Way to go Girls !!

Tuesday, January 03, 2017

It was a sister act Tuesday night at Messer Gymnasium in Northfield.
Sisters Jess and Steph Scoville scored 10 points each and Pioneer Valley Regional School evened its season record at 3-3 with a 47-27 victory over Mohawk Trail Regional High School in a Franklin County League South Division girls’ hoop game.
Jess Scoville continued to do what she has done all season, while younger sister Steph had a bust-out game, notching a career-high 10 points and also grabbing five steals.
The Panthers ran into foul trouble early and a number of players came off the bench and played well, including Steph Scoville. Maddy Tyson finished with 8 points, and Alexus Vergobbe added 6.
“We got into foul trouble early but a lot of bench players came through with some good minutes and put some points board,” Pioneer coach Meg Burrington said. “That just shows that we have different options to score every night.”

Olivia Rowe added 5 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Caroline Merkle scored 4.
Ashley Reynolds led Mohawk (0-6) with 10 points. Emma Poplawski finished with 6.
Pioneer has a big game tonight at Goodnow Gymnasium in South Deerfield, where it meets Frontier Regional School. Burrington said it’s games like this that could be the difference between her team finishing with more or less than 10 wins.
“We’ve got a few bubble games that could go either way,” she cautioned. “It’s up to the girls it they want to play hard every night and get these wins. It’s a matter of getting 13 wins or 8 wins.”

A new year begins

Well I hope your holiday and Christmas was wonderful .

I put off posting this till after the holidays  to get more information.

I have it on good sound information that we have  teachers that are planning to leave, and are having letters of recommendations written. No, I do not know which teachers are thinking of leaving , just that they cannot take anymore .

1- Bacon is making teachers  and students miserable. She does not have the ability to lead  but harass and cause friction seems to be high on her can do  list .

2-Also Concerning an incident that happen earlier this year in Jr High school 8th  grade and how it was handled , seems to concern alot of kids and teachers in the school about Bacon and the schools resource officer ) having certain racial  issues and a child being removed from the school by the parents who seemed concerned for  the child's safety.
I also found it odd that the 2 white  children had 5 day suspension's and 5 days in school suspensions
However , the African American child had 10 days outside of school, even after Bacon was told he was not involved .Did I mention he was also handcuffed ???? No the other two were not .

( Another lawsuit for Pioneer?)

3- I and others are also not liking the idea that certain student are being targeted 

Policing in schools

Zero tolerance policies increase the number of School Resource Officers (SRO) in schools, which increases the contact a student has with the criminal justice system. Students may be referred by teachers or other administrators but most often zero tolerance policies are directly enforced by police or school resource officers.^[1] The practice of increasing the number of police in schools contributes to patterns of criminalization.^[21] This increase in SROs has led to contemporary school discipline beginning to mirror approaches used in legal and law enforcement. Zero tolerance policies increase the use of profiling, a very common practice used in law enforcement. This practice is able to identify students who may engage in misbehavior.

Also a reliable resource told me that  many  students will not be returning to Pioneer next year .They feel their children are targets .

Between Bacon and Miller  they are single-handedly destroying  Pioneer .

Vernon's school choice might also be gone for good  since it was voted down to allow them out of Act46 . However  no child chose Pioneer this year from Vernon and the largest class graduates this year and others who are here might not be next year  from Vernon and than what do we as taxpayers do ?  That's a large sum to lose and its a reality we need to face. I was told by a few Vernon parent if it wasn't for the fact  this year there kids were graduating they would remove them from Pioneer .Many have voiced concerns with the new superintendent and the principal.


So we need to ask , how much longer is the PVRS School Committee gonna allow this abuse  before taking a stand?

PVRS has lot many great teachers  since the beginning of Millers presence here and more are now leaving due to Bacon . Whats to happen to PVRS ??

Protecting Or Policing?

 I found this article to be interesting and felt it needed to be shared .

 

Protecting Or Policing?

School-based police officers are paid to protect our kids. But sometimes they do more harm than good.

