Three Bedford High School teams have qualified for Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association post-season play, based on their success during the regular season. Pairings are based on statewide power rankings – a mathematic computation that accounts for victories plus the records of the teams defeated.
The post-season picture looks like this, in chronological order:
Boys Basketball
Boys’ basketball, Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in the BHS gymnasium vs. Wilmington. Coach Anthony Halls’s team is ranked 22nd in Division 2 with a 14-6 record. This will be a preliminary round game against a team that was well out of the power rankings but qualifies for the post-season with a record over. 500 (11-9).
Only two of Wilmington’s wins were in the Middlesex League. The Wildcats are led by four-year varsity guard Tommy Mallinson, who recently surpassed 1,000 career points. The winner of this game travels to the Pioneer Valley for a first-round game at Holyoke High School Friday at 6:30 p.m.
Boys Hockey ~ Update >> Game will be Thursday, not Wednesday as initially announced
Boys’ hockey was ranked 16th, which means it plays at home in the opening Division 3 round Thursday (not Wednesday as initially announced) at 4 p.m. vs. Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School of Danvers, better known as Essex Tech. The 17th-ranked Hawks dominated the Commonwealth Conference this season and finished 14-3-3. Bedford’s record is 11-6-3; the Bucs’ power ranking differential meant a playoff landed the home ice.
The Bucs are working hard to find their scoring touch. They’ve scored five goals in the last four games, including one into an empty net. Bedford finished the regular season at The Edge on Thursday, bowing to Somerville 1-0 in a game without penalties that took less than an hour and a half. The winner of Wednesday’s contest gets the top seed in the division, Marlborough, later in the week.
Girls Basketball
Coach Ashley Kepaa’s girls’ basketball team travels to Wakefield on Friday for a 6:30 Division 2 opening-round game. Since suffering a spate of injuries that put four starters on the sideline, the girls have lost six in a row and finished the regular season ranked 19th.
The Bucs split with Wakefield this month: a seven-point win in the road at full strength and a loss at home minus the four starters. Kepaa said she will be working all week with the core that she has: senor Allie Zorn, sophomores Cassie Morrison, Bridget Sheahan, MacKenzie Tierney, and Madison Tierney, and freshmen Grace Weisz, Emma Dubrovsky, and Caroline Luongo. “They’re young, but they’re more than capable,” Kepaa said. “It’s all about the work we out in over the next six days.”
Mike Rosenberg can be reached at [email protected], or 781-983-1763
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