Girls Tennis Meeting

There will be a brief but important meeting for any girl interested in playing tennis this spring on Thursday, February 6th at 2:30pm in room 144 with coach Chamberlain.

All returning players as well as anyone else interested in coming out for the team are welcome to attend. No experience necessary!

Bohane steps down after leading 'dogs back to the top

Coach Dave Bohane (right) with long-time
assistant coach Jeff Eckler (left)

A phenomenal CHS football coaching career came to an end this past week as coach David Bohane announced that he is stepping down as Bulldog Football coach.

Coach Bohane had this to say on his retirement from the position- 

"After much consideration, I have made the decision to step down as the Head Football Coach at Canton High School.  This decision has not been an easy one, but after really looking at it, I have decided that this is what is best at this time. It is a position that I have held with pride and I have given it my all. I am so proud of how much all of my players, coaches and teams have given CHS Football during my runs here. I believe that I leave the program on strong footing and will always root for the Bulldogs.  It has been a job of a lifetime for me."

Principal Derek Folan had this to say on coach Bohane’s decision to move on-

“I am incredibly grateful for Coach Bohane’s tremendous influence on our football players and our community. He did an outstanding job developing a culture of commitment and blue-collar competitiveness that has elevated the program through a decade. He invested in his players far beyond the football field. And, as a result, he developed character and life skills that served our student-athletes well. I’m very thankful to Coach Bohane and I admire his legacy as a coach in our community.”

Bohane has been the face of Canton Bulldog Football for the past decade, having started his second stint as head coach in 2011.  He orchestrated a resurgence of CHS Football that culminated in back-to-back championship seasons in 2018 (8-3) and 2019 (10-1). His team was crowned Hockmomock Davenport Champions and advanced to the Sectional Finals in each of those two seasons.  His accolades over the years include NE Patriots Coach of the Week as well as Mass Football Coaches Association Coach of the Year. 

A graduate of Springfield College, Bohane has been a dedicated Canton PE/Wellness teacher for nearly 30 years – first at the Hansen School and more recently at CHS.  Early in his teaching career he took on his first tenure as Head CHS Football coach, leading the Dogs from 1994-1998. He then took on several assistant coaching positions around the region including Mansfield, East Bridgewater and Milton before returning to the Bulldog sidelines.  He was also the key force behind the reintroduction of a Galvin Middle School football team that played a huge role in the high school program's resurgence.

Bohane's legacy at CHS may be best highlighted by the number of Bulldog student athletes who he helped through the recruitment process on their way to a collegiate career.  Canton has certainly sent more than our fair-share of football players onto the collegiate level under coach Bohane.  And his role in that process is impossible to overstate.

Bohane will remain a big part of CHS and our Athletic Department as he will continue on as a Wellness teacher and will be coming back for his 2^nd season at the helm of the Softball program this spring. 

A Personal Statement from the AD-

Canton High School has been very lucky to have had Dave Bohane as our Football coach.  I have known Dave since we were both young coaches here at CHS in the 90s and to say we were not the best of friends and co-workers 25 years ago would be accurate.  Soccer coaches and Football coaches were not all that supportive of each other back in that era.  But, when he came back and both of us were a bit older and wiser (and balder),  I got to witness first hand, this hard-working, dedicated, student of the game literally rebuild a program from the ground up.  It has been a pleasure working with him on this rebuild of the Bulldog Football program.  He was the right person for the right time in our program's history.  He brought a pride back in the once-proud program.  He restored a sense of tradition. He created an old-school work ethic in his student athletes. Most importantly, he showed all of them how football could help them become more complete young men as they left his program. My favorite memory of coach Bohane's time here goes back to his early days when we shocked Stoughton in a Thanksgiving Day upset on the road. Watching his pure joy in the hard-earned victory was something that I'll always remember.  Thank you Coach Bohane.

