Varsity Football: Staying on top
BB&N 63, Tabor 43 was the final score of the 2023 John Papas Bowl, where Varsity Football (VFB) topped off their 7-2 season with a team trophy. The 2023 season marked the team’s sixth bowl game appearance in the past seven seasons. This season, VFB Head Coach Mike Willey is concentrated on continuing the team’s momentum.
“We had a big win this past weekend against Lawrence Academy in our opening game. Kids are working very hard.”
With their target set, VFB faced Milton Academy on Saturday, Sept. 28 and beat the Mustangs 35 to 14. In addition to their core values, hard work, accountability, and mental and physical toughness, the team’s unique dynamic largely contributes to their success, according to VFB Co-Captain AJ Azuakolam ’25.
“The team atmosphere is great. We’re a young team, but I think that brings energy to the locker room and a modern feel to the game. There’s a lot more celebrations, and overall, we just have fun when we play.”
The team’s early season success is the result of off-season work and should translate into more success this season, AJ said.
“It starts during the summer when we put in the work to be prepared for the season. We won the Northeast 7v7 tournament and capitalized on our first game win. I think the work we’ve been putting in is showing in our game. I hope to win the Independent School League (ISL) and a bowl game this year.”
Varsity Field Hockey: Getting over the hump
“The team is the most hard-working team I’ve been a part of,” Varsity Field Hockey (VFH) Co-Captain Carter Williams ’25 said. During Carter’s time as a student-athlete at the Upper School (US), she has witnessed the VFH team’s growth firsthand: her freshman year the team fell short of a .500 win average, her sophomore year they snuck over .500, and her junior year the team made it to the NEPSAC Class B Championship.
“The upward trajectory of this team has been incredible and so special to be a part of.”
Coming off a championship run, the team wants to pick up where they left off, and a disappointing first game–with six freshmen missing due to Bivouac–has only motivated them, Carter said.
“We want to win the NEPSAC Championship,” she said. “In our first game, we lost to Berkshire, and it was a slap in the face. But we needed that loss to realize we never wanted to experience that feeling again. We just played Nobles and won for the first time in years. This was a huge deal, as one of our goals was to beat as many teams that we lost to last year as possible.”
To Carter, the team’s success will continue to stem from the team’s collective passion for the sport and kind atmosphere.
“We love to laugh and goof around in between drills at practice, but we know when the drill starts, we are practicing just like we play in games.”
Varsity Volleyball: Vying for victory once again
Girls’ Varsity Volleyball (VVB) has completed an ISL “three-peat” with an overall record of 53-8 and a 32-1 ISL record over the past three years. To VVB Head Coach Jeff Emenaker, the team approaches each season with the same goals and their love for the game.
“Each year, our program starts with the idea of winning the ISL and putting another year on the banner in the NAC,” he said. “Beyond that, we want to get into the New England Preparatory School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) playoffs and see if we can make a run there. But those are just tangible achievements, and our overall goal is to compete and have fun every day.”
Coming off a loss in the quarterfinals of the 2023 NEPSAC (Class A) playoffs, the VVB team has reset and has started this season with a 4-1 record. With VVB amid a six-game stretch over 11 days, Coach Emenaker is excited for the team to bring their core values to the journey ahead, he said.
“I look forward to us developing our cohesiveness as a team and playing a mature level of volleyball as we grow as a team together.”
VVB Co-Captain Erica Biner ’25 has also tried to implement a mature level of play in practices, she said.
“We have made it a priority to set a competitive tone at every practice so that we are spending our time productively. We have won three of our first four games, which gives me a lot of confidence for the upcoming weeks. ”
Girls’ Varsity Soccer: New faces, same story
After saying goodbye to a class of ISL Honorable Mentions, ISL Most Valuable Players, and All-Americans, the Girls’ Varsity Soccer (GVS) program starts the season with a new look to the team and a 3-1-1 record. GVS is focused on taking the journey step by step.
“We have had a good start to the season,” said second-year GVS Head
Coach Hayley Katkowski. “We just focus on one game at a time. We sat down at the beginning of the season and went over what we wanted to achieve this season.”
Coach Katkowski attributes the team’s success to the new senior captains.
“Our senior leadership has done a really good job of building the team this year. It’s been fun to see them work hard to accomplish the goals they have set for this season, but that starts from the core leadership.”
Despite falling short of the NEPSAC (Class A) title last year, GVS Co-Captain Maeve Theobald ’25 said the team is still working towards championship goals.
“I think we have done a great job continuing on our legacy,” Maeve said. “The past couple of seasons have been filled with adversity, which has just led us to get closer as a team. Of course, as always, we hope to win a NEPSAC and ISL championship, but we are focusing this year on taking days one at a time instead of being so focused on the end result. The GVS culture is truly a family, and we all have each other’s back no matter what. We focus a lot on having a team-before-self mindset.”
