Chilly night in Dudley

Shepherd Hill's Emily Bagley. More photos follow.

Text and photos by Steev Riccardo

Greeting Sports fans!

We had another outstanding week in local sports highlighted by the Shepherd Hill Rams’ win over the Bartlett Indians in football this past weekend. If you weren’t there you missed out on one heck of a chilly night in Dudley. It was cold out there for an October night, but probably a lot colder on the bus ride home for the Indians than it was for the Rams.

This week the place to be will be Auburn high school on Thursday night when the Shepherd Hill soccer girls look to break the Rockets 30-something unbeaten streak.

The View’s Top 5 performers of the week:

1 Jake Gelb, Shepherd Hill Football:  Jake Gelb scored on a 47-yard run in the third quarter to put the game out of reach in the Rams 40-14 win over Bartlett.  Gelb has been playing well all year for the Rams.

2 Matt Faucher, Oxford Football: Sophomore quarterback Matt Faucher, who has played big all season for the Pirates, had a huge game leading his team to their first win of the season and the first win for head coach Mike Adams.

3 Gerald Davis, Oxford Golf:  Gerald Davis earned an invitation to the Division 2 District playoffs this week.

4 Jen Green, Julie Preissler, and the Shepherd Hill volleyball team: The Rams have been outstanding this season and are looking like one of the teams to beat this year in the Districts. They took care of Whitinsville Christian this week to improve to 11-1.

5 Nichols Bison Football:  Kevin Loney and his Nichols Bison football team snapped a 17- game losing streak on Saturday, defeating UMass-Dartmouth 26-16. It was also Loney’s first victory as head coach of the Bison.

Emily Bagley (photo above): Shepherd Hill senior Emily Bagley was a three-sport (soccer, basketball, softball) star athlete at Shepherd Hill until a series of concussions curtailed her soccer and basketball careers.

She is now relegated to playing only softball. She still remains very active with her teams.

Bagley can now be seen working on the sidelines for the Rams soccer team as an assistant trainer to Jay Giroux, who recruited her once she became unable to compete any longer.

She suffered the first concussion when she tore her retina in a soccer injury when she was only a freshman. She calls her sophomore year “a big blur” and was forced to start seeing a sports psychologist. 

Bagley received another concussion in a basketball game when she was the varsity team’s starting point guard and was hit in the jaw in a game against Auburn.

“It was really tough for me and I started suffering from depression. When I came back the deal was that if I got one more concussion, then I couldn’t play any more contact sports. During my junior year I was playing (goal) keeper and I came out on a breakaway and the girl missed the ball and kicked me in the head and I had a very large bump. I was taken out in an ambulance and I couldn’t walk.”

“That is when I was told to stop sports overall but that was too tough for me and that is when my mom and I came up with the agreement that I would no longer play any contact sports.”

“It was tough watching the girls play soccer at the beginning but you have to get through it and think positively”. 
She will be playing second base this spring for the Rams and hopes to attend Southern Vermont College next fall and study to be an X-ray Technician.

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Don Cushing: It was great as usual to see Don “Cuffy“ Cushing, who was refereeing the Bartlett-Southbridge soccer game last week.

The legendary hoop coach was eager to talk about former St. Joseph’s and current Bartlett sophomore Jacob Mailoux, who at 6’4” will be a welcome addition to the Indians frontcourt this winter. 

Of course I initiated the conversation, being enamored with the Indians front line this season which will also include Akeem Belnavis and Alex Givens-Perry, but hearing the hall of fame coach agree with me only justified my thought process.

John Zablocki: Stay tuned for some upcoming news on some boxing in Webster in November from professional boxing referee local John Zablocki. We ran into “Zab” on the sidelines of the football game on Friday and the Shepherd Hill grad is excited about the upcoming bill. He is also excited about seeing his daughter Jordan play hoop for the Rams this winter!

Anne Marie Markewicz (above): It has been a great rookie season for Bartlett freshman Anne Marie Markewicz on the soccer field. People are still talking about her great performance against Oxford’s Emily Dawidczyk earlier this year.

Lindsay Bond: It was nice seeing Lindsay Bond, who was with her cousin Alyssa, on the sidelines in Dudley on Friday (photo above).

Game Of The Week: The rematch between Shepherd Hill and Auburn in girl’s soccer on Thursday, October 18, in Auburn should be a real dandy.

Until next week, see you on the sidelines! Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with any sports news and check out the new View From The Sidelines Facebook page with exclusive photos and news at https://www.facebook.com/ViewFromTheSidelines