WRENTHAM — Next week, the Capital Grille!
Coach Darrel Cox and the Pentucket boys cross country team had the time of their lives at Fuddruckers in Reading, celebrating another championship.
This was big ... the Eastern Mass. Division 5 title.
"If we win (Division 2) All-States, we'll go to some place real nice," said Cox.
The boys deserve wherever they want to go after what Cox called "the highlight of my career, absolutely."
Cox is in his 13th year at Pentucket and "about his 23rd year" as a cross country coach overall.
Pentucket outdueled Norwell by a wafer-thin 3-point margin (83-86) with Cape Ann League rival Triton in third (114 points).
Norwell went 1-2 over the 3.1-mile Wrentham Development Center course. But after the big 2 of Steven O'Driscoll (16:14.51) and Andrew Corbett (16:19.77), the Clippers couldn't match the Sachems' depth and balance.
The five scorers were: 3. Peter Lopatta 16:22.45, 7. Sam Stys 16:34.70, 12. Nick Murphy 16:51.87, 30. David Gangemi 17:27.40, 31. Colin Costa 17:28.37
Cox (or the Pentucket Boosters) had better be saving up because this group could be eating a lot of celebratory meals in the upcoming years. Lopata, Stys and Gangemi are sophomores and Costa is a freshman. Murphy is a senior but the 31st and 32nd runners in the 165-runner/24-team field were Sachem juniors Will Coppola (17:31.00) and Anthony Accardi (17:31.21).
Eagle-Tribune records reveal the Sachem boys last won an EMass title a quarter century ago. That was the EMass. D4 championship team in 1992. Back then there were only four divisions.
Cox gave special kudos to Stys and Murphy.
Stys had placed sixth at the Cape Ann League meet (although the CAL is a terrific cross country league) and now took seventh in a major EMass. meet.
"Sam ran the race of his life," said Cox. "The sixth in the league was the second best of his life."
As for Murphy, Cox said, "Nick sacrificed in the early-season races. He was clear-cut No. 1. He'd stay back and run with them (the younger runners) and give them more and more confidence. He's not downtrodden. He's happy for them."
Next week the D2 State Meet is back in Wrentham.
Coach, bring your wallet.
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