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Nashua coaching legend John Fagula has one last title shot

By Staff | Mar 16, 2014

John Fagula may have mellowed since his days in Nashua, but the legendary high school girls basketball coach is still the same straight shooter he’s always been. So, when he says it’s going to be a trip down memory lane as he steps onto the court Sunday at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, he means it.

Fagula, remembered in the Gate City for taking his Nashua girls to the top in 1987 as USA Today’s No. 1 team in the nation, will take the court as coach for a final time when his second-seeded Londonderry Lancers (18-3) square off with top-seeded Bedford (21-0) for the Division I girls basketball title at 6 p.m.

With 623 career wins heading into his final game, he has the chance to close out an impressive 32 years of coaching girls basketball with one more championship. This would be his first with any school other than Nashua, with which he has 11.

“I keep trying to tell these kids – the ones that have been here for four years that have at least had the chance to be in the semifinals or finals all four years – it’s a rare situation and they need to think it’s not all that easy to do,” said Fagula, who will turn 67 on March 31. “It’s a matter of enjoying the moment.”

For Fagula, that enjoyment began with an 82-25 first-round win over No. 15 Exeter. That’s the first night he ever pulled out his 1987 National Champions ring to wear while coaching a school other than Nashua. He’s kept it on every game since – for the Lancers’ 71-43 quarterfinal win over No. 7 Winnacunnet and their 42-38 semifinal win over No. 6 Pinkerton Academy on Thursday night.

Fagula, with that national champions ring on his finger, is using his glory days in Nashua to motivate these current Lancers. He knows it’s all going to hit him Sunday.

“There’s no question it’s going to be emotional,” said Fagula after beating the Astros. “After 30 something years doing this, it obviously is the type of thing where it comes into your mind. Then part way into the last quarter you look at the score and go ‘This could be it.’ But you know, I’m ready to except that, whenever it is. Now, it’s just – you can’t win it until you get in it, and we’re in it – hopefully we give it as good a shot as we can.”

As for his bling?

“This is the first time I’ve ever pulled out the ring to wear in a long time, because you just don’t want to be wearing it, especially when you’re at a different school,” Fagula said. “But it was one of those things where I said ah, the heck with it now.

“They’ve heard about it, but when you see something that actually says that, it’s a little different. It’s kind of an incentive thing, too. I’m saying if there’s anything with luck left in this thing, give me a few more.”

His Lancers are led by University of New Hampshire-bound senior Aliza Simpson, who received word Thursday morning that she was selected as the 2013-14 New Hampshire Gatorade Player of the Year. Still recuperating from a knee injury that had her out of the lineup for a chunk of the regular season, Simpson scored 11 points and pulled down eight rebounds to help Londonderry dispatch of the Astros in Thursday night’s semifinals at SNHU.

Junior Casey Evans and sophomore Jaclyn Luckhardt chipped in with 11 and six points respectively for the Lancers. The duo played a big role in keeping Londonderry at the top of the division in Simpson’s absence, and they are additional firepower since her return to the court.

Londonderry needs all the offensive weapons it can get versus a deep Bedford squad.

The top-seeded Bulldogs pulled away early in their 68-31 semifinal win over No. 4 Nashua North. They opened the tournament with a 67-22 win over No. 16 Keene, and followed it up with a 54-34 quarterfinal win over No. 8 Trinity.

In that semifinal win over North it was the usual suspects – Rachel Collins (17 points), Mckenzie Brown (13 points, eight rebounds), Haley Driscoll (12 points, eight rebounds) and Ali Glennon (seven points) – leading the way.

To overcome such a multi-faceted attack, Fagula will stressing focus to his Lancers.

“They come out here and want to play so hard, and sometimes it’s hard to relax – on a bigger floor and obviously a little more tense situation,” he said. “The hardest part for some of them is to just forget all that and do the little things. At times we struggle with doing some things that we normally do a little bit better.

“It’s a matter of what they ended up doing in the last two or three minutes (against Pinkerton), relaxing and not being afraid to make a play.”

Division III boys: Campbell gets another crack at Conant

Top-seeded Hopkinton isn’t returning to Southern New Hampshire University on Sunday, and for good reason. Fifth-seeded Campbell was on fire for two quarters, and the heat given off by the Cougars was just too much for the Hawks to overcome in Campbell’s 56-51 semifinal win Friday night.

That win, put the Cougars in position for a rematch of last season’s Division III final against second-seeded Conant, which beat third-seeded Berlin 39-38 in the earlier semifinal of the night.

The two teams, which know each other well, will take the SNHU court at 2 p.m. Sunday.

The regular-season series was split, as the home team won both times. For Campbell it was a 50-49 victory on Jan. 20 in Litchfield. In Jaffrey on Feb. 26, Conant won 61-48. Then there’s last season’s final, which saw the Orioles take in relatively easy fashion, 66-46, over the Cougars.

Campbell coach John Langlois, who will be coaching in his third straight final including 2012 with the Bedford boys, is hoping his Cougars capitalize on Friday night’s momentum.

“Conant is a very good basketball team and we’re going to give it everything we’ve got,” Langlois said. “We’ll see how it comes out. There’s no comparison because we lost four of the five starters from last year’s team. We only had three kids who, before today, had ever played on this court before. We gained some confidence and we’ll go from there.”

Campbell is led by Zach Bergeon – who finished with a game-high 26 points (four 3-pointers) in the semifinal win over Hopkinton – Harrison Vedrani, Andrew Smarse and Kyle Shaw.

Conant leans heavily on Robert O’Brien – who scored a game-high 16 in the semifinal win over Berlin – and Eli Hodgson.

Conant coach Eric Saucier was finished his game before knowing who his Orioles would face Sunday. That really didn’t matter to him.

“We’re going to Sunday. This game is over,” Saucier said. “I don’t care how we did it, but we did it. We’ve got to improve if we want to get to where we want to go on Sunday. This game is over, we survived and we’ve only got to worry about Sunday. We’re familiar with both.”

Division II girls: Merrimack Valley faces Coe-Brown in final

Fourth-seeded Merrimack Valley of Penacook and sixth-seeded Coe-Brown of Northwood put on quite a show in Monday night’s Division II semifinals at Southern New Hampshire University.

Co-Brown upset second-seeded Hanover 56-52 in the first game of a semifinals doubleheader, while Merrimack Valley shocked top-seeded Milford 51-43 in Game 2.

It wasn’t the first upset of the tournament for Coe-Brown, which also eliminated third-seeded Souhegan in the quarterfinals.

The two Cinderella programs kick off Sunday’s full slate of action when they take the SNHU gymnasium floor at noon.

Merrimack Valley (17-4) scored a whopping 27 points in the fourth quarter to beat Milford. The Pride are led by sophomore forward Mayson Kimball, who scored 17 points and pulled down 11 rebounds against Milford, and junior forward Cassidy Huckins. Coe-Brown (16-5), which won its ninth straight game, is playing for a title for the first time since 2000. The Bears’ balanced attack is led by Abigail Ahern, who scored a team-high 15 points in the semifinals, Deborah Peabody (12 points), Sarah Curtin (11) and Jennifer Schlim (10).

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