CP_MBHC_20230201_1_A11
marbleheadCurrent.org
Marblehead Current Wednesday, February 1, 2023 A11
MAGICIANS NOTEBOOK
After Beverly loss, boys hoop bounces back BY JOE M CCONNELL The Marblehead High boys basketball team suffered some defensive lapses against Beverly on Jan. 19, and as a result the Panthers were able to prevail, 74-67. “We gave up two different runs against Beverly and lost sight of (Dylan) Crowley, who dropped 33 on us,” said coach Mike Giardi. The Marblehead boys also trailed at halftime, 46-33. Tyrone Countrymon paced the offensive attack for the Magicians with 19 points. Isaiah Makor chipped in with 15, and Nick Lemmond accounted for 14. Other scorers were Scott Campbell (7), Miles O’Neill (6), Ryan Commoss (4) and Magnus McCarthy (2). But the Magicians managed to put the Beverly loss behind them to defeat Winthrop on Jan. 24, 75-56. “We bounced back with a great team effort against Winthrop, where 11 guys ended up in the scoring column,” said Giardi. The Magicians led comfortably at the break, 43-20, after the defense limited the Vikings to just six first-quarter points. O’Neill led the way in this game with 14 points. Campbell was next in line with 12. Lemmond had 10. Adrian Baron and Countrymon scored seven apiece. Cameron Comstock and Makor were each credited with five points, and Aven Denbow, Lupo Cabassi and
Commoss each had four, while McCarthy tallied three. Girls hockey snaps streak In the last four games, the Marblehead High girls co-op hockey team (2-6 in the Northeastern Hockey League, 3-9 overall) earned its first two league wins of the year via shutouts, with the first one coming against Gloucester, 1-0, on Jan. 12. It was the second time this season they defeated the Fishermen. “This was a great team win,” said coach Brittany Smith. “We played 45 solid minutes and then went into overtime, where we scored the game-winner just one minute into the extra period.” Junior defenseman Ava Vautour of HamiltonWenham netted the overtime marker from seniors Riley Campbell and Hannah Tsouvalas. They, too, attend Hamilton-Wenham High School. Two nights later, the Marblehead girls shut down Newburyport, 3-0. Vautour scored the first goal of the game from Tsouvalas and Marblehead freshman defenseman Paige Waldman. Freshman forward Teyah Fleming of ManchesterEssex notched the second tally, assisted by Tsouvalas. Swampscott sophomore forward Samantha Demady closed out the scoring set up by ManchesterEssex seventh grade defenseman Melanie Earl and Hamilton-Wenham
Grady (24.30), Brady Leveroni (26.60) and Anna Coleman (28.39) maintained the trend in the 50-yard freestyle. Grady (215.5, state cut points), Caroline Crosby (142.75) and Maxine Hall (131.75) were the top three divers. The 100-yard butterfly belonged to Brooks (54.42, state cut), Ian Chemel (1:02.71) and Bella Takata (1:07.58), who swept the event. Gary Podstrelov (54.86) and Brady Leveroni (56.8) topped the ticket in the 100-yard freestyle. Greg Podstrelov (5:26), Rosen (5:40.47) and Brinleigh Callahan (5:44.80) swept the 500yard freestyle. Grady, Nelson, Doody and Brooks (1:36.10, state cut), and Anna Coleman, Takata, Bergquist and Clementine Robins (1:53, sectional cut) were the two top teams in the 200-yard freestyle. In the 100-yard
freshman defenseman Lara Dolan. “This was another great team win,” said Smith. “It was also our annual mental health game, and the girls really did come to play. They didn’t let their foot off the gas pedal for the entire game, and we were able to shut them out. We controlled the play, and I would say this is our best game of the season so far.” The game also raised $10,300 for the American Foundation on Suicide
vs. Masconomet vs. TBA
at Valley Forum, Haverhill at Blue Hills Ski Area, Canton
vs. Danvers vs. Danvers
at Danvers HS at Marblehead HS
vs. TBA NEC League vs. Beverly vs. Winthrop
at Whittier Regional Vocational Tech at Reggie Lewis Center, Roxbury at Ray Bourque Arena, Beverly at Salem State O’Keefe Center
vs. Medford
at Connery Rink, Lynn
vs. TBA vs. Peabody vs. Peabody vs. Beverly
at Ski Ward Ski Area, Shrewsbury at Peabody Veterans Memorial HS at Marblehead HS at Lynch-van Otterloo YMCA
vs. Winthrop vs. Swampscott
at Larsen Arena, Winthrop at Salem State O’Keefe Center
vs. TBA
at Blue Hills Ski Area, Canton
vs. Masconomet vs. Masconomet vs. Salem vs. Shawsheen
at Marblehead HS at Masconomet HS at Lynch-van Otterloo YMCA at Edge Ice Arena, Bedford
Prevention. “We just hope to bring awareness and acceptance to mental health prevention, so that no one has to feel alone if they are struggling,” said Smith. “It’s an important subject, and there have been way too many amazing lives lost to this tragedy. Every life is precious, and we have to help each other fight through the toughest times. You never know what someone is dealing with on the inside, so that’s just another reason
to spread awareness around this topic.” The Magicians then traveled to Springfield to take on Pope Francis, where they lost, 2-0. “They are a solid, hardworking, talented team,” said Smith about Pope Francis. “We played this highly ranked Division 1 team well. They have some really great hockey players, and for the most part I was happy with the way we played during that game.” Against Leominster on Jan. 22, the locals
continued to work hard in the first and third periods, only to lose, 3-1. Vautour scored the lone goal from Hamilton-Wenham freshman forward Maddie Graber and Fleming. “We have a tendency to do that, and the other team capitalized on it,” Smith said of the midgame struggles. “The one goal we scored in this game showed teamwork, which was great to see, especially because it was in the third period. It showed that we didn’t give up.”
