The Golden Five: Cape Cod’s Top High School Teams Enjoy State Rankings

HYANNIS – It isn’t any secret that the Cape has always had more than its share of top teams in the state as well as some of the top individual athletic performers. The region has certainly also enjoyed its fair share of sectional and state champions in all divisions and all sports.

Falmouth girls' basketball head coach Bob Buscher and his Clippers are now among the state's top 20 and remain unbeaten at 3-0. Sean Walsh/capecod.com sports

Falmouth girls’ basketball head coach Bob Buscher and his Clippers are now among the state’s top 20 and remain unbeaten at 13-0.
Sean Walsh/capecod.com sports

As of tonight, the Cape has five teams currently enjoying top rankings among their peers in a wide variety of polls and ranking systems: the Falmouth High School and Barnstable High School girls hockey teams are certainly no strangers to being among the state’s best; the Barnstable boys’ ice hockey team is enjoying its highest ranking ever and the Falmouth girls’ and Sandwich boys’ basketball teams are fully into the fray and deservedly so

Even though Falmouth has been to the postseason before with 14-year head coach Bob Buscher, this week saw the still undefeated Falmouth High School girls’ basketball team (13-0) jump into the state’s top-20 for the first time this season. It’s not the first time the Clippers girls’ program has been ranked, but it seems like it sure took the powers-that-be considerable time to recognize the sheer talent on this season’s Clipper squad.

The Boston Globe put the Falmouth girls at #16 in its weekly top 20 poll and made note that the Clippers are one of just seven girls’ basketball teams in the state who remain undefeated and are ranked. The Upper Cape Tech girls, who went 21-3 last year but lost in the sectional finals, remain unbeaten but compete at a lower level than most if not all of the state’s top-ranked teams.

Sophomore point guard Jenni DiCecco and junior center Taylor Miller – both Atlantic Coast League all-stars last year – are two big reasons for this season’s success thus far. DiCecco is averaging 13.2 points per game, while Miller is averaging a double-double with 15.8 points and 12.7 rebounds per game. With that kind of underclassmen talent, combined with six outstanding seniors, it’s easy to see why Falmouth has developed that rare on-court chemistry that can take a team deep into the postseason.

Senior captain Alexa Johnson has proven to be a defensive specialist, while Kyra Martino and Tommi Gans have helped make the Clippers’ outside shooting threat almost impossible to shut down the inside. With Miller basically owning the paint and opponents trying to double down on her, the outside separation created between defenders has left too many apt shooting hands free.

“It’s exciting to be ranked and it gives us some validation that we can compete at a high level,” senior captain Sara Buscher said.

Coach Buscher said while it’s nice to be recognized even at the midway point of the season, and to have already put to bed the tournament-clincher, his girls remain focused on the immediacy of their next opponent and have not gotten too caught up in the “buzz” growing around them.

Falmouth High girls' hockey coach has been to three postseasons and will head to a fourth in this, her fourth season at the helm. There's good reason her girls are among the top-ranked in the state and she is one of them. Sean Walsh/capecod.com sports

Falmouth High girls’ hockey coach has been to three postseasons and will head to a fourth in this, her fourth season at the helm. There’s good reason her girls are among the top-ranked in the state and she is one of them.
Sean Walsh/capecod.com sports

“I don’t think we practice harder because of it,” he said. “But it is a good feeling for the kids to be recognized for their success and hard work.”

Falmouth girls ice hockey head coach Erin Hunt shared a similar viewpoint as her basketball-coaching Clipper counterpart. This week, the Clipper girls are hovering anywhere from the 10th to the 17th spot in the state overall and ranked as high as 6th in Division 2. ESPNBoston.com has the Clippers at 8th overall.

Hunt, now in her fourth season at the Falmouth girls’ hockey helm, has been blessed with considerable talent while at the same time is deserving of being acknowledged as one of the region’s top hockey coaches – male or female.

Hunt took the Clippers to the Division 2 state championship in both of her first two seasons and last season the girls took a bitter defeat in the sectional semifinals. This year, in an even more ultracompetitive Southeastern Massachusetts Girls Hockey League Coastal Division, she said the girls aren’t concerned so much with the league title as they are in making some noise in the postseason and perhaps getting another crack at the grande finale.

Still, she too believes that her girls are focused on the opponent directly in front of them and not in the end results. Taking care of the small details now, in otherwords, will reap dividends down the road without having to dwell on it.

“The Falmouth girls are aware of the rankings,” Coach Hunt said. “But the expectation is that we work hard to improve every day, regardless.”

