Sparked by junior Brendan Barth, the Chelmsford High boys basketball team roared to an easy 69-39 non-league win over Diman Regional Vocational Technical on Friday night.
Barth compiled 15 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks. Junior Bryce Baker contributed 14 points, two rebounds and five assists, while junior Shane Kangethe claimed 11 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three blocks for Chelmsford (4-2).
Pelham 66, Sanborn 41: Brady Hegan scored 10 of his game-high 22 points in the third quarter to extend Pelham’s lead to 51-31 and the Pythons cruised to the NHIAA Div. 2 win over the visiting Indians.
Pelham (2-2) took an early 15-5 lead and held a 28-18 lead at the half. Brady O’Connor added 19 points and Luke Estell tossed in 13 for the Pythons.
Lynn Tech 82, GLT 49: Greater Lowell Tech wasn’t able to keep pace with the perennial state power.
The Gryphons (1-5) received strong efforts from freshman Jacen Padial, freshman Max Kelly, sophomore Tommy Mckieran and sophomore Innocent Muhumure.
NM 47, Auburn 40: North Middlesex played airtight defense in capturing the Mid-Wach victory in Townsend. The Patriots snapped a two-game losing streak.
Littleton forward Luke Duhamel (5) looks for a passing lane under pressure from Oakmont guard Jackson Pompei during Friday’s boys basketball game in Littleton. Oakmont was a 66-41 winner. (James Thomas for the Lowell Sun)
Girls basketball
Fenwick 45, Tewksbury 34: The Redmen gave undefeated Bishop Fenwick (5-0) a scare before falling during a non-league clash.
Tewksbury only trailed by two (22-20) at halftime before Fenwick pulled away with a 17-5 third quarter. Tewksbury received 11 points and four rebounds from junior Nicole Barron and eight points and four steals from sophomore Reagan Maniscalco. The Redmen played strong defense for most of the game.
Editor’s note
High school varsity coaches are asked to submit game results to sports@lowellsun.com.
Littleton guard Ethan Mugisa (2) goes up and over Oakmont guard Silas Roy as Oakmont’s Donovan O’Shaughnessy (4) looks on during Oakmont’s 66-41 boys basketball win. (James Thomas for the Lowell Sun)Littleton guard Clay Blaine (3) drives the lane past Oakmont guard Jackson Pompei during Friday’s boys basketball game in Littleton. The host Tigers fell, 66-41. (James Thomas for the Lowell Sun)
The Tigers only scored once. But it was enough to keep the unbeaten Tyngsboro High boys soccer team on a roll Saturday afternoon. Tyngsboro blanked Tahanto, 1-0, during a Mid-Wach battle. Jake Haubner pocketed the goal for the Tigers (5-0-2), while Trevor Nogles made three saves to record the shutout. Andrew Fahey shined on on defense […]
Bo MacCormack III didn’t put up eye-popping numbers in his college debut Saturday.
But the Westford resident did what he always seems to do when he’s on a football field – he reached the end zone. A 5-11, 198-pound true freshman, the running back scored for Boston College on a two-yard rush with 9:11 left.
The score gave BC a 58-3 lead and the Eagles went on to crush Fordham, 66-10, in season-opening action under sunny skies at Alumni Stadium.
MacCormack committed to play at Syracuse University before changing his mind and opting to play for head coach Bill O’Brien at BC. At Buckingham, Browne & Nichols, MacCormack became the all-time leading rusher in Massachusetts high school history.
He galloped for 6,699 yards and finished with 100 rushing TD’s.
In his college debut, he gained nine yards on three carries and returned two kickoffs for 37 yards.
College soccer
Giansiracusa shines: Freshman Maggie MacDonald netted two goals in her collegiate debut and sophomore Christa Giansiracusa (Tewksbury) recorded her first career shutout as Plymouth State University topped Thomas College, 3-0, in non-conference women’s action at Smith Field in Waterville, Maine.
Giansiracusa finished with two saves.
UML ties: Freshman Alvaro Medrano (Guatemala City, Guatemala) made his second career shutout in as many matches, as the UMass Lowell men battled the University of the Incarnate Word Cardinals to a 0-0 draw in San Antonio, Texas.
