Boys Track at Nationals

Competing in this weekends New Balance Indoor Track Nationals at the Armory in New York City on Friday were seniors Trevor Dutton and Joe Hoffman, junior David Taranto, and freshman Gabe Arcaro.


Dutton, running in the 800 meters, was 40th in 2:03.79.

Taranto, running in the mile with only one shoe after having one knocked off on the second lap, finished  22nd in 4:29.82.

Joe Hoffman was 9th in the shot put at 48' 11.5", missing the finals by one inch.

Gabe Arcaro was 15th in the 25 pound weight throw with a mark of 49' 7.25"

Tournament Update by Jaime Gweshe

Boys Varsity Basketball and Hockey

Saturday was a busy night for Burlington High athletics; both the Varsity boys hockey team and basketball team had Tournament games. For the boys of the hockey team, their season ended, however for the Burlington basketball season, their season is just starting to heat up.

On the basketball court, the Burlington Red Devils pushed past Boston Latin on Saturday night with a commanding 64-54 victory as well as secured themselves a spot in the Division 2 North Semifinals.

In the first quarter, junior Greg Sheridan scored eight points and fellow guard Ryan Putney had four points, by the end of the quarter Burlington posted a 17-10 lead over Boston Latin. Burlington was able to keep control of the pace of the game and showed great defensive coverage to be up 38-33 by the halftime.

The second half saw fairly low scoring by both Boston Latin as well as Burlington. In the third quarter Putney led the team in points with 7. In the third quarter it was once again Sheridan who led offensively alongside Putney. Both Putney and Sheridan each had 21 points on the night. With Mark Melanson, Shane Farley and Christian Morneweck, as well as the rest of the Devils team playing well, Burlington was able to keep Boston Latin at bay and come out with the win. Burlington will face Brighton on Thursday night.

On the rink Burlington suffered a 5-2 loss against St. Mary’s, ending their season. Things were looking good for the Devils heading into the second period. They had physically dominated the first period and held a 1-0 lead over their rivals. A little over five minuets into the second also gave Burlington what would be it’s largest lead of the night when Joe Berardi found the back of the net to put Burlington up 2-0.

However, Burlington’s intensity came crashing down after a power-pay goal by St. Mary’s. The Spartans quickly scored two more goals within ten seconds of each other to take the lead and the momentum away from the Devils. Goals by Derek Stella and Tim Aylward in the third period put the game out of reach for Burlington, and the Spartans closed the book on Burlington’s season.

In the opening period the Devil’s were fighting to win, with an unmatched level of intensity, emotion and determination. Burlington lit the lamp first with a goal by Junior Dan McMahon. McMahon got the wrap-around goal at 3:03, backhanding the puck into the net to give Burlington a 1-0 lead.

Going into the second period Burlington got deep into the attacking zone early and keep the momentum and intensity swinging in its favor. Brian Hood was able to score through heavy traffic in front of the net to tack on a second goal.

Tables rapidly turned for the Devils when Nikko Markham scored a power-play goal six minuets into the second period. Julian Yourawski followed this goal up with another one a minuet and a half later. Ten seconds after Yourawski’s goal, Brendan Mageary put the puck in the back of the net to give the Spartans the final 3-2 lead over the Devils.

“It’s been the story of our season,” said coach Bob Conceison, “Giving up quick back-to-back goals has been an issue with this team throughout the whole season.”

In the third period, the Spartans continued to pressure Burlington’s defense; Derek Stella scored at 4:18 and then it was Tim Aylward who put the game out of hand for Burlington with his goal at 13:12 giving St. Mary’s its last goal in a decisive 5-3 victory.

It was the last game in a Burlington uniform for captains Joey Centrella, Shane Matthews, and Chris Irwin, as well as for seniors Kyle Crowley, Mike Grinnell, Chris Rolli, Chris Theriault, P.J. Vigneau, and Justin Bonia.

In all Burlington will lose nine players, including top goal scorers Chris Irwin who had 24 points and senior Kyle Crowley who had 12 goals on the season, but Burlington’s future looks bright, as they will bring back all but two of their defensemen as well as top goal scorers and playmakers Brett Rompkey, Brian Hood, Joe Berardi, RJ Caruso, and Adam Crowley. They will also bring back two solid goaltenders in Nick DeSimone and Derek DeCastro.

MIAA Tournament Update

The Boys Hockey team played St. Mary's on Saturday, March 5th at the Joyce Rink in Quarter Final play.  The boys played hard and strong succumbing to St. Mary's with a final score of 5 - 2.   Thank you coaches and players for a great season.


The Boys Basketball team played Boston Latin Academy at home on Saturday, March 5th.  They were victorious over them with a final score of 64 - 54.  The Boys will move on to Semi-Final play time and location to be determined.  We will be supplying a free fan bus to support the team.   Congratulations to the players and coaches.

MIAA Division 3 State Boys Track Championship

Twenty members of the boys track team competed on Saturday at the MIAA Division 3 State Championship securing 23 points and a sixth place finish in the 60 team field.


Burlington’s first three competitors in the meet broke school records. In the mile, junior David Taranto ran in a pack of athletes finishing fourth in 4:22.68, less than two seconds out of first place and two seconds better than Kevin Sullivan’s 29-year-old record.

