Boys Basketball

The Boys basketball team ended their most successful season in recent memory at the hands of Old Rochester last weekend. In their first tournament game, Hanover blew out Bishop Stang, 71-47. Hanover was hot from 3 and played great defense. Jack Buckley led the way with 28 points and 15 rebounds in front of a large Hanover crowd that stormed the court after the win. The win came as many local media from the South Coast and Boston had already started hyping up a Stang-Old Rochester rematch.

Hanover headed to Old Rochester Saturday with much confidence against the 17-3,  number one seed. Unfortunately, it was Old Rochester’s game from start to finish. Their whole starting five plus a big man off the bench were incredible offensively all game and their great defense took Hanover out of the game. Hanover made a couple of runs but Old Rochester was able to consistently pull away again.

While it was very upsetting that their season, and their careers for some of the HHS players, were over, they took some happiness away from the game due to Jack Buckley reaching 1,000 points. Hanover force-fed him the ball in the end and Old Rochester made it hard on him, but Buckley hit some tough shots to reach the milestone. It was a great season, the first 10+win season, the first league championship, and the first tournament game win for all of the players and coaches involved at Hanover. Jack Buckley and Jack Phelan were named league all stars. Buckley was Hanover’s leader all year, averaging 25.4 ppg, 14.6 rpg, and 2 bpg and being named league MVP. Phelan was a stat sheet stuffer, averaging 8.7 ppg, 7.1 apg, and 2.2 spg. John Carroll (12.2 ppg) and Evan Elkhill (11) provided much of the supplemental scoring for Buckley.

Girls Basketball

Coach Fish and the girls team had a very successful season of their own. They were able to win a Patriot League championship for the second consecutive year after a rough start. It was in the second half of the season that Hanover started to play good ball despite missing a key player to injury and some talented seniors having graduated. In their  first tournament matchup, they knocked off a good Ursuline team in a gane that came down to the wire. Steph Flynn got hurt late in the first half for Hanover and things looked grim, but she heroically came back to lead them to victory.

Up next came the long trip that almost every team in D3 South dreads, down to Martha’s Vineyard. Leaving school early to play at 4:30, Hanover played a great game and nearly put down the Vineyard. It came down the final minute and the Island girls hit a big 3 with 32 seconds left that would clinch the victory. It was a tough loss but Hanover is a young team and the future is incredibly bright. They are favorites to three-peat for League champs and with Archies weakening, one of the favorites in D3 South. They grabbed three All Star spots for Juniors Flynn  (who also won league MVP) and Kayla McMahon as well as Sophomore Meg Raab.

Girls Hockey

The Cohasset/Hanover co-op took a step back from last year’s very successful season but were still very competitive. They made the tournament in their last game of the year by tying Quincy/North Quincy. The lost in the first round of the tournament to a very good Medway/Ashland team out in Marlboro. Like Girls Basketball, they are a young team with a lot of potential. They lose top seniors Valerie Farren of Cohasset and Erin Smith of Hanover, but return five of their top six forwards and their top defensemen. They will also bring back outstanding goalie Shea Kearney in between the pipes. Kearney, along with Senior Forward Valerie Farren, Sophomore Forward Cassidy Bodie, and Sophomore Forward Callie Hoadley, were named SEMGHL All Stars.

Wrestling

Seniors Mike McLeod and Dillon Russell had their careers end this weekend at Massachusetts All-Sates. They wrestled valiantly all year and it was their first time getting this far in the post season. They were a big reason why Hanover had their winningest season ever this year. However the team is still wrestling because Colin Boutin managed to move on to New Englands. Returning this year from Xaverian, Boutin had high expectations on him but he has surpassed all of them. He has been dominant all year and was the first Indian to place at All-States since the early 2000s.