By Rebecca Klein

Published Tuesday, December 13, 2016 7:07 AM EST

About This Series

“Protecting Or Policing?” is the third in a series of stories about police in schools. It is produced in collaboration with The Hechinger Report.

1. Bullied By The Badge
2. Set To Stun
3. Protecting Or Policing?
4. A Path Out Of Trouble

ANAHEIM, Calif. – In the sweltering days of July, tensions between police and civilians were running high. A cop fatally shot Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, setting off a week of protests. Another police officer fatally shot Philando Castile in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota, while his fiance and her 4-year-old daughter watched. A sniper shot and killed five police officers in Dallas.
But inside a Disneyland convention center in Anaheim, California, almost 700 law enforcement officers and security personnel were learning how to be role models in schools across the country. While families rode rollercoasters and met characters outside, school cops at the National Association of School Resource Officers’ annual conference spent a week attending panels about topics like active-shooter situations and potential terrorist threats. At night they sang karaoke, explored the amusement park and bonded over keeping our nation’s children safe.
These law enforcement agents, most commonly known as school resource officers, belong to a sector of law enforcement that has grown considerably since the 1990s. They often take on the role of mentoring and counseling — not just protecting — students, many told The Huffington Post during the conference.
Mo Canady, the executive director of NASRO, said this is important because kids who grow up having positive experiences with cops will hopefully maintain these impressions as adults.
Any school that doesn’t have a police officer trained by NASRO, “doesn’t yet know what they’re missing,” he said, while sitting in a Disneyland conference center lobby. “What we’re doing in schools should hopefully transition out into the community.”
But critics wonder if police officers make schools safer, or just criminalize misbehaviors that in turn funnel more kids into an already bloated criminal justice system.
Data shows that just having a school-based police officer makes it more likely that a child will be referred to law enforcement for even minor infractions — potentially pushing kids into the justice system for misdeeds like vandalism, more generally known as the school-to-prison pipeline.
This phenomenon is particularly acute for black children, who are 2.3 times more likely than white children to get arrested or referred to law enforcement at school, according to U.S. Department of Education data from the 2013-14 school year.
In the past few years, there has been at least a handful of high-profile incidents of police brutality in schools involving students of color. The most well-known of these occurred at Spring Valley High School in South Carolina, where a school cop put a teenage girl in a chokehold, flipped her over in her seat, and dragged her across the classroom — all for refusing to give up her cellphone.

Police Officers In Schools Mean More Referrals To Law Enforcement

What happens after a student breaks the rules? The presence of a school resource officer (SRO) makes it more likely that a school will refer him or her to local law enforcement, which can lead to a criminal record.

Choose a category to see the odds: If the same number of cases is reported at similar schools, how many incidents will be referred?

• Alcohol
• Drugs
• Fight
  with a weapon
• Fight
  without a weapon
• Knife
• Robbery
  without a weapon
• Theft
• Threat
  with a weapon
• Threat
  without a weapon
• Vandalism

• Schools without SROs

  10

  referrals to
  law enforcement

  Schools with SROs

  19

  referrals to
  law enforcement

  The data suggest that for every incident of distribution, possession, or use of illegal drugs referred to local law enforcement from schools without regular contact with SROs, 1.89 are referred in schools with regular contact with SROs, with p < 0.001. This is after controlling for state statutes that require school officials to refer students to law enforcement for committing the crime; general levels of criminal activity and disorder that occur at schools; neighborhood crime; and other demographic variables.
  Source: Washington University Law Review (forthcoming), using 2010 National Center for Education Statistics data file.
  Credit: Adam Hooper and Alissa Scheller