Junior Gideon Kasirye shaved another half second off his school record in the 600 meters with a time of 1:26.03. Junior Takunda Muzembe improved on his 20th seed with a third place finish at 20’ 11” breaking assistant coach Dan Indingaro’s school record. With Kevin Sullivan in attendance for the meet, all three school records were broken with the previous record holders in attendance.

Senior Trevor Dutton ran more than five seconds quicker than he ever had in the 1000 meters as he clocked in at 2:38.71 for an 8th place medal. Sophomore Mark Steinback also ran his best race ever, finishing in 2:45.72 for 19th.

Senior David Perloff ran the two mile in 10:11.56 for 18th place. Senior Jake Rosenberg was 21st in the 55-meter hurdles at 8.60 seconds. Junior Bobby Bonetti competed in the high jump. Senior Joe Hoffman was third in the shot put at 47’ 0.25” and junior Nico Blasé was 14th at 42’ 3”.

In the dash, Burlington had two underclassmen. Junior Dan McDermott, competing for the first time in weeks following a hamstring injury finished in 12th in 6.96 seconds and sophomore Ev Guerrier was 17th in 7.04 seconds.

Burlington fielded teams in all three relays with the 4 x 800 team securing a medal. Dutton, Kasirye, and Taranto were joined by sophomore Christos Saledas for a 4th place finish in 8:29.68. In the 4 x 200, Guerrier, and juniors Matt Corsino, Nick Ciardi, and Tad Pierre-Louis were tenth in 1:39.10. In the 4 x 400, juniors Chris Cao and Rick Landry along with seniors Tanishq Bhalla and Eric Minghella clocked in at 3:48.93.

Muzember (long jump), Hoffman (shot put), and Taranto (mile) move on to this Saturday’s All-State Championships at the Reggie Lewis Track in Boston.

Boys Hockey Tournament Play

The Red Devils are on to the next one

By Jaime Gweshe

During the playoffs in order to win, a team must show a high level of intensity, determination, grit, skill, and raw natural talent in order to move forwards in the competition. The boys of the Burlington Red Devils hockey team showed just that Wednesday night in a 3-1 victory over Andover.

“We came out hard,” said Chris Irwin, “the first five or six minuets we were all over them and I think that just set the momentum for the game for us. We knew that we could play these guys and we just had to do it.”

Burlington dominated Andover early in the first period by keeping the puck in the attacking zone and successfully battling for the puck in the neutral zone. With a strong blue line, the Devil’s were firing on all cylinders. Burlington’s Brett Rompkey lit the lamp for the first goal of the game sliding the puck low stick side past Andover’s Justin Berthiaume for the lead.

Goaltender Derek DeCastro was also playing at his best. DeCastro had three huge saves for Burlington with five minuets remaining in the period. This included a rebound attempt he saved by kicking the puck towards the neutral zone with his left skate. But his best save of the night came with 10 seconds left in the opening period.

Brian Hood scored Burlington’s second goal of the night to give Burlington the 2-0 lead in the opening minuets of the second period. This was the second goal for the third line and it was the second assist of the night for sophomore Joe Berardi.

“We started our third line today and I think they played their hearts out,” said senior Kyle Crowley, “They set the tone right away and everybody followed.”

Burlington had a tough time keeping out of the penalty box in the second period, spending a total of 4:22 on the penalty kill. During their last penalty kill of the period, Andover finally capitalized on one of the man advantage. Jimmy Burns tipped in a soft shot that managed to trickle past DeCastro to give Andover what would be it’s only goal of the night.

A face-off win in Burlington’s defensive zone in the third period helped the Devils get back into the swing of things. Trevor Cimino led an up ice rush right off of the face off win. Kyle Crowley got the pass from Cimino in the attacking zone and put the puck in back of the net to give Burlington what would be the last goal of the night, securing a 3-1 victory.

“It was great vision on Cimino’s part,” said Crowley, “the average high school hockey player doesn’t make those kinds of plays, he chipped that puck past the defensemen and I was just thinking five hole all the way and I just threw the puck on net and when you throw the puck on net good things happen.”

Looking forward to Saturday’s game against St. Mary’s Burlington knows that they need to play at their best in order to get the win, something they are perfectly capable of doing with a strong offensive, defensive and goaltending core.

“We’re ready for them,” said captain Joey Centrella, “and we are going to be firing just because of last year especially. We are up to the challenge.”

For returning players it is a chance to exact some revenge on the team that kicked them out of the playoff sport last year. And the seniors are fighting to continue their high school hockey-playing career.

“I always say to the seniors, ‘how do you want to be remembered as a Burlington High hockey player?” said captain Chris Irwin after the game, “This is it, we have to play like its our last shift, every shift. If you take one shift off they could score and then your season is over. Leave everything on the ice and have no regrets, we just have to play as hard as we can.”

Red Devil of the Week for Week Ending February 20, 2011

Congratulations to

David Taranto

Gideon Kasirye

Takunda Muzembe

Indoor Track

David, Gideon and Takunda all broke school records at the MIAA Division 3 Championship.  Kasirye bettered his own time in the 600 at 1:26.03.  Muzembe beat Assistant Coach Dan Indingaro's 2006 long jump record at 20'11".  Taranto beat Kevin Sullivan's 1982 mile record at 4:22.68.