The story behind ‘The Swan Song of Parson Avery’ BY MARK HURWITZ
COURTESY PHOTO
From P. A9
Wednesday, Feb. 1 5 p.m. Boys ice hockey Thursday, Feb. 2 3:30 p.m. Alpine ski racing Friday, Feb. 3 6:30 p.m. Girls basketball 7 p.m. Boys basketball Saturday, Feb. 4 7:30 a.m. Wrestling 1 p.m. Boys and girls indoor track 7:30 p.m. Girls ice hockey 8 p.m. Boys ice hockey Monday, Feb. 6 5:15 p.m. Girls ice hockey Tuesday, Feb. 7 3:30 p.m. Alpine ski racing 7 p.m. Girls basketball 7 p.m. Boys basketball 7 p.m. Gymnastics Wednesday, Feb. 8 6:10 p.m. Girls ice hockey 7:30 p.m. Boys ice hockey Thursday, Feb. 9 3:30 p.m. Alpine ski racing Friday, Feb. 10 7 p.m. Girls basketball 7 p.m. Boys basketball 7 p.m. Gymnastics 7:30 p.m. Girls ice hockey
’HEADERS HISTORY
Finn and Bella Marblehead swimmers Finn Bergquist, left, and Bella Takata get ready to compete in a recent meet.
Swimming
MHS VARSITY SCHEDULE
backstroke, Nelson (1:00.27), Clementine Robins (1:06.34, sectional cut) and Lucy Sabin (1:28.33) accounted for nine more points for their teammates against the Witches. Waitekus (1:14.48, state cut), Cece Robbins (1:17.79) and Lucas Rosen (1:29.96) experienced similar results in the 100yard breaststroke. Greg Podstrelov, Ezra Reid, Nelson and Leveroni (3:52.8) made up the winning quartet in the 400-yard freestyle relay, followed by Gary Podstrelov, Owen Torstenson, Chemel and Rosen (4:00.37) in second place. On Jan. 25, the undefeated Marblehead swimmers went up against rival Swampscott to close out the regular season at the JCC. It was then time for the annual Northeastern Conference meet at the Beverly YMCA on Jan. 28. The results of these meets will be reported in the Feb. 8 edition of the Marblehead Current.
In the 19th century, New England poet John Greenleaf Whittier wrote the poem titled “The Swan Song of Parson Avery.” The Rev. Parson Avery took his wife, eight children and their cousins, the Thachers, from Ipswich to Marblehead by boat. Avery was to be installed as the rector of the new Anglican Church (Old North). The boat he was on, The Wait and Watch, encountered a storm at sea. That storm is known today as the Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635. Isaac Allerton owned the vessel, and Moses Maverick of Marblehead later married his daughter, Sarah. The storm threw the vessel onto Rockport’s Crackwood Ledge, smashing it into many pieces and tossing its passengers into the open sea. Of the 23 passengers aboard, 21 drowned that day, including Avery and his entire family. Anthony Thacher and his wife were the only ones to survive. They were able to swim to a nearby island during the storm and waited there until they were rescued a few days later. The Colonial government, hearing of the tragedy, compensated Anthony Thacher 26 British pounds and the island for the loss of their children and personal belongings. Anthony Thacher later moved to Yarmouth, on Cape Cod, as one of the three original land grantees in that town, where he resided until he died in 1668. What we know of this tragedy comes from a letter Anthony Thatcher later wrote to his brother Peter Thacher back in England: “We embarked at Ipswich, Aug. 11, 1635, with our families and substance, bound for Marblehead, we being in all 23 souls. The next morning, having commended ourselves to God, with cheerful hearts we hoisted sail. “But the Lord suddenly turned our cheerfulness into mourning and lamentations for on the 14th day of August 1635, about ten at night, having a fresh gale of wind, our sails being old and done were split. The mariners, because that it was night, would not put to new sails but resolved to cast anchor till the morning. “But before light it pleased the Lord to send so mighty a storm as the like was never known in New England since the English came, nor in the memory of any of the Indians. The waves came furiously and violently over us and against us.”
COURTESY PHOTO / THACHER ISLAND NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
Thacher Island off the coast of Cape Ann.
Of the people in Thacher’s group that were traveling to Marblehead that day, only one chose to travel by horseback instead of by boat. It was Anthony Thacher’s 15-year-old nephew, Thomas Thacher. His reasons for not traveling by boat are unknown. Thomas Thacher later became a minister, serving first in Weymouth. He later served as the Old South Church minister in Boston in the 1670s. He died in the year 1678. The poem Because of Thacher’s letter, word of the tragedy spread very quickly throughout England and the American colonies. A number of 17th-century Puritan ministers even wrote about it, including both Increase and Cotton Mather. Later, in the 18th and 19th century, it was mentioned in a number of history books about New England history. It was perhaps because of this documentation that Whittier chose to write about it in his poem “The Swan Song of Parson Avery” “There was wailing on the mainland, from the rocks of Marblehead, in the stricken Church of Newbury the notes of prayer were read, And long, by board and Hearthstone, the living mourn the dead. And still the fishers outbound, or scudding from the squall, With grave and reverent faces, the ancient tale recall, when they see the white waves breaking on the rock of Avery’s fall!”