BEARSPORTSNEWS SUNDAY EDITION

goldenstateservicesj
Jan 27, 2024
8 min read

January 28,2024

INSIDE THE WHITE ROCKS—

Hockey loses to #1 Gonzaga, but takes care of business against StA on Senior Night
Basketball has two losses
Wrestling has 4 Nationally Ranked, goes 4-1 in a meet only losing to WaPo’s #!
Swimming and Diving earn 3rd in IACs.
Squash earns Landon’s Athletes of the Week, but loses to Potomac and EHS

BEAR TRACKS

—27 Bears in 9 sports and 4 levels (5 pros included)

SOCCER– Pro—1 back with DC United and in Saudia Arabia for pre-season scrimmages.

2 Developmental Pros
1 Div. I player
1 Div. III player

SWIMMING- 1 Div. I; 2 Div. III
WINTER SPORTS
BASKETBALL–5

I PRO in Italy
I COLLEGE DIV. I COACH
2 DIV. I {BOTH HAVE STATS LEADING TEAMS AND IVY LEAGUE}
3 DIV. III PLAYERS– \

HOCKEY-10

PRO:1 in EHL and 1 KHL—
COLLEGE: 1 Div. I played; 3 Div. III getting PT
COACHING: 1 Div. III, 1 ACHA Div. 2
DEVELOPMENTAL—2 one wears the team A and 2ND in assists & points
CLUB-2

WRESTLING-1

Div. III grappler made it onto the mats in a meet.

INSIDE THE WHITE ROCKS

BASKETBALL— Coach Franklin’s Five beat EHS 63-52, lost to WaPo# 4 Bullis 43 – 76 and couldn’t sustain a first half lead to lose to a 12-4 StA 55-64.

HOCKEY—Coach Parker’s skaters fell behind MAPHL’s #1, WaPo’s #4 G onzaga, fought back but lost 3-4 . With a Friday night game, i.e., stands filled with Bear Brothers, the Seniors were celebrated and scored in a win over StA 7-3 . Spaulding match has been rescheduled to 2/7 away at 3pm.

SWIMMING—COACH Ros swimmers and divers competed against 2 IAC teams with their own indoor pools and earned third with successful divers.

TRACK—Coach Brown’s runners hit the track at EHS 1/25???

WRESTLING— Four of Coach Katz’s wrestlers earn national rankings:

Coach Katz, the best reporter/coach reviewed his team’s recent competitions:

January 26,2024

Due to a snow cancellation last week, we had to go back-to-back this week in order to make up the Episcopal quad.

On Thursday, we traveled to Alexandria Virginia to face IAC rival Episcopal and WCAC rival Gonzaga. St. James was not able to make up the match.

Unfortunately, Episcopal’s line-up suffered due to injury and illness. They were only able to compete at 6 weight classes. In the six weight classes, we won 5 of the 6 with 4 pins and a decision. Senior Captain Nate Furgeson started the night at 165 with a pin to get the ball rolling. Senior Jett Buchananwon bydecision 7-4 at 175, followed by Junior studs DP Pope (pin in 8 seconds) and Captain Tiller Smith (pin in 2:55). Our last victory was Junior Connor Koegel at 157 with a pin in the second period. FINAL SCORE: 75-6

Over the last several years, our matches against Gonzaga have been tight and competitive. This year, the Bears made it look easy. The Eagles have 2 wrestlers ranked at the Prep National level. The first match was Nate Furgeson against their highest ranked wrestler (9^th). In an exciting match, Nate lost in overtime. While Nate lost he set the tone against Gonzaga. DP Pope (190) and Senior George Allen (215) pinned their respective opponents. Tiller Smith was moved up to heavy weight to take on one of their better wrestlers weighing in at 253. In a tight match, Tiller prevailed 3-0. Then the chain of pain kicked into gear, we swept the line-up all the way through 157 with pins: Dennis Leary 106, Domingo Escudero 113, James Hanley 120, Joe Papalia 126, Theo Shockey 132 (Forfeit), Will Levy 138, & Max Murray 144.Connor Koegel 157 lost a tight match 5-0, and the match ended with a pin by their other nationally ranked wrestler. FINAL SCORE: 62-12

January 2,2024

The next night was our Senior night at home. The Juniors honored our 11 Seniors before the match. This group of Seniors has been instrumental in continuing our dominance of the IAC. Led by Captains/multiple state place winners NATE FURGESON, WILL LEVY AND JAMES HANLEY have represented this team and Landon well this year…. Holding up the competitiveness on the mat while being first rate citizens off the mat.

