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Peter Young BMHS Pridetime Editor  On November twenty third at 10:30 the Brien Mcmahon Football team faced off with Norwalk High Football in a disappointing 43-26 loss on Jack Casagrande field.
With Mcmahon coming out fast once having a lead of 20-6 over the Bears. it only went downhill from there. The Bears scored a touchdown right before the half to cut the lead to just 7 for the Senators. With the second half came a whole new game for both teams. With Mcmahon losing sophomore running back Jermaine Daniels in the first half to injury the offense struggled to move the ball. And the defense struggled to stop the Bears offense. “ we couldn't stop the passing game, we kept getting beat deep” (Tsai Zoe ‘19) Being present at the game it looked as if the Senators had lost a lot of intensity and momentum they had in the first half. Being sluggish on defense and looking very discouraged “ We came out in the second half thinking we had won the game, and it cost us the game.” (Michael Macari ‘19) This Momentum change in the second half really showed in the score. In the second half, the Bears outscored the Senators 30-6 behind a great performance by AJ Hall who finished the contest with 3 touchdowns and an interception. With such a tough loss brings blame. Outside of the program, most of the people blame the coaching staff. But the players seem to be taking most of the blame. “ We came out in the second half and didn't play hard not them, not the coaches fault at all.” (Michael Macari ‘19)
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BMHS pridetime reporter: Chris Clemens 1,696 players in the NFL.32 teams. Each team is allowed a maximum of 53 players on their active roster. What I'm trying to find out is, who’s the best fantasy football player at the QB, RB, and Wr position overall? Obviously, we can’t compare players who play different positions so let’s take a dive into each position. Every team needs a good quarterback, right? Well, the way this season has gone so far there are two quarterbacks that you can’t go wrong within Fantasy. Their names are Carson Wentz and Tom Brady. Both of them usually always throw for two or more touchdowns a game with at least 200+ yards and also what makes them valuable is the fact that they don’t turn the ball over. The two of them both have under 6 Interceptions so far. Both have 25+ touchdowns. If you have one of them on your team there's a chance you could ride them all the way to your league’s championship. Verdict: Tom Brady Everyone loves drafting a running back that you can count on week in and week out and the player that comes to mind when I think of consistency is Le’veon bell. I Luckily have Bell on my team and let me tell you he is a workhorse. He currently leads the NFL in rushing yards and is also in the top five for rushing touchdowns. He is special because last year he was suspended for Four games and then came back and absolutely destroyed the league. He does it year in and year out so if you can, try to get him on your team every single year. Next, we look at Todd Gurley. Todd Gurley who is coming off an off year for his standards currently leads the NFL in rushing touchdowns with 8 and is second in the league in rushing yards. “He is a beast of a running back and I especially love him as a running back because he is fast and is not afraid to run right over you.”[Peter Young ‘19] Gurley is currently one of the main reasons why the surprise Los Angeles Rams are fighting for a playoff spot today Verdict: Le’Veon Bell 2017 is the year of the Wide receiver. There are three wide receivers right now that if you have them on your team, you are in great shape.Antonio Brown, Julio Jones, and Adam Thielen. “I love Julio, he is an absolute beast and is completely unguardable.”[Troy Bardos 19] Troy said this the other day after Julio Jones came off a FIFTY point performance in his came on Sunday. No receiver has done that yet this year except for Julio.However they have come close, Just this past Sunday Antonio Brown put up a whopping 40 fantasy points as he continues his trend of absolutely torching the opposing team's secondary as this was his second week in a row of putting up at least 40 fantasy points. Not to mention AB also leads the NFL in receiving yards which is nothing for him.Our next man under the spotlight is Mr consistent, Adam Thielen. Adam Thielen can be viewed as a sleeper due to a lot of people not knowing who he is but trusts me in time, he will become a household name. He is currently third in the NFL in receiving yards and has put up 20+ fantasy points five times this year. Pretty good for a white receiver huh?He is also putting up these numbers with an average QB at best which makes Thielen’s case for best WR better. Verdict: Antonio Brown If you have any of the players named in this article you are in great shape but if you have two or more, then you are most certainly running the tables in your league. All of these players are complete studs and cases can be made for every one of these players being the best at their respective position.  Brendan Duddy BMHS Pridetime Reporter  NORWALK- Brien McMahon held its annual Powderpuff Game Tuesday night at 7:00 pm as the senior girls set out for a win against the junior girls in a friendly flag football game on the M.
