The Sentinel Title Services Division I mid-season snapshot
2016-02-04
DJ Frechette of Nashua South is a First team selection
By Dave Haley Photo by Joe Marchilena of NH High School Sports
This is an annual column where we stop to take a look around each of the four divisions at the midway point of the season. The purpose is to analyze the first half of the season to tell you where the teams stand today and are likely headed over the second half of the season.
As always I pick the two teams most likely to meet in the championship game, hand out mid-season all-state picks as well as our mid-season player & coach of the year.
Let me first start by thanking the coaches who have become a part of our NHsportspage team by becoming Gold Level contributors to all the work we do and coverage we bring you. As a free website run by six people with families and full time jobs we absolutely cannot continue without the support of our readers.
Thank you to the head coaches of Division I who have supported our efforts. Each is receiving the full game videos of every single basketball game we cover from the beginning of the season all the way to the championship games.
Tim Goodridge of Merrimack
Jay McKenna of Winnacunnet
Nate Stanton of Londonderry
David ‘Doc’ Wheeler of Manchester Central
Jeff Holmes of Exeter
Mark Elmendorf of Bedford
Click here to become a supporter of NHsportspage and a member of our team today:
Become a supporter of NHsportspage today
If forced to pick the two teams that will meet in the final:
Pinkerton vs. Exeter
Home court in the tournament means a ton in Division IV because of the travel and the chance that you are facing a team you haven’t seen all season. In Division II the teams ranked 10 and below will all be teams that struggle to win on the road, and therefore a Top 8 seed is crucial to any hopes of advancing.
In Division I it really doesn’t mean that much, teams are more than capable of winning on the road and that plays out over the course of the season where the travel is rarely a factor. That is even more so the case this season.
So sometime in March Winnacunnet head coach Jay McKenna will once again join Pete Tarrier & I to break down the Division I match-ups on our annual Bracketology Show (do I have to pay Joe Lunardi for saying that?) but it will be more about match-ups than venues & who goes where.
I spoke to two different Division I coaches this week who told me they gathered their teams during practice and said ‘Look around this division…it is wide open. If we can clean up our mistakes we can beat literally any team in the division. If we don’t, we can lose to anyone just as easily.’
That is the absolute truth, and it goes for just about any team in the division.
Central head coach Doc Wheeler said it best on Saturday’s show when recounting a conversation he had with Merrimack head coach Tim Goodridge, it will come down to the teams that clean up their weaknesses by March. The division has never been so wide open in our eight seasons of coverage.
Let’s try and take a look at the contenders at the midway point.
Pinkerton (9-1): The Astros are the best team in the division today. They feature the best starting five in the division in Matt Rizzo, Tommy Romick, Ben Olson, Brennan Morris and Seth Guilmette. Freshman Joey Merrill is gaining confidence and Matthew Anzivino has become a spark plug off the bench. The Astros own wins over Central, Londonderry, Memorial and the two Nashua schools.
The remaining schedule features Londonderry again, Bedford at home and a pair of tough ones to close the season against Exeter (away) and Merrimack (home on senior night). The Astros need only go 6-2 the rest of the way to earn a Top 4 seed.
Bedford (7-2): Winners of six in a row behind Colby Gendron and Ryan Hughes. The team is adjusting nicely to new head coach Mark Elmendorf and they are winning the games they are supposed to. It is about to get a lot more difficult as the Bulldogs begin a four game stretch against Memorial & Central on the road followed by Nashua North at home and back on the road to Pinkerton Academy. If Elmendorf’s team comes out of that stretch 2-2 they are in very good shape.
Merrimack (7-2): I would imagine the Merrimack kids are tired of hearing me describe everything they are doing as ‘Grinding it out’ but it is meant as a compliment to one of the best basketball programs in the state. No one enjoys playing Merrimack. Looking at the schedule and seeing the Tomahawks up next is like when your mother comes in the living room, turns off the TV and says ‘ You remember when you promised that you would go out and rake the leaves today?’ Yeah no one enjoys that…
This is a balanced unit. Ian Cummings & Zak Kerr are giving them scoring, Andrew Wojack is your defensive stopper and Ian Roberts patrols the paint. They also have one of the best coaches in New Hampshire. Their schedule eases up a tiny bit in the second half (we will be there for the showdown with Manchester Central on the 16th) and this is a team that rarely loses tournament games at home. 14-4 would get them a Top 4 seed…so might 13-5.