Canady dismisses critics, especially those who say this system contributes to the school-to-prison pipeline. He noted that the juvenile arrest rate for many crimes decreased between 1994 and 2009, and that at the same there was prolific growth in the number of school-based police. Canady says these two trends are related; however, overall arrest rates for many serious crimes also went down during this time. Having more police did not necessarily lead to fewer crimes.
Canady, who spent 25 years working as a police officer and 12 years working in schools before taking over as director of NASRO over five years ago, said he thinks school police officers are “totally necessary” — assuming they have finished specific NASRO training. It’s notable that NASRO did not train the officer involved in the violent Spring Valley incident, he said.
This is a valid concern: Many school districts don’t require the cops in their schools to receive specific training on how to interact with children. That means many police officers who are working in schools have no specialized training to deal with the nuances required in working with children as opposed to adults — and being trained to deal with adult criminals is not necessarily solid preparation for being a contributing member of a school community.
That said, much of NASRO training is focused on preparing officers for extremely rare circumstances like school shootings or terror attacks. But when school-based police officers describe their day-to-day work, it involves a lot of watching and waiting.

Police officers try on goggles that simulate drunkenness during a training exercise. They will later let kids in their schools wear these goggles to learn that alcohol can be dangerous.

Photo Credit: Rebecca Klein

“It’s different every single day,” said DJ Schoeff, an officer in Indiana and vice president of NASRO, while sitting in the back of one of the conference’s basic training courses. The SROs in his school greet the kids in the morning, which he said helps students create a trusting relationship with police. He often meets with administrators to talk about emergency operations for the building and lockdown procedures.

Ray Hall, a school police officer in Texas, has similarly low-key days.

“[I] check camera systems, send out emails if cameras are not working correctly or lights are out. I go check the whole school to see if there’s cracks on the concrete or sidewalk or anything dangerous like that,” he said. “I look at the school to see if there’s hidden spaces we can make more visible. Anything dealing with safety.” He travels between district schools to teach a school safety class to kids.

Canady supports this kind of schedule because it is community-oriented and prevention-focused. NASRO encourages cops to become part of students’ lives, but critics say this can be problematic.

I go check the whole school to see if there’s cracks on the concrete or sidewalk or anything dangerous like that.

Ray Hall, school police officer in Texas

A coalition of over 100 education and civil rights groups called the Dignity In Schools Campaign released a set of recommendations in September, saying social workers and intervention workers should replace police officers in schools. There are 1.6 million students across the country who have a cop in their school despite not having a counselor, according to the Education Department.
Marika Pfefferkorn, a director of the Minnesota Education Equity Partnership, is part of a group that signed off on the proposal. She said counselors, not school-based police officers, should be mentors.

“With counselors, your information is safe, it’s in confidence,” she said. “But you could have the same relationship with a school resource officer, and when you admit or say something, it could become a crime or used against you. That’s an abuse of the relationship.”

Nearly 700 attendees were either law enforcement officers or security personnel. NASRO says it trains about 1,000 school resource officers every year.

Photo Credit: NASRO

Indeed, it’s a difficult balance — one that officers mulled during a basic training course at NASRO’s conference. During one session, two instructors spoke with police officers about the matters into which they can intervene, as well as ethical dilemmas they might encounter. Instructors threw around some hypothetical questions at the training. Should school-based police officers interject when listening to students talk to administrators about discipline matters? At what point do they have to read students their Miranda Rights?
And a particularly murky topic: Can these officers mislead kids to get them to confess to having done something wrong?

“To a certain extent, yes,” concluded an instructor.

You can’t pose as a public defender or priest in order to elicit information, instructors explained. But could you, for example, try to get a confession by typing up a fake lab sheet appearing to show someone’s fingerprints near the area where an incident occurred?
Some officers admit to having done this.
Conversations like these prove how important training is because they highlight the complicated dynamics of being a school police officer, Schoeff said. A lot of the answers to these questions depend on a specific state’s case law, as well as the context of the situation.
Canady said he could see the importance of the job weighing on attendees during the first few days of the conference, especially following the outbreak of protests over police violence and the shooting of police officers in Dallas. Even though these events reflect heightened tensions between police officers and the communities they serve, they only reconfirm Canady’s belief that the country needs to put more focus on school policing.

“The best thing we can do to honor the memories of those officers is to continue to do what we do, making a difference in the lives of kids and keeping them safe at school,” he said. “That’s what we need to do.”