In the first match, we wrestled an almost full squad from Good Counsel (one forfeit at 106). Junior Connor Koegel 157 got the ball rolling with first period pin.Nate Furgeson faced one of their toughest wrestlers and pinned him in the second period. GC bounced back with a couple of victories at 175 and 190. Tiller Smith got things back on the right track with a second period pin, but GC came back with another pin at 285. The chain of pain started it up again with a forfeit at 106, 4 pins (Escudero, Hanley, Papalia), a technical fall (Shockey), and a major decision (Will Levy).FINAL SCORE: LANDON 57 GOOD COUNSEL 23

In round 2, we faced #12 in the State St. Frances from Baltimore. We beat them by a hal fof a point at the state tournament last year and we knew it was going to be a tough match. While St. Frances does not have super studs, they have 11 of their wrestlers ranked in the top 20. THE BEARS STEPPED IT UP AND PROVED THEIR #7 STATE TEAM RANKING. This was an exciting and physical match from top to bottom and it was a team win as everyone contributed. Per usual, the match started with Nate Furgeson getting the ball rolling by pinning the #18 ranked wrestler.Senior Owen Kelly (175) earned a pivotal pin in a back and forth match. DP Pope received a forfeit at 190 and Tiller Smith continues his winning streak with a pin over the #15 ranked opponent: putting Landon up 24 points. At 285, George Allen had one of the most exciting matches of the night. Being outweighed by almost 60 pounds, George fought hard and demonstrated his tenacity. Despite losing several points by tough stalling calls, he managed to go into overtime. In a crazy scramble, his opponent came out on top and started a comeback by St. Frances. Dennis Leary fought hard against a ranked wrestlers but ultimately got pinned. Freshman Domingo Escudero wrestled one of his best matches of the year with a 6-4 victory. At 120, the highlight match of the night with #4 ranked James Hanley facing the #6 ranked wrestler. James had an excellent match proved to be the better wrestler with pin in the first period. St. Frances did not give up. At 126, Joe Papalia came out strong and almost pinned his opponent, but somehow rolled to his back and got caught. Unranked Junior Theo Shockey wrestled his best match of the year by knocking off the #11 ranked wrestler in the state 6-5. This pivotal match gave the Bears the advantage as returning State Champ Will Levy 138 sealed the team victory with a major decision of the #16 ranked wrestler. St. Frances bounced back with three pins, but it was not enough. FINAL SCORE: LANDON 40 ST. FRANCES 33

In the final match, we faced a very tough and much improved Paul VI [WaPo #1]. 12 of their 14 wrestlers are ranked in the top 6 in the Virginia Private school rankings with two at #1 and five at #2. Again, it was another exciting match as the Bears fought hard in every match. Unfortunately, we were 1 to 2 matches short. We won 6 of the 8 matches. The Bears started off strongly with Nate Furgeson leading the charge with a major decision over #4 ranked wrestler. Paul VI came right back as one of their #1’s pinned Senior Zack Zand. Tiller Smith wrestled another amazing match (going 5-0 over the 2 days) by beating #2 ranked wrestler 6-4. Again, Senior George Allen had another exciting match. Being outweighed by over 80 pounds, George somehow managed to take his opponent down and then turn him for the pin. George had the night of his life on the mat tonight! PVI came rolling back with two big wins making the score PVI 16 Landon 13. James Hanley and Joe Papalia brought Landon back on top with two consecutive wins making the score Landon 22 PVI 16. PVI came back with a major at 132. At 138, Freshman Max Murray lost a pivotal, but exciting back and forth match in overtime to tighten up the score to give PVI the lead 23-22. Senior Will Levy brought the lead back with a major decision… Landon 26 PVI 22. Unfortunately, PVI had some of their best wrestlers at the next three weights and closed the match up with 2 pins and a tech fall. It was one of the best dual meet nights we have had in a long time. The matches were exciting, the crowd was loud, and the Bears fought hard and represented well. FINAL SCORE: PVI 40 LANDON 25

Next weekend, we will host the IAC championships on Saturday February 3. I will provide a streaming link at some point this week, if you cannot come support the team.

Go Bears!