Exeter (6-2): This team is coming together nicely under head coach Jeff Holmes. Bryant Holmes and Cody Morissette average 38 points a game between them and if they are able to get to Durham it’s a floor and an environment they can thrive in. Holmes is a senior and you win with those in March while Morissette is the kind of kid I could see knocking down two three pointers at UNH in the first two minutes of the game. The moment wouldn’t be too big for him. Tim Larkin has given these guys a huge lift and this is a team that feels like they have two closers in any game that goes to the wire.
If the Blue Hawks can survive a brutal final five games (at Memorial & North, Pinkerton & Spaulding at home and finishing at Bedford), they have a good shot to make a run.
Manchester Central (7-2): If you told me you had peeked into your crystal ball and Central had won it all it wouldn’t shock me one bit. It also wouldn’t shock me if you told me they were knocked out in the first round. This is maybe the smallest Central team we have seen in some time, so they are very susceptible to teams like Pinkerton, Bedford and Merrimack that can control the paint.
In terms of the best trio’s in the state few are better than Jaylen Leroy, Evan MacDonald and the much improved Jonathan Makori. I also came away from the Trinity game a huge fan of Seth Shea, a kid who just competes for 32 minutes at both ends of the floor. If this team develops a good seven man rotation they can beat any team in the division. The remaining schedule has its own brutal stretch wrapped around games when they play Bedford, Exeter, Londonderry, Merrimack, South, the rejuvenated Salem Blue Devils and a game at Winnacunnet, all in a row.
Winnacunnet (6-3): This team has become a very good team defensively and will only get better when Freddy Schaake gets out of his walking boot. The book on the Warriors was to back off of their dribble penetration and make them beat you from deep but Zach Waterhouse ended that notion when he developed into a knockdown shooter. Liam Viviano has been a first team all-state worthy point guard and Anthony Primavera has been all-state caliber all along. If this team gets more consistency out of Logan Keene, Mike Lewis (probably still sore from running over linebackers all fall) and gets a healthy Schaake back in the mix Jay McKenna’s team might earn the short bus ride to Durham next month.
The Warriors will be big favorites in four of their last five games. The stretch they need to survive is the one they are currently in; Merrimack, Exeter Friday night (we will be there), Nashua South and Salem. These next two weeks will be crucial to Winnacunnet.
The (very dangerous) rest of the pack:
Manchester Memorial: Brandon Scott is developing into a force on the low block and when you have shooters like Jack Quirk’s team that is a dangerous asset. The Crusaders want to beat you 81-73 and have the personnel to do it.
Nashua South: Very similar to Exeter in that their guards can score 50 points on the right night and they have enough depth around them (Zavier Williams, Max Osgood, Rohan Patel) to compete on the defensive end and on the glass.
Salem: The loss to Concord kicked this team into another gear and facilitated a sense that it was slipping away from a group that has been playing together for years. Griffin Curtis is healthy, Matt Vartanian & DJ Coletti are finishing in the paint and the Blue Devils have survived the loss of Jared Gott, who left the team a month ago. Seven losses make a home game in the first round a long shot but let me ask you this; do you think Division I coaches want to see Salem coming in on the first night of the tournament?
Londonderry: When these guys share the basketball and take their shots in rhythm they are very good. When they start isolating and forcing shots they are not. The group last year had a real trust among their rotation players and their star (Cody Ball) was an incredibly unselfish player. The champs are trying to figure it out and head coach Nate Stanton is working to that end every day.
The Lancers play the single toughest schedule in the division thanks to missing Concord & Pembroke (1-18 combined) and playing Merrimack and Pinkerton twice each (16-3). The schedule eases up in the second half and no team will be more battle tested come March than the defending champs.
Bishop Guertin: Jim Migneault’s team is 3-1 at home and 1-4 on the road with their only win coming against winless Pembroke Academy. That was the same issue for last season’s Cardinal team, meaning if they can’t get a Top 8 seed they are in big trouble. Chad Oliveri has been very good but BG has to prove they can win away from home.
Nashua North: The Titans are hanging in there under some very difficult circumstances. Ronnie Silva is one the smartest players in the state, Nate Hale is a guaranteed 20 a night and Alonzo Linton seemingly gets better by the week. Then there is Sam McCarthy to knock guys around on the low block. We know this team can make a run from the bottom of the bracket but games between arch rival South, Bedford, Bishop Guertin and Londonderry will probably determine if North is home for the first round of the playoffs.
