Lowell defends, Andover tracks down first

Lowell faced a lot of pressure from teams trying to knock the defending Division 1 track state champion off the podium.

SCHOOLS

Unfortunately for those teams, they will need to wait another year as the Red Raiders used a mid-meet rally to clip the field, clinching its second consecutive indoor title and third since 2013 with a 65-point performance.

“The kids, they came here to win,” coach Scott Ouelett said. “You can even tell on the bus ride down it was a lot different. Most of the bus rides, these guys are singing and yelling at each other … this bus ride was very focused and very quiet. I had a good feeling about that.”

Lowell wasted no time getting started as Richmond Kwaateng took the 55-meter dash with his time of 6:40, but did not put another athlete on the podium until midway through the meet.

Lowell received a nice boost in the shot put as Ben Kyeremeh (52-4) and Brian Callery (51-10½) finished 1-2, catapulting the team to the top of the leaderboard.

With control of the top spot, the Red Raiders finished strong as David Ajama secured the state title for his team when the senior cleared 6-8 in the high jump.

Lowell nearly made it a sweep as the girls held the top of the leaderboard for most of the day, but Andover used a late push to sneak to its first Div. 1 state championship for indoor track and field.

“I’m so excited,” said coach Peter Comeau, holding his pre-made state championship shirts. “We have been very fortunate at Andover high, we have won a lot of state championships in the last 15 years. We finally got our first indoor divisional.”

After 11 events, Andover and Lowell were knotted at 43 points apiece. But thanks to a late rally in the relays, the Warriors netted 26 of the available 30 points to boost the team to its first indoor title.

The Warriors finished second in the 4x800 with the time of 9:37.98. In the 4x400, the final event of the night, the team finished it off in style, topping the podium with a time of 4:02.88.

Freshman Jodi Parrott was an unsung hero throughout for Andover as she collected 20 points by herself, winning the high jump (5-2) and finishing third for the long jump (17-5¾).

Acton-Boxboro’s Adam Yang made his presence known. Shortly after winning the 55-meter hurdles (6.40), Yang went to the sand pit for another championship effort, popping off a long jump of 24-2 to break a meet record that stood since 2004.

Yang, on his birthday no less, also ran the second leg of the winning 4x200 team as Acton-Boxboro (1:30.56) edged Brockton (1:30.77).

Boys basketball

Newton North’s suffocating defense severely stymied BC High, holding the Eagles to just one point in the second quarter and without a field goal for the final 12 minutes of the first half to roll to a 5027 nonleague win.

The stellar defensive showing was nothing new for Newton North (16-4), which held an opponent under 50 points for the 15th time this season.

“Our defense is what we rest our hat on and the offense will come and it does for us,” said Newton North coach Paul Connolly. “We’re not scoring 75 points, so we got to do it on the defensive end and we’ve really been doing that.”

Khalil Lofton netted all of his game-high 13 points in the second half as the Tigers notched their seventh consecutive win.

Hanover avenged an early season loss to Scituate in a 7161 victory to capture the Patriot League Fisher Division title. On Senior Night, James Clarkson was dominant for the Indians (17-3) in the fourth quarter with 10 of his 18 points down the stretch.

Patrick Damon led Hanover with 20 points while Jack Poirier scored 22 for the Sailors, including his 1000th career point.

Juan Salas poured in 22 points, while Tyese Marshall added 19 to help catapult New Mission (15-3) to the Boston City League semifinals with a thrilling 71-69 overtime victory over Burke. Levar Williams had a gamehigh 36 points in the loss for the Bulldogs (13-6).