By Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff
Managing Editor
Newton South, until recently, was not thought of as the most athletic school, especially when compared to the school across town. There used to be a stigma that South’s sports were just not at the same level as the upper echelon of schools, that they could not compete with the best.
This school year has changed that thinking.
“This year has been beneficial in a lot of ways… You can’t just become a top high school in the state athletically overnight (or in one year),” senior basketball and volleyball player Brendan Duggan said. “But I think so far the attitude, spirit and hard work has us going in the right direction.”
Starting with the football and girls’ soccer teams’ respective runs to the playoffs in the fall, along with the boys’ volleyball team’s state championship last spring, the Lions have shown not just the city of Newton, but also the state of Massachusetts that its sports teams should not be taken lightly. This successful trend of a few teams has blown up into various achievements of multiple teams in the first month of the winter sports season.
The boys’ basketball team, who recently forced overtime against No. 3 Catholic Memorial on a last second three-pointer by senior captain Geoffrey Gray, was ranked No. 17 in the state before the game. Returning eight varsity contributors from last year, including six seniors, the Lions have relied upon their depth to bring them their success this season and a 6-3 record.
“Great senior class and great chemistry,” junior Alex Kiritsy said of his team. “We have four or five kids that play basketball all year round [contributing to the team’s depth].”
The boys’ swim and dive team has also looked to its depth to give it one of the best starts to a season in a long time. Though they lost one of their best swimmers from last year, the current group of swimmers and divers on the team have still been able to succeed.
“To win swim meets you need a couple guys that are really good, we have three, then we have four to five good guys,” junior captain Alex Song said. “It was just some guys who were pretty average stepping up to be good.”
The boys’ team has used this depth to go 5-1 on the year so far, including a defeat of Lincoln-Sudbury that was the teams’ first in 45 years.
The girls’ basketball team, behind the play of freshman Veronica Burton, as well as proven contributors Emily Chang and Julia Hurwitz, has started the season off at 7-0, good enough to earn a No. 6 ranking in the state, per the Boston Herald. They recently beat Boston Latin by a score of 55-35, in addition to beating perennial powerhouse Lincoln Sudbury by a score of 60-43.
And then there is the No. 2 ranked boys’ hockey team, who recently completed a 12-2 rout of Lowell. The team, 5-1 through Wednesday, has scored 31 goals in their last four games, while allowing just four. As senior captain Connor Kee said at the beginning of the season, echoed by junior Thomas Tresca, the team thinks that it has a real shot at making a deep run into the playoffs.
They have controlled the entire ice this season, as both their offense and defense has established themselves and cannot be taken lightly. Goal scorers Hampus Samuelsson (senior) and Sergey Bezrukov (sophomore) join Tresca in forcing opposing goalies to always be on the lookout.
The Dual County League, along with the rest of South’s competitors have taken notice, no longer viewing a game or meet against South as an easy win. They know a game with South will involve a hard-fought, grind-it-out kind of game that South athletics have thrived upon as of late.
As the winter sports season develops, South has changed the perceived notion that its sports are not up to par, as various teams have deep playoff aspirations. In doing so, the student section at important games has grown exceptionally to support their peers and fellow athletes.
“The football team had a remarkable season, both basketball teams are doing well, hockey is doing well, and so on,” Duggan said. “In addition to that, there’s definitely been an increase in attendance at these events which is equally, if not more important than winning the actual games because the spirit of athletics is really what brings the South community together and creates memories you can look back on.”