Keene: I enjoy the town I went to college in too much to leave Keene out of the mix and risk an ugly encounter at Elm City Brewery with Spencer Feng and a pack of angry teammates. After a big win over Trinity last night the next two games become critical for Dave Sontag’s team. Home games against a BG team that struggles on the road and a one win Concord team are games Keene needs to have. Win those two and they will have won three in a row and suddenly 5-6.
Trinity: The Pioneers can make a run in the second half of the season. The schedule does no favors making them go to Bishop Guertin and Bedford (two teams I think they would beat at home) but the issue with this team remains defense. They have to stop dribble penetration in this drive & kick era and if they are asking Connor Walsh to grab 10 rebounds, bring the ball up, guard the post and score 22 a night he might pass out at The Puritan Backroom after one of these games. Trinity needs 16 points from Justin Trickett every night and to get James Santos five good looks from behind the arc. Most critically they need to play excellent help defense and force teams to score from the perimeter.
Player of the Year at the mid-point of the season: Jaylen Leroy of Manchester Central
In a very loaded division as far as talent Leroy stands out. He’s tremendous going to the basket and that step back 15 footer is one of the best moves any player owns in the state.
Runner-up: DJ Frechette of Nashua South
Coach of the Year at the mid-point of the season: Jeff Holmes of Exeter
Don’t forget this team didn’t make the tournament last year…..Holmes has done a very nice job bringing this group together.
Runner-up: Mark Elmendorf of Bedford
First Team All-State (First half of the season)
Jaylen Leroy of Manchester Central
DJ Frechette of Nashua South
Matt Rizzo of Pinkerton
Bryant Holmes of Exeter
Nathan Hale of Nashua North
With apologies to: Tommy Romick, Brennan Morris and Ben Olson of Pinkerton, Connor Walsh & Justin Trickett of Trinity, Matt Vartanian of Salem, Evan MacDonald & Jonathan Makori of Central, Ronnie Silva & Alonzo Linton of Nashua North, Kevin Genao of Nashua South, Logan Galanes & Spencer Feng of Keene, Brandon Scott & Nick Philibert of Manchester Memorial, Matt Giroux of Concord, Danny Brown of Alvirne, Ian Cummings, Zak Kerr & Ian Roberts of Merrimack, Chad Oliveri of Bishop Guertin, Cal Connelly of Spaulding, Liam Viviano & Anthony Primavera of Winnacunnet, Ryan Hughes & Colby Gendron of Bedford, Cody Morissette & Tim Larkin of Exeter & Jake Coleman of Londonderry.
As always I pick the two teams most likely to meet in the championship game, hand out mid-season all-state picks as well as our mid-season player & coach of the year.
Let me first start by thanking the coaches who have become a part of our NHsportspage team by becoming Gold Level contributors to all the work we do and coverage we bring you. As a free website run by six people with families and full time jobs we absolutely cannot continue without the support of our readers.
Thank you to the head coaches of Division I who have supported our efforts. Each is receiving the full game videos of every single basketball game we cover from the beginning of the season all the way to the championship games.
Tim Goodridge of Merrimack
Jay McKenna of Winnacunnet
Nate Stanton of Londonderry
David ‘Doc’ Wheeler of Manchester Central
Jeff Holmes of Exeter
Mark Elmendorf of Bedford
Click here to become a supporter of NHsportspage and a member of our team today:
Become a supporter of NHsportspage today
If forced to pick the two teams that will meet in the final:
Pinkerton vs. Exeter
Home court in the tournament means a ton in Division IV because of the travel and the chance that you are facing a team you haven’t seen all season. In Division II the teams ranked 10 and below will all be teams that struggle to win on the road, and therefore a Top 8 seed is crucial to any hopes of advancing.
In Division I it really doesn’t mean that much, teams are more than capable of winning on the road and that plays out over the course of the season where the travel is rarely a factor. That is even more so the case this season.
So sometime in March Winnacunnet head coach Jay McKenna will once again join Pete Tarrier & I to break down the Division I match-ups on our annual Bracketology Show (do I have to pay Joe Lunardi for saying that?) but it will be more about match-ups than venues & who goes where.
I spoke to two different Division I coaches this week who told me they gathered their teams during practice and said ‘Look around this division…it is wide open. If we can clean up our mistakes we can beat literally any team in the division. If we don’t, we can lose to anyone just as easily.’
That is the absolute truth, and it goes for just about any team in the division.
Central head coach Doc Wheeler said it best on Saturday’s show when recounting a conversation he had with Merrimack head coach Tim Goodridge, it will come down to the teams that clean up their weaknesses by March. The division has never been so wide open in our eight seasons of coverage.
