By Steev Riccardo

OXFORD -The Oxford Lady Pirates fell to the Tantasqua Warriors 42-31 in Southern Worcester County League play last Wednesday,  January 9.

Senior co-captain Caroline Bercier led the Pirates in scoring with 11 points and nine rebounds. Sophomore Callie Andrews added seven points, while senior Abbey Kyei, sophomore Evelyn Marquis, and senior Blair Reilly all had four points in the loss.

Photo caption: Alex Givins-Perry (#3) had 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Indians. Patriot staff photo.

by Steev Riccardo

OXFORD – The Bartlett Indians took control early and played solid two-way basketball and stifled the Oxford Pirates 90-73 in Southern Worcester County League action on Friday night in front of huge crowd in Oxford.

Sophomore Jacob Mailloux had a monster game for the Indians with 14 points and a career high 20 rebounds.  Not to be outdone, junior Alex Givins-Perry had 21 points and 10 rebounds, while senior co-captain Akeem Belnavis led all scorers with 26 points.

The Indians got off to a quick start and opened a 21-11 lead after one quarter led by Belnavis’ 8 points.

Text and photos by Steev Riccardo

Oxford – The Oxford Pirates girls basketball team may be a little short handed in the early season, but the players they are putting on the court are certainly holding their own.

Coming off a 6-14 season and the loss of their captain and leading scorer Lauren Puishys, the Pirates may be in a rebuilding phase, but you would never know it seeing the way they practice and the way they have started their season.

The Pirates lost their opener to Southbridge but bounced back with an impressive 58-29 win over David Prouty. What was even more impressive were some of the individual performances.

Defeat Prouty 74-61 for second win

By Steev Riccardo

OXFORD – The Oxford Pirates opened their season by putting their new offense on display in style, running and gunning past the Southbridge Pioneers 71-57 in front of the feisty home crowd in a Southern Worcester County league match-up.

The Pirates came out playing tenacious defense and bombing away as senior co-captains Donny Freeland and Tyler Barrie and Liam Pickett all hit early three-pointers, propelling the home team to a 26-8 first quarter lead.

Both team exchanged baskets throughout the second quarter, which was fine for the Pirates as they maintained an 18-point, 41-23 lead at the half.

Freeland and fellow senior co-captain and point guard Mike James continued their backcourt dominance and the Pirates cruised in the second half and had their first win of the season in the bag.

OXFORD – The season may not have ended on the best note last year for the Oxford Pirates boys basketball team, suffering a blowout loss to a very good Quabbin team, but with several of those players returning it may have been the motivation that they needed.

Despite that loss, head coach Sean Halloran and the Pirates were pretty happy with their accomplishments of a year ago, finishing 12-10.  For one, it was supposed to be a rebuilding season, and secondly, they lost their best defender Donny Freeland, who was injured the last few weeks of the season, which could have made a big difference in the Quabbin game.

Oxford/Webster Youth Football and Cheer completed a very successful inaugural season with the 12 U cheering squad qualifying for the Nationals in Florida. "This is a huge accomplishment for ANY cheer squad, but for our girls to have worked as hard as they did and go THIS FAR in their first season is truly exceptional," said Krista Lewis, director of fundraising for the program.

10:00 Oxford High School field, Oxford MA

The Facts: 2012 Records: Oxford 1-9, Auburn 10-0
Last year: Auburn 41-7

By Steev Riccardo

OXFORD – To say that the Oxford Pirates have their work cut out for them in their Thanksgiving morning match-up with the undefeated, #1 ranked team in Central Mass, Auburn Rockets, could be an understatement. 

At this point in time, is there a team in Central Mass that could beat the Rockets? Unbeatable all season, only one team scored more than 7 points against them, and that was St. Peter-Marian whom they beat 34-22.

Despite all the hype and the fact that the Pirates are huge underdogs, a game will be played, and first year head coach Mike Adams and the Pirates plan on playing like they have played every other game this season: “hard.”

The 1-9 Pirates have been rebuilding while playing one of the toughest schedules in Central Mass, and they see this contest as business as usual. Auburn is their next door neighbor and arch-rival, so there is a lot of tradition and pride on the line.

