Hyde-Woodstock: 18

The Roxbury-Latin School: 48

                Roxbury-Latin has always had a strong wrestling program, especially since they begin coaching many of their kids in the 7^th grade through their lower school program.  Although we did not win this match, the Wolf Pack wrestlers showed really toughness and many forced their opponents into decisions rather than giving up pins. Cullum Thompson ’12, Ben Errera ’12 and Andreu Cullere ’12 held their own against tough opponents and did not give up the 6 points each of their opponents desired.  The 18 points scored for our side came from the pins of Marcos Mercado ’13 and Mike Kanda ’12, as well as the decisions of Kevin Smith 12’ in a 10-3 win and Graham Davidson ’13 in a 5-0 win.  A big moment for the team came with Post-grad Mike Kanda ’12 hitting a tough arm throw on his opponent and pinning him in 17 seconds!  This was a move learned the day before in practice and he was obviously excited to give it a try.  The coach of Roxbury-Latin remarked at the toughness of Hyde wrestlers and is excited to keep us in their regular rotation in the years to come.

Hyde-Woodstock: 48

Marianapolis Preparatory School: 34

                In our rematch against Marianapolis, the Wolf Pack won many of the same matches as before but there were a few surprises on the day.  For example, Ben Errera ’12 earned a pin against his opponent who had bested him in the prior match with a 5-3 decision.  Also, Alex Katz ’15 earned his first pin and win of the season against his opponent who had pinned him in the previous match.  Although not a victory,Cullum Thompson ’12 went the distance against his opponent who had pinned him earlier in the season, and forced him into a 12-2 decision.  This toughness is appreciated on the mat and by the team since it is the difference between giving up 6 points for a pin and 3 or 4 points for a decision.  Other highlights included pins by Graham Davidson ’13, Kenrick Vincent ’12, Marcos Mercado ’13, Kevin Smith 12’, Peter Markham ‘13 and Mike Kanda ’12.

All in all, the day was a success.  It was great to see wrestlers beat an old rival or hit a new move on the mat.  It was also great to see our 113lb. wrestler earn his first win of the season.  We have a lot of work to do in preparation of the coming weeks, especially with the NNEI, Class A and NE Tournaments on the next three weekends.  Wish the men luck and hopefully we will bring home some medals in the coming weeks.

Thanks,

Coach Jenkins

Hyde-Woodstock: 46
Chase Collegiate School: 18

We first faced off against the host school, Chase Collegiate School.  This was not one of our usual opponents during the season, and was newly added this year.  We came out strong against their squad, only losing two matches of the 14 weight classes.  The wrestlers who earned pins for this match up were Peter Markham ’13 and Graham Davidson ’13.  Ben Errera ’12 went into overtime against his opponent after a 9-9 tie after the third period.  Errera ’12 not only broke the tie, he stuck his opponent in the first 30 seconds of the overtime period.  In the tougher matches, Hyde wrestlers refused to quit and went the distance with their opponents.  Marcos Mercado ’13 won a 6-3 decision, Kevin Smith ’12 won a 14-4 decision, and Andreu Cullere ’12 won a very close 10-9 decision.  With so many great matches, it was the momentum our team needed to take on The Gunnery.

Hyde-Woodstock: 54

The Gunnery: 24

After our win against the host school, we turned our sights to The Gunnery.  This is another new match in our season schedule, and we knew little about the team.  We proved to be a much stronger team and only allowed them to earn two wins by pin and two win by forfeit.  Peter Markham ’13, Ben Errera ’12, Kenrick Vincent ’12, and Graham Davidson ’13 all earned pins against their opponents, while Cullum Thompson ’12 won a close 11-9 decision and Kevin Smith ’12 won a 9-2 decision.

After ending the day 2-0, we celebrated with some well-deserved McDonald’s and a ringing of the victory bell upon our return.  What made today different was the toughness of the wrestlers in each and every match.  It is apparent that the work in practice is paying dividends, and the cheering on the sidelines was inspiring to see.  These young men show true concern for one another both on and off the mat.  A special thanks goes out to the families that were able to make it to the match.  Your support is always a great addition to these competitions.

