Written by Meghan Self | Edited and updated 3/11/19 by Alex Sharp

When you roll into the December months what do you think of, Winter Sports are a great way to spend your cold and dark days by playing your favorite sports. This year was a fantastic year for Frontier’s Winter sports.This is all the recaps from all winter sports teams.

Boys Basketball

The Frontier Redhawks boys’ basketball team soars into the Division III Western MA tournament as the 2-seed. A tough independent schedule featuring wins over Hoosac Valley, Southwick, and a Division I West Springfield squad, helped to prepare the team for a playoff run. The Red Hawks finished the regular season with a 17-3 record and a share of the Hampshire North league title.  

According to senior captain Alex Sharp “The highlight of the regular season was probably a convincing home win on pack the house night against D1 playoff team West Springfield.” Sharp said that among the best individual highlights this year have been Peter Carey’s thunderous slam dunks, Carsten Carey’s dominance of opposing big men, and Kalen Evan’s acrobatic takes to the basket.

In their quarterfinal playoff game at Goodnow gymnasium the Hawks dominated 10 seeded Palmer in every facet of the game. The halftime score was 34-7 (Including a 21-0 second quarter). A balanced scoring effort saw Carsten Carey, Kalen Evans, Owen Morse, and Peter Carey all finish in double digits for scoring.

The Redhawks saw their season end in a heartbreaking semifinal loss to Narragansett at the Curry Hicks Cage in Amherst, MA. The Redhawks had an eight point lead late in the third quarter but to execute down the stretch and ultimately lost 60-55. This was the last game in the careers of seniors Alex Sharp, Carsten Carey, Kalen Evans, Timmy Barrington, and Zack Nuerminger.

The future looks bright for the Redhawks as starters Peter Carey and Owen Morse will return next year for their junior seasons. Other players who will look to step into larger roles next season include big men Owen Walkowitz and Gabe Jones Thomson and guards Ethan Machon, Sean Richter, Brett Robinson, Gabe Gochinski and Sam Felton Emerick.


Girls Basketball

The Frontier Girls Varsity basketball team had a successful season. After adversity in the form of injuries and a mid-season coaching change, they qualified for the Western MA division three tournament as the ten seed. The team clinched a .500 regular season record on senior night with an exciting 37-34 victory over Amherst.

“The team overcame a great deal of adversity between player injuries and changes in the coaching staff and proved they were as tough mentally as they were physically. In doing so made this season a success” said Assistant Coach Fred Warren.

Ariana Walker, the team’s only senior is a true force with all around effort, especially on the defensive end. She brings leadership and compassion to this young team and has been named to the Hampshire/Franklin Senior All Star Team.

Junior Marie Diemand draws the job of covering the strongest offensive and is known for her smart basketball plays. Sharp shooting sophomore Olivia Deane is known for her tremendous outside shooting and not being selfish with the ball. Deane was a team leader in assists, finishing the season with 46.

Sophomore center Charlotte Doulette is a tall presence in the paint, leading the team with 53 offensive rebounds and a total of 96 rebounds on the season. Sophomore Amelia Sobieski rounds out the starting 5. She lead the team in scoring this season with over 250 points.

Freshmen Kaitlyn Mackin is the 6th player off the bench. She made tremendous contributions on both ends of the floor with her rebounding and scoring abilities.

Unfortunately the girls’ season came to an end in the first round of the Western MA tournament at the hands of the Bulldogs from Sabis International Charter school in Springfield. The matchup was a defensive battle from the start and the game went into halftime tied at 12. Going into the fourth quarter the Redhawks trailed 24-21 but Sabis outscored them 11-4 in the fourth to win 35-25. The Redhawks saw five players score but nobody totalled more than seven points.

Losing only one senior to graduation, expect the girls basketball team to be back and primed for a longer postseason run next year.

Green Wave Hockey

Did you know we have a Hockey team? Well not really. We have many hockey players on the Greenfield Green Wave. Co-Op team. In 2017 Turners Falls had ended it’s coop team which gave way to the Greenfield Co-Op Team. (Read all about it in the Greenfield Recorder & here )

Frontier student athletes helped propel the Green Wave hockey team into the Western Mass. Division 3A semifinals. The Wave, comprised of student athletes from 8 schools, won the Wright Division and their 16-2-2 overall record earned them the second seed in the tournament.

The offense was led this season by junior Bryan Baumann (Frontier) who recorded 46 regular season points and senior Doug Hanieski (Frontier) who added 31 points. The totals helped both skaters eclipse the coveted 100 point mark for their high school careers.

In the opening round of the playoffs Hanieski, Baumann and the rest of the squad were at their best as the Green Wave topped Drury 5-2 in the opening game of the playoffs.

“Our second period against Drury was the best period of hockey we played all year” reflected Hanieski.

The Green Wave fell to the Belchertown Orioles in the semifinal at Olympia Ice Center in West Springfield. During the regular season, the Wave tied the Orioles 2-2 in Greenfield and won 4-2 on Belchertown home ice in Amherst. Unfortunately the third matchup didn’t not go in favor of the Green Wave. The orioles came out of the gates strong and rode a 2-0 first period lead to a 4-2 victory.

Hanieski was the only senior from Frontier on the ice for the Green Wave. Returning Frontier players will be Bryan Baumann, Aidan Roche, Jake Bryant, Kyle Barnes, Kevin Baumann, Porter Clancy, and Trevor Beaudet.

Wrestling

Frontier Varsity Wrestling finished with a 20-9-1 record.

Frontier wrestlers earned 266 wins and 195 losses on the season and placed 6th in the Division 3 Western Mass tournament.

In his last season in a Redhawk uniform senior Nate Austin earned the number one seed in the Western Mass tournament. Nate ultimately finished in 2nd place after a tough and even match against Taconic’s Sean O’shea. Eighth grader Jake Mattson (23-18) finished 4th in Western Mass, freshman Ovidiu Nichita (23-16) finished 3rd, and Junior Rearkeous “Ito” McMillan (34-17) finished 4th.

Perhaps the highlight of the season for the wrestling team was sophomore Jackie Phong taking the championship at 285 pounds in the Western Mass tournament.

“”I put everything I had into it, and I got on top of him. Coaching really helped me there to get through that tough position. It feels very good to finish off with a pin” said Phong after his victory.

Skiing
Corian Delaney had the greatest finish of all the athletes in the region. She had an amazing race to land herself 2nd in states.

Frontier’s star skier Coriann Delaney finished 11th in the giant slalom and and 23rd in the slalom at last year’s alpine skiing state championship. Delaney had an up and down regular season as she fell in two of her six PVIAC league races.

At the state championships on Wednesday February 27 at the Wachusett Mountain Ski area Delaney left her regular season struggles in the rearview mirror. Her time of 1 minute and .73 seconds in the giant slalom earned her a second place finish. Just four skiiers broke 1 minute and 2 seconds on the day with Julia Waal of Hingham high school taking the title in 59.3 seconds. Later in the day Delaney’s time of 37.87 seconds in the slalom earned her an 18th place finish.

“This race was a bit different considering I have never skied against almost all of these girls, so that was a bit tough since I didn’t know how good they were or what there strengths were. It was also similar since I do race in Vermont every weekend and the competition is a lot tougher up there since I’m racing against all of these academy kids that ski every day of the week. But it’s also fun racing against new people because it’s new competition” Delaney told a Masslive reporter after the race.

Sophomore Ben Martino also qualified for the state championship and finished 96th in the Giant Slalom and 110th in the slalom.

If you want to relive the season. Head on over to FCATMedia YouTube Channel where you will find full games and highlights.