Seven high school sports takeaways: A new Hall of Fame class, a new football coach at Arlington Catholic, and more

The 2025 MHSFCA Hall of Fame class includes Auburn's
Jeff Cormier
, Milton's
Steve Dembowski
, Burlington's
Shawn Maguire
, Leominster's
Dave Palazzi
, Chelmsford's
Bruce Rich
, and Bishop Fenwick's
Dave Woods
. Assistant coaches
Don Miller
(West Bridgewater),
Ryan Dailey
(Westborough),
Fernand Lavoie
(Lynnfield),
Melvin Sasser
(Chicopee),
Matt Wassel
(King Philip), and
Marc Grady
(Auburn) will also be inducted.
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Uxbridge's
Shane Gilmore
, Lynnfield's
Madux Iovinelli
, and Barnstable's
Manual Rivera
will be honored as Courageous Players, while
Hector Longo
of the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune will receive the Media award.
Sandy Ruggles
will receive the Cella Lifetime Achievement award, and
Steve Ash
and
Matt Ross
will receive Distinguished Service awards. Recognition will be given to Mansfield's
Mike Redding
for his 300th win and Northbridge's
Ken LaChapelle
for his 400th win.
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Justin McKay
(
Tom Lopez
(
2. Coaching carousel
After eight seasons as the football coach at Lynn Classical,
Brian Vaughan
will be moving over to Arlington Catholic. Vaughan went 43-38 at Lynn Classical, where he coached his son,
Brian Vaughan Jr.
, now a freshman quarterback at Western Connecticut State. The elder Vaughan was a standout running back at Lynn English and graduated as the all-time leading rusher at Northeastern. He has served as an assistant at Lynn English, Winthrop, and Everett and was head coach at South Boston, Boston English and Pope John in Everett. He takes over an Arlington Catholic program that went 1-10 each of the last two seasons and, other than a 2-2 finish in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, hasn't had a winning record since 2014. Vaughan takes over for Brian Wilcox, who coached the Cougars for five seasons.
3. Fabulous Pham
For the fifth time in the award's 40-year history, the Gatorade Massachusetts Girls' Basketball Player of the Year went to a player from Noble & Greenough School.
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Senior
Christina Pham
is this year's recipient after leading the Bulldogs to a 29-2 record and the NEPSAC Class AAA title game. The 5-foot-6-inch guard averaged 18.6 points, 5.4 assists, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.0 steals while shooting 45 percent on 3-pointers. A four-time All-New England selection, she was named Independent School League MVP.
'Pham hit three big dagger 3-pointers against us,' said Worcester Academy coach
Dan Sullivan
. 'She never lets up, she competes all game long. She's the straw the stirs the drink for Nobles.'
Carrying an A-minus average in the class and ranked No. 3 in New England in the Class of 2025, Pham has committed to play basketball at Fairfield. She also volunteers coaching youth basketball players and went on a service mission to Rwanda.
Congrats to Future Stag, Christina Pham, on winning Massachusetts 2024-25 Gatorade Player of the Year! We are so proud of you! 🦌🤘
— Fairfield Women's Basketball (@StagsWBball)
4. Best in Western Mass
The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame is presenting its 14th annual Western Massachusetts Players of the Year awards to
Ryan Vedovelli
(Pope Francis) and
Olivia Chrzan
(Monson).
Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Announces 2025 Western Massachusetts High School Players of the Year. 🏀🏆
— Hoophall Classic (@HoophallClassic)
Vedovelli, a senior, was a four-year varsity starter and two-year captain who averaged 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists per game. A 1,000-point scorer, he led Pope Francis to more than 70 wins in his four seasons, becoming the program's all-time leading scorer and earning Player of the Game honors at the Hoophall Classic. Vedovelli also played baseball and was named Western Mass. Player of the Year in soccer as well. He is committed to play basketball at WPI.
The family tradition continues. Ryan Vedovelli is your Game 5 Player of the Game. 🏆
— Hoophall Classic (@HoophallClassic)
Chrzan, a captain, averaged 28 points and 12 rebounds per game as a senior, posting three triple-doubles, and finishing as the school's all-time leading scorer (boys and girls) with 2,287 career points. She has been named First Team All Western Mass. every year since seventh grade and is second in her class with a GPA of 100.5.
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5. Commitment central
A two-time state champion football player and
Trevor Jones
announced his commitment to Salve Regina to play football. The 6-0, 190-pound dual-threat quarterback/cornerback threw for 1,003 yards and ran for 700, accounting for 20 touchdowns last fall in leading Duxbury to
Salve Regina University '29
I am super excited to announce my commitment to Salve Regina University. Special thanks to my family, coaches and teammates who have helped me throughout this process. Lastly, thanks to the Salve coaching staff for giving me this opportunity…
— Trevor Jones (@Trevj48)
Woburn senior guard
Mckenna Morrison
, who
Old Rochester's 6-1, 225-pound senior linebacker
Sawyer Johnson
announced he'll spend a post-graduate year at New Hampton.
