Title Times Two: Girls’, Boys’ Hoops Take Middlesex Liberty Crowns

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Defense has been the key to the Belmont High Girls’ league championship.

Everything was in place: a packed Wenner Field House, a celebration naming the high school’s main court after legendary boys’ head coach Paul Lyons and the opportunity Friday night for both of Belmont High School basketball teams to clinch league titles.

Girls’ Unbeaten Run Continues As Marauders Secure Crown

On Friday night, the Belmont High Girls’ Basketball team played like a number one team.

In its first game since being selected the top squad in the Boston Globe Top 20 girls’ basketball poll, the 16-0 Marauders showed its dominance against its toughest league opponent, Reading Memorial, beating the Rockets, 51-39, to win the Middlesex League Liberty Division title.

“It feels amazing,” said senior center Ella Gagnon on achieve the championship at home.

“[It’s] great [to win the title] especially on this special night for Paul Lyons,” said Belmont Head Coach Melissa Hart after the victory. “It feels good instead of having our back against the wall. We didn’t want to be in a position where we’re crawling at the end of the season trying to keep up with what we’ve done.

But Hart doesn’t want her to team to ease up between the victory and the start of the MIAA tournament in two weeks.

“We still have two tough leagues left [against Arlington and Woburn] and we want to learn a lot a try to be better over the next week as we have Cathedral next week,” Hart said.

The clash with defending Div. 4 state champions Cathedral High School of Boston in the Comcast Dvinci Energy Basketball Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 16 in Woburn is starting to look like a match between the top two ranked teams in the Globe’s poll. 

On Friday’s tussle, Belmont came out firing from downtown as its league MVP candidate Megan Tan (14 points), frosh phenom Nina Minicozzi (8 points) and sophomore Maiya Bergdorf hit from beyond the three-point arc to give the Marauders a 9-6 lead. Senior center Jess Giorgio (8 points) put back the second of two offense rebounds followed by Bergdorf’s second 3 and a steal leading to a spinning layup by Giorgio saw Belmont end the opening quarter up 19-8.

“They definitely generate a lot of offense,” said Hart. “For [Tan], a lot of it comes from her defense.”

While the offense was hitting on all cylinders, it was the Marauders pressing defense is the fuel that runs the show. Despite averaging 57 points a game, Reading could not find its comfort zone with Belmont’s stifling 2-3 half court zone that had height in the middle – six players at 5’10” or taller topped off with Giorgio at 6’2″ – and a dogged crew of guards with fast hands looking for the steal or interception. For all of the Rockets power, Reading was held to miser-like six points in the second quarter as Belmont’s lead grew to 25-14.

While attempting just one shot in the game, Gagnon was a force under the basket, hauling in approximately 17 rebounds, each grabbed in heavy traffic. During a series under the Rockets’ hoop in the second quarter, Gagnon snagged four consecutive offensive rebounds in a matter of seconds.

“I just have fun with it. Defense is my thing. I just think like ‘I’m going to get this, this is mine and I go right for it’,” said Gagnon who will be playing soccer at Middlebury College next year.

“Amazing effort. Amazing, amazing. She was like a one-girl show,” said Hart of her first-off-the-bench forward.

“We do emphaize the importance of offensive rebounds because you get more chances, it’s as simple as that,” said Hart.

In the third quarter Belmont got four points each from Tan, Giorgio, Minicozzi and Bergdorf, leading to a final quarter which Bergdorf, who ended the night with 18 points, burying two open 3s. 

“I just thought to myself, I don’t have to prove myself, I just have to play my game,” said Bergdorf, who was high scorer against Reading in both games. 

“It’s a team game so I’m not going to be selfish, but, of course, if I have a shot, I’m going to take it.”

Marauders’ gets pushed late but sprints to the league title

With less than two minutes to play in the first half, already up 35-21, Belmont Boys’ Basketball put on a run over 15 seconds that all but put its game against Reading on ice, Friday on the newly named Coach Lyons Court at Belmont High. 

With the Rockets seeking to cut the advantage to under 10 before the half, senior center Danny Seraderian (16 points) came cruising to the basket and hit a cutting layup to bump the score up to 37-21. Racing down court, Seraderian outjumped two Reading forwards to drag down the rebound and swing it to sophomore Preston Jackson-Stephens (with a string of stellar games off the bench, with 11) on the go. Just to the left of the key, Jackson-Stephens feinted to the left, than powered to the basket leaving his defender hoping he didn’t break his ankles as the forward cruised in for the two. Time out Reading. 