Thanks,

Coach Jenkins

Hannah Peters, Jenna Dubinsky and Katherine Hagood deserve a huge star for giving up their Sunday to make Violets birthday party a huge success. They decorated the room, played with all the guests and did a phenomenal job making our work that day fun and easy! Thanks from Lexi, Violet, Tina and Mr. Freebody.

I would like to nominate Yang Yi (Joy) for taking time out of her afternoon to sit down with Miss Atwood and LiYuan (Justine). She spent a long time helping LiYuan (Justine) express herself so that her Discovery Group leaders could better help her. We really appreciated the leadership and concern Yang Yi showed. For this she is a star of the week!!

I’d like to nominate Emily stern for being a very dedicated member of the varsity drama team! When others are goofing off, she is there to tell everyone to be quiet and listen.

I would like to nominate Steve Wang for his efforts in the Chinese Lunar New Year celebration. Hope that it goes well.

I would like to nominate Ethan Thoms for going above and beyond the call of duty by sitting in on Ms. Turner’s class to play the role of a senior proctor in a class which struggled.  He is giving up his free time to help out a faculty member, thus exemplifying the senior faculty partnership we strive to have at Hyde.

I think Sean-Michael McCrystal should be a star nominee because he is very mature during wresting practice and has worked very hard to get to a varsity level.

Marianapolis Preparatory School: 33

This Wednesday the 18^th, the Wolf Pack varsity wrestlers traveled down the road to their neighborhood rivals at Marianapolis Preparatory School.   Hyde has won against the Knights for the past three consecutive years, and we hoped that this year would be no different.  The work that we put into practice this past week was evident as several of the Knights fell to pins, but they showed toughness at the middle weights.  The Wolf Pack was also at a disadvantage of giving up forfeits at both the 195lb and 285lb weight classes.  Giving up 12pts with no contest means that we need to work harder to secure a win.  Highlights of the match included pins by Peter Markham ’13, Marcos Mercado ’13, Kevin Smith ’12, Kenrick Vincent ’12, and Zack Guidice ‘12. These five gentlemen tend to be our consistent winners every match so the even bigger highlights were the pins by Andreu Cullere ’12 and Mike Kanda ’12, as well as the 13-9 decision by Graham Davidson ’13.  Also of note was Ben Errera ‘12, who went the distance with his opponent and lost by 2pts in the last seconds of the match while he was turning his man.  It was a night of pride for Hyde School and we celebrated with the tradition of ringing the victory bell with the team chant of “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop,” echoing through the quad.  We look forward to participating in our first team tournament this upcoming Saturday at the Brunswick School.  Wish our wrestlers luck.

Thanks,

Coach Jenkins

Hyde-Woodstock: 33

Hyde- Bath: 43

Our first match was a long awaited rematch against our sister school.  The Phoenix did not have the home field advantage this time around, and we hoped to capitalize on this.  After some impressive wrestling by both teams, the Wolf Pack lost only due to thee forfeits that we gave up to Bath.  In a head-to-head match, Hyde-Woodstock would have taken the victory by winning 6 out of the 11 matches.  Some highlights included Paul Randall ’15 who beat his opponent by pin.  This was his first win of the season and he beat someone who had previously beaten him.  We had consecutive pins made by Marcos Mercado ’13, Peter Markham ’13, Cullum Thompson ’12, and Jae Kang Lee ’13. Also, Kevin Smith ’12 won a close 8-7 decision over his opponent at the 145lb weight class. Both Zack Guidice ’12 and Kenrick Vincent ’12 forced their opponents to a decision and showed some real mental toughness.  After the match was over, we felt an overwhelming sense of pride for the quality of wrestling we had in this match.  We will see our sister school again in the coming Northern New England Invitational Tournament.