Squash

Landon 5 BCC 2

BEAR TRACKS

Cross Country/Track and Field -2

Asim Hakim-Florian, L’23 Colgate University – the Red Raiders are competing in 2 meets; no results yet.
Sam Cohen, L’23, Tulane University- the Green Waves are at a meet at Boston University

SOCCER- 7

Professional Soccer 1

Kristian Fletcher L’23: DC United ‘s “homegrown” forward is at the US team’s training camp and they have scrimmages in Saudia Arabis against the Suden National team, Al Weda FC, AL-Hilal SC and AL-Fettiqua. “Saudi organizers are covering the team’s expenses and paying an appearance fee…” WaPo

Swimming-3

Jacob Rosner L19 Northwestern senior; next meet 2/3

Ethan Tun L21 Carleton- Ethan Tun earned first place with a time of 54.79 in the 100-yard backstroke as the team lost to St. John’s (MN)

BEARS playing College Winter Sports

BASKETBALL-

1pro; 2 DI {both leading teams} ,3 DIII {all playing}; 1 Div. I coach

Professional –1

Darion Atkins #44 L11, Reggio Emilia Div. (10-7, 17 GP, 19.8 min/g., 6.6 pts/g, 3.6 reb/g, 1.4 asst/g, 0.8 blk/g

College Coach-1

Christian Webster L09, VaTech Assistant Coach (12-7)

College-5

Canin Reynolds L ‘20 Amherst Mammoths (13-7): #2 junior— 6 GP, 13.2 min/g, 0.7 pts/game., 1.3 APg , 1.1 reb/game

Kino Lilly L21 Brown Bears (5-12) #10 junior; 17 GS, 1 Game Injured, 37.9 min/g*, 19.0 pts/g*^, 3.1 assists/g*, 2.7 reb/g, .5 steal/g, 59 3PTs*^; *leads team; ^leads Ivies

Mike Gray, L22, Lynchburg (10-9), #30; 9 GP, 6.3 min/g , 1.7 ppg, 0.7 reb/g,

Tyler Perkins, L23 University of Pennsylvania (9-10); #11, freshman; led Quakers with 25 pts in loss to Columbia 19 GS, 30.1 min/g, 14.7 pts/g^, 2.0 asst/g, 5.6 reb/g, 2.1 steals/g*+; *leads team, ^8th in Ivies, + 4th in Ivies

Christos Palkogiannis, L23, California Institute of Technology (1-17), #33, FRESHMAN; 2 GS, 4 GP, 15.0 min/g. 5.0 ppg, 2.5 reb/g, 2.0 asst/g,

HOCKEY 11

Professional Ice Hockey-2

Sam Anas L’ 11, #77 HC Dinamo Minsk KHL (23-23-3-2); #77 51 gamest, 18 goals and 22 assists (leads Dynamo in both) S in those 50 games.RMNB PICTURE “He is the third-highest scoring American in the league this season behind just Reid Boucher (61) and Alexander Chmelevski (44). First KHL hat trick KHL Links down today

Patrick Giles L*18 #36 Charlotte Checkers (20-16-4-0) played in 36 games, 8 goals, 4 assists-

Div. III Men’s Hockey Coach-1

Kim Weiss, Assistant Coach for Trinity College (her alma mater) men’s team, 13-3-1 ranked 10th in Div. III

College Club Coach and Pro Hockey -1

Alex Norwinski L’15 Liberty University Div II Hockey Coach and Roanoke Rail Yard Dogs (21-8-2-1) 6 GP 2 A

Division I–1

Matthew Brille #19; L*20; Brown (8-11-1) #19- 8 games played, 1 assist, 3 shots, 6 blk

Division III–3

Oscar Smink L’21; Amherst College Mammoths (11-6-0): #6 – 6 GP, 1 assist, 6 shots, 6 blk

Ethan Goldman, L’21; Connecticut College Camels (7-8-2) #13

Kareem Al-Azem L*20; Connecticut College Camels (7-8-2) #7 played 16 games 1 G 5 A 16 blk

Development Hockey 2

Will Lawrence L*22, #88 NAHL Johnstown Tomahawks,assistant captain, 24-14-1-1; #88 36 GP 10 G, 20A, 2nd in team goals, 2nd in team assists and 3rd in points

JH Lages L*21,#27, NCDC Twin City Thunder 8-20-0-2, 21 GP 6 A