Time to take a stand .

Wow , our numbers just keep growing .
Dec 2016 ( 6 month old blog)

Page views all time history

32,275

 

Now take a stand people  silence will not help .

 

 

 

Here we go the Budget

According to Miller  she found these mistake's when she came in. However she was the one who did the budget  for 2015 /2016 so  who she blaming now ?  Also how in GODS  name do you have a 200,000.00 shortfall on the lunch program?

My question is why is PVRS and the other schools not a part of the Healthy and Hunger-Free Kids Act which has been going on since 2010 ? Schools all over Massachusetts  are using this program and its FREE BREAKFAST AND LUNCHES TO ALL KIDS.  Hello..

Now if you look back in the blog you will see how ..
1- Miller will try and blame the past Administration for mistakes etc..( which you will later learn were hers , when its to late)
2- We were warned  to watch her budgets .( By Templeton)
3- She would cause destruction . ( Bingo) ( Also warned by Templeton)
4- She will use sports and arts and chorus and Band to get her budget passed . ( Go back and educated yourselves)

 What actually should be happening is The Superintendent , Asst Superintendent , PVRS  Principal Bacon and Vice Principal ALL NEED  PAY CUTS BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE IS CONSIDERED, AND TO MOVE THE OFFICES FROM MAIN STREET BACK TO ONE OF THE SCHOOLS. These cut's alone would save tax payers thousands and help put the budget back on track.

You were warned in 2015, your being warned again , stop it while you can . Demand these cuts and moving the offices back to one of the schools , enrollment is down and remember  the largest class of school choice graduates in 2017. This is a loss of  hundreds of thousands of dollars. NOBODY from school choice chose PVRS this year and two students left and went to BUHS. 

Fight for your school or you will be fighting to keep your homes.  




Concern over the Pioneer Valley Regional School District budget usually reflects a classic tug of war between education costs and taxpayer parsimony.
But this month, the district’s budget dilemma is a serious budgetary hole — a deficit of almost $500,000. After the initial shock and dismay, the district is getting some answers about how it got here and what has to be done to avoid this kind of trouble in the future.
In examining the finances for fiscal year 2015, auditors from the accounting and tax firm of Melanson Heath found a number of budgetary weaknesses that allowed the deficit to grow, and they have made suggestions for correcting these lapses.
One of the biggest single deficits involves the school lunch program. It may not be surprising that the lunch program runs in the red, given the many costs, including food, labor, transportation and reimbursements. The amount here leapt out at the auditors, though.
“A $200,000 deficit for a school district your size is enormous,” the auditors said.

No one is wrong to ask how this happened. And we suspect there were many variables that went into the equation.
Big on the auditors’ list is that the district had no mechanism for monitoring the actual spending in relation to the budget. They also criticized the district not having one comprehensive budgeting document.( You will find this is a walk down memory lane )
“Not having that complete document led to a lot of other errors,” Tanya Campbell, one of the auditors recently told the School Committee. “The information that got reported in the general ledger was also not complete and accurate.”
In essence it boils down to the district having accurate and complete information readily available. And while it may be hard to find a silver lining here, the auditors did say that they thought all of the money was accounted for.( It just gets juggled around also in the history of the blog)
Still, there’s much to do to right the district’s finances, an effort that isn’t going to happen overnight. To pay off the deficit will have a budgetary impact for several years as the district moves forward.
The auditors also recommend building up the undesignated general fund to provide the district with a buffer against unforeseen circumstances, which will also allow the district to reduce its short-term borrowing to cover contingencies. ( so much déjà vu)
Other recommendations seek to keep better track of the revenue streams coming in, such as grants and School Choice income and money going out with Choice and charter school tuition assessments.
“We’re going to have a much better way of telling where our money is in 2017,” said Superintendent Ruth Miller, who originally flagged the financial issues after arriving, adding that the district put corrections in place beginning in fiscal 2016.
The district can take comfort in that adjustments have already been made. But school officials should remain vigilant to ensure that they are spending money wisely — and carefully keeping track of that spending.