Let’s try and take a look at the contenders at the midway point.
Pinkerton (9-1): The Astros are the best team in the division today. They feature the best starting five in the division in Matt Rizzo, Tommy Romick, Ben Olson, Brennan Morris and Seth Guilmette. Freshman Joey Merrill is gaining confidence and Matthew Anzivino has become a spark plug off the bench. The Astros own wins over Central, Londonderry, Memorial and the two Nashua schools.
The remaining schedule features Londonderry again, Bedford at home and a pair of tough ones to close the season against Exeter (away) and Merrimack (home on senior night). The Astros need only go 6-2 the rest of the way to earn a Top 4 seed.
Bedford (7-2): Winners of six in a row behind Colby Gendron and Ryan Hughes. The team is adjusting nicely to new head coach Mark Elmendorf and they are winning the games they are supposed to. It is about to get a lot more difficult as the Bulldogs begin a four game stretch against Memorial & Central on the road followed by Nashua North at home and back on the road to Pinkerton Academy. If Elmendorf’s team comes out of that stretch 2-2 they are in very good shape.
Merrimack (7-2): I would imagine the Merrimack kids are tired of hearing me describe everything they are doing as ‘Grinding it out’ but it is meant as a compliment to one of the best basketball programs in the state. No one enjoys playing Merrimack. Looking at the schedule and seeing the Tomahawks up next is like when your mother comes in the living room, turns off the TV and says ‘ You remember when you promised that you would go out and rake the leaves today?’ Yeah no one enjoys that…
This is a balanced unit. Ian Cummings & Zak Kerr are giving them scoring, Andrew Wojack is your defensive stopper and Ian Roberts patrols the paint. They also have one of the best coaches in New Hampshire. Their schedule eases up a tiny bit in the second half (we will be there for the showdown with Manchester Central on the 16th) and this is a team that rarely loses tournament games at home. 14-4 would get them a Top 4 seed…so might 13-5.
Exeter (6-2): This team is coming together nicely under head coach Jeff Holmes. Bryant Holmes and Cody Morissette average 38 points a game between them and if they are able to get to Durham it’s a floor and an environment they can thrive in. Holmes is a senior and you win with those in March while Morissette is the kind of kid I could see knocking down two three pointers at UNH in the first two minutes of the game. The moment wouldn’t be too big for him. Tim Larkin has given these guys a huge lift and this is a team that feels like they have two closers in any game that goes to the wire.
If the Blue Hawks can survive a brutal final five games (at Memorial & North, Pinkerton & Spaulding at home and finishing at Bedford), they have a good shot to make a run.
Manchester Central (7-2): If you told me you had peeked into your crystal ball and Central had won it all it wouldn’t shock me one bit. It also wouldn’t shock me if you told me they were knocked out in the first round. This is maybe the smallest Central team we have seen in some time, so they are very susceptible to teams like Pinkerton, Bedford and Merrimack that can control the paint.
In terms of the best trio’s in the state few are better than Jaylen Leroy, Evan MacDonald and the much improved Jonathan Makori. I also came away from the Trinity game a huge fan of Seth Shea, a kid who just competes for 32 minutes at both ends of the floor. If this team develops a good seven man rotation they can beat any team in the division. The remaining schedule has its own brutal stretch wrapped around games when they play Bedford, Exeter, Londonderry, Merrimack, South, the rejuvenated Salem Blue Devils and a game at Winnacunnet, all in a row.
Winnacunnet (6-3): This team has become a very good team defensively and will only get better when Freddy Schaake gets out of his walking boot. The book on the Warriors was to back off of their dribble penetration and make them beat you from deep but Zach Waterhouse ended that notion when he developed into a knockdown shooter. Liam Viviano has been a first team all-state worthy point guard and Anthony Primavera has been all-state caliber all along. If this team gets more consistency out of Logan Keene, Mike Lewis (probably still sore from running over linebackers all fall) and gets a healthy Schaake back in the mix Jay McKenna’s team might earn the short bus ride to Durham next month.
The Warriors will be big favorites in four of their last five games. The stretch they need to survive is the one they are currently in; Merrimack, Exeter Friday night (we will be there), Nashua South and Salem. These next two weeks will be crucial to Winnacunnet.
The (very dangerous) rest of the pack:
Manchester Memorial: Brandon Scott is developing into a force on the low block and when you have shooters like Jack Quirk’s team that is a dangerous asset. The Crusaders want to beat you 81-73 and have the personnel to do it.