“The Thanksgiving game when I was younger didn't really mean much to me,” said senior co-captain Tyler Barrie, who will be playing in his last high school football game, “but now that I'm older, I understand the rivalry.”

To Barrie, the records don’t matter, and he knows his teammates have no fear about playing the Rockets. “My teammates know how good Auburn is. They're much stronger and faster than us, but Thanksgiving is a day of upsets and anything is possible. It's going to be a tough game for us, but we have to give it everything we've got”.

“Even though we're not projected to be even close to winning, people will still come out to watch the game with their families just to have a good time. The best part of thanksgiving day is the football,” said Barrie. 

“As a school, staff, and player perspective, we are really excited about this day,” said Adams. “We know we have a tough opponent on Thanksgiving and we are preparing to have an exciting game.”

“We have been working hard and preparing ourselves in order to battle Thursday. It is a big day and rivalry here, and we are looking forward to pulling together for an all out effort against Auburn. We look forward to sending off our senior class with a great game and great atmosphere.”

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See playoff bid slip away

By Steev Riccardo

OXFORD – The Oxford Pirates lost a couple of key games last week to Millbury and Northbridge that essentially ended their bid to make the district playoffs.

The 5-10-2 Pirates fell to an excellent Millbury Woolies team 6-1 at home on Monday.  Central Mass leading scorer Emily Dawidczyk scored the lone goal in the loss for the Pirates.

Later in the week, they were beaten by one of the elite teams in Central Mass, the Northbridge Rams, 3-1 in a battle that was close throughout. Once again, Dawidczyk tallied the only score for the Pirates.

The Pirates were the victims of a tough schedule the last few weeks having to play Northbridge twice, Leicester, and Millbury, all playoff teams.

Despite the fact that the Pirates will lose six players to graduation including co-captains Dawidczyk, Gina Manzi, and Dominique Lesieur and key defender Blair Reilly, they have a good solid foundation of young players in place that bodes well for their future.

For more on Oxford girls soccer and other high school sports, check out View From The Sidelines every week in the Patriot and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ViewFromTheSidelines or contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with your feedback and comments.

The Oxford Pirates fell to the Northbridge Rams 33-0 in Southern Worcester County League action on Friday night.

The 1-6 Pirates will host the Shepherd Hill Rams this Friday, November 2. 
 

Coach Mike Adams giving instruction to Liam Pickett

Text and photo by Steev Riccardo

Fiskdale – The Oxford Pirates ran into a very good Tantasqua Warriors team last Saturday afternoon and paid the price in a 38-0 loss.

The Warriors scored two quick touchdowns in the first four minutes and opened a 14-0 lead and from that point on the Pirates were forced to play catch up. They had their chances to get back in the game but couldn’t get in the end zone when they had to.

Senior Mike Faucher recovered a Warrior fumble late in the first quarter during a punt return and the Pirates had a chance to get back in the game.

On second down, senior quarterback Liam Pickett connected on a 39- yard pass play with Tyler Barrie giving the Pirates excellent field position on the Warrior 29-yard line. Unfortunately, the Pirates could not muster a first down and had to give the ball back on downs.

The Warriors fumbled again on their next possession and Alex Ton made the recovery on the 33-yard line.

Two consecutive big ground gains by Zack Gorczynski (24 yards) and Matt Faucher (29 yards) put the Pirates deep in Warrior territory. This time they failed to get inside the end zone for inside the ten-yard line on four consecutive tries.

The Pirates forced a third turnover when Gorczynski picked off a pass with 4:16 left in the first half.  Despite two huge plays by Barrie, one a 13-yard run and the other a 25-yard reception on a pass from Matt Faucher, the Pirates were stalled once again. This time Matt Faucher missed a 37-yard field goal.

On the next play, the Warriors connected on a 73-yard pass play with 12 seconds left in the half and took a 21-0 lead, which they extended in the second half while holding the Pirates scoreless.

The 0-4 Pirates will travel to Westford to take on Nashoba Valley Tech next Friday night in search of their first win of the year.

Read more about the Oxford Pirates and high school football in the View From The Sidelines column published every week in The Patriot and contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with feedback and comments.