Prior to that game, when asked about what she thought their chances were to win, junior quarterback, Michelle Perea (‘19), didn't show much confidence. “Honestly, 0 (percent) because I know that seniors win every year even if the juniors are ahead.” She went on to say “ I’m just looking forward to playing in the game since it is my first year playing.” The seniors went up by a touchdown midway in the first quarter but were unable to convert on the two-point conversion. Both teams were stagnant on the offensive side of the ball while both defenses matched each other possession for possession not allowing either offence to score for over two full quarters. With less than three minutes left in the game, and the seniors still up 6-0, the juniors score to tie the game. Then, junior coach, Phil Konopka, ran a double fake play that resulted in a two point conversion giving the juniors an 8-6 lead. The seniors, back with possession, were able to run their way down to the 45 yard line with 1 minute and 15 seconds remaining. Senior coach AJ Albano, with the clock still running, took almost 30 seconds of game time to design a play. With 45 seconds left, the seniors snapped the ball on a run play. With 17.5 seconds left, the seniors score retaking a 12-8 lead. With most believing the game was over, the stands began to empty. The juniors thought that they still had a chance and in a last second attempt came up 20 yards shy of the game winning touchdown. “It always feels great to win, but I think it was well deserved” is what senior running back Chrissy Kirst (‘18) had to say following the win. Kelete Sherald BMHS PrideTime Reporter The highly anticipated Thanksgiving football game that Brien McMahon plays with their school rival Norwalk High will be taking place this Thursday. With the game coming up, football players are prepping in hopes of winning. Kelete Sherald, reporter for BMHS PrideTime, sat down with Michael Macari (‘19) and Patrick Coulter (‘20) to find out what this game means to them and to give us a taste of what it feels like being on the field playing rather than sitting on the bleachers and watching.  Photo Credit Scott Coulter Kelete: Given that you’re a sophomore, which means that you’ll be playing in your first Thanksgiving game, are you nervous? Patrick "I've watched Thanksgiving games for many years and to finally get the chance to play in it, it's surreal. As a sophomore, I'm not nervous but more excited to play in a game that means so much, but with so much anticipation for this rivalry game it's hard not to be. With that being said, my nerves are calmed because I'm confident in my team." Kelete: What do you think it will take to beat the Norwalk High Bears? Patrick: "We just need to put everything together. The whole season we've had flashes. I know that we are a good team and when everything is clicking, we can play our best. If we are able to beat that team, we can raise that Testa Trophy on Thanksgiving." Kelete: How do you feel about this being the last game of your sophomore season? Patrick: "It's crazy to see how time flies. It feels like it was yesterday that I was suiting up as a freshman for last year's Thanksgiving game. For now, I just have to work as hard as possible at practice and on Thursday. After that, I think it's going to take a while for it to set in that the next time I pad up, I'll be a junior." Michael Macari ('19)  Photo Credit Scott Coulter Kelete: Is the Thanksgiving game a big deal to you, or do you feel like this is just another normal game?