Hyde-Woodstock: 42

Deerfield Academy: 27

Our second match on the day was against Deerfield Academy.  Unfortunately for Deerfield, they only had six wrestlers with them and therefore could not win regardless of the individual match outcome.  Deerfield made up for their lack of men with the quality of the wrestlers they had.  They effectively beat Hyde opponents in all five of the matches.  The highlight match was Marcos Mercado ’13 against Deerfield’s Luke Mario.  The back and forth battle waged on to the bitter end with these two and Marcos lost in the final seconds after scrambling for a shot and allowing his opponent to get behind him.  He showed real heart and accepted the loss as a learning experience.  Although this match did not show us at our best, it certainly gave us a needed dose of humility before going up against the very tough Phillips squad.

Hyde-Woodstock: 27

Phillips Andover: 48

Our final match was against Phillips Andover.  In the past, Phillips has beaten us in very lopsided matches.  This year, the Wolf Pack showed some real toughness and grit which changed this trend.  Paul Randall ’15 really got us on our feet with yet another pin on the day, and we look forward to seeing how he will do come tournament time.  Marcos Mercado ’13 earned his second pin of the day with a very nice take down to pin combo on his man.  Zack Guidice ’12 and Mike Kanda ’12 also earned pins against their opponents.  The big highlight of the day was the double-overtime victory by Kevin Smith ’12.  After ending the third period with a 5-5 tie, he went a minute for the first takedown.  When no one earned a takedown, each opponent got a chance on the bottom for a 30 second round.  After successfully keeping his man down, Smith hit a great reversal and kept the lead as the clock ran out.  This was one of the most exciting matches we have seen this season.

All in all, this was a great day for the Wolf Pack.  We wrestled the best matches we could and walked away proud.  Wish these men luck in their upcoming match on Wednesday against our neighborhood rival, Marianapolis Preparatory School.

Thanks,

Coach Jenkins

Choate Rosemary Hall: 66

The Wolf Pack varsity wrestlers traveled to Wallingford, CT this Wednesday the 11^th to face off against Choate.  Over the past few years this has been a fairly close match-up, but this year was slightly more lopsided.  Choate has built quite a program over the past few years and has not lost many of its stronger wrestlers, where as we are currently in a building season.  Therefore, with Hyde at a skill and ability deficit, we fell to the Choate opponents for most of the matches.  Kenrick Vincent ’12 was the only win on the day with a power pin against his opponent at the 152lb weight class.  Team captain, Marcos Mercado ’13, received a forfeit in the regular line-up, but then won a decisive victory in an exhibition against an opponent who was two weight classes above him.  Although we lost by a substantial margin, there were several other highlights to note.  First, only two wrestlers in our line-up did not make it beyond the first period.  This is a major improvement that was discussed as a challenge earlier this week.  Secondly, Mike Kanda ’12, Kevin Smith ’12, and Ben Errera ’12 all forced their opponents into a non-pinning victory.  I was especially impressed with Kanda since he has continued to grow since his victory at Pomfret.  These are the small victories that a coach needs to note even in a losing scenario.  We also want to thank Claude and Becky Errera, as well as Rose Markham for attending our match this week.  Parent support is always a blessing, and means a lot to the team seeing as we only had one home meet this season.  Wish the team good luck as we head into the weekend at Phillips Andover School against Deerfield Academy, Hyde Bath, and the host school.

Thanks,

Coach Jenkins

Hyde-Woodstock: 12

Loomis-Chaffee: 66

We opened up against Loomis-Chaffee, a team which has been in the top-five Class A teams for several years running.  Although their team did not look as strong as they usual do, they still proved to be much stronger then the Wolf Pack.  Our only two pins of the day were made by Marcos Mercado ’13 and Jae Kang Lee ’13.  Some outstanding matches of note were Kevin Smith ’12 and Zack Guidice ’12 who went all six minutes with their opponents.  Although these men lost, they showed grit and perseverance even in the face of a losing fight. We look forward to seeing this team again in the Class A’s since there were many matches that could have fallen our way if we started at our best.