Give credit to Reading for putting up, behind a barrage of 3s, a spirited third and fourth quarters cutting a 20-plus lead to only 10, 61-51, with 4:30 remaining in the game. 

But the comeback faded on Belmont’s next three possessions as Belmont’s other Danny, a Boston Globe All-Scholastic Division 1 player of the year candidate Danny Yardemian (30 points to lead all scorers) took control, hitting one of two from the line, scoring two with his reliable drive to the hoop before Seraderian stole the ball and drove all the way for a layup to lead Belmont on a 10-2 run to seal the 71-53 win.

The win saw the Marauders’ record now at 17-1, and ranked 8th in the Boston Globe’s Top 20 poll.

Norton Not Seeking Return To School Committee … This Election

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Jill Norton, Belmont School Committee

Five took out nomination papers for three seats on the Belmont School Committee but four will be the maximum number of candidates  on the April   ballot.

Appointed member Jill Norton will not seek a return to the board

“I’m sorry to say that I won’t be coming back this time,” Norton told the Belmontonian at the end of Tuesday. Feb. 5 school committee meeting. She said the dual challenges of having her youngest child about to enter the Belmont schools and a chance to volunteer at her church placed too much on her plate to continue as a full-time committee member.

“I just felt I wouldn’t have the time to meet the responsibilities” needed for the role, said Norton.

Norton was appointed in May 2018 by a joint meeting of the Selectmen and the School Committee after co-finalist Michael Crowley stepped aside after the group tied 4-4 after the first round of voting.

Coincidentally, Crowley is expected to submit his nomination papers to serve on the committee before the Feb. 12 deadline.

Incumbent Andrea Prestwich and newcomer Peter Pantazopoulos have passed in their papers while Amy Checkoway, a senior associate at Abt Associates (where she is a co-worker of Norton) and an active member of the Wellington Student Care Program, has still not submitted her papers to the Town Clerk’s office.

And  don’t write off Norton’s name from the list of future candidates seeking a seat on the committee. She said her youngest will be in the first group of fourth graders to enter the newly configured 4th-6th grade Chenery facility.

“I will have a big reason to be involve,” said Norton.

Who’s Number 1? Belmont! Girls’ Hoops Top Globe’s Top 20 Poll

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Belmont’s Maiya Bergdorf  (41) in action against Winchester. (David Flanagan photo)

Belmont High School Girls’ Basketball Head Coach Melissa Hart hadn’t heard the news until late Wednesday, Feb. 6.

“Oh really? I did not see that,” she wrote after being informed that her team was on top of the Boston Globe Top 20 Girls Basketball poll, ranked number 1 after the two teams that had been above them for weeks on end, Bridgewater Raynham and Cathedral, lost for the first time in the previous week.

Not that being number 1 is that unusual for an undefeated team, 15-0, whose tightest margin of victory was a 10 point victory over a tough Reading squad.

(Coincidentally, Belmont’s first opponents as number 1 is against Reading which comes into Wenner Field House on Friday, Feb. 8 with a 12-3 record and only two games behind the Marauders in the race for the Middlesex Liberty title.) 

But for Hart, the rankings are fairly subjective and should be taken with a grain of salt. 

“My reaction is you are as good as your last game,” she said, noting that the Globe pollsters probably “didn’t realize we were down by 1 [point] at halftime vs. Burlington.” (Her team did come back to win by 21, 55-34). 

It’s been an impressive season for the Marauders, a team which Hart can put 12 players out on the floor without any drop in skills or intensity. And it’s on the defensive side which anchors the Marauders’ game as its half-court pressure has strangled most rivals attack, limiting challengers to a meager 33 points per game. Hart has the luxury to put out a crew of tall, physical players – led by seniors Jess Giorgio, Ella Gagnon and Jane Mahon – that controls the boards.

Offensively, it’s been four-year varsity guard Megan Tan leading a collection of underclass athletes with tall sophomore Maiya Bergdorf who connects from long-range or driving to the basket and a pair of freshmen guards, Nina Minicozzi and Bridgette Martin, who lead the attack. 

Off the bench are sophomores Kiki Chirstofori, Emma McDevitt, Abigail Morin along with senior Alexandra Keefe, Breah Healey and junior Katie Reynolds. 

As of Thursday, Hart’s attention was on the coming clash with Reading who is led by its league MVP candidate senior Haley Lightbody who was not up to her usual dominating play when Belmont won 54-44 in January.

“This is a big game for both teams, but definitely a bit do or die for them” to catch Belmont in the race for the league championship, said Hart.