Michael: “This, being my second Thanksgiving game, it’s becoming more like a huge game because I know how many people will be there but I like to treat it as a normal game." Like many sports team, the football team use music to boost their energy and assist in providing confidence. Kelete: Is there a specific genre of music you listen to get pumped for the game? Michael: "Not specifically but I like to listen to soft music to calm me down way before the game. Then when it gets close to game time, I like to listen to some crazy stuff to get myself pumped." Kelete: Since this game is against your school rivals, do you feel like your performance is different against Norwalk High compared to when you play against other schools? Michael: "No, I go out and play my hardest no matter what game i'm playing in. But the adrenaline is definitely higher because it’s Thanksgiving." Kelete: Would you like to say anything else? Michael: "Make sure you're at the game Thursday at 10:30 on our M, thank you." Michael Macari, Patrick Coulter and all the other football players are ready for this year’s Thanksgiving game. Be sure to be there on the M at 10:30 a.m. to support our boys and show school spirit!   Isaias Martinez
BMHS PrideTime Reporter NORWALK-As the temperatures begin to drop, sports start to move indoors. Varsity Wrestling Coach, Santa Luccia, is ready for the 2017-2018 season as preparation begins on the mats in the mini gym after school. Going 12-4 last season, ending up with a total of 10 points, the Senators seek to keep working hard to maintain a winning season. Coach Santa thinks this is going to be a challenging season for the team. Santa says “We lost 7 seniors (Jeff Capone, Jack Coulter, Nico Gonzalez, Timmy Horton, Jason Martinez, Caelen Sampson, and Felipe Silva). Who were all in the starting line up. Hopefully it’s a good building year, I’d like for more Freshman to come out. We have much less experience this year and I don’t know if we can fill in every weight class.” The Senators had some key wins last year such as their win against Norwalk high which they have beaten for 15 consecutive years. Coach Santa says some of the key players this year are Nick Marsan(‘18) , Jeff Cochia(20’) and Mikey Santa Luccia(20’) . All of these wrestlers had a winning record last year . Nick Marsan plays a big role as being a senior leader of the team. Last year, Marsan had many successful matches. In his first tri-meet, he beat an opponent from Greenwich in overtime. Nick also went on to FCIAC’s and made his way to CIAC’s. Nick was able to go face-to-face with the number one player in the state from Danbury. Marsan has the talent and mental skills to potentially win all his matches. “It takes confidence. If you’re nervous you will mess up. It takes determination. A match can go towards any player’s favor; keep going until the clock hits zero. Even a good wrestler can get thrown onto his back in one second and lose.” says Nick Marsan. The wrestling team is ready for their first meet against Fairfield Warde December 13th, 6:30 pm, at home on the M. Pridetime reporter: Wichie bienaime Pridetime editor: Peter Young Brien McMahon’s Varsity soccer team has had a bumpy road since the day I entered high school. My freshmen year the team didn’t make States and FCIACs with a record of 3-5-6. But as the years have passed, their success hasn't come. This year (my senior year) was no different. I sat down with several key McMahon players to discuss the downfall season: Senior, key varsity fullback, Duly Bolivar; Senior captain Joshue Balderama; Senior Captain Daniel Izquierdo. The team and fans were beyond confident before the start season and looked forward to the challenge ahead. “When the season started I was very confident. I knew the players and what they could bring to the team. There was no reason not to be confident,” said Duly Bolivar. With all this hype around the team, they failed to win a single game struggling against oppositions believed to have had in the bag. “The team struggled in communication on the field, off the field it was great. Coaching decisions lead to a lot of our losses,” Duly added. For many of the players coaching decisions led to a lot of struggle this season. “I agree to a certain extent, there were certain decisions that I disagreed with but at the same time I take responsibility for that as a captain I should’ve taken a stronger role in terms of making decisions that were best for the team,” said Dany Izquierdo. The backbone of the team, Joshue Balderama, had an input on the coaching going on, stating “Our coach could have made better decisions, from having 30-minute training sessions to tactics. I think we could've improved a lot but were held back. But I think we are definitely at fault most.” The chemistry on the field was another issue. “The chemistry was not at 100%,” said Duly. “You got the defense who lacked on some parts, midfield struggled. You got one person that's really good up top, Elias Pardo. But he wasn’t used the right way. The coach didn’t have a very big role on the team.” Danny Izquierdo went on saying, “As highlighted by the Norwalk High game. We held the lead for roughly 65 minutes, then we got a questionable PK call against us and that changed the whole dynamic of the game. But from that moment we needed to keep our composure and close the game out well. Instead, we put our heads down and everything went downhill from there. That pretty much sums up our season.” “I'm not proud of the team at all because I know we could've done so much better. Throughout the whole season, I was never over it, at least win one game. I never lost hope on our team.” When asked what his best memory from the season was his response was “Senior night playing in the rain, people will remember that for years.” Duly responded.  Darren Battle BMHS Pridetime Editor
Hanging in the guidance office is the list of sports available for girls to join, every sport but hockey is on that list, and if you look at the winter sports posters with the schedules listed underneath, girls hockey isn't there either. Many girls do not know that such a team exists in our school.The girls hockey team is combined with Norwalk High School and Wilton High School, and together they make the team of Wilton-Norwalk-McMahon girls hockey team.
