It’s a proven fact that when a sports team faces adversity, stares it down, and vanquishes it, that squad is better off for having faced such a challenge.
And the 2017-18 Londonderry High School boys’ basketball squad dealt with its first dose of adversity before one sneaker had been tied, one ball had been bounced, and a single shot had been taken.
Very much like the Boston Celtics did when star free-agent signing Gordon Hayward went down with an ugly leg and ankle injury a mere five minutes into the 2017-18 season some weeks ago, the Lancers had talented junior shooting-guard Ethan Garofalo suffer a nasty injury to his right leg and foot during fall ball which required surgery and evidently leaves him unable to play at all this winter.
The immensely athletic Garofalo showed great growth during his sophomore season last winter and helped his Lancers go 10-8. He was expected to play an even bigger role this season, but Londonderry will unfortunately have to forge forward with him watching from the sidelines instead.
Veteran coach Nate Stanton’s Lancers ended up being the eighth seed heading into the 2016-17 Division I tournament earlier in this calendar year, and their title hopes were dashed by a first-round loss to the Bishop Guertin Cardinals from Nashua.
Among the contingent’s key returnees is battle-tested senior court-general Cole Britting, a wily and skilled player and leader who will serve his third consecutive season as a captain.
Other returnees include Britting’s fellow 12th-graders Dakota Bertrand (a forward) and Pat Zepf (at center), junior Ethan May (small forward), and sophomore Jack Anderson (shooting-guard).
The team’s other varsity returnees include seniors Ryan Chisolm (shooting-guard), Shane McNamara (forward), Jack Connors (forward), and Cam Champa (shooting-guard), and junior James Buttafuoco.
There’s also a quartet of promising newcomers which includes senior center Nathan Gervais, junior forward Alex Crutcher, sophomore small forward Cole Keegan, and freshman shooting-guard Dean Haggett.
When asked what the keys to success will be for his Lancers this winter, coach Stanton responded, “Working together and focusing on all the little things. Working on getting better every day and preparation are the keys to success at the moment.”
Londonderry gets its 2017-18 campaign officially off and running with a pair of pre-Christmas home contests against the highly-touted Spaulding Red Raiders of Rochester on Tuesday the 19th and then Bedford two evenings later.