for you. They know who you are and you’re going to face some tough pitching,” said Kaiser. “We have some good players, but we don’t have anything like the two pitchers we went up against.”

Now, Kaiser said his team will play some local ball and has already committed to playing in the Fraser Tournament, which begins later this month.

Other players contributing to this year’s all-star team include Clint Fontanella, Alex Newton, Kevin DeAngelo, Devin DeCartat, Glen Krzeminski, Greg Spicer and Cody Enis.