Hyde-Woodstock: 39

Thayer Academy: 42

Our second match-up was against Thayer Academy, a school evenly matched with us.  In the past few years, this has always been close and we were excited to see how we would do this year.  We had a strong opening with Marcos Mercado ’13 taking the first pin of the day against his opponent at the 126lb weight class.  This was followed by Kevin Smith ’12 winning by technical fall (a lead of 15 points), earning us another five points.  A great win on the day was Andreu Cullere ’12 pinning his opponent at the 170lb weight class.  This was his first win of the season and he was extremely proud of how hard he worked to earn this pin in the third period.  Mike Kanda ’12 had a tough match which he almost won, but got turned in the last 30 seconds of the third period.  He is shaping up to be a good wrestler, and continues to grow.  Pete Markham ’13 wrestled at his best though, and earned our final points of the day with a major decision (18-5) over his opponent at the 120lb weight class.  When the dust settled, we trailed by three points.  This was a very close match to say the least, and the difference in one person’s match could have won it for us.  There was a lot to be proud of though, and we went into our final match-up with our head’s high.

Hyde-Woodstock: 12

Tabor Academy: 72

Our final match was against the very strong Tabor Academy.  Tabor is another team that is easily ranked in the top-five of the Class A’s, so we knew what we were in for as a team.  Several wrestlers on the Wolf Pack side went down by pin, many in the first period.  This is something that the team will need to work on improving in the coming weeks, and it is more indicative of an issue in mental toughness rather than a physical or skill deficiency.  We did have two wins on our side of the scoreboard.  Marcos Mercado ’13 won his third match of the day and Kevin Smith ’12 won his second.  Also, Joe Yanovitch ’13 showed some real toughness by making it into the second period for the first time this season, and Kenrick Vincent ’12 faced off against a very tough opponent who was All-American and stuck it out for two periods.  This was nice to see since wrestling is more than just about being pinned or pinning your opponent.  A good wrestler can fight to the bitter end even when grossly outmatched.

Going 0-3 on the day was certainly not a highlight, but a lesson in humility was surely of value to the team.  We know where we need to put time in at practice and what we need to improve.  Give these young men encouragement when you see them and wish them luck for our match against Choate-Rosemary Hall on Wednesday.

Thanks,

Coach Jenkins

Pomfret School: 27

This Wednesday, January 5^th, Hyde- Woodstock hosted its first and only home meet of the season.  We faced off against our neighborhood rival, Pomfret School.  The Griffin’s have traditionally had a very strong line-up and won this match-up for consecutive seasons.  This year, the Wolf Pack finally took the win home.  Although the win was not due to only our wrestling, seeing as Pomfret gave up 24pts in forfeits alone, Hyde had some amazing moments on the mats.  Marcos Mercado ’12 and Zack Guidice ’12 had some great pins and have added to their career wins for the season, but the match of the night was at the heavyweight class.  After taking a risk and bumping Mike Kanda ’12 up a class, he fought a back-and-forth match which continued into the third period.  Thirty seconds into the last period, Kanda caught his opponent with a power-half and pinned him.  This was his first pin of the season, and will hopefully give him the boost he needs to see himself as a wrestler.  We have a tough quad-meet this Saturday against Tabor, Thayer and Loomis.  Wish our boys luck!

Thanks,

Coach Jenkins

Hyde-Bath: 46

On Wednesday, December 14^th, Hyde-Woodstock varsity wrestlers traveled up north to their sister school in Bath, ME for the 1^stannual Winter Classic showdown.  Bath had moved the mats into the theater for this event and spotlights were trained on the mats.  The intensity in the room was palpable, and the home team had an advantage over the Wolf Pack in terms of school spirit and the three hour travel time our team had to endure.  This did not make it a lopsided battle though, and the Wolf Pack opened up with a commanding lead against the Phoenix.  We had back to back wins by Peter Markham ’13, Marcos Mercado ’13, Jae Kang Lee ’13, and Cullum Thompson ’12.  These wins brought us to a 29-6 lead.  After a tough loss in the 145lb class, Kenrick Vincent ’12answered back with another pin bringing the score to 35-12.  At this point, the Wolf Pack weakness (and Phoenix strength) at the higher weights worked against us.  We lost consecutive matches from 160 through the 285 weight classes.  Zach Guidice ’12 forced his opponent to a 2-10 major decision though and showed some grit.  After the final match, the score ended with a Phoenix victory.  They were a much better team this year, and Coaches Logan Kidwell and Jesse Sataloff have put in great work to improve their team.  Congratulations to Bath as this year’s winner, and a special thank you for hosting such a phenomenal match.  We were also invited for a Christmas Dinner afterwards, which all of the Wolf Pack enjoyed.  We will be sending two of our wrestlers to join the Bath team at the Doug Parker Invitational tournament this weekend.  Hopefully our conjoined team can place high in this very competitive tournament.  The Hyde-Woodstock varsity wrestlers will now depart for a few weeks for some well-deserved rest, but they will also need to do some work over the break to stay in shape and prepare for the season to come in the New Year.  Thanks to all of our supporters and we wish you all a happy holiday season.