Nashua South: Very similar to Exeter in that their guards can score 50 points on the right night and they have enough depth around them (Zavier Williams, Max Osgood, Rohan Patel) to compete on the defensive end and on the glass.
Salem: The loss to Concord kicked this team into another gear and facilitated a sense that it was slipping away from a group that has been playing together for years. Griffin Curtis is healthy, Matt Vartanian & DJ Coletti are finishing in the paint and the Blue Devils have survived the loss of Jared Gott, who left the team a month ago. Seven losses make a home game in the first round a long shot but let me ask you this; do you think Division I coaches want to see Salem coming in on the first night of the tournament?
Londonderry: When these guys share the basketball and take their shots in rhythm they are very good. When they start isolating and forcing shots they are not. The group last year had a real trust among their rotation players and their star (Cody Ball) was an incredibly unselfish player. The champs are trying to figure it out and head coach Nate Stanton is working to that end every day.
The Lancers play the single toughest schedule in the division thanks to missing Concord & Pembroke (1-18 combined) and playing Merrimack and Pinkerton twice each (16-3). The schedule eases up in the second half and no team will be more battle tested come March than the defending champs.
Bishop Guertin: Jim Migneault’s team is 3-1 at home and 1-4 on the road with their only win coming against winless Pembroke Academy. That was the same issue for last season’s Cardinal team, meaning if they can’t get a Top 8 seed they are in big trouble. Chad Oliveri has been very good but BG has to prove they can win away from home.
Nashua North: The Titans are hanging in there under some very difficult circumstances. Ronnie Silva is one the smartest players in the state, Nate Hale is a guaranteed 20 a night and Alonzo Linton seemingly gets better by the week. Then there is Sam McCarthy to knock guys around on the low block. We know this team can make a run from the bottom of the bracket but games between arch rival South, Bedford, Bishop Guertin and Londonderry will probably determine if North is home for the first round of the playoffs.
Keene: I enjoy the town I went to college in too much to leave Keene out of the mix and risk an ugly encounter at Elm City Brewery with Spencer Feng and a pack of angry teammates. After a big win over Trinity last night the next two games become critical for Dave Sontag’s team. Home games against a BG team that struggles on the road and a one win Concord team are games Keene needs to have. Win those two and they will have won three in a row and suddenly 5-6.
Trinity: The Pioneers can make a run in the second half of the season. The schedule does no favors making them go to Bishop Guertin and Bedford (two teams I think they would beat at home) but the issue with this team remains defense. They have to stop dribble penetration in this drive & kick era and if they are asking Connor Walsh to grab 10 rebounds, bring the ball up, guard the post and score 22 a night he might pass out at The Puritan Backroom after one of these games. Trinity needs 16 points from Justin Trickett every night and to get James Santos five good looks from behind the arc. Most critically they need to play excellent help defense and force teams to score from the perimeter.
Player of the Year at the mid-point of the season: Jaylen Leroy of Manchester Central
In a very loaded division as far as talent Leroy stands out. He’s tremendous going to the basket and that step back 15 footer is one of the best moves any player owns in the state.
Runner-up: DJ Frechette of Nashua South
Coach of the Year at the mid-point of the season: Jeff Holmes of Exeter
Don’t forget this team didn’t make the tournament last year…..Holmes has done a very nice job bringing this group together.
Runner-up: Mark Elmendorf of Bedford
First Team All-State (First half of the season)
Jaylen Leroy of Manchester Central
DJ Frechette of Nashua South
Matt Rizzo of Pinkerton
Bryant Holmes of Exeter
Nathan Hale of Nashua North
With apologies to: Tommy Romick, Brennan Morris and Ben Olson of Pinkerton, Connor Walsh & Justin Trickett of Trinity, Matt Vartanian of Salem, Evan MacDonald & Jonathan Makori of Central, Ronnie Silva & Alonzo Linton of Nashua North, Kevin Genao of Nashua South, Logan Galanes & Spencer Feng of Keene, Brandon Scott & Nick Philibert of Manchester Memorial, Matt Giroux of Concord, Danny Brown of Alvirne, Ian Cummings, Zak Kerr & Ian Roberts of Merrimack, Chad Oliveri of Bishop Guertin, Cal Connelly of Spaulding, Liam Viviano & Anthony Primavera of Winnacunnet, Ryan Hughes & Colby Gendron of Bedford, Cody Morissette & Tim Larkin of Exeter & Jake Coleman of Londonderry.