Category Archives: Sports
We Will Miss You Graz!
Cameron Babcock, Veritas Sports Editor
In April, Rockland athletic director Gary Graziano will be retiring. He started working at Rockland High School on March 1st, 1998. and served as our athletic director for 19 years, starting in 2004.
Taking his place as athletic director is varsity soccer coach and teacher in the high school transitions program, Dan Kimball.
Mr. Graziano will be retiring on April 14. His last day as AD is today, March 31. Mr. Kimball will be taking the position on April 1.
Dr. Harrison said in his March newsletter, “…Mr. Graziano has been a fixture as a guidance counselor, coach, and most recently, an athletic director. He has certainly left his mark in our community, raising the standard for our athletic programs.”
Principal Harrison also expressed his feelings about Mr. Kimball’s appointment as the new AD: “I have complete confidence Mr. Kimball will do an exceptional job in this new role!”
Undoubtedly, students and teachers are going to miss their athletic director after working and experiencing history with him over the years. Even students that haven’t been able to experience the full scale of high school and sports alongside Graz are sad that he is leaving. Sophomore and three sport athlete Jacob Comman explained, “Personally, I loved Graz being the athletic director through my first two years of high school. I’ll miss how involved Graz is, his closeness with the students, and his humor. Overall, my experience with Graz has been awesome.”
Mr. Graziano was recently inducted into the RHS Athletic Hall of Fame. He is also an honorary member of the National Honor Society at RHS. And he’s even been the King!
The Veritas’ complete interview with Mr. Graziano about his retirement and his memories at RHS and more reactions from students and staff will be published in our next edition.
Here’s an article that was in the Enterprise this week about Graz.
Girls Basketball Team Enters Elite Territory
March 10, 2022
With wins over Cardinal Spellman last Friday night (60-33), and Bishop Stang on Tuesday, March 8, (63-42) the Dogs have risen to the final 8 teams left in the Division.
On Friday night March 11, because of their ranking as #4 they will get to be home again against #5 Dover-Sherborn.
A win on Friday will put them in the Division 3 final four for a game to be played at a neutral site.
First, they will need to once again have their home crowd behind them on Friday. The fans have been great and not having to wear masks, they have been louder than ever! Not since the girls tournament in March 2020 have fans been able to go maskless, and it’s a welcome experience to see and hear them cheering in full volume!!
Leading the way for the girls will be seniors Julia Elie, the team’s leading scorer and Maddie Murphy. Also, playing supporting roles will be seniors Carolayne Lage and Jordan Stec.
Rounding out the girls line-up are juniors Sydney Blaney, Maddie Hermenau, Emma Cameron, and Charlie Kelleher and sophomores Maggie Elie who will direct the offense and Sophie Levy.
Tickets to this game must be bought ahead of time on
https://gofan.co/app/events/577053?schoolId=MA14704
Coach Newcomb has said that the girls’ tournament run is “what it’s all about.” Don’t miss it!
For more about the girls team and their season you can go to: https://ladydogsbasketball.wordpress.com
Good Luck to Hockey Team Today
March 2, 2022
Cameron Babcock, Veritas Sports Editor
The Rockland High School Hockey team opens up tournament play today at Nantucket with a 2 pm game. The Dogs earned their place in the tournament with a record of 8 wins and 11 losses. However, with power rankings the Dogs landed in the #22 spot earning their match-up with #11 Nantucket.
Coach Murphy explained, “The season has gone expected in my eyes with how difficult our schedule has been. I knew it was going to be challenging for the players and the coaches, getting used to each other, adapting to a different playing/coaching style and changing the overall team aspects.” He then followed by saying, “We are really starting to gel as a team, play a style that fits our talent and getting ready to make some noise in the tournament.”
The game starts at 2 PM and the Hyannis ferry leaves at 11:55 AM today to Nantucket where after a bus will take people to the game.
Here’s a good explanation of how the team’s season went from Jim Clark’s Hockey Night in Boston D4 preview:
#22 Rockland (8-11-0)
First-year coach Stephen Murphy was encouraged that the Bulldogs’ tough schedule played dividends in allowing the team to qualify for the postseason.
Senior captain Jake Higgins has been a solid two-way player and leads the team with 25 points. Junior Joey Salamone has a team-high 10 goals, and Ben Romer (14 points) had a solid freshman season. Senior captain John Henry and junior Shane Kimball are other key contributors.
Juniors Sean Geary (captain) and Logan Murphy (15 points) have helped drive the offense from the back end, and junior Chris Fuller has been another solid player on the blue line in front of junior goalie Joey Dow (3.05 GAA).
“When we are on our game we are playing a fast game, controlling the pace and having fun playing the game,” Murphy said.
If the Dogs get by Nantucket they may be taking on another island opponent, as they would play the winner of Martha’s Vineyard, #6, and Monomoy, #27.
Good luck to the Dogs!
Here’s the tournament bracket.
Here’s some great photos taken by Chrissy D’Olympio. Lots more on Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DogsHockey/
Volleyball All-Scholastics 2021
From the Brockton Enterprise
DARCY McGUIRK
Rockland
This senior played all over for the Bulldogs (14-6), leading them to the Div. 4 state quarterfinals. … Three-time South Shore League All-Star. … Repeat All-Scholastic. … Averaged 6 kills, 4 aces and 11 digs per match. … Four-year starter. … Coach Emily Adams said: “She has become a very consistent back-row player setting up the offense, and she has become a dominant player in the front row.”