Thanks,

Coach Jenkins

Hyde-Woodstock: 24

Suffield Academy: 51

We opened up against Suffield, a team that we faced a week prior and lost to with a final score of 18-61.  Of the 18 points we scored last time, 12 were from forfeits and only 6 were scored from an actual pin.  This time around we were better prepared, and used this match as a way to beat them at weights we previously lost.  Jae Kang Lee ’13, Peter Markham ’13 and Kenrick Vincent ’12 all earned pins against opponents who had beaten them prior, and Zach Guidice ’12 beat his opponent yet again bringing our score to 24 on the day.  Our team captain,Marcos Mercado ’13, faced Will Evangelakos ’12 and came out strong against him in the first and second periods.  His goal was to win after being defeated by him last week.  Although he was up for most of the match, his opponent scored a critical takedown in the last seconds of the match bringing the score to 15-14, beating Mercado by a point.  Although we lost to this team, we showed dramatic improvements from the last match.  To beat opponents who had beaten you a week prior says a lot about a wrestler.  Never count your opponent as beat, especially when they are a Hyde grappler.

Hyde-Woodstock: 18

Canterbury School: 54

Our next match was against Canterbury School.  Their team has shown some improvement from last year, and was much stronger than expected.  They matched up well against us, and made us work hard for the points we earned.  Cullum Thompson ’12 had a tough match against his opponent in the 138lb class and after going the distance with him, he trailed by two points.  Mike Kanda (PG) also fought a solid 6 minute match against his opponent at the 220llb weight class and lost in a 9 to 12 decision. This was a great opener for him and he will surely be a contributor in future matches.  Kevin Smith ’12 also went all 6 minutes with his opponent and won by decision with a final score of 6 to 5.  This was a “nail-biter” of a match, and showed Kevin’s grit and determination.  Graham Davidson ’13 followed suit with yet another 6 minute match and a decision victory with a score of 12 to 8.  Marcos Mercado ’13 was the only victory by pin for the day, earning us 6 points towards our 18.  The match against Canterbury showed us some of our weaknesses; conditioning and remaining control on top were the primary issues.  We will need to work extra hard this week to prepare to face-off against Bath in hopes of securing the President’s Cup once more at the Woodstock campus.  Wish us luck!

Thanks,

Coach Jenkins

Hyde-Woodstock: 18

Northfield Mount Hermon School: 66

Our first match of the day was against the nationally ranked NMH wrestlers.  They have been known to have one of the strongest team in both the league and New England, and last year placed 5^th as a team in National Preps.  Due to lack of experience and our missing numbers, the Wolf Pack was not able to put anything on the scoreboard against this team with the exception of Kenrick Vincent ’12, who earned a pin at the 152lb weight class.  This match showed us that we have a lot of work to do in terms of fighting off our backs and learning better technique.  One last highlight to note was Ben Errerra ’12, who was the only wrestler on our team to make it into the second period against a very tough opponent.  Ben has shown himself to be a tough wrestler this year and prides himself in his never quit approach to the sport.  With the tougher match out of the way, we turned our sights to Worcester Academy.

