JV A&B Soccer teams enjoy successful seasons

JV-A SOCCER

The JV boys of Wilmington also enjoyed successful seasons this fall. Starting with soccer, both the JV and JVB squads saw great improvement over their respective intertwined seasons.

Leading with JV soccer, their 2-1-12 record doesn’t tell the whole story for head coach Chris Grecco, who has completed his first coaching season.

“Being one of the smallest schools in the Middlesex league, it is always an uphill battle every game,” admitted Grecco. “The main goal of a Junior Varsity team is not to win every game, it is to compete every game and continuously get better, and there is no doubt in my mind that every last kid achieved that goal.”

In a season with many losses on the scoreboard, Grecco recalls a few performances and moments that might go unnoticed when just looking at the score.

“Ashvin Baker scoring two goals in a half against Stoneham, an incredible team performance from everyone in a win against Tewksbury, and Tyler Marinho's performance in goal in a win against Woburn where he miraculously saved a penalty and kept a clean sheet (were two great moments),” recalled Grecco.

The Wildcats also saw solid defensive play all season from both squads from sophomore Shivy Purohit, freshman Jon Mehr, sophomore Ethan Schoenholtz, freshman Owen Fitzpatrick, sophomore Brady McLaughlin, sophomore Derek Sun, freshman Dylan Grace, sophomore Zach Guyette, junior Dennis De Souza, freshman Vinny Vindice, freshman Ryan Belanger, freshman Joseph Glazer, and freshman Giovanni Aliperta Sophomore goalkeeper Tyler Marinho and freshman goalkeeper Nick Spinosa also impressed.

Attackmen and midfielders for the Wildcats from both teams included sophomore Ashvin Baker, sophomore Tyler Florencio, sophomore Ryan Muise, sophomore Cam Jenks, freshman Roman Synnott, freshman Vijay Cudia, freshman Chase Heffernan, and junior Michael McCarthy.

With the development and progress of each kid this season, Grecco is excited for what the future holds for the soccer program.

“We're trying to get kids ready to play at the Varsity level and I am certainly excited about the future, despite what the record might show,” said Grecco. “The resilience and strength of every single kid on both Coach Constantino’s and my team was quite evident from the beginning.”

Because there is a JVA team as well as a JVB team with only 24 players between the two, many players were regularly playing and practicing with both teams. Grecco is proud of how his players handled those situations.

“To successfully navigate two different seasons between JVA and JVB, with only 24 players between us, with no major injuries or complaints was an accomplishment in of itself and every single kid should feel incredibly proud that they were able to help both teams immensely, whether playing four games a week for two different teams or practicing with both teams,” said Grecco. 

“Overall it was an incredibly enjoyable season and I hope the kids had as much fun as I did. I am honored to be able to have had this group for my first season coaching high school soccer,” said Grecco.

JV-B SOCCER

The JVB team had a very similar record at 2-9-1 under similar circumstances. The two teams acted as one cohesive unit, with almost all of the players juggling between both teams.

For JVB head coach Jared Constantino, he definitely acknowledged that challenge, as did JVA coach Grecco.

“It was challenging fielding teams between (the two). A lot of times the JVA and JVB if (they) had multiple games a week some of these kids were playing four games a week,” said Constantino. “So it was tough trying to find a balance with that and to make sure the kids were getting enough recovery time and then we also needed to put a roster on the field and play competitively as much as we could too.”

That roster was constantly changing, but there were some players who stood out during their time on JVB, including freshmen newcomer Joe Glaser.

“Joe Glaser came into the season about two or three weeks into the season and was definitely a big help when we got him back,” said Constantino. “He came off an injury when he was a freshman (and he was good for us.)”

Jon Mehr, Owen Fitzpatrick, and Roman Synnott, also members of the JVA team, also played well during their stints on JVB.

Despite the challenges that come with low numbers, Constantino recalled a few games that he thought represented themselves the best.

“We had a good win against Wakefield and Burlington (and) they were both awesome games. We were supposed to play Wakefield a second time and the game got canceled, which I know Wakefield was looking forward to playing us (again) because I know they thought that they were on the short end of that (previous loss),” said Constantino.

In a 4-4 tie against Woburn, Joe Glaser scored all four tallies for the Wildcats, standing out as a memorable performance to Constantino.

“We had a great tie against Woburn, who from my understanding historically has always been on the winning side of that,” said Constantino.

Through the ups and downs of the season, Constantino is proud of the way the kids handled it.

“We had some challenging games as well, but the kids never really gave up. There’s a lot of improvement from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. “The Middlesex is a tough league so to squeeze out a couple wins (and) to get a good tie against Woburn it was definitely a productive season, said Constantino.

Looking ahead to next season, both Constantino and Grecco look forward to seeing what some of their players can do on the varsity team.

“(Most of these kids were) Coming from eighth grade (and) playing high school is definitely a big jump up physically and the speed of the game, it’s a big jump up,” admitted Constantino. “There’s fourteen seniors graduating from the varsity squad, so a lot of these guys coming in as freshman and sophomores this year are going to be playing on the varsity squad next year.”

JV FOOTBALL

Finishing up with football, the theme remains. Their season concluded with a 2-8-1 record, but head coach Sean Turner is optimistic about what these kids are going to accomplish as they continue their football career at Wilmington High School.

The Junior Varsity squad was mostly freshman, and some injury trouble along the way caused for an up and down season. Wilmington was still able to string wins against Arlington Catholic and Watertown and posted a tie against Winchester.

Coach Turner was most proud of the team’s efforts in the matchup against Watertown.

“Their best game of the season came against Watertown when the team was able to put a complete effort on the field to take a 32-0 win. Every member contributed to the win, with touchdowns from Kenny Branley, (who had) two touchdown catches, as well as a touchdown run from Jacob MacCauley,” said Turner. 

Along with MacCauley and Branley, the Wildcat offense was led by freshman quarterback Colin Allard, running back Gus Lambert, and a receiving core including Kyle Gabaree, Cam Perierra, Luke DiProfio and Zach Tran.

Turner also had praise for his offensive line and the improvement they made over the course of the season. 

“The Offensive Line was also young, but showed vast improvement as the year went on,” said Turner. “Justin Memory, Uriel Hernandez, Kurtis Powers, Jonas Arulraj, and Luke Cushing were key contributors up front. With that group, the team was able to move the ball well, leading to a 16-8 win against Arlington Catholic, and a 32-0 win against Watertown.” 

On the other side of the ball, the defensive line was led by Vasili Meimaris, Adam Veliz, Jonas Arulraj, and Max Tobin. Colin Dwyer and Kenny Branley at linebacker also fueled the Wildcats on defense, coming up big in the tie against Winchester.

“Defensively they tackled well and had all eleven members of the defense to the ball all day,” said Turner on the Winchester tie. “They also showed good team chemistry in tough losses to a tough Billerica squad and in a close loss against Burlington both by a touchdown.”

Other key contributors for the Wildcats included Josh Burton and Matt Driscoll.

“With the season ending for the JV Team, all members will be looking to make an impact for Varsity next year, with a great amount of talent and added experience against older competition in the books,” said Turner.