The Falmouth girls are currently 9-3-2 and have already clinched a postseason berth. The league they compete in – the SEMGHL Coastal Division – includes some of the state’s other top-ranked teams such as Duxbury and Barnstable. Originally scheduled for Wednesday (Jan. 28), the Falmouth girls were going to get a chance for an earlier season loss to the top-ranked Barnstable Red Raiders. Due to the blizzard, school’s out for Wednesday again and the game has yet to be rescheduled but it will still be played at the Falmouth Ice Arena.

Make no bones about it, the still unbeaten Barnstable girls are champing at the bit to hit the Falmouth ice as well. Some pundits like the Boston Globe’s ranking system folks are still unconvinced that the Red Raiders are deserving of a top-ranking. With the Red Raiders taking down perennial powerhouse Arlington Catholic, 1-0, last week, however, it remains a mystery why anyone would rank Arlington Catholic higher than the Red & White. Boston Globe, for example, ranks Arlington Catholic #1 in the state while Barnstable is at number 5. In virtually every other poll, the Red Raiders are number 1 and are in that slot for the first time in the program’s 13 seasons of existence.

Indeed, the Barnstable girls captured the 2006-07 Division 2 State Championship title under then head coach Kim Sullivan who helped create the program, but never before has the Barnstable girls’ program enjoyed the glow and spotlight of being deemed #1.

Fifth-year head coach Peter Nugnes, whose Barnstable teams have enjoyed as high as a number 4 ranking in previous seasons, has a 42-18-12 lifetime record. With a .700 lifetime winning percentage, it’s not difficult to see why the Red & White have continued to maintain winning campaigns year-in and year-out under his tutelage.

Fourth-year Barnstable girls hockey head coach Peter Nugnes is more concerned with how hard his team works than the simple fact they are ranked #1 in Massachusetts. Sean Walsh/capecod.com sports

Fourth-year Barnstable girls hockey head coach Peter Nugnes is more concerned with how hard his team works than the simple fact they are ranked #1 in Massachusetts.
Sean Walsh/capecod.com sports

Like his successful peers, Nugnes is cautious about making predictions for his girls or placing them too high on a pedestal before the final mission has been accomplished. Step by step, period by period, keeping that immediate focus is critical to continued success. Taking care of today’s business always outweighs thoughts of “tomorrow.” As the successes build, though, Nugnes said maintaining that focus not only becomes paramount, but it becomes more difficult to achieve.

“I think it (top-ranking) does have an effect mainly from outside sources,” Nugnes said. “For some strange reason, we seem to have the highest expectations for this team and it’s not good enough to be undefeated.”

Reasonable caution and keeping the wolves of ego at bay aside, Nugnes’ coaching philosophy and approach seem well-grounded almost to an anachronistic degree. He’s old-school, in otherwords, and to most hockey fans that is a very good thing to have in a coach.

“I think the girls are doing great and I don’t care if we are #1 or #20 as long as we continue to work hard and improve each week and play our best hockey come tournament time,” he said.

For “old-school” caliber coaches, there aren’t many like Barnstable High School Hall of Famer Scott Nickerson.

For the first time since he’s been on board in his nine seasons as the Red Raider helmsman, the Barnstable boys “have never been ranked this high.”

The Boston Globe has Barnstable ranked 14th overall in Division 1, as does the Boston Herald, but ESPNBoston.com and Hockey Night in Boston have the Red & White at 8th and 9th, respectively. The USHSHO.com web site – a national ranking system – has Barnstable at 16th overall, but the bottom line is that the Red Raiders have never before beaten a perennial Super Eight contender such as they did by taking down Catholic Memorial last week and that sits quite well with one of the all-time greatest hockey players in the program’s 56-year history.

“I think being ranked as the top public school in the state right now is very good for us,” Nickerson said. “I use it as a motivational tool. We’ve never cracked the top-10 before. Our goal is a state championship, but we’ve never been invited to the Super Eight tournament. To be invited and to get in a play-in game, that’s important to us.”

In six of his nine seasons, the Red Raiders have been crowned Old Colony League champions. The last time Barnstable won a state title was in 1990-91 when the Red Raiders were crowned the Division 1 State Champions – just not as part of the Super Eight which now takes 10 teams that are invited by and voted on by committee. Nickerson was an assistant coach on that team. He was also a sophomore on the 1979-80 Division II state champions. Barnstable was also Division II state champions in 1971-72 when the team went 21-0 and was loaded with future Red Raider Hall of Famers.

