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HOOPS AND HOCKEY ’11-’12 PREVIEWS; CALL FOR ALUMNI HOCKEY GAME PLAYERS; BEAR TRAX; CORRECTION TO STA WRITE –UP
2011-2012 Basketball
The Bears’ performance last year attracted some attention; the Landon team is invited to play in the Puerto Rico Shoot Out tournament (starting 12/21). The schedule (http://www.landon.net/page.cfm?p=1436&teamID=48 ) includes the normal IAC home and away series. Sidwell Friends, which has two legitimate stars, will be an early test away on 11/30 and will be followed by the Blue Devils of Chestnut Hill Academy in Philly. WCAC teams, McNamara and St. John’s (2010 opponents) will come to Landon before Christmas. Absent is the trip to New Hampshire and to Orange, VA (Woodberry Forest), but the Landon Winter Tournament will be more competitive with Langley, St. Anselm’s, St. Mary’s of Annapolis and Cesar Chavez. The Flint Hill team will come to Bethesda, just before the IAC battles begin.
Episcopal High School is the returning champion team and with Savage & Arnaud back, the Maroon are a strong favorite. Add Doug Chapelle, a transfer from SSSA, and EHS becomes THE choice. Bullis lost one of its star to Canada, but the Bulldogs had a great summer season plus two major studs back in the lineup. SSSA has the BIG 6’8” man; so they should be contenders. The other Bulldogs, StA, have a new coach and a nucleus of good players. The team on RP lost some of their sharp shooters and their season will depend a lot on whether Michael Boland returns to the court or focuses on football.
The Bears’ roster is not set since practice has yet to begin. They have lost their front line guys- Adkins and Hudnut, but Coach Luther is positive about the contributions of returning Cyrus House (6’3 “, 220 #) and Tumi Onaghise(6’ 4“, 215 #) as well Oak Hill Academy transfer Sebastian Wells (6’ 4 “,256 #). All three of these big men will have to work out of their football fitness and prepare for crashing the boards. The remainder of the hoops team, with a few exceptions, are also recovering from Coach Padalino’s regime and will prepare for flying up and down the court. This year’s team will be guard oriented with as many as nine players who can play the PG, SG and defensive specialist. While it is likely that Coach Luther will be putting returning starters, Joe McDonald, Deion Wellington and Addison Sarter, on the court for lots of minutes, the fans wills see a lot of Isaiah Colclough, who was injured against Loyola (not part of this year’s schedule) and Max Kra who saw limited action last season. There may be significant playing time assigned to at least two JV players and a couple of guards who are new to the team, but play other sports at Landon. Whoever makes the BB team as a guard will be part of the dribbling track team that will highlight the Bears play for 2011-2012!
Hockey 2011-2012
The returning MAPHL and IAC champions will benefit from 14 returning skaters from that undefeated team. The Bears pride themselves on playing a tough D; so having three pairs of strong, smart defensemen and two or more solid goalies back assures that this foundation will be there. Yes, the Bears graduated its career point leader to the Youngstown Phantoms (see below pictures)(plus other forwards), but Coach Gammill will send six returning forwards over the boards along with some new talent from the JV, MS and outside teams. The Captains’ preseason practices have evidenced fast, smart and integrated offensive play. The Bears are known as a quick team, that moves the puck well, and that plays their positions exceptionally well. The returning leaders have shared these principles with the new competitors. It is clear that many of the Bears have put time in the Freeman Center and consumed a lot of good food; the players have added muscle in the right places.
The season includes the same IAC and MAPHL game rotation with a single game between opponents and the possibility of more contests in the respective tournaments. Based on the Landon success last year, they have attracted the Ukrainian ‘95s for a game on 12/22. The Bears were invited to a number of prestigious New England hockey tournaments, but they all conflicted with Landon’s examinations. The team will play Wooton (a tough opponent last season and the Maryland state public school runner up [right?]), Salesianum (away game against a DE hockey power) ,Langley, Hun and Hill (away).
It will be difficult to match last year’s record, but it appears that this year’s Bears have a lot of potential. Come out to the Bears’ Den to see this able group play (schedule– http://www.landon.net/page.cfm?p=1436&teamID=51&display=Schedule ).
An early opportunity to see this year’s Bears play is the annual alumni game on November 26. PLEASE CONTACT Amory Barnes [Amory_Barnes@landon.net] and she’ll set you up. Goalies are at a premium and volunteers to run the clock/keep score are NEEDED!!!
What: Landon Alumni Hockey Game
When: Saturday, November 26, 2011
Where: Bear’s Den, Rockville
Time: Locker rooms open at 11:00 a.m.; on the ice by 11:30 a.m.; off the ice by 1:00 p.m
Bear Trax
Christian Webster played 12 minutes, had 7 points and 1 rebounds in Harvard’s win over MIT.
Danny Rubin played 14 minutes, scored 5 points, had 3 rebounds, 1 block and 1 turnover against New Hampshire.
According to the UVa website, Darion Adkins did not play versus SC State, though he is still listed on the roster.
Sam Anas had one goal on Saturday and two power plays on Sunday for the Youngstown Phantoms—
Max Lehrman, Amherst, holding the NESAC trophy (looks smaller than the Davis-Fagan Cup?)
Correction
Landon’s 1st TD against StA was scored by Philip Pena. One correspondent did not see the substitution on the previous play.
IAC NEWS???
IAC to meet to consider Georgetown Prep’s future in league
By Josh Barr, Monday, November 14, 6:48 PM
The heads of the Interstate Athletic Conference schools will meet Tuesday and consider kicking Georgetown Prep out of the league in all sports, according to several league sources.
The Little Hoyas’ football team previously was kicked out of the league in 2004.
“If we can’t have Prep in the league,” said a coach at one school, “it’s a joke.”
Coaches and administrators at many of the six league schools declined to comment publicly on the subject because of a directive that said only the head of the league was authorized to comment. Attempts to reach that person, Michael Marco, president at Georgetown Prep, were unsuccessful.
A vote would require two-thirds of the schools to be in favor of any proposal in order to pass, but many sources said that seems unlikely, with Bullis and Landon believed to be siding with Georgetown Prep, while St. Albans, Episcopal and St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes appear set to vote against Georgetown Prep.
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