Lets do some catching up.

Lets get caught up here .

1- Did anyone know that at the Warwick SC meeting they would be voting on the SC ? No , I didn't either . So I went to the website to see if maybe it was just an over sight on my part.  Ah no. And where the hell was this so called new committee to address this? So much for change and hopes  for our school. Now unless you read the paper ( below) or knew first hand , you were just as clueless. LOL.. good choice to chose Warwick , outta the way for many .

• No new members for Pioneer school board

WARWICK — A vote during the Pioneer Valley Regional School committee’s meeting Thursday night at Warwick Community School reinstated committee Chairwoman Patricia Shearer and Vice Chairman William Wahlstrom for another term, ending in 2018.
Shearer received seven votes in her favor, and was challenged by David Young, who received three votes.
Wahlstrom received five votes in his favor. Young was also nominated for vice chair, and again received three votes.
Committee chair and vice chair are regularly voted on during the school committee meeting immediately following an election, pursuant the regional agreement.



 Now let's go to the play , which by the way was wonderful ! The Lion , The Witch and the Wardrobe.
Great job by the kids and Kimberly and  Ms Oliver . You could see how much heart was put into this and you all were amazing!
But let me tell you what I witnessed at Saturdays show .Miller came and sat in the front to the left of Kimberly and while watching her I noticed she  Didn't stop using her phone, was talking, and got up and left the auditorium in the middle of the show with no explanation.Hows that for a class act !! Never excused herself , just ups and leaves . What does that show the kids who worked so hard on this play to have the Superintendent  up and leave ? She showed them kids NO RESPECT  for what they were doing .Also, why is it the SC members do not show up and support these kids and teachers ? Not sure if Bacon showed up . 
 Poor excuses for leadership . How can YOU base decisions on things when you do nothing to gain first hand knowledge ? Instead you rely on others for answers ,again  poor leadership . 


Now I gotta ask , how about that robo call from Bacon ?  Really?  Again we hear how  we are working to keep your kids SAFE.. seems a word they use often to justify  actions of incompetence. Let get  everyone all worried  so the next  idiotic move you pull you can have excuses for . This was handled without incidence, the parents were called in and resolved . Since these halfwits have been here we have had nothing but problems and  incidences. These issues were handled in a proper way before , in ways to not alarm people with fear . What the hell is this a Trump run school now , invoke fear to control? Oh and FYI the TEACHERS who should of been notified were not . What?  Unreal. Yes, you read that correctly. No Teachers were told .


I saved this one for last , the Turkey Fest . No Miller did not show up and Bacon was around for a short span . The kids were wonderful and the seniors rocked it! But what really saddened me was  the lack of support from the community and parents . I remember when we had standing room only. The Teachers, Principal Wherli and Vice Principal Duprey , Dean of Students Ms Hawkin Harris  ,and Superintendent Dorion  all were a part of this night . Spirits were high , laughter resiniated the halls . You could see the lack of spirit and it was a sad night for those of us who had been here for years .
PVRS is no longer high spirited , they are now  here just doing there time  waiting for it to end. How sad a once so happy school now is where its at . 


Well , peeps thats it for now . I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy your holiday ahead . 

 













 

Panthers you had a great season

 Great job boys . You played hard and we are proud of you . Congratulations to Alex Tyson for MVP . Also I would like to thanks the coaches and Paul Worth, . for a great season .. and the boys football mom Deanna Baker... and so many others who devoted themselves to this years games.