Hyde-Woodstock: 27

Worcester Academy: 36

Worcester Academy faced many of the issues Hyde had in the second match-up of the day.  They were also down several wrestlers for various reasons and the combined issues between our teams led to only six matches occurring with all the other eight as forfeits from one team or the other.  Marcos Mercado ’13 wrestled a very tough opponent (Mendenhall ’12) and came out strong in the first and second periods, but a careless mistake led to his pin in the last seconds of the second period.  Ben Errera ’12 displayed grit and determination in his match and earned his first pin of his varsity career.  He embodies the idea that hard work and never quitting pays dividends in the end.  A final highlight of the match was Kenrick Vincent ’12 going the full six minutes with his opponent and winning by a 7-1 decision.  He is usually a power pinner and this was a nice change of pace for him.  He learned the importance of conditioning at the end of this tough match.  Although we lost the match up with a score of 9-24 (not including forfeits), this was a good learning experience for all.

Wish us luck this Saturday when we have a rematch against Suffield Academy and take on Canterbury School.  We hope to bring a full line-up to help even out the point spread, as well as improving our previous match up against the very tough Suffield wrestlers.

Thanks,

Coach Jenkins

Hyde-Woodstock: 33

The Williston Northampton School: 47

Hyde’s first match was against the host school, WNH.  This match-up has been close over the past few years, and tends to be decided based on who has the least forfeits.  Unfortunately, some unforeseen circumstances led to the Wolf Pack having a four man deficit for the day.  This would make it an uphill battle for the nine eligible wrestlers.  We started strong withKenrick Vincent ’12 earning his first pin of the season in the first period, but this gave way to Hyde forfeiting the next three weight classes.  Zach Guidice ’12 made up for these points given away with another pin in a spectacular match in which he was down for the majority of the 1^st and 2^nd periods, and miraculously capitalized on his opponents mistake.  Our two new “little men,”Paul Randall ’15 and Alex Katz ’15, fought valiantly but were under prepared for their debut at the 106lb. and 113lb. weight classes.  Peter Markham ’13 earned the fastest pin on the day with an astounding eleven second victory.  Team captain, Marcos Mercado ’13, also earned a pin and this will hopefully be one of many for him this season.  Kevin Smith ’12 had a hard fought match that went all six minutes and he came out on top with a score of 9-6.  After analyzing the line-up without the forfeits, the score would have been Hyde 27, WNH 23.  Hopefully we will have a full roster next time so we can win such an even match up.

Hyde-Woodstock: 18

Suffield Academy: 61

The second match of the day was against the very tough Suffield Academy, a team that has solidly defeated us several years running.  This year was not much different, but it was a good challenge for the team in terms of keeping their morale up, staying in the fight, and hanging tough with no regard for the scoreboard.  Some highlights were Jae Kang Lee ’13 and Zach Guidice ’12 who both earned pins against their opponents, as well as Ben Errera ’12 who would not allow himself to be pinned by a very tough opponent.  Marcos Mercado ’13 had his first loss of the season, and this served as a wake-up call for him.  He has his sights set on his new rival, and will prepare for their rematch in a week.  Although we were soundly defeated, we remained enthusiastic on the sidelines and aggressive on the mats.

Hyde-Woodstock: 48

Hopkins School: 30

Our final match of the day was against the Hopkins School, a team we have beaten for several years consecutively.  This year was a victory for the Wolf Pack again, and was the spirit lifter the team needed for the bus ride home.  Hyde only took two legitimate loses on the scorecard, with the remainder of the points earned by Hopkins through forfeits.  Jae Kang Lee ’13 earned his second pin of the day and Kenrick Vincent ’12 earned the second fastest pin of the day, clocking in at a lightning fast 17 seconds.  Kevin Smith ’12 also had a speedy pin, coming in at third place at 23 seconds.  The main event of this match was a showdown between Marcos Mercado ’13 and Arya Reedy ’12 of Hopkins.  Reedy made it to the top-12 at National Preps last year, making him an important match to assess where Mercado stands this year.  Mercado put pressure on Reedy, winning by an impressive pin in the third period.

