Going into the wayback machine here but I hadn’t gotten around to these pics yet. This was a 14-5 win for Windham that started the first of what would be 6 wins in a row to close the season and place them the third seed for the DII NH Playoffs. Game #1 is today against Alvrine who Windham has taken down twice already this year. Hopefully the team will stay healthy, get a bit of a challenge but put the game away and move on to the second round.
NER SCCA Into the Darkness RallySprint 2/19/22
the NER region of the SCCA tends to be the most active true rally region in the country that I am aware of…always pushing for an expansion of true rally events and has constantly been oversubscribed when it comes to its Rallycross program. It also appears to be the most active when it comes to RallySprints as well holding a number of them each year in partnership with the Team O’Neil rally school.
This weekend saw the first nighttime RallySprint stages and also (obviously) were winter/snow/ice stages as well. This could have been a complete cluster but the drivers were smart, generally conservative, and stayed out of any significant disasters…all boding well for the continued support of the program.
The relatively small entry count (15) resulted in a few DNFs with (as far as I know from minimal interactions with competitors) a broken CV on the RAV4 of Matt Stryker and a puking codriver of Anthony Burden among the day’s casualties. TJ Pullen in the #909 Subie Wagon was the winner of the event, some 17 seconds clear of a brilliant 2WD effort of Michael White with the #911 Saab truly putting on a show with no effs given, and then another 26 seconds back of that the #409 Impreza sedan of Dylan Gondyke.
Photo conditions were great…the winter light was plentiful and bright off the snow in the day and even some of the early night shots were good. Cold temps at about 19 degrees didn’t drain my batteries too quick which was a surprise but the depth of the snow off the side of the roads (at least thigh deep) was. All in all a good day. Didn’t hang around for the winner’s circle or late stages as without a remote flash my photo taking time was done around 6 and I had dinner and a beer calling me before heading home. Enjoy.
Windham Varsity Boys Basketball vs. Merrimack 12/23/21
Well, that was close…after being up 14 at the half and double digits well into the tail of the third quarter, the Windham boys found themselves down three with under two minutes left. They are most certainly a live by the three and die by the three team. Consistently out rebounded (but not out efforted) and outscored in the paint, Windham had just enough deep shooting to claw back to a 61-58 win. Much like last year Windham has the opportunity to step up and bite nearly any other team if they aren’t locking down on outside shooters but could also lose to potentially any team. Led by Chris Bilone and Jack St. Hilare bombing away from three and with Jack Runde providing the bulk of the dirty work underneath, they are less one dimensional than they were in ‘21, but are still going to be subject the highs and lows of outside shooting that can go cold for long stretches. A very good win here against a taller, more physical, Merrimack team, which makes it two in a row. Well done.
Windham Varsity Lacrosse vs. Timberlane 05/13/21
Running their record to 7-5 this was a second win in three days vs. Timberlane. Not an easy win but they will take it. Offense seems to be solid and has rounded into nice shape with consistent faceoff wins, crisp passing and a number of players who can score off their own playmaking. Defense still needs work. I’d love to see more aggression, more bodywork, less stickwork. No opposing player has been scared about coming into the heart of Windham’s defense yet and that needs to change. Far too many players get off uncontested shots against Windham goalies. Seven wins in a row is solid and should see them in the middle of the pack for seeding come tournament time.
Windham Varsity Lacrosse vs. Dover 5/4/21
Well, well, well…it looks like we have a winning streak. Three games in a row to bring the record to 3-5. Certainly a happier team than the one that was 0-5. I had thought coming in that Dover would be a solid match for Windham as they too had been beat up by Winnacunnet and were a Division I team while Windham is a DII effort. This was not quite the test predicted though with Windham coming away with an 11-5 win. Again the ability to win faceoffs paid dividends over and over again in this game as did the recent addition of Chris Billone to the team. I’d also love to see Dan Charest be allowed to play more offense than simply running the ball across the midfield and then running off. His speed is a killer. Defense could still use a good deal of work as there is too much stickwork and not enough bodywork, positioning, and cutting of angles. But…I’ll take it for now as they begin a stretch of games that are well within their wheelhouse to win.
Deer Leap in Winter
Just a quick post on visiting Deer Leap yesterday. I’d been waiting all winter to see if we got a good snow storm to go and photograph the cliff of Deer Leap here in Windham. With Moekel Pond now actually filled in again with water I thought there would be an opportunity to walk out on frozen ice and shoot the cliffs from an angle that hadn’t been seen in a few years (previously being a slow moving swap that would not have been all that fun to cross any time of year. Snowshoeing in was relatively easy though you couldn’t part at Moekel Dam due to the road being “unmaintained” and the town of Pelham simply creating a 5 foot high pile of snow on it preventing access. The ice was frozen though slushing in parts and it was pretty cool to see. I think this is the tallest cliff in Windham (not 100% sure) and it was interesting to see covered in fresh snow. A really neat piece of conservation land so close to home. Now if only people would stop spraypainting crap all over the rocks and ruining the environment for selfish reasons…
Windham Vs. Salem 10/24/20 Gallery
So we are going to try something a little different and put the larger photos here vs just on Instagram where they are tiny. Also…why give Instagram traffic, hits, advertising and so on?? Hope you enjoy. All photos are available in full rez on request if you need to print them out at a larger scale. I’ll be updating this gallery with more photos from the game as time goes on.