Wed Preview line up

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

In what appears to be one of the most evenly matched local Thanksgiving Day high school football games, Pioneer Valley Regional School will travel to Turners Falls for a 10 a.m. kickoff against Franklin County Technical School for their 12th annual Turkey Day clash.
The Eagles hold a slim 6-5 edge in the series and have won each of the last four meetings. Both teams are coming off successful 2016 campaigns and will be looking to add another game to the win column to close out of the season.
“This matchup may not have as long of a history as some of the other Thanksgiving Day games, but the series has had its fair share of close games and I think this year the teams match up very closely,” said Eagles coach Joe Gamache.
Pioneer has experienced its best season since winning the Division IV Super Bowl in 2011. Under first-year head coach PaulWorth, the Panthers come into the final game of the season with a record of 5-4, having qualified for the Division IV-A playoffs before bowing out against eventual WMass champion Turners Falls High School. Although the first season under a new head coach can be a learning process, the Panthers quickly picked up new offensive and defensive schemes, leading the coaching staff to see potential in the team from the start.
“The first year for a coach and his new team always has a period where each side sort of feels the other one out,” said Worth “We seemed to get that done very quickly this year and that is a credit to the players. They responded to our coaching very well and I think we could start to see the potential in the team almost right away.”

After jumping out to a 2-2 record, Pioneer used a three-game winning streak during the back half of the regular season to vault itself back into the playoff picture. Leading the way for the Panthers during the win streak was junior running back Bryce Dobosz. The versatile back averaged just over 191 yards per game and scored 8 touchdowns to help the Panther offense average 36 points a game during the win streak. Dobosz comes into Thursdays contest as one of the area’s leading rushers at 1,167 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns. The work the junior back has put in this year along with the numbers Dobosz has recorded drew high praise from the coaching staff.
“Bryce has a few keys that make him a great runner — he runs hard and he has no fear to go along with a strong work ethic and the desire to get better and learn how to become a better player,” said Worth.
Lining up under center at quarterback will be Alex Tyson, a senior Worth identifies as one of the best receivers in the league who stepped into the quarterback roll to fill a void for the Panthers. Tyson totaled 405 yards passing and added 75 yards rushing while scoring three touchdowns. Tyson’s main target in the passing game is Jake Wallace, the sophomore snagged 13 receptions for 250 yards and a score. Other Panthers who figure to see touches in the ground game will be senior Josh Baker, who has racked up 228 yards and a rushing TD during the campaign, along with junior Tristan Dresser, who added 205 yards rushing to go along with a touchdown.
Although he Panthers offense was nearly unstoppable during the aforementioned three-game win streak, they were slowed to seven points in their playoff loss to Turners Falls and week were shutout the next week against Lee High School. Getting off to a fast start and putting points on the board is something that the coaching staff is keying on heading into Thursday’s showdown with the Eagles.
“We have to find ways to score points because we’ve struggled offensively the last two games,” said Worth. “We need to eliminate turnovers, which have plagued us in some of our games, and we must find a way to control the ball and put up points offensively.”
The Panther defense has been solid all year and will be a key factor in determining the outcome of today’s game. As a unit the Panthers haven’t allowed more than 30 points in any game this season and currently sport one of the best point-per-game averages in the area, holding foes to just under 11 per game on the season. The defensive statistics are even better for the Panthers in the games they have won. During their five wins, the Panther defense gave up a stingy 26 points (5.2 points per game) to opposing offenses, and the defense figures to be a major factor against the Eagles.
“Our defense is really a credit to the players. They came in and understood quickly the new scheme and the players immediately started to believe in each other,” said Worth “We know Franklin Tech is a big powerful, run-oriented team, so on defense we have a big challenge ahead of us but we must find a way to slow down their running game.”
On the opposing sideline, the Eagles endured a rough start to the season, losing five of their first six games, but fought through a brutal schedule, opening the season by traveling to the eastern part of the state in Weeks 1 and 2 before returning to the area to face the top three teams in the Intercounty League. Things started to change for the Eagles in late October, when players started to gain experience and key players started to get healthy to help the Eagles finish the regular season with a record of 5-5.
“Our turnaround is really a credit to the players,” said Gamache. “We’ve had guys start to get comfortable playing at the varsity level and then we had guys get healthy and back on the field. Between the experience and the return of a few guys we have been able to play much better on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.”