As a season opener, this was a quad-meet to be proud of, but also very telling of the work that needs to be put into practice for the weeks to come.  It was great seeing Mike Kanda ’12 (PG)step up in a sport unfamiliar to him as well.  He will be a contender this season after he learns some techniques.  Wish us luck this upcoming Wednesday against Nationally ranked Northfield Mount Hermon and Worcester.

Pomfret School: 46

This Wednesday, November 9^th, the Wolf Pack JV football team took a short drive down the road to face off against the neighboring Pomfret Griffins.  We had scrimmaged against Pomfret at the beginning of the season, and both teams had a chance to grow and learn the game over the past few months.  We opened up on defense, after kicking the ball off, and found that our new 4-4 defense worked very effectively against the run game.  After a successful pass, Pomfret put 8pts up on the board.  The Wolf Pack offense could not covert initially and they were forced to punt several times in the first half.  At the half, the score was 38-8 after a successful run by Sam “Ratfink” Finkenstaedt ’13 towards to end of the half.  Although the score was lopsided, we were extremely proud of the young men due to the issue they addressed as a team; TACKLING.  Several tackles were made that were beautifully executed.  Mike “Vincent Chase” Stamoulis ’14 had several hard tackles which shook up the offensive backs and Chris “Terminator” Travis ’13 had his first tackle of the season.  Steve “Michael Jackson” Wang ’12 chased down a man who escaped to the outside and took him out after running for 20yrds from behind, and the defense line pressured the offense effectively. Justin “Yiddish Yeti” Shulman ’14 also helped contain the outside with some nice tackles.

At the half, we were blessed with a gift from Ben “Iceman” Tatro’s grandmother (a.k.a. Grandma Iceman).  She supplied the team with apple and orange slices, which provided us with the much needed fuel to continue playing at excellence.  In many ways, Coach Radar and Coach Chachi still question what was in those oranges since the Wolf Pack opened up with a great return followed by Sam “Ratfink” Finkenstaedt ’13 running for a 57yrd TD without one shoe!  The great tackles continued with some strong hits made by Ben “Fez” Errera ’12, Mike “Vincent Chase” Stamoulis ’14, Doug “Rocksteady” Main ’15, Steve “Michael Jackson” Wang ’12, Ben “The Iceman” Tatro ’12, and Joe “Tony Soprano” Filingeri ’15. Also of note were two fumble recoveries made during the game, one by Chris “Kool-Aid” Hewitt ’13. Parker “Billy Ray Cyrus” Vaughan ’12 helped lead his team with several runs to earn first downs and even a great 15yrd completion to Peter “Preacher” Przybycien ’14. This was his first catch of the season.

With this many highlights, it was important to remind the guys that the scoreboard was not as important as the effort they played with.  In many ways, this was the best game they played all season.  The Pomfret coaches both agreed that Hyde, “played with class and showed tremendous sportsmanship,” as seen in their support of all players.  They helped Pomfret guys up and cheered for our team, not against the opponents.  This was great to hear, and it was inspiring to see them leave it all on the field. At the end of the game, Coach Chachi remarked that, “this was the best season of JV football I have ever coached and it was due to the great attitudes and tremendous effort put in by the group of hard working young men.  They provided lots of laughs, and an opportunity to coach a team that really wanted to learn the game.”  So although we ended the season with a record devoid of wins, in many ways it was a winning season.  We learned to work hard, have fun, and to be a team player.  We will see you all next season on the grid iron.

Thanks,

Coach Wes “Chachi” Jenkins & Coach Ian Matthew “Radar” Harrington

I have seen Jerry Su grow into a more mature role this year.  He has not hesitated once this year when asked to help and has been open to learning about how he can be a more positive leader among his peer group.  For example, he helped Joy give a tour at the last minute this week and is helping Mrs. Warnick in the International Center at a critical time of the year.  Because he has been more open his sense of humor and true character shows without question.  Also of note is the state of his room.  He has even been rumored to have fresh fruit or flowers in his room from time to time.  This is a great example of taking pride in his personal space.

