Reading High School

Photo: Belmont’s assistant captain senior Evan Biette celebrates the first goal vs. Reading.

The Belmont High Boys’ Ice Hockey may have kept their fans on the edge of their seats until late in their home match with Reading Memorial High on Saturday, Jan. 16.

And with less than six minutes to go, two team captains sent the Belmont supporters leaping out of those same seats as the Marauders (4-4-2) roared back from two goals down to tie Rockets, 3-3, in an afternoon mantinee thriller at the Skip.

“For our guys, we’ve been waiting for a turning point where they realize they can win against the top teams in the league. And I have been waiting for them to respond like this and I’m hoping that we have tuned that corner,” said Belmont’s first year Head Coach Fred Allard.

Senior forward Dave Bailey’s shot from the right of the goal beat Reading’s junior goalie Devon Bruzzese on the power play with 3 minutes 51 seconds left in the game to secure the valuable one point to the one loss but five tie Rockets (3-1-5). The play started with a smart reaction on the blue line from junior defender Adam Cronin who found fellow defender, big Kevin Quick, who set Bailey up with the tough angle shot.

Bailey’s goal came 98 seconds after senior co-captain Cole Michael got the Marauders within a goal with a shot by Bruzzese’s glove from a great assist by sophomore linemate Steve Rizzuto.

Belmont was able to stay in the game in large part due to the smooth and steady goaltending of junior Cal Christofori who was helped by a few cross bars saves. While the Rockets were able to pepper Christofori in the first two periods, many of the shots were from distance due to the hard work from senior defenders co-captain Trey Butler and assistant captain Evan Biette to deny Reading’s forwards from collecting passes inside the slot.

It was Biette who put Belmont on top, 1-0, against the run of play with 2:48 left in the first period who, like Bailey, scored from a tight left side shot.

Reading’s top players which brought the Rockets back in the second period as junior Matt Thomson and junior speedster Kevin Tobin scored; Thomson pushing the puck past a prone Christofori who appeared to have made the save and Tobin showing some skating magic on the power play.

After Belmont went down by a pair early in the second, the Marauders appeared to be on the assent, just missing out on a second goal mid-way through the final 15 minutes from a quick whistle as the puck was bouncing around the goal mouth before rolling in.

Saying it “is a great group who now have to believe in themselves,” Allard said the team has one goal for the season; 20 points.

“We’re ten points from qualifying for the [MIAA post-season] tournament,” said Allard. “We have 20 points on the [drawing] board [in the locker room] and we are knocking the points off towards that goal which will be a return to the tournament in five years. It’s that simple. Keep knocking the points off until where at zero.”

Photo: 100 meters.

A pair of personal bests in the throws, two wins on the infield and a double in the sprints allowed Belmont High School Girls’ Spring Track to rocket by Reading High in the home opening meet on a warm and sunny Monday, April 13 at Harris Field.

With three events remaining, the Reading coaches came over to congratulate Belmont’s Head Coach Melissa Glotzbecker as the Marauders held a 72-45 point lead.

“This is a really great opportunity just to start off the season since we didn’t finish our first meet [due to a sudden snow storm],” said Glotzbecker.

“It’s a great measure to see how people are performing and how all their hard work is paying off. So we’re actually excited where people are at and for the rest of the season,” she said.

The top performance came from junior Katrina Rokosz who make significant personal records in both the javelin and shot.

“It was a pretty good day,” said Rokosz, who won the javelin by nearly 40 feet with a throw of 107.3 feet and finished first in the shot with a throw of 26 feet, 8 1/2 inches.

“I’ve been working a lot with javelin with a teammate and that has helped a lot because we trade tips which is great,” said Rokosz. In the shot, she’s got some sage advice from someone close to home.

“My dad use to throw the shot and his tips were great,” she said.

Rokosz was joined by Anoush Krafian and Julia Cella as duel winners on the day. Krafian – the best freshman high jumpers in the state and a national finalist – took home her speciality clearing 5 feet, 1 inch as well as coming in first in the long jump with a 16 foot, 10 inch effort.

On the track, sophomore Cella, coming off a second place in the 200 meter state Div. 2 outdoor championships last year, took the sprint double, winning the 100 meter in 12.8 seconds (with Krafian in second in 13.4) and the 200 in 26.9 seconds.

Other strong performances included a dominating run by Meggie MacAulay to win the 400 meters wire to wire in 1 minute, 3.9 seconds, Kayla Magno took the 400 meter hurdles in 1:09.7 and Rachel Berets finished top in the 100 meter hurdles in 16.9 seconds.