Formerly known as just Wilton girls hockey, the hockey team has improved their cooperation with the two other schools. The athletes this season will wear the names of their respective high school decals on their helmets and captains will have C’s on their jerseys and the C’s will be in their respective high school primary color. People who don’t know much about the girl’s hockey team may question to themselves why do we play with Wilton and Norwalk? Well, Norwalk as a city is not huge into girl’s hockey. Currently, there are no Norwalk-based travel teams and many girls are forced to play with the Ice Cats in the neighboring town of Darien. The two Norwalk High School’s linked with Wilton because they were a relatively new team, having launched their first team in 2008. The girls practiced at Sono Ice Rink which was easily accessible for McMahon students, from then on, Mcmahon girls who played hockey were assigned to the Wilton team. To play on the team, girls pay between $300-$500 each season, they also wake up early on the weekdays to arrive at five in the morning for practice, however playing for Wilton is surely worth it to the girls. “I enjoy playing for the school, I love the atmosphere and the new people I get to meet who I wouldn’t have known otherwise.” said Caitlyn Hocker (‘20) who was a recipient of an All-FCIAC 2nd team honor as a freshman. Having these three schools also is worth it to Head Coach, Pete Maxfield who stated “Having these girls from different schools, is luck. I lucked out with having great players and having great girls who are a lot of fun.” Anna Bean (‘18) a captain for the team has three words for girls wondering if they should play hockey. “PLAY THE SPORT!” “It’s so fun and you get to meet so many awesome people and live in a totally different world for a season, you become so close with these people you don’t see at school and travel to games far away and spend so much time with.” the captain commented. Daniel Izquierdo PrideTime Reporter Peter Young BMHS Pridetime Editor Tough weather at Jack Casagrande Field on Tuesday, November 7th brought along a tough 2-1 loss for the Brien Mcmahon girls soccer team against Cheshire. The weather in the CIAC first round definitely played a factor in the game. With rain and 40- degree temperatures, the weather really played a factor in the pace of the game. “ The Weather dictated the speed of the ball because the ball goes faster than the player with the rain.” expressed Olivia Leone a senior defender. The score didn't really represent how the game was played. From a tweet by John Nash local sports writer “At the half 1-1. Miserable conditions.could easily be a 5-2 lead for Mcmahon.” Many people believe the Senators had many scoring chances in the first half to score and didn't take advantage. The Senators lone goal was by Peyton Mcnamara, a sophomore striker. With 28:30 left in the first half, Mcnamara kicked one in. Cheshires Kaitlyn Loura evened up the score at one with a 35- yard chip shot over the goalkeeper's head with 7:36 left in the half. The final goal came on a rebound by Cheshires Jill Klem following a 40 Yard Free kick with 4:45 left in overtime. The call that caused the free kick late in overtime would be considered controversial. It was a questionable call and the Brien Mcmahon Student section made sure to let the referee know that. Olivia Leone hinted that the ref helped the outcome of the game “People will disagree it's never the ref's fault but always the team's fault.”  Christopher Clemens BMHS PrideTime Reporter
Isaias Martinez BMHS Pridetime Reporters  Hibernation is over for Darrick Eason as he steps up from being the Norwalk High Boys JV Basketball coach to the new head coach for the Boys Varsity Basketball team at Brien McMahon.
