Ipswich Girls Soccer Drops Penalty Kicks Toughie to Shawsheen Tech

Two overtimes didn’t settle it, nor did the first five penalty kicks.  The 6th penalty kick gave the Shawsheen Tech Rams the Division 3 North tournament victory in girls soccer after their keeper made a save and the Ipswich keeper wasn’t as fortunate.
It goes down as a 2-1 quarter finals loss for the Tigers and [...]

Ipswich/Essex Summer Bus Shuttle Is a Bargain

Crane Beach is no secret in the summer.  Pick a hot weekend day from June 20th – September 7th  to visit that beach and you’ll join a vehicle caravan on Argilla Road in Ipswich.
$22 later you have a parking place, if there are any available. 
The high price and the possibility of not even being able [...]

Mill Road Bridge on Ipswich/Hamilton Line to Reopen in June

“Did he say what year?”  That’s probably the question that would come to mind for many of the longsuffering former users of the Mill Road Bridge.
But it’s true.  “The overall completion of the work is expected to be in mid-June (2009),” was the confirmation I received from Colin Durrant of MassHighway.  Mr. Durrant is in [...]

Getting the Mill Road Bridge Reopening Story

Over a month ago I was mislead into believing that the Mill Road Bridge in Ipswich was going to reopen very shortly.  It didn’t. 
Less than two week ago, the same misleader said that the bridge would open soon probably in May.  It won’t.
How do I know?  I decided that the reopening of that bridge would [...]

Ipswich Steelers’ Fan Has Super Birthday

John Yeannakopoulos of Ipswich responded to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and attended Super Bowl XLIII with his sister Denise (DeFrancesco) of Rowley in Tampa on February 1st.
“I was a Patriots fan until the 1970s when the black-and-gold of the Pittsburgh Steelers caught my eye,” he said.  “It’s been Pittsburgh ever since.”
The decision of the former Ipswich [...]

Hugh O’Flynn: The Doctor On Call for Ipswich High Athletics

By day, Dr. Hugh O’Flynn is an orthopedic surgeon at Coastal Orthopedics in Beverly.  By night, if he’s not at an Ipswich school committee meeting, he’s probably at an Ipswich High School varsity event sitting inconspicuously in the stands.  His preference these days is varsity girls’ basketball since his daughter Hannah is a sophomore starter [...]

Amber Smith Works Hard to be the Best

Classic examples of how hard work can pay off would be two basketball players from Ipswich – Ryan O’Connell and Amber Smith.
At early morning hours when others were sleeping during the regular season, Ryan and Amber were at places where they could improve in basketball.  In the off-season when others were playing other sports or [...]

Ipswich High School Senior Athletes Discuss Sports

(Ipswich High School senior athletes Tess Falabella and Jon Loeb)
“I just can’t imagine not doing sports,” explained recent IHS graduate Tess Falabella. “I just love being active.”
For classmate Jon Loeb the sentiments were similar, “I always found some sports activity to do even if it wasn’t an organized sport.”
Tess was involved with soccer, basketball, and [...]

IHS Coach Makes Sacrifice

What is sacrificial love? 
Isn’t it giving up something you enjoy because your enjoyment is interfering with something more important?
Doug Woodworth decided to step away from coaching boys’ basketball at Ipswich High School.
No, this wasn’t some sort of leave-of-absence.  The 14-year coach knew that his decision might end forever his chances of standing courtside at the [...]

Ryan O’Connell Sets Scoring Record at St. John’s Prep

(Danvers)  Senior Night at St. John’s Prep was, “awesome,” according to 18-year-old Ryan O’Connell of Ipswich.
Who could argue with his assessment after seeing him honored (as a senior) and then get himself into the St. John’s basketball record book as their all-time scorer.   Add that the Eagles defeated visiting Malden High 77-73, he put up [...]