I'm very excited to announce that I will be doing a post graduate year at the New Hampton school. Thank you to all my family and friends who have supported me throughout this process. Go huskies!!
— sawyer (@sawyerj220)
6. MIAA honors
The MIAA will honor longtime Scituate cross-country and track coach
Kathleen McCarthy
as its Massachusetts Women in Athletics Distinguished Service award winner. The award recognizes women who have 'devoted their time and energy to guiding and nurturing female athletes.' The award will be given at the Massachusetts Celebration of Girls and Women in Sports Day on May 20 at Cross Insurance Club Atrium at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.
On Monday, the Bruins honored boys' and girls' hockey players from every conference with the 2025 Boston Bruins/MIAA Sportsmanship Awards.
The boys' winners were:
Bay State: Framingham's
Jason Fitch
Berry: Frontier's
William Petrin
Cape Ann: North Reading's
Max Forristall
Catholic Central: Bishop Feehan's
Logan Petrucci
Catholic Conference: BC High's
Sonny Christian
Commonwealth: Northeast's
Will Baker
Fay Wright: Agawam's
Frankie DiSanti
Greater Boston: Medford's
Vincent Castro
MVC/DCL 1: Billerica's
Stephen MacIntosh
MVC/DCL 2: Waltham's
Garo Gebeyan
MVC/DCL 3: Haverhill's
Jake Costa
Middlesex: Reading's
Nathan Mulvey
Northeastern: Winthrop's
Mike Donahue
Patriot: Marshfield's
Jack Doherty
Roy: Wachusett's
Caden Lane
South Shore: Cohasset's
Taighe Dwyer
The girls' winners were:
Cape & Islands: Falmouth's
Raelynn Spellman
Catholic Central: Arlington Catholic's
Markie Lawhorne
Independent: Ursuline's
Victoria Higgins
MVC/DCL Large: Andover's
Bella DiFiore
MVC/DCL Small: Shawsheen's
Corrine Foley
Middlesex: Burlington's
Caitlyn Tremblay
Northeastern: North Reading's
Gianna Griffith
Patriot: Duxbury's
Parker Metzler
7. Odds and ends
On Saturday, former
Victoria Bossong
was second and Stanford's
Roisin Willis
took third.
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Women's 800m Champion
🥇 Makayla Paige (
📊 2:00.39
— NCAA Track & Field (@NCAATrackField)
Congratulations to Tewksbury's Makayla Paige!
NCAA Women's 800M National Champion!!! 💪🏆
— Tewksbury Police (@TewksburyPD)
▪ Rosters were announced for the annual MSHCA/HNIB Senior All-Star games, which will be held Sunday at Worcester Ice Center, with the girls at 1:50 p.m. and the boys at 4 p.m.
Announcing the student-athletes selected to play in this Sunday 3/23's MSHCA/HNIB Senior All-Star Games at the Worcester Ice Center! Players were nominated by their coaches & from those pools, selected & participation confirmed before finalizing rosters.
— Mass State High School Hockey Coaches Association (@MSHCA1)
▪ Nauset Regional will hold its 8th Annual Evening for Champions from 6-9 p.m. on Saturday at the Ocean Edge Resort. This fund-raising event features dinner, cash bar, and live and silent auctions. There will also be a special tribute to the Warriors' state champion boys' hockey team. Tickets are $65 at
AUCTION: The annual Evening For Champions fundraising event is this Saturday, March 22nd @ 6:00PM at Ocean Edge Resort. Details are below, purchase your tickets today!
— Nauset Athletics (@Nausetsports)
▪ The NEPSAC girls' basketball tournament awards were announced, with six MVPs, six Defensive Player of the Year selections and six coaches of the year. Players of the year were Tilton senior
Hannah Lynch
, Worcester Academy senior
Elyse MacDonough
, Loomis Chaffee senior
Alicia Mitchell
, Rivers senior
Grace O'Sullivan
, Hamden Hall senior
Emma Olausson
, and Brimmer & May freshman
Jaliah Duplessy
.
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The defensive players of the year were New Hampton's
Serenity Lancaster
, Austin Prep's
Fope Ayo
, Sacred Heart Greenwich's
Eva Wilkerson
, Berkshire School's
Pearl Dickson
, Lexington Christian's
Nicole Burns
and Brimmer and May's
Elliana Barros
.
Coaches of the Year were
Alex Gallagher
(Nobles),
Dan Sullivan
(Worcester Academy),
Ayo Hart
(Sacred Heart Greenwich),
Kenny Small
(Rivers),
Angelica Pascual
(Kimball Union), and
Courtney Sims
(Brimmer and May).
Brendan Kurie can be reached at

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