Coach Eason was born and raised in Norwalk, CT. He has much in mind for the Mcmahon Basketball team heading into the 2017-2018 season. Darrick Eason says “ My biggest goal is to bring McMahon back to the top. McMahon was always on top… and I want to bring them back there and put up some banners.” Plans for the upcoming season have already come into commence. “The biggest thing I want to bring is togetherness, working on unity” Coach Eason said. The mentality he carries forward to the team is prosperous. Eason says “ I plan to know the players and know the team I’m working with… What makes them go, what buttons to push. I pride myself in bringing the best out of people..” Filling the shoes of Coach Dustin was a challenge Eason was ready to take. Dustin coached the team into finishing the 2016-2017 season with a record of 14-8. The Boys qualified for the quarterfinals of FCIACS and first round of states. As the new head coach Darrick says “I’m excited to be the new head coach, I’ve coached youth sports for 20 years. I feel excited to be back home and coach in my home town. I feel honored and privileged to be at the highest position of high school basketball.” Knowing the players on the team, Eason potentially has a leading foot for the start of the season. A key aspect Eason brings to the team is not relying on one member, but the team as a unit. “Use everyone for the system no matter who’s on the court.” says Eason. Michelle Perea and Kelete Sherald BMHS Pridetime Reporters NORWALK, CT- As fall season is coming to an end, senior and junior athletes recap their season. PrideTime reporters Michelle Perea and Kelete Sherald interviewed Cameron Kelly, Olivia Cintron, and Victoria McCaffrey, captains of Brien McMahon’s football, volleyball, and cross country team, to get insight on their thoughts of the season.  Cameron Kelly ('18) Football Kelete: Being a senior/captain, do you feel like there’s a little bit of more expected out of you than others? Cameron: “Of course I feel that way, I was chosen to lead this team out of others. There’s automatically going to be more pressure on me but that’s nothing I wasn’t prepared for. As a role model for this team I am expected to do and execute more things than the basics and those are things I need to achieve.” Kelete: Will you miss McMahon football? Cameron: “Of course, I will. No matter where I go on in life, whether it’s going on to play college football or being a regular student, nothing can replace the bond that’s built with that family. There has been so many laughs and tears on the field and in the locker room. It isn’t possible to replace those memories. There won't be a day I won’t think about my highschool career where it all started for me.” "To all the players behind me, don’t take a play for granted. The coaches don’t lie at all when they say time flies.”  Olivia Cintron ('18) Volleyball Michelle: What is one thing you’d tell the freshmen that want to come in and play? Olivia: “I would tell the freshmen that you definitely need to work on your conditioning before you come to the tryouts because our conditioning is pretty hard. You use more muscles than you would normally use.” Michelle: If you could change anything about this season, what would it be? Olivia: I think I would change by working smarter not as hard to find more places on the court to get more points, than trying to hit the ball as hard as we can and end up losing points off that. Michelle: How is this season different from last year’s? Olivia: “Last season we had a powerhouse of an offense, and this year we’ve been working as more of a defensive team instead of just pushing it to the outsides all the time. We’ve been working with our middles and right sides so they can improve as well.”  Victoria McCaffrey ('19) Cross Country Michelle:
How is this season different from last year’s? Victoria: The team I think did really good, especially the underclassmen they did really good this year, and we did really good even though we were missing some of our upperclassmen from last year, so we did really good. Michelle: Did you improve from last year’s season? Victoria: As a team, I think we did about the same, we were pretty constant with the results I think that personally, I did do a lot better this year then I did last year in the few weeks that I ran. Michelle: Are you happy with the results from this season? Why or why not? Victoria: I am very happy, I am especially proud of the freshman. One of the freshman Amanda got first place in a varsity meet, so that was really cool for her, and the whole team we all did really good a lot of the kids ran varsity and it was really good. I’m proud of the work they did. McMahon’s sports captains summarized each of their season’s, and share beliefs on how their teams did. Each captain talked about their past, future, and results of the season and gave others an insight of their point of view. Emily Pinto BMHS Pridetime Reporter The Brien McMahon field hockey teams 2017 season has come to an end, the girls record was 3-12-1 - winning against Westhill, St. Joe’s, and Trumbull. This was the first year field hockey had 50 girls and 3 teams, varsity, junior varsity, and developmental. The developmental team was composed of girls who wanted to improve their field hockey skills. This seasons captains included Sophia Valiante, Maddie Froelich, Angelika Kyrkos, Kristen Carrano, and Maddy Gordon. Head coach Dani Brown said, “The team fought hard this season. They had a total of three wins and they will come back next season and fight harder than before.”