One of the main reasons for the turnaround in Eagles success is the high level of play from senior running back Dylan Mailloux. The premier back missed time early due to an ankle injury but has come back to compile one of the finer seasons in the area, rushing for 1,094 yards on 173 carries while scoring 13 touchdowns. The ankle injury is still an ongoing issue for the senior back, who was unable to play Saturday in the Eagles’ State Vocational Tournament game against Blue Hills Regional Technical School and is questionable to play in the matchup against the Panthers. Mailloux did dress for the game against Blue Hills and will test the ankle in pre-game warmups in hopes of getting back on the field. If Mailloux is able to suit up for his final game in an Eagles uniform it will provide a big boost for the Eagles.
While Mailloux has been the lead back when healthy, the Franklin Tech offense has found other key backfield contributors in junior Spencer Telega and senior Tyler Sakowicz. Both backs experienced solid seasons running the football, as Telega finished with 514 yards on 91 carries to go along with five scores and Sakowicz added 385 yards on the ground with three scores. It has been rare that all three feature backs for the Eagles have been healthy, but when they are is when Franklin Tech’s offense has been at its best.
“I think when all three running backs have been healthy our offense has been very versatile,” said Gamache “It hasn’t happened too often, but when we can get all three players out on the field it opens up the passing attack with play action and we can do a bit more in the sense of misdirection plays and spreading the ball around.”
The passing attack is another reason the Eagles found the win column towards the back half of the season. Junior quarterback Seth Aldrich found his stride as leader of the Eagles offense, completing 47 of 126 passes for 490 yards and six TD passes. Aldrich’s main target has been senior Caileb Milton, who comes into the game with 22 catches for 283 yards and four touchdowns. If the Eagles are going to beat the Panthers, Gamache knows that being able to rely on the passing game in different situations will be crucial.
“The improvement of our passing game has been huge for us,” said Gamache “Seth has really gained experience to the point where he is now going through the proper progressions, making the right reads and using his athletic ability to make plays. The passing attack has really given us another offensive weapon and helps open up our running game.”
On the defensive side of the ball, the Eagles’ theme of improvement as the season progressed holds true. After surrendering 57 points in a loss to Turners Falls High School, the Eagle defense rebounded to allow just under 15 points a game in their final four regular-season wins. However, the Franklin Tech defense knows Pioneer will be one of its stiffest challenges, with a dynamic rushing attack and playmakers all over the field.
“Our defense is another example of us gaining experience and getting more comfortable as the season progressed. The guys started to figure out what it takes to play at the varsity level and started to build chemistry with one another, and I think we can see the improvement in play,” said Gamache “With that said, we know that Pioneer will be one of the best teams we’ve faced. They have great athletes on both sides of the ball, and on offense they can really hurt you with the athletes they line up at multiple positions.”
Although both teams seem to match up evenly, the Eagles feel this will be a good test going up against a playoff-caliber team in the Panthers, who provide a measuring stick for how far they have progressed this season.
“Overall we are excited to play,” said Gamache “Everyone is excited for the game and this is a tough test for us. Pioneer is a playoff team and we were unable to qualify for the playoffs, so we really want to go out there play well and show that we were a legitimate playoff team. It’s the final game of the season so it is kind of the Super Bowl for both teams.”

 Turkey Day

Thursday, November 24, 2016

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TURNERS FALLS — There was no chance Dylan Mailloux was missing his final Thanksgiving Day showdown.
One week after not being able to play due to a nagging ankle injury in the State Small Schools Vocational Tournament loss to Blue Hills Regional Technical School, the Franklin County Technical School senior tailback came back with a vengeance on Thursday. Mailloux motored behind a dominating offensive line to the tune of 186 yards and five touchdowns and the host Eagles made it five Turkey Day wins in a row with a convincing 50-30 thumping of Pioneer Valley Regional School.
“It felt great,” said Mailloux of his return. “Last week (against Blue Hills) was tough. I tried to get ready but I came out in pregame and (my ankle) just wasn’t feeling good. I did what I thought was best for the team (in not playing) but it was really hard for me not to be able to go.”
Mailloux’s return sparked a Tech rushing attack that went for 307 yards on the ground against Pioneer. In his last game as an Eagle, the bruising back toted the ball 28 times en route to his five-TD performance.
“Dylan wasn’t 100 percent but he definitely gave us 110 percent,” said Tech head coach Joe Gamache, who improved to 7-5 all-time on Thanksgiving against Pioneer. “Our hope was to try and play more physical up front than (Pioneer). They didn’t have a ton of depth so if we were able to wear them down, I felt good about us moving the football.”

