Eastbayri.com

BOURNE — The Dighton-Rehoboth/Seekonk High School hockey sextet closed to within one win of earning the first Division Three South Sectional playoff bid in the still brief history of the program as the Falcons skated to a 9-5 victory over host Wareham Wednesday night, Feb. 1, in a South Coast Conference contest played at the Gallo Arena.

D-R/Seekonk improved to 9-5-0 overall and 4-4 in the SCC with the victory. The Falcons can punch their first-ever postseason ticket with a victory over Cape Cod Tech Saturday afternoon, Feb. 4, in Fall River at Driscoll Arena.

“These kids have a great opportunity to be the first team in the history of the program to make states. Now they have to go out there and take advantage of it,” said Falcons’ head coach Ryan Cordeiro, who has been at the helm of D-R/Seekonk for each of its three years of existence.

The Falcons reached the cusp of qualification Wednesday in a game that started out even, became a laugher then turned back into a bit of a contest.

Wareham scored the game first goal before Joey Given, who finished with a hat-trick, equalized for the locals off an assist from Josh St. Laurent. D-R/Seekonk went on top for keeps on Tyler Poland’s first of the night from Adam Ferreira and Kyle Blythe.

The Falcons then broke open in the contest during a six-goal frenzy in the second period. Ferreira got the Falcons rolling with his goal from R.J. Soares and Poland. Poland, in turn, scored from Blythe and Given. Curtis Letourneau got in on the action, scoring from Poland and Ferreira. Given netted his second, unassisted. Blythe found the net from Given and Brandon Botelho. Nick Soares ended the onslaught and gave the locals an 8-2 lead when scored from Ferreira and Poland.

The Vikings didn’t got down quietly, scoring three unanswered goals early in the third period to cut their deficit to three. The Falcons, however, settled in and eventually sealed the victory as Given completed his trick by scoring an empty netter from Poland and Soares.

Freshman keeper Jake Robitaille, manning the pipes for ill starter Jake Roy, picked up the win in goal for the locals on 20 saves.

“We had a good first two periods. The first period was pretty even then we came out and played awesome in the second period. We buried just about all our chances. In the third period, we got a little complacent, but we finally got act together and got back to playing the way we’re supposed to,” Cordeiro added.

For the season, Ferreira increased his team-best points total to 35 on 11 goals and 24 assists. Poland upped his impressive freshman year points total to 33. Ferreira, Poland and Letourneau (22 points) share the team lead in goals scored with 11. Given’s hat-trick gave him nine goals for the season and he now has 23 points total.

SHS boys' indoor track loses

In New Bedford Wednesday, the Seekonk High School boys’ indoor track and field team ended its South Coast Conference dual meet regular season schedule with a 65-21 loss to Old Rochester at Voc’s Janiak Fieldhouse.

The Warriors managed just two individual event victories. Dan Mendes won the 600-meter race in a time of 1 minute, 35 seconds. Nate Robitaille, coming off a third-place finish at the MSTCA Elite Meet Sunday, threw a season and personal-best distance of 53 feet, 5.25 inches in the winning the shotput.

Seekonk also received three second-place performances. Andrew Montijo shared second behind Mendes in the 600. Bryan Salit clocked a 2:52.5 to place runner-up in the 1,000. And Isiah Wooden finished second in the 300 with a 40.3.

Third-place finishes for the locals came from Brendan Mullen (10:52.9) in the two-mile, Tim Salit (2:56.5) in the 1,000 and Matt Salit in the mile.

The Warriors finished their SCC duals slate with a 3-5 record and went 4-5 overall. Seekonk’s underclassmen next compete in the Janiak Freshmen/Sophomore Meet Saturday morning, Feb. 4, back in New Bedford at 9:30 a.m.