Belmont’s First ‘Fix It Clinic’ Help Residents With Phone, Electronics Repairs

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Repairs being made at a recent Fix-It Clinic event at Jamaica Plain. (Courtesy Paul Roberts)

By Paul F. Roberts

On Saturday, Feb. 9, Belmont will join a growing list of towns in Massachusetts and around the country hosting repair clinics to help residents and other community members extend the use of electronics, home appliances and even furniture and clothing.

Belmont’s first Fix-It Clinic will run from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Belmont Public Library on Concord Avenue. Repair coaches will be available to share their time, tools and expertise to help residents diagnose, troubleshoot and repair all manner of non-functioning items.

“Sustainable Belmont is pleased to collaborate with Belmont Public Library to bring the first in a series of Fix-It Clinics to Belmont,” said Terese Hammerle, the chair of Sustainable Belmont. “Not only do you save money, but we keep stuff from becoming trash.  Waste not; want not. It’s still true!”

The Fix-it Clinic is a family event, Hammerle said. “Curious people of all ages are welcome.”

Repair coaches will bring their tools and know-how to help residents
 repair smart phones, home electronics and appliances - even clothing

Residents can bring small appliances to be repaired, clothing and textiles to be altered or mended, small furniture, wooden items, and anything else in need of fixing, said Hammerle. Walk-ins are welcome, but residents are strongly encouraged to register their item beforehand so that repair coaches know what to expect. An online form is available for registering repair items at https://goo.gl/K3Vkmc

“If you can carry it into the library, our expert fixers will coach you in assessment and repair of your item,” Hammerle said.

Director Peter Struzziero said the library “is proud to partner with Sustainable Belmont to offer this program for patrons of all ages. This is a great opportunity to partner with citizens and offer this service. We hope it’s just the beginning of other tech programming still being developed!”

Fix-it clinics are part of a grassroots repair movement that is gaining traction in both the US and Europe. With electronic waste the fastest growing waste stream globally, advocates say repair clinics are a way to extend the life of electronics.

“We need to take on our throwaway culture, and turn it on its head – and the first step is empower repair,” said Arlington resident Nathan Proctor, director of U.S. PIRG’s Right to Repair efforts. “Community repair helps us build a culture of repair that challenges the idea that everything is disposable and they make it fun.

Residents who have questions about the Fix-it clinic can email: fix-it@sustainablebelmont.net.

Paul Roberts is a Town Meeting Member from Precinct 8.

Honoring Coach Lyons, From A Player And Coach Who Knows Him Best

By Leave a Comment

Photo: A collage of memories with Coach Paul Lyons.

by Adam Pritchard
Varsity Boys Basketball Coach
Belmont High School

In 1978, I first started my career in Belmont Basketball when as a third grader I was signed up for the Belmont Youth Basketball Association.  It was in its second year of existence and I fell in love with the sport. In those years following, my mom was running a needlepoint store in Belmont Center. Saturdays I would get dropped on at the high school with a bag lunch and told: “I’ll pick you up around 5:30.” Maybe it was free babysitting for her, but for me, it was the place I looked forward to hanging out at all week.

That summer, after playing organized basketball for the first time, my mom signed me up for a summer camp at Belmont High school run by the Varsity Coach Paul Lyons. It was then that I met one of the most influential people I would ever meet. I can’t say I remember much, memories are fleeting and have their own life, but I do remember coach saying my name and having me demonstrate a shooting form drill with some of the older high school players. I remember being told to “reach up into the cookie jar” and “keep your eyes on the rim.” Its hard to put to words the feelings that go into a moment like that, but I know it made me proud and wanting to work towards improving. I wanted to be part of Belmont Basketball. I wanted to hear Lyons call my name out on that court again.

DONATIONS APPRECIATED
Anyone interested in supporting this event and 
the Coach Paul Lyons Scholarship fund can follow the link below.Thanks!
Coach Lyons Court/Scholarship Fund

Following that camp, I committed to basketball. It was a love and the thing I wanted to do more than anything else.  It was my passion and that court was my home.  The court is where I tried out for Varsity.  Its where Coach Lyons met with me to tell me I was cut as a sophomore (a very difficult day).  It’s also where I was named a Varsity player as a junior (a great day),  named me captain as a senior when the other captain (my best friend) got injured.  Its where Coach told me why I wasn’t starting and later told me that I would start.  Its where I learned countless phrases like “success is a journey, not a destination” and “we over me,” “there is no ‘I’ in team” and “be a helper.” It’s where Belmont High School players for 25 years, in practice, would make a steal, an assist, a score, a rebound, or anything positive and here coach boom out… “NICE PLAY!”