FC Tech scored its most points ever in the 12-year series with Pioneer, storming out to a 30-6 halftime lead and extending the advantage to 50-14 early in the fourth quarter before sending in the JVs.
Despite the combined 80 points, the teams played a scoreless first quarter and things were shaping up to be a defensive battle. But Mailloux scored his first TD on the second play of the second quarter, bulling in from 2 yards out to put the Eagles up 8-0 after quarterback Seth Aldrich ran in the two-point conversion.
While the Panthers offense struggled to move the ball consistently against Tech, the visitors did showcase some big-play ability. That was indeed on full display on the ensuing kickoff. Alex Tyson returned the ball 78 yards for a touchdown, pulling Pioneer back within 8-6.
The rest of the first half belonged to the Eagles however. Ripping off big chunks of yardage on the ground with Mailloux, Spencer Telega (6 carries, 69 yards) and Tyler Sakowicz (7 carries, 39 yards), Tech scored on its next two offensive possessions – a 6-yard Mailloux score and a 15-yard Telega TD. The backbreaker came on the strength of a defensive touchdown however, as senior Caileb Milton got his hands on a tipped pass from Tyson, intercepting the ball and rumbling the other way for a 59-yard touchdown return. Thanks to 30 points in the second quarter, the Eagles took a commanding 30-6 advantage into intermission.
“We played a good team (Blue Hills) last week and to be honest I think that helped prepare us on a short week this week to come out and set the tone,” Gamache explained.
Tech’s success on the ground continued into the third quarter, when the team marched 75 yards on the opening possession of the half in 12 plays. Milton caught a pair of passes from Aldrich on the drive for 51 yards, but Mailloux closed things out with five straight runs — the fifth extending the lead to 37-6 on a 1-yard TD.
The offensive line of Mike Dobias, Kurtis Kuenzel, Dan Momaney and Deven Goshea along with center stalwart Sam Trudeau earned their Thanksgiving feast with arguably the team’s best performance up front all season. The quintet of underclassmen had the Panthers moving backwards all morning and into the afternoon.
“Our offensive line has been building all season and they’ve really come together,” lauded Mailloux. “This game just capped it off the right way for us.”
Tyson brought the Panthers back on his team’s next possession, scampering 52 yards on the ground to set up a 10-yard TD toss to Bryce Dobosz that pulled Pioneer back within 37-14. But Mailloux responded with his fourth and fifth touchdowns of the day to put things out of reach up 50-14.
Credit Pioneer (5-5) for playing until the end however, as Dobosz (20 carries, 133 yards) scored a 2-yard TD with 2:57 left in the fourth quarter, and he added a 31-yard rushing score with 18 seconds remaining.
It was a fitting end to the season for an Eagles team that survived a difficult early portion of the schedule (1-5) to rebound with wins in five of their last six games. The jump up in class from the Tri-County League to the Intercounty League this year was worth the difficulties, said Gamache.
“We played some really tough teams in the early part of our season, but the kids never quit,” he said. “They dedicated themselves to improving and just stayed with it. The focus was to end the season on a high note.”
The Eagles dominated in time of possession, holding the ball for 26:30 of the 44-minute tilt. They churned out 17 first downs and were forced to punt just once while forcing four Pioneer turnovers on the other end (two interceptions, two fumbles).
Mailloux and Tyson were tabbed MVPs of the contest in the post game awards ceremony, with Tech moving to 7-5 in the series against Pioneer that dates back to 2005.