By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

Entering the 2025-26 high school basketball season both the Hopedale boys and girls teams had aspirations of winning the Division 5 State Championship. When the regular season came to an end, both teams’ goals were in play: the boys finished the season 15-5 earning themselves a two seed, while their counterparts went 13-7, also grabbing a two seed in the tournament. 

Girls Basketball

At the time of this writing the girls team, which last won the Championship in 2022,  was preparing to take on Drury, the number one seed in the tournament, for the State Championship leaving their goal still intact. In order to get to the Title game the female Blue Raiders took out Cape Cod Regional (62-24), Prospect Hill Academy (53-43), Minuteman Regional (54-36) and Douglas 44-41. 

Last year, Hopedale was the number one seed in the tournament but were upset by the ninth seed in Lee Middle/High School (44-41) in the Round of 8. 

“Coming into this season we wanted to get back to where we were last year,” Girls Coach Jay Rojee said. “If we could do that, then the Final 4, once there, bets are all off and it becomes one minute at a time.”

According to the Blue Raider coach, the girls were able to get to the State Championship with all five starters putting in their best efforts. Senior center Phoebe Carroll, who was an 8th grader sitting on the bench in 2022, has not only learned from that experience but has become a team leader. The senior led the team in scoring 15 points and pulling down 13 rebounds per game while becoming a better ball distributor.

Senior Anna Faford, the teams point guard, is the Hopedale main ball handler on every possession and was able to add 10 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists per game this season. Junior Layla Huntley added 10 rebounds per game and continuously found herself guarding the opposition’s center, while junior guard Lexi Carroll was in charge of guarding the opposition’s guard. 

“Layla and Lexi are two very defensive minded players who take on the best of the best,” the Hopedale Coach said. “They also do a lot of things that don’t make the paper and provide us with some big baskets.”

Sophomore Jenna Weeden rounds out the starting lineup for the Blue Raiders. According to the Coach, she is the team’s sniper and can knock down the three-point shot with relative ease. The sophomore can also drive to the basket but it’s her ability to take the outside shot that helps spread the floor.

Grabbing a two seed was great but being the one seed would have been preferred to Rojee; however the top four seeds are all pretty much the same once you get into the tournament. 

“We knew we’d get a high seed due to our tough schedule with our league play as well as the tough non-league games we added,” Rojee said. “We play top teams all season, so we are ready for the tournament, but it all depends on the matchups you get once the tournament begins.”

Rojee liked his matchups outside of taking on Douglas in the semi-finals. Hopedale had already beaten the Tigers twice in the regular season and by the time they captured the third win, the two teams had each scored 131 total points, showing how even they were.

Drury will be a bit of a different challenge for the Hopedale girls but if they stay consistent to what they have done all year and utilize their post play they should be able to come away with another State Championship to bring back to the high school.

Boys Basketball

While the girls will be suiting up one more time in hopes of winning another title, the boys will be in the crowd cheering them on as their season came to an end in the Round of 8. Prior to their upset loss to number seven seed Prospect Hill Academy (67-51) in the Round of 8, the boys were able to defeat Cape Cod Academy (59-50) and Bethany Christian Academy (58-53).

Coming into the season, Coach Tony Cordani was unsure of what he was going to get from his team. The Blue Raiders lost to Pioneer Valley last year in the State Championship game and graduated four of their five starters from that team.

“This year was not what I had expected, having graduated four starters from last year’s team that went 18-2 and got to the State Championship game,” he said. “I thought this year’s team overachieved in a lot of ways.”

Senior point guard and captain Keigan Murphy was the team’s lone returning starter and, along with senior JJ Douglas, who was the team’s sixth man off the bench last winter, provided the Blue Raiders with the offense. The two each averaged 17 points per game. Junior Nate Rutkowski, who came off the bench last year, occupied the starting power forward position this year. All three athletes were named to the All-Star team.

Hopedale has two reserve players from last year’s squad who did not see a lot of action but have stepped up this year to round out the boys starting rotation. Seniors Trevor Lachaitto, the teams center, and forward Wyatt Bliss both provided outstanding defensive capabilities and rebounding to help the team to win 15 games during the regular season. Much like this year’s squad, Cordani will see four of his five starters leave the program due to graduation; Rutkowski will be the only one back come next winter.

Rutkowski will be joined by sophomore Urijah Rosas on the court next season. Rosas saw the occasional start this year and will see more significant  when the new season rolls around next year.

“With both Keigan and JJ gone, Urijah, who got some experience this year,  is going to need to become more of a scorer for us,” Cordani said. “We will also look to Nate to improve upon his scoring as well.”

Hopedale played good basketball throughout