To Nickerson, a state title would be nice, especially after experiencing it as a player and as an assistant coach.

Barnstable High Hall of Famer Scott Nickerson knows what it feels like to win a state title as a player and as an assistant coach and now hopes he can parlay his team's top-ranking into a state title bid as a head coach this season. Sean Walsh/capecod.com sports

Barnstable High Hall of Famer Scott Nickerson knows what it feels like to win a state title as a player and as an assistant coach and now hopes he can parlay his team’s top-ranking into a state title bid as a head coach this season.
Sean Walsh/capecod.com sports

“We are 7-2 against Division 1 teams right now,” Nickerson said. “We’re 1-1 against top-10 teams. That’s pretty darn good for a public school. We’ve never been this high. We’d like a chance to be invited (to the Super Eight tournament).”

For his passion and competitiveness displayed on the court, Sandwich boys’ basketball head coach Dennis Green is about as humble as they come off the court, a good sign the second-year coach is not merely realistic in his expectations, but also armed with the type of outlook it takes to lead a talented group of student-athletes to true success.

Last season, Green’s first taste as the head of Blue Knights’ boys basketball was quite palatable. Led by juniors Joey Downes and Hank O’Brien – both Atlantic Coast League all-stars in 2013-14 – the Blue Knights captured the tough-to-win Atlantic Coast League title for the first time in nearly 20 years.

At the midway point this season, Sandwich remains unbeaten in the ACL and is 11-1 (.917) overall. With Downes averaging over 20 points per game and O’Brien averaging a double-double per game, Green’s boys have already clinched a postseason bid and are on the doorstep of clinching back-to-back league championship titles. This week, for the first time this season, the Blue Knights found themselves thrust further into the limelight with a #16 ranking by the Boston Globe.

Green says the ranking has had little effect on his team’s “consciousness” and collectively, his boys have both feet on the ground, so to speak.

“We don’t concern ourselves with rankings,” Green said. “None at all.”

Even with wind-driven snows and this winter storm pounding down upon Sandwich from Farmersville Road to Sandy Neck over the past 24 hours, Green seemed concerned only with precisely when he could get his troops back into the gym for a workout.

There is a method to the coach’s madness, if you will.

If the Blue Knights can brag about anything this season, it likely would be its depth. In addition to Downes and O’Brien, junior Andrew Galanek has proven a formidable and gifted addition to the starting five, scoring 19 and 28 points in the last two games, respectively. Tack on fellow senior captain Scotty Reels, a nifty ball-handler who can take point from Downes at any moment and dish out assists as well as rain three’s from the outside, and you’ve got as powerful a basic starting lineup as any in the region. Add on either Dante Lambros (senior forward), Will Bennett (senior guard) or Mike Migliore (junior guard) to that fifth starting spot and it’s like a who’s who of potential double-digit scorers.

Rankings-be-darned, Sandwich Blue Knights boys basketball head coach Dennis Green says his boys are focused on one thing only: the next opponent. Sean Walsh/capecod.com sports

Rankings-be-darned, Sandwich Blue Knights boys’ basketball head coach Dennis Green says his boys are focused on one thing only: the next opponent.
Sean Walsh/capecod.com sports

For Green, though, the ranking means little. If the development of the Blue Knights’ depth is a measurement of success, well then that’s the litmus test he’ll take to gauge where the team is at “today,” not “tomorrow.”

“(We’re concerned with) just our next opponent,” Green said. “And you can quote me on that.”

Sean Walsh is the sports editor for capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm.

Editor’s note: Because there are so few high school gymnastics teams, the majority of state team ranking systems do not rank the sport the same way as hockey and basketball are ranked. Additionally, there are five Cape Cod wrestlers who are individually ranked, with Barnstable’s Owen Murray the #1-ranked heavyweight division wrestler in the state. This article does not intend to preclude those athletes from being deemed among the very best in the state. Defending Division 1 state champion Barnstable gymnastics remains unbeaten as of today and for all intents and purposes is deemed the number one team in the state and one of the top programs in New England. Lastly, while the Mashpee-Monomoy co-op boys ice hockey team remains undefeated (9-0), they, too, do not play at the same level as the aformentioned teams and while they are not ranked we do recognize them as being among the very best, regionally. It should also be noted that the Boston Herald’s Division 3 Basketball rankings were not included in this article. The Bourne High School boys’ basketball team (10-2) is ranked 3rd in Division 3 South by the Herald.

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