Four Cape Cod high school sports teams have brought back state championships this fall.
And students in Mashpee, Falmouth, Barnstable and at Nauset Regional are buzzing about the big wins.
Falmouth Superintendent Nancy Taylor called it “walking on air,” while Mashpee’s Patricia DeBoer said there’s “a rebounding effect in school culture.”
Mashpee Division 4 football and Falmouth Division 2A football both defeated opposing teams 34-13, Mashpee for their second consecutive Super Bowl win.
Both superintendents said they were immensely proud of their teams. But Falmouth’s Nancy Taylor noted something admirable in Mashpee’s team.
“I was very proud to see Mashpee’s team wish ours good luck on the field at Gillette,” she said. “It is representative of great sportsmanship and respect for the dedication it takes to get this far.”
Students from both schools flocked in big numbers to Foxboro for the high school Super Bowls, something their superintendents said was, in itself, a sign of great community spirit and dedication.
What those spectators might not have seen, however, is their team shake hands with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
Nauset High School’s Athletic Director John Mattison said the Warriors boys soccer team, which captured their first Div. 2 state title since 1979, will close the semester full of excitement.
In winning that title, they’re also breaking another record for the entire school: it’s the first state championship win for any Nauset Regional sports team since the late 90s. Mattison said a motorcade of supportive townspeople followed the returning team’s bus as it drove through town the night of the win, ending at the school gym with a congratulatory ceremony.
Meanwhile, Barnstable’s powerhouse girls’ volleyball experienced a different kind of pride.
The team has won 18 state championships, a figure which ranks them as one of the best in the nation. That drive to succeed so often makes joining athletics teams a coveted role throughout the student body.
According to athletic director Scott Thomas, those girls have trained for most of their lives to get where they are today, having enrolled in sports camps and other forms of training from a young age.
This sense of commitment is just part of the legacy of a team from which victory is almost an expectation.
“Without sounding cocky, I have to say that every championship is well-represented by our student body because the sense of attention to detail and skill development makes these girls role models,” Thomas said.
Most of these schools’ athletes were the recipients of celebration from outside of the school. Just like Nauset players received a motorcade, the football teams in Mashpee and Falmouth also were the subjects of fanfare throughout their respective towns.
Taylor described the joy of seeing her student players come home from Gillette, welcomed by a police escort through Main Street leading to a tree-lighting ceremony where they received more applause from a crowd.
Overall, it seems that these feats have brought home more than just another trophy – they have brought whole communities closer together.
By CapeCod.com Staff