Lyons introduced me as freshman coach in 1991, providing me a start in coaching and tutelage to work for one of the finest basketball minds I have ever met. His knowledge of the game was (and is) unparalleled and his teachings of sportsmanship and playing with integrity have been an example for countless players who had the opportunity to play on his teams.  As an assistant, I witnessed the care, precision, preparation, and fairness through which he helped develop players.  He was a master coach.

The Main Court is where I have had the privilege of coaching the Belmont High Boys Varsity for the past 19 years. As varsity coach, I have seen the lasting impact of Paul’s coaching on alumni, current players, and those kids who have been lucky enough to have him as a youth coach in recent years. Every year, I open the season with a call or calls to Lyons – his wife will verify if you need it.  Those calls continue throughout the season because the one thing I know is that I have the greatest resource a coach could ever have and I have so, so much more to learn still. More importantly, the blessings of his mentoring have only been exceeded but his generosity and friendship.

Simply put, I’m a very fortunate coach.

Proudly, with great thanks to the Belmont School Committee, and the support of our Marauder Basketball Association, The Belmont Youth Basketball Association, the Belmont Boosters, the Belmont High School Athletic Department staff, and thousands of basketball players, girls and boys alike who have played BYBA and for Belmont High School, I am honored to be able to coach the inaugural game on Friday, February 8, at 7:30 p.m. vs. Reading Memorial High School, on “COACH LYONS COURT”.

It will be one one of my most cherished moments as a Belmont coach and I hope you are there to share it with me.

With HQ Under Renovation, Belmont Police Is Seeking A Temporary Home

By Leave a Comment

Photo: The current Belmont Police Headquarters

Got an extra room you can spare? How about a spacious backyard that’s available to rent?

Than call the Belmont Police because the force will need a place to crash beginning this summer as its nearly 90-year-old headquarters undergoes a comprehensive renovation.

That’s the latest from the police brass and the building committee overseeing the expansion and modernization of both the police headquarters on Concord Avenue and the Department of Public Works facilities off C Street as they came before the Belmont Board of Selectmen for an update on the projects on Monday, Feb. 4.

And while the groups have been in talks with several groups in town to find an acceptable interim site, Anne Marie Mahoney, chair of the DPW/BPD Building Committee, said “we are not ready to articulate our list” of possible stopgap locations, although later in the presentation, Town Hall was mentioned as a “possible” replacement site.

According to Mahoney, bids for both projects will go out in March with construction beginning in June. She also noted while estimates call for a 10 month construction schedule, “if you ever [renovated] a kitchen … you know what takes 10 months can quickly become a year to 15 months.”

Mahoney told the board the original plan to keep the 55 member department – of which 48 are sworn officers – in the structure at the corner of Concord and Pleasant Street was deemed “not a good idea” by all parties due to safety concerns of police personnel working in a construction area and the acknowledgement that renovating an empty building would allow a quicker and more extensive restoration.

The question now facing the police and town is where the force will be relocated. Police Chief Richard McLaughlin said operational and organizational analysis performed by assistant Chief James MacIsaac placed safety, parking, accessibility and public access high on the list of requirements for a temporary site, all the while doing so with the minimum of disruption while not taking up space.

One unit already knows where its going and it’s not far. Communications, which includes the 9-1-1 operations, will be housed in a trailer in the front of headquarters since all its equipment will remain in the building. 

McLaughlin told the board the biggest potential headache is how to deal with 25 “marked” police vehicles that will need to be parked close to the temporary headquarters.

“Where do they go?” he said. There are also issues with security for officers and civilian employees, those arrested, processed and detained (“our visitors”) and storage of evidence and paperwork.

“Every issue around town revolves around parking,” quipped Mahoney.

The committee and police will be back before the board in two weeks with more definitive plans.

The Bradford Update: Starbucks Back In Cushing Sq. In May, First Units For Sale This Year

By 2 Comments

Photo: The plans for the Bradford currently under construction.

Expect the return of $4 cappuccinos as the Starbucks returns to Cushing Square this spring, according to a press release dated Feb. 1 from Otto Weiss, project manager of The Bradford for Toll Brothers Apartment Living.

Weiss’ update on the construction of the largest commercial/housing development in Belmont focused on the progress made on the three structures being built in the heart of Cushing Square. 

