Kolokithas and Gray honored as Hock Scholar-Athletes

Thursday night saw the Hockomock League hold one of its most cherished, special events of the year when it hosted the Hockmomock League Scholar Athlete banquet. 

Each year for more than 30 years, the Hockomock comes together in May to honor two student athletes from each of the 12 Hock schools.  Two graduating student athletes from each school are selected for excelling in both the classroom and on the playing field. It is really the award that best exemplifies and honors those who embrace the mission of educational athletics. 

It is extremely difficult to select recipients given that so many Bulldogs prioritize the "student" part of being a student athlete.  Canton's two award winners this year were Mercia Kolokithas and Dominic Gray.  Both Kolokithas and Gray have earned amazingly high GPA's during their four years at CHS, while also contributing greatly to the many teams they have been a part of.  

Mercia Kolokithas has participated on many Bulldog athletic teams during her four years here, including Unified Basketball, Unified Track & Field, Lacrosse, and Volleyball, but it was in the Basketball program where she really excelled. A three-year varsity contributor and leader, Mercia successfully navigated both highly successful seasons as well as more challenging campaigns. Regardless of the season, she was always an amazing role mode. AND- she set a new school record for 3-pointers in a game with NINE in one of the final days of her career. She will be attending Cornell University in the fall. 

Dominic Gray has been a poised, hard-working leader of the Bulldog Cross Country, Indoor Track and Spring Track and Field teams since he first walked into the halls of CHS four years ago. He eventually would go on to earn nine varsity letters in those sports and act as a three-sport captain. His ability to lead as a great teammate is one of his greatest strengths. A team-first student athlete, he excelled while never seeking the spotlight- a true sportsman. He will likely attend Babson College in the fall. 

The CHS Athletic Department proudly wishes both of these soon-to-be graduates, the best of luck in the next chapters of their lives. 

Schedule updates- Boys LAX and Girls Tennis

Couple of changes made to upcoming schedules-

Boys LAX vs. Taunton on Tuesday, April 23rd-  JV game is canceled due to conflict for Taunton. Varsity game time moved up to 5:30pm. 

Girls Tennis match at North Attleboro has been rescheduled to Thursday, May 2nd at 3:45pm. 

Wednesday contest changes- April 4th- 2024

 Due to a nor'easter in APRIL!!!!!!.......All contests scheduled for today have been postponed. 

Student athletes should await info from their coaches on what alternative plans have been made. 

What's next???? An eclipse!!!!

Changes to Monday, April 8th athletic schedule

In accordance with guidance provided by the MIAA (Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association) Sports Medicine Committee, the following adjustments will be made to the CHS Athletics schedule on Monday, April 8th. 

Due to the solar eclipse, NO OUTDOOR practices or contests will take place prior to 4:00pm.  

CONTEST SCHEDULE-

• Boys and Girls Tennis at Taunton at 6:00pm
• JV Softball at Taunton at 5:30pm
• Varsity Softball at Taunton at 6:30pm 
• Varsity Boys LAX  at Franklin at 4:45pm
• JV Boys LAX at Franklin at 6:15pm
• Varsity Girls LAX vs. Franklin at CHS at 4:45pm
• JV Girls LAX vs. Franklin at CHS at 6:15pm 

Track, Unified Track and Baseball teams should communicate with their coaches about practice schedules that day. 

Baseball postponements

 Today's JV and Varsity Baseball games scheduled with Sharon have been postponed to a date and time TBD.

Updates to Monday-Wednesday schedule

 Some moving parts as we kick off the spring season is full force this week.

TODAY, Monday, April 1st- All of our contests scheduled today are ON EXCEPT our Girls Tennis match at North Attleboro, which has been postponed. 

Tuesday, April 2nd- We have moved our Tennis matches with Sharon (originally scheduled for Wednesday) to Tuesday. 

For updates on all of our spring schedules, visit https://www.cantonma.org/chs/departments/athletics/calendar-schedules

Coach Choquette wraps up a stellar eleven season run

Long-time Canton High School Girls Varsity Basketball Coach Jimmy Choquette announced this week that he will be stepping down from the helm of the CHS Girls Basketball program after an incredibly impactful 11-year coaching run. Coaching high school basketball simply was not allowing him to play the role he really wanted to play with his own children's activities and athletics.  Choquette leaves the CHS Coaching staff as the current 5th longest serving head coach in the Bulldog athletic department. He has been an immensely positive influence on hundreds of CHS basketball players in his decade-plus tenure. 

Bulldog Coach Jimmy Choquette

Here are some highlights of Coach Choquette's CHS coaching career-

• After serving two seasons as the Boys JV Basketball coach, he appointed to the role of Head Varsity Girls Basketball Coach in the winter of 2013/14.
• Massachusetts Basketball Coaches Association 2022 D2 Coach of the Year
• 5x Honorable Mention as Hockomocksports.com Coach of the Year
• 11 straight years of Top 3 recognition in Hockomock League Sportsmanship Award
• Over 100 career victories
• Elite 8 tournament run in 2022
• Coached two 1,000 point scorers
• 10 years hosting the Play4Kay game raising over $5000 for cancer research

CHS Athletic Director Danny Erickson had this to say upon Choquette's announcement:

"Jimmy has been a key member of the CHS Athletic Department for more than a decade. He is the longest serving Head Girls Varsity Basketball Coach at CHS dating back to the days of Coach Jimmy Carta (mid-80s through the mid-90s.)  That longevity is no accident.  He coaches with a great balance of care for his student athletes, passion, professionalism, fun and competitiveness. It is a balance that all high school coaches strive for but Jimmy clearly mastered it. He navigated both winning and losing seasons with the main objective always being the growth of his student athletes. He understands educational athletics, making every one of his 1,000s of coaching decisions with that understanding at the core. We have been incredibly lucky to have him as part of our Bulldog coaching family. We wish him the best! Thank you coach!"

Coach Choquette shared these thoughts as he announced his decision to leave CHS:

"I've never coached trying to prove anyone wrong, I found it more gratifying and successful to prove those who believed in me right.  I can't thank Mr. Erickson, Mr. Folan, Mr. Sperling enough for their leadership and belief in myself and my coaching staffs that we were always trying to do things right.  The support of Kristen Aguiar AT, Boys Coaches (Ryan Gordy, Eric MacKinnon, Dan Kiser along with their staffs), Coach Hughes, our cheerleaders, band members, TV crew and our town media coverage (Mike Berger, Canton Citizen) so many countless parents and community members have all made my coaching career at Canton feel like home.  These are relationships I will take with me for the rest of my life.

I want to thank my coaches; Christine Sullivan, Colleen Moriarty, Marissa Cicchetti, Kelly Regan, Tyler Watters, Jessica Dineen and Jessica Powers.  These are all extraordinary individuals that have given more to me and my vision of what Canton girls basketball could be than I could have ever asked for or deserved.

Coach Choquette (left) with his final group of Bulldogs-
The 2023-24 Girls Varsity Basketball team

My final thank you goes to all the wonderful players I've had the privilege of coaching over the years.  No coach could have asked for better young people to be around than I had the chance and pleasure to see on the court each and every night in the winters.

Being your head coach has been an absolute honor and blessing and I thank each one of you for giving your very best to this program and to me."

Best of luck to Coach Choquette as he embarks on his next chapter!