Wenying Wang deserves a long overdue star for his learning attitude in chemistry. He is among my most inquisitive students. A correct answer is not enough for Wen; he asks probing and insightful questions until he has fully understood the mechanics of a concept at hand. He often pushes the extent of my own knowledge and encourages me to look at a topic in a new way.

Andreu Cullere is also a star in chemistry. We’ve been tackling a challenging unit in quantum mechanics, and Andreu has never backed down from this seriously counterintuitive material. He took time outside of class to get ahead on the unit, which has enabled him to process lessons at a deeper level. His can-do attitude is a great model for the class.

I would like to nominate all the kids who helped out with the Haunted House this past Halloween.  This group of 10 or so individuals stepped up to provide the campus with some entertainment and scares on Sunday night.  They were committed to bettering the culture on campus and their acting was phenomenal.  Plenty of people came through the theater and many left with smiles or still screaming.  Thank you all for your dedication to making the Hyde community more fun and exciting, and for that you all deserve a star!  This included Julian Goldenberg ’13, Alex Trager ’12, Thomas Nixon ’14, Jane McCaffery ’13, Marcos Mercado ’13, Zach McAnally ’12, Kelly Umutoni ’12, Molly Giordano ’13, Cullum Thompson ’12, Luke Prendergast ’15, Nick Davis ’13, Johanna Mathers ’13, Dylan Marx ’14, Ethan Thoms ’12, Aaron Miller ’12, Adam Nittler ’14, Tom Rushin ’12, Chris Travis ’13 and Justin Shulman ’14.

I want to nominate Ms. Nix.  As athletic trainer, she does so much for so many people, and never gets credit.   This is one of the toughest jobs on campus at times, and she always puts her best effort into making sure everyone is healthy and ready for sports. She is an amazing person as well, and be nominated for star of the year.

The first floor of Westhaver would like to nominate Ms. Fuller. Being the only women faculty member in Westhaver is not only a daunting task, but also one that takes a lot of courage and integrity for a first year teacher. Ms. Fuller is an avid contributor to our wing, she is constantly roaming around looking to help and keep things in order.  In addition, on long nights she goes out of her own way to bake us mouth-watering cookies.  Thanks Ms. Fuller, your positive attitude is truly contagious. We are blessed to have such an awesome “wing mom.”

This Wednesday the 2^nd of November, the Hyde JV Football team had its first game on the home turf this season.  This allowed for travel fatigue and other issues of going to an away game to not be an issue we had to worry about, and so the young men looked and sounded more prepared than ever.  We faced off for the second time against Portsmouth Abbey, a team we were beating 12-0 at the half the last time we played them.  Unfortunately, they had improved greatly from the last time we had seen them, and this led to a very lopsided game.  Two touchdowns scored by PAS were from kickoffs and punts that we failed to make the tackles for, and they also pulled off a field goal attempt; very impressive for a JV team.

Although the game did not fall in our favor, there were some impressive highlights from the Wolf Pack.  Chris “Kool-Aid” Hewitt ’14 had three tackles and made a powerful block in which he lived up to his nickname by busting down the walls and saying “Oh Yeah!”  He put a safety flat on his back with a nice pop down field.  Andrew “Flava Flav” Wang ’15 impressed his team by making two big tackles, one being deep in the opponent’s backfield.  Sam “Ratfink” Finkenstaedt ’13 played at his best on both sides of the ball with two big tackles, several runs for over 50yrds, and an overall commitment to moving the chains.   Parker “Billy Ray Cyrus” Vaughan ’12 kept the team morale up, especially with his beautiful diving touchdown and well thrown passes that showed off his QB abilities.  Rodney “Soft Serve” Felder ’14 also had two great tackles on the day.

All in all, the day was not a loss.  We do know that we have some serious work to do on our tackling ability, seeing as so many tackles were broken by PAS.  We also know that we need to work on converting plays.  We will put in the work this week as we prepare for our final game on Wednesday against Pomfret, our neighborhood rival.  Wish us luck!

Thanks!

Coach Radar & Coach Chachi