Medrano, who made two saves in 90 minutes, has now kept a clean sheet in each of his two collegiate starts. Offensively, 10 River Hawks (2-1-1) logged a shot, with eight of those shots coming on target. On defense, sophomore Aamir Ketbache (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) played the entire game, while sophomore Henry Wohlt (Milwaukee, Wis.) logged 72 minutes in his second appearance of the season.
College field hockey
UML falls: UMass Lowell freshman goalkeeper Veerle Mous (Breda, Netherlands) registered 11 saves in a hard-fought, 3-0 loss to No. 14 UMass.
“I’m really happy with our performance in the first three quarters,” said UML head coach Shannon LeBlanc. “It’s just unfortunate that after three great quarters we didn’t play our best when it mattered.”
Sophomore Karlijn Kerkhof (Rotterdam, Netherlands) led the way on the offensive end with four shots, while senior Madison Leeper (Amherst, N.Y.) and sophomore Alice Van Hemelen (Tervuren, Netherlands) each added two.
Pelham’s Aleena Cunha executes a flip throw during Friday’s girls soccer game against Milford. The Pythons dropped their home opener, 3–1. (James Thomas for the Lowell Sun)
High school golf
GLT starts well: Greater Lowell Tech has defeated its first two opponents, Northeast Metro, 149-122, and Nashoba Tech, 155-117.
Against Northeast Metro, Tommy McKiernan led the Gryphons by scoring 40 points. He was followed by Brody Simmons (26), Nolan Torpey (24), Jackson Ferreira (23), Ben Hickok (18) and Joe McMenamy (18).
In the victory over Nashoba Tech, McKiernan and Simmons paced the winners with 34 and 32 points, respectively.
Hickok collected 30 followed by Ferreira (21), Jack Hickok (19) and Andrew Baia (19).
Auto racing
Moulton takes third: A 50-lap special Ammonoosuc Asphalt Mini-Late Models was held Saturday at White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H.
Chris Moulton of Pepperell drove a terrific race and finished third in a competitive field.
TYNGSBORO – A couple of injuries. A change of heart. A stranger. And a will to win.
All of those things have added up to Greater Lowell Tech senior Dennis Mowatt becoming the school’s greatest shot put thrower, a Division 3 indoor state champion and a soon-to-be Division 1 college athlete.
“Dennis worked closely with all the coaches so he would get better along with making his teammates better,” said head track coach Butch Dion. “Every year and every season, he got a little better until this indoor season when he broke the school record for indoor shot put. In fact, he broke his own record four times that season. He also made it to New Balance Indoor Nationals. The first meet of this spring season, he broke the shot put and discus records and I expect he will break them again before the end of the season.”
During his freshmen and sophomore years, Mowatt, a Lowell resident whose father was born in Jamaica, was a three-sport athlete in football, basketball and outdoor track. He was a sprinter for the outdoor track team, running the 100 and 200, and was a member of the 4×100 relay team, but a hip flexor and hamstring injuries disrupted those seasons.
That’s when the 5-11, 265-pound Mowatt retired as a sprinter and worked his way over to the throwing events.
He started to learn the tricks of the shot put, but the injury bug stayed with him. In the fall of 2022, playing tight end for the football team, he jumped in the air attempting to make a touchdown grab in a game against Shawsheen Tech. He landed awkwardly and tore the meniscus in his knee.
He put off surgery so he could throw for both seasons of track, all the while putting the basketball away for good. Last spring, he finished second at the state vocational meet, throwing a season-best 44 feet, 7.25 inches, which was two feet better than his eighth-place finish at the Division 3 state meet.
A month later, he underwent surgery, which kept him out of this past football season. He was back healthy for the indoor track season, except he had to change his shot put throwing style, going from the glide to the spin, because “it was really tough to crunch down into the glide position. It definitely hurt.”
After watching some of his own videos, he started to correct some mistakes and gradually improved. He set the school record and then threw a gem of 51-10 to become the Division 3 state champion.
Two meets later, at New Englands, his shot put throwing career went to a whole different level.
