Sports squawk

Congrats to Greylock on its 23-8 Berkshire County championship win. The game culminated a great year for the Mounties, who returned to the Berkshire County playoffs for the first time since esteemed coach John Allen left the sidelines.

To earn the title, they beat out county power Wahconah. To win a Super Bowl, they'll need to edge super power Worcester Holy Name.

Holy Name handily beat Wahconah last year -- a far better Wahconah team than this year's, with a hulking offensive line and a pounding runner in Matt Boudreau -- and returns running back Emil Igwenagu, who torched the Warriors last year. Rumor has it -- we'll verify it or update it in upcoming editions of The Eagle -- that Igwenagu has rushed for more than 15 yards per carry this season. So Greylock will have its hands full.

On the plus side, Greylock is the best equipped of any county team to face the rushing onslaught. They have the biggest line, and a pair of standout linebackers in Jeff Brodeur and Dylan Schultz. Schultz is the Mounties' best defensive player -- as well as a winner of a county-wide sportsmanship trophy that was awarded at halftime of the championship game.

On offense, Greylock will likely have trouble sustaining drives, but the Mounties have big-play threats in running back Aaron Castonguay, tight end Greg Payton and dual-threat at quarterback Preston Trites. They have pounding running backs in Brodeur and Jon LaCasse. With the variety of options, Greylock can keep Holy Name guessing and pull off some big plays, something I expect it'll need to do.

I don't expect the season will end well for the county champ, but I do know that Greylock is the team best equipped to give Berkshire County a Super Bowl winner.

Posted by Chris Carlson at 1:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The biggest game of the Berkshire County fall sports seasons is just a day away when Wahconah travels to Mount Greylock for the county football championship.

It's the perfect way to spend Thanksgiving, so kudos to the Mount Greylock folks for choosing to play on Thanksgiving rather than on Saturday. The event feels so much more festive on the holiday-- plus it's a good chance for relatives to come watch the kids in their final game. The weather looks perfect -- high 30s for the early kickoff -- at least for this part of the year. When Thanksgiving rolls around, I can watch any of the game's the NFL puts on television just because it's a part of my holiday tradition. It's nice to see that Berkshire County is looking to develop a similar feel.

As for the winner, I'm not the best choice to be making predictions -- I haven't actually gotten to see Wahconah play and haven't seen a game for a month -- but I'll give it a shot, for the sake of argument, in an attempt to get some debate started and, well, just because I like to put my neck on the line.

The Mounties looked great to me early in the season and I'm guessing that their recent losses -- two defeats in a row -- have more to do with their opponents' skills than Greylock's diminishing abilities. The Mounties handled Wahconah easily the first time, 28-0, and while it's going to be more difficult this time around, I'll take Greylock 22-7. Greylock has far better skill players and may even have a better line than Wahconah -- the Warriors traditionally dominate on the line. Wahconah's tradition and toughness will help them keep the game close early. Wahconah is proud and never gives in, while Greylock hasn't played in a game of this magnitude since 2000. But the Warriors' injury-riddled secondary won't be able to bring down running backs Aaron Costonguay, Jeff Broduer and Jon LaCasse if they break past the linebackers, which will eventually happen. Greylock also has what I think is the most consistant passing attack in the county -- Monument had bigger numbers but that was only due to neccessity, not a reflection of the quality of the quarterback and his receivers.

I'd expect especially productive days from Broduer and LaCasse, Greylock's bruising fullbacks who don't look like they'd be any fun to tackle.

In any case, we've got the perennial top dog against the team trying to knock them off. It should maKe for a great start to my favorite holiday.

Posted by Chris Carlson at 11:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We get a lot of calls each night as we're working asking us the score of various Western Mass. tournament games, so, the nights that I'm in the office, I'm going to make a concerted effort to get the results of those games up on the blog.

I was at Lee this afternoon and watched the Wildcats put a 5-0 hurting on Ware. Lee looked great, especially for a team that hadn't made a postseason appearance in at least seven years. The Wildcats moved the ball well and junior Amanda LaBier was very impressive holding the ball in the center of the field on offense. She did a wonderful job switching fields and moving sideways to open passing lanes. Sophomore Megan Gangell scored a hat trick, including two goals off sweet set-ups from LaBier. Combine that strong attack with the solid goaltending that Sarah Hickey -- probably Berkshire County's best in the net -- has provided, and Lenox may get some competition for a Western Mass. title from just down the road.

Lee, it seems, is already thinking that way. After the game, Gangell said she hoped the Wildcats would get to play Lenox in the finals. For Lee's sake, let's hope the girls get focused on top-seeded Hopkins Academy and a very difficult semifinal.

As I sad earlier, Lenox moved a step closer to defending its Western Mass. title. The Millionaires earned a 2-0 win over Sabis and now head off to play Granby, which downed St. Joe 3-0. Lenox and Granby played to a scoreless tie earlier in the season, and the MIllionaries struggled twice in wins over St. Joe's, so the Millionaires face a tough task in the semifinals.

In the most surprising result of the day, the Monument Mountain girls — who finished 7-7 and barely qualified for the tournament as the final seed -- kept rolling with a 1-0 win over previously undefeated Frontier. Frontier was 17-0-1 before losing last night to the Spartans. Monument, it seems, has concentrated on tightening up its defense in the postseason and has won a pair of 1-0 games. Great Barrington also seems like the place to be for Berkshire County soccer fans. The highly-touted boys' team opens at home tomorrow looking to get revenge on Mount Greylock, which spoiled the Spartans' bid for a perfect season with a tie earlier in the year.

The other two Berkshire County teams lost yesterday. Wahconah, the Northern Division champion and the county's most consistant performer this season fell to Palmer 1-0. Hoosac, meanwhile, lost to Southwick 3-0, and Pittsfield lost 3-0 to Cathedral.

I'll be at the Monument-Greylock rematch tomorrow night, and our three other reporters will all beat games. I'll update the blog when I return.

Posted by Chris Carlson at 9:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)