JULIA ELIE
Rockland
This senior middle hitter was a Division 4 All-State pick by the Massachusetts Volleyball Coaches Association. … South Shore League Tobin Division MVP. … Repeat All-Scholastic. … Averaged 10 kills, 2 aces and 2 blocks per match. … Two-year captain. … Led the Bulldogs (14-6) to the Div. 4 state quarterfinals. … Coach Emily Adams calls her a “versatile and smart player.”
JORDAN STEC
Rockland
Senior libero averaged 12 digs and 4 assists per match for the Bulldogs (14-6). … Repeat All-Scholastic is a two-time league all-star.
Football Team Wins D6 Super Bowl
Ollie Robinson and Veritas Staff
By now everyone knows that the Rockland Bulldogs won the MIAA Division Six football championship at Gillette Stadium on Dec. 3, but here’s our story that appeared in the December issue of the Veritas in case you missed it.
The Dogs took down the Green Wave of Abington by a score of 23 to 13.
Senior captain PJ Celestino was confident they would win. He said, “I knew we were going to win. Just the whole day I had that feeling. Especially through warmups we were all ready to go and you could feel it.”
So, how did the Dogs pull off this win? “We just played for each other, played our game, and had the belief in our coaching staff to put us in the right position to make plays and win,” said Celestino.
Celestino also said that beating Abington again was even more exciting for them. “We’ve been playing those same kids our whole lives and it was pretty cool to cap off our senior year on the winning side of things against them. I don’t think the kids in this senior and junior class have ever started a football game against Abington and lost.”
While Celestino’s scoring was key, it was also the defense that carried the Bulldogs in this game.
Against Abington, Rockland forced five turnovers including two fumble recoveries by Gabe Pinheiro, and one by Lucas Leander, and two interceptions by Jacob Coulstring.
Reflecting on the whole experience Celestino voiced the feelings of the team, coaches and all the people of Rockland who went out to Gillette on Friday night. “It was insane. Just to think of the history of that stadium and what’s been done there; it was pretty cool.”
It seemed like the entire school and the town were all out at Gillette. “There were alumni from the 1982 Super Bowl team,” said Gary Graziano in a tweet, and players also from the other Super Bowl championship teams of 1992, 1998 and 2000.
PJ, who says he plans to continue to play football in college, had some final words for his teammates and coaches. “Thank you to all my teammates and coaches for a great 4 years playing for this program and thank you all for your dedication this season.”
He also had a prediction for next year. “But the craziest thing is the boys are gonna’ be going back next year.”
Football Friday Night; Puffs Friday and Saturday Nights
December 2, 2021
On Friday night RHS students can choose between attending the Drama Club’s production at 7 pm or the State Championship football game at Gillette Stadium at 5 pm.
Those that go to the football game can see the Drama Club’s production of Puffs which is a play based loosely on Harry Potter’s adventures at Hogwarts on Saturday night.
In both events, we wish the Bulldogs Good Luck!!
Dogs are Super Bowl Bound; Cheerleaders are State Champions
November 23, 2021
Cameron Babcock, Veritas Sports Editor
The Rockland High School Varsity Football team beat the Blackstone Valley Varsity Football team last Saturday in a 20-17 close win. The outcome of the win on Saturday is the Division 6 Super Bowl, which is being held at Gillette Stadium on Monday, December 6th against Abington. Rockland previously beat Abington in the regular season, being Abington’s only loss.
The game against Blackstone Valley was held at Walpole High School on Saturday where the Bulldogs came out victorious. All four quarters were very close and the game was won off of a game winning interception by Jacob Coulstring with less than a minute left.
The Super Bowl against Abington is scheduled for 5 pm on Monday December 6th at Gillette Stadium, though it is subject to change if the New England Revolution make the playoffs.
Cheerleading
The Rockland High School Cheerleading team had a very successful season, coming in not only as SSL champions, but also as the Fall Cheerleading State Champions. The team also competed in the MSAA regionals where they came first out of 31 other teams that competed.
The state championship was held at Worcester State University on Sunday, November 21st where they ended up taking home their state championship ending their extremely successful season.
The other three tournament teams also did well, winning at least one game; Kam Christ and Maggie Flaherty qualified for States in Cross Country and the Volleyball and Boys Soccer teams did especially well getting within one game of the State Finals.
Volleyball
The Girls Volleyball team had a strong season earning the 11 seed entering the playoffs and winning two of the three games they competed in. Even though they lost in the semifinals of the playoffs, the girls were SSL champions and had the Player of the Year, Julia Elie.
The girls won their first game against Bishop Connelly 3-0, and then had an upset quarterfinal win against the 6th seeded Joseph Case High School, which was followed by their 3-0 loss against Medway to end their playoff run.
Boys Soccer
The Rockland High School Boys Varsity Soccer team season concluded its strong playoff run in the State Semifinals losing to Easthampton, 3-2. The team ended their season with a record of 18-2-1, a historical season for the team. Even though they didn’t win the championship, the team still earned other awards like MVP, awarded to Tommy Gallagher, and Coach of the Year, Coach Kimball.
The team won three games in the playoffs before they earned their loss against Easthampton at Leominster. The team’s future looks very bright after this season. Even with the league MVP graduating, the team still has lots of potential for the future.
THE VERITAS 