Hiltz named Girls Varsity Lacrosse coach for 2020 season

Coach David Hiltz in action
at a Cross Country meet

Canton High School's Athletic Department is happy to announce that CHS Social Studies teacher and Cross Country coach David Hiltz will be taking over the reigns of the Girls Varsity Lacrosse team for the 2020 spring season.  Hiltz joined the Girls Lacrosse staff in the spring of 2019 as an assistant coach of varsity and the JV coach.

Hiltz, who has been the CHS Varsity Cross Country coach since 2013, is looking forward to this challenge in Girls Lacrosse.

Hiltz relayed this message about his appointment- "I'm excited for the opportunity to lead the Girls Lacrosse program this season. As with any coach stepping into a new role, I am ready to embrace the opportunities and adversity that comes with it and work closely with all stakeholders to better the program."

Back in the fall, CHS appointed Dani Aquino as the new Varsity Head Coach, but Aquino has since announced that she will not be coaching during the 2020 campaign as she is expecting twins this spring.  Aquino had this to say about the appointment of Hiltz for the 2020 campaign- "I'm excited that coach Hiltz will be taking the reigns for the 2020 season. He will do a great job and will help to lay a strong foundation for the future successes of the program."

The season begins on March 16th!

Saturday Varsity Hockey time changes

The Girls and Boys Varsity Hockey games being played at the Ice House on Saturday have new start times.

Girls Hockey will now face off against Westwood at 2:30pm. A reminder to booster families attending- this is NOT our home game and therefor our Booster pass will not work for admission.

Boys Hockey will now face off against Foxboro at 6:30pm.

23rd Annual Peckham Wrestling Tournament

It is hard to believe that it's been 23 years since legendary CHS Wrestling coach, Tom Bartosek hosted the first annual Peckham Wrestling Tournament here at CHS. Today, wrestlers from eleven area schools converged on CHS to participate in this annual showcase of local high school wrestling talent. Our Bulldogs faced some of the best wrestlers in the region today.

Cillian Collins in action in Peckham

Peckham was a legend of Massachusetts Wrestling and is a member of the Massachusetts Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame as well. The tournament has grown and evolved over the years and has also become a celebration of coach Bartosek- who is really the "father of wrestling" in Canton.

For the past decade, the Bulldogs have been coached by Brian Caffelle- one of Bartosek's most impressive wrestlers back in his wrestling days. Caffelle has done an amazing job in keeping this local tradition alive and thriving up until this very day- the 23rd year.

Participating in this year's tournament were Canton, Stoughton, Norton, Xaverian, Sharon, Milton, Mansfield, Randolph, Southeastern Regional, New Bedford, and Davies Tech.

Thanks to EM Duggan
for our amazing mat

Advancing to the Finals in their weight classes for the Bulldogs were:

- Zach Peters who finished as runner-up at 113
and
- Eddie Marinilli who finished as CHAMPION at 152

Today's tournament featured our two state-of-the-art Wrestling mats. One which was donated by EM Duggan Company and the other through the generous donations of so many including major support from the CHS Athletic Booster Club.

As Athletic Director, I can truly say that there is no other single athletic event held at CHS each year that is as impressive, competitive and ambitious as this annual tradition. It exudes teamwork, sportsmanship, hard work, perseverance, positive culture, tradition and the positive nature of competition- all in honor of some great role models.  What else can you ask from a high school athletic event/experience?

The Bulldogs hit the mat again on Wednesday, January 15th as the host Foxboro at 7:00pm.

MacKay signs NLI to play Lax at AIC

Nick MacKay- 2020

 It was a proud moment for all Bulldogs on Monday as CHS Senior Nick MacKay signed his National Letter of Intent to continue his Lacrosse career at American International College in Springfield next year.  MacKay, who has been a major part of the Boys Lacrosse team's success over the past several seasons, bring a hard working, fighting attitude with him to Springfield.

The formal signing ceremony was attended by Nick's mom- Kim, dad- Peter, sister- Emily as well as CHS Boys Lacrosse coach Tim Taylor, CHS Athletic Director Danny Erickson and CHS Principal Derek Folan.