All of the girls learned a lot of new skills this season,but they also had some struggles. Some girls learned how to pass harder, others learned how to control the ball better, and a lot of girls worked on their running skills. Sophia Valiante (‘18) said, “Communication and effort is the biggest thing we struggled with. It was always the thing we had to work on in games and practice.” Julia Curtin (‘19) said, “We expect to see a lot of improvement and hopefully a better record. The new coaching staff is really keen on getting us to play in the off-season,making a huge difference because of the difficulty of our conference.” The team feels as if they will be better prepared for next season as they will be doing a lot of off-season practices. Madison Claps (‘20) said, “In the off-season we will be playing CEFH (Competitive Edge Field Hockey)”. Because the team is losing a lot of talent with this years seven seniors graduating, they will have to fight even hard next season. According to Jessica Trujillo (‘19) the most important person to her who will be leaving is goalie, Angelika Kyrkos, who has benefited the team with all the saves she has made. “This year was really rewarding, won some games and didn't let amazing teams like Greenwich step all over us,” said Madison Claps. The girls held their own against Greenwich in a 2-0 loss. Sophia Valiente says, “The best game we played was the Trumbull game, we went there setting low expectations for ourselves.The rainy weather made it perfect to play and all of the adrenaline kicked in and we beat a team we did not expect to beat.” The BMHS field hockey team is eagerly awaiting the 2018 fall season. In the words of head coach Dani Brown #DontSleepOnUs Daniel Izquierdo BMHS Pridetime Reporter Brendan Duddy  Taken by Nick Chacon NORWALK- The Brien McMahon boys soccer team were visited by Bridgeport Central Tuesday, Oct. 24, in the final game of the season, and for most of the seniors, it brought about the end of their high school careers as they graduate in June.
Prior to game start, all of McMahon’s seniors took a picture in one of the goals together. As a tribute to the seniors, second year coach, Rodrigo Guzman, took the courtesy of making the entire starting lineup consisting only of Seniors, with the exception of goalie, Norberto Santiago IV (‘19). When asked about what he would remember most about the class of 2018, coach Guzman said “All the hard work they did in the off season and never giving up even though the season did not turn out the way we had planned.” The Senators, who were still searching for their first win of the season, were desperate for a win. The game ended in a 1-1 tie, impressive for McMahon as Bridgeport had already secured their spot in both the State and FCIAC playoffs. The draw had no effect on the Senators as seniors were honored in a halftime ceremony where their names were called out loud as they met their family members on the field where they gathered for photos. The future of the team is looking bright as only four of the starting eleven are seniors. This is a very talented young team as McMahon’s top goal scorer is Elias Pardo (‘19). There are five juniors and two sophomores that are starters. There were three freshmen that were able to make the team as well, one of which had this to say about playing with the seniors. “Being a freshman and getting a chance to play with the seniors was a very good experience, they were the ones I looked up to the most and overall I had a great time,” said freshman forward Brandon Miller (‘21) who went on to say “They will truly be missed next year.” |
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