State tournament time for Tri-Town teams

Feb 26, 2024

After three months of games and practice for Tri-Town high school winter sports teams, the regular season has come to a close.

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association has released tournament brackets, meaning it is time for Old Rochester and Old Colony teams to try to etch their name into school history books by bringing home a state championship title.

Three teams from Old Rochester have qualified for the state tournament:; boys basketball, girls basketball and boys hockey.

The boys basketball team from Old Colony has also qualified for the tournament, in dominant fashion, winning 20 of their 22 games played.

The Old Colony boys basketball team won the Mayflower Athletic Conference small division title and will be the 21st seed in the Division V bracket. The Cougars will open the state tournament at home against 44th seeded Notre Dame Cristo Rey High School on Tuesday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. in search of their seventh straight victory and move on to the round of 32.

If they win, the Cougars would then head west to play John J. Duggan Academy in Springfield.

At Old Rochester, the boys basketball team will enter the state tournament as the second seed in Division III out of 40 qualified teams.

After starting the season 8-4, the Bulldogs have won nine straight games to claim the South Coast Conference large division title.

Being seeded highly comes with the advantage of being able to play games at home. The Bulldogs will open tournament play on Friday, March 1 at 6:30 p.m. at Old Rochester Regional High School. Their opponent will be the winner of 31st seed Foxborough High School and 34th seed Lynn Classical, who will face off on Tuesday, Feb. 27.

With a win on Friday, the Bulldogs would move on to the round of 16 to face either Salem High School or East Bridgewater High School.

In the Division III girls bracket, the Lady Bulldogs basketball team is seeded 22nd, and will travel north to face 11th seed Watertown High School on Friday, March 1 at 6 p.m. at Watertown Middle School.

The Lady Bulldogs finished the regular season with a 15-6 record but have struggled as of late, dropping three of their last four games.

The team is led by Caroline Brogioli and Hannah Thorell, who were recently named South Coast Conference all stars.

Moving onto the ice, the Old Rochester boys hockey team is seeded 11th in Division IV. The team will open tournament play on Thursday, Feb. 29, facing off with Cohasset High School at Tabor Academy.

The team finished the season with a record of 12-8-1 and will move on to the round of 16 if they can take down Cohasset.