MacKay has been a key contributor to the CHS program under former, long-time coach Bill Bendell and is looking forward to building on that success as he transitions to playing under newly appointed head coach Tim Taylor.

L-R- CHS Boys Lacrosse Coach Tim Taylor, CHS AD Danny Erickson, Kim
MacKay, Nick MacKay, Peter MacKay, Emily MacKay and CHS principal
Derek Folan. 

"It's a proud day for the CHS Boys Lacrosse program," explained coach Taylor.  "Amazing to watch a CHS Lacrosse student athlete like Nick MacKay go on to a higher level of competition after CHS. We wish him the best there and will be supporting him along the way."

MacKay is looking to play a big part in the 2020 CHS Boys Lacrosse season before taking his talents on to AIC.

Boys Tennis Meeting

There will be an important but brief meeting for any boy interested in coming out for the Tennis Team this spring on Wednesday, January 15th at 2:30 in the DLL.  Returning players and new candidates welcome to attend.

It's a Happy New Year in Bulldog Country

It's been a great start to the 2019-20 season for Bulldog fans. Lot's to cheer about! Here is an update on each of our Winter Sports teams as 2019 hands things off to 2020.

The Girls Hockey team is off to a blazing and perfect start to the season as a busy December schedule resulted in a 6-0 start.  The team has scored 26 goals while only allowing 3 to this point- an amazing stat.  The team has been paced by the goal scoring of freshmen Olivia Maffeo (8 goals, 2 assists) and the providing of assists by Maria Femia ( 2 goals, 7 assists).

The Boys Hockey team is also unbeaten after five games (they are taking the ice at Smithfield, RI as I publish this post), with 3 wins and 2 ties against top-class competition.  The highlight of the young season may have come in a 3-3 tie with D1 State Champion Duxbury as the 'dogs scored twice in the final 1:10 of the game to earn a gutsy 3-3 tie.

The Girls Basketball team finds itself sitting at 1-1 after a light December schedule. The team defeated Attleboro to kick things off before falling to D1 Central Champion Franklin. The silver lining in the Franklin game was the 'dogs kept their high powered offense to about 20 points under their average.

The Indoor Track teams are off to a great start, and breaking records along the way.  Although both teams have not earned a full team win yet, there have been many person best performances and many athletes ranked in the top 10 in the Hockomock League. On the Boys side, junior Jonathan Chery set a new school record in the 55 meter dash in the first meet with a blaxing 6.68 which ranks him #1 in the Hock and top 10 in Massachusetts. Our boys 4x200 of Deyontai Dennis, Cam Sanchez, Zach Goldstein and Chery recently broke the school record with a time of 1:33.97, winning the MSTCA Speed Classic Invitational and ranking them #1 in the Hock and 4th in the state! On the Girls side, senior Bronwyn Mahoney continues to impress with a career best throw in the shot put of 33'6.25" ranking her #1 in the Hock!

The Gymnastics team sits at 0-1 after falling to Franklin in their only meet while posting a team score of 112.  Incoming 9th graders added to a strong roster of returners resulted in a score which was the highest Bulldog score of the past two seasons. More good things to come for this group.

The Boys and Girls Swim teams are off to great starts once again this season. Both teams have already qualified relay teams for the Sectionals and States. Jessica Hart and Shana Harney have also already qualified as individuals. All of this is happening while everyone is improving their times.

The Wrestling team is off to a good start with earning a 2-2 record so far this season. Sophomore Zach Peters earned his first championship at the Marlboro Tournament while senior Eddie Marinilli became the program's first two-time Lowell Holiday Tournament Champion. Many wrest lingers earned their first varsity wins in December and the team is looking to building on that in 2020.

It's been an up and down start for the young Boys Basketball team as they have earned two big non-league contests over Southeastern Regional and Norwood, but have dropped the rest of their games. They currently sit at 2-4 with a big Davenport battle come up Friday at Stoughton.

The Cheer team will be hitting the ground running in 2020 as they get their season started.