Winslow (built on the former municipal parking lot on Trapelo and Williston roads)

Work on the interior and exterior finishes of the Winslow is underway in anticipation of the building being completed in May. The contractor has started work on the Starbucks space and expect to have the coffee shop open in May as well. Sidewalks and outdoor areas around the Winslow will be completed as will the vehicle access between the Pomona and Winslow. 

Hyland (located at Belmont and Common streets)

At the Hyland, the framing of the residential floors has begun and construction will soon start on the roofing and exterior work with the anticipate that the Hyland will be complete later in 2019. 

Pomona (at Common Street and Trapelo Road)

Work continues on the structural steel and wood framing of the Pomona which will have 35,000 sq.-ft. of commercial space. The contractor is concurrently working on the area between the Pomona and Hyland and anticipate finishing the segment in the coming months. The Pomona will be the last of the building to be completed and will be finished in early 2020. 

For residents that have inquiries on leasing information, Weiss said Toll Brothers is not quite ready to start the process “but we will send out information when the time comes.”

 

 

Obituary: Joseph Scali, Lifelong Resident And Veteran

By 1 Comment

Photo: Joe Scali from a video created by the Belmont Media Center.

On any election day for the past decade, you would find Joe Scali at the Beech Street Center enjoying the day with his wife, Maryann, as both were officiating at the polls. Whether it was early in the morning or just before the close, Scali would be there to keep company with voters and friends, always with a remembrance of his life living in Belmont and with Maryann.

It will be that less enjoyable entering the polling station in the future.

Joseph A. Scali, a lifelong resident who was involved in town government and youth sports, died on Thursday. He was 85. The cause was not given.

Born in Belmont on July 16, 1933, Scali graduated from Belmont High School in 1950 then enlisted in the US Air Force in 1951, serving in the Korean War. You can watch Scali describe is service to the country on video from the Belmont Media Center.

After returning from his tour of duty in 1955, Scali began his career working in the missile systems division of Raytheon, employed at the defense contractor for 38 years. Shortly after graduating from Boston College in 1960, Scali married Belmont resident Maryann Cogliani. The Scalis raised their three children on Prospect Street since 1965.

Scali was a Town Meeting Member from Precinct 2 since 1996. He demonstrated his interest in supporting vocational education for Belmont students with his involvement with the Minuteman Regional Vocational High School as Belmont’s appointed member to the Minuteman School Committee from 2007 to 2010 and being on the Minuteman Study Committee from 2009 to 2013. 

Scali coached youth basketball, hockey and baseball and was a founder in the mid-1970s of Boston Area Youth Soccer. He was also the treasurer of the Belmont Hall of Fame.

He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Maryann (Cogliani), his children Maryann (and Bruce McCauley) of Westboro, Joseph (and Lisa) of Burlington and Richard (and Tammy) of Sandown, NH; nine grandchildren, Anthony, Kristyn (and husband Peter), Nicholas, David, Mark, Joseph, Sydney, Rebecca, Katie and great-granddaughter Adriana.

Visiting Hours will be held at St. Camillus Church, 1185 Concord Turnpike (Rt .2), Arlington on Thursday, Feb. 7 from 5 p.m. to  8 p.m. Relatives and friends are invited to attend. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, Feb. 8 at St. Camillus Church at 11 a.m. Burial will follow at Highland Meadow Cemetery on Concord Avenue in Belmont.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Community Benefits Program, Emerson Health Care Foundation, 133 O.R.N.A.C, Concord, MA 01742 or Friends of COA, 266 Beech St., Belmont, MA 02478.

New Rules For Wintertime Trash/Recycling Pickup

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Not the way to leave your trash. (Boston.gov)

As wintertime ice and snow begins to pile up on sidewalks and roadways, the Highway Division of the Belmont Department of Public Works want to inform homeowners and businesses of some simple rules that will allow for efficient removal of trash and recycling over the next few months.

  • During the winter if there is snow and/or large snowbanks please park on one side of the road. This will allow the trash and recycling trucks to maneuver streets quickly and not become blocked. The DPW has called the Belmont Police to certain addresses to assist with on street parking.
  • Do not placed carts on snowbanks.
  • Carts must have lids closed and placed in front of snowbanks.
  • The trucks can’t reach the cart if it is on or behind the snowbank. The carts can be placed on the street in front of snowbanks after plowing has ended. This means carts should be set out the morning of pick-up before 7 a.m.
  • Do not leave carts out overnight during a snow storm.

Got questions? Call the DPW at 617-993-2680.