“I watched a video of this one shot put thrower, and I don’t know who he is, and he said to me, ‘This is how you fix your form.’ I saw his video, I changed up my form just a little bit and all of a sudden I threw 55 feet,” explained Mowatt. “And I was like, ‘I have no idea how I did that.’ It wasn’t just one lucky throw. I followed up with another 55 and then a 54 and then another 55. I didn’t think that was possible for me. It was really a surreal moment.”
In one calendar year, he went from finishing eighth at the Division 3 state meet and throwing 44-7.25 to sixth in New England and throwing 55-8.50.
“It was not what I had expected. I came out of my surgery and I had lost hope. I didn’t think I could continue to do anything in sports,” he said. “I’m not going to lie, as I didn’t even tell my doctor this, but during my recovery time, I was practicing (throwing the shot put) a little bit – even with the pain I was practicing. It was beneficial and it did work out for me in the end.”
That success has carried over to this spring season as well as the next four years as he has committed to throw for Division 1 Appalachian State in Boone, N.C.
Mowatt said it’s just a matter of time before he meets his next goal of throwing 60 feet.
“I’ve been about a foot away from 60 feet at practice and I hit 58 feet in one of the meets this season. I’m getting there and I know I can hit 60 feet in a meet. With the proper training, I’m hoping (in a couple of weeks at) our league meet, that I can hit 60 feet,” he said.
Greater Lowell Tech senior Dennis Mowatt, front center, signs his National Letter of Intent to attend Appalachian State. Supporting him in the big moment were, front, from left, his mother, Shari, and his father, Dennis. Brother Isaiah stands behind him. (Courtesy photo)Dennis Mowatt (Courtesy photo)
TYNGSBORO — Greater Lowell Technical High School students from the Computer Aided Drafting and Design, Carpentry and Painting and Design programs combined their talents to create two new signs for the Lowell Fire Department’s West Sixth Street Fire Station.
Lowell Fire Lt. Shawn Sirois, who works out of the West Sixth Street Station where Engine 6 and Ladder 4 are stationed, reached out to the school to inquire about having students replace the signs for the station, which had rotted. Superintendent Jill Davis thought it would be a great community project for the students to engage in and students and instructors in the CADD, Carpentry and Painting and Design programs jumped at the opportunity.
CADD students working under the direction of instructor Michael Stack helped design the initial logo and sign.
Carpentry students, guided by instructor Michael Murphy, then used a large CNC router to cut AZEK PVC material into two 2-foot-by-8-foot signs that incorporated the design and department logo.
Painting and Design students, working under Instructor Michael Donahue, then finished and painted the signs, experimenting with different types of paint and primer that worked best on the weather-proof PVC material.
The finished signs were presented by the students and instructors in the Painting and Design program on Friday, April 5, to Assistant Fire Chief David Keene and firefighters from the West Sixth Street Station. The firefighters brought over and shared pizza with the students and instructors and thanked them for their work. The students who contributed to the project signed the back of the two signs and with their instructors posed for photos with the firefighters.
Sirois said all the firefighters from the station were impressed by the high quality of the work.
“What you guys did painting-wise was phenomenal,” Sirois said. “Hats off to you and hats off to everyone who did such a fantastic job.”
Yamixeliz Suarez-Aguiar, a student in the Painting and Design shop, said the project was challenging because it involved work students had never done before.
“We used new kinds of material and the fact that it was going out in public definitely added some pressure,” Suarez-Aguiar said. “But it also motivated us to really do our best at the same time.”
Painting and Design student Isabella Viera said the new types of work that students had to do taught them new ways of painting and doing things.
“It was so drastically different from what we usually do — it taught us to adjust and adapt to different scenarios,” Viera said.
Painting and Design students Ashley Tineo and Jeaneudelis Torres said they enjoyed working on behalf of firefighters and knowing that the community will see their work.
“When you’re in the shop everything is in a bubble and your work kinda stays within the school, so it was really nice working on a project that meant a lot to other individuals,” said Painting and Design student Beatriz Borba Brasil.
“This project had such a positive impact on the students, fostering confidence in their abilities and pride in their workmanship. Having their efforts showcased in the community will undoubtedly be a source of pride for both the students and their families and friends. Being able to point to their contributions and say, ‘I was a part of that work,’ is truly a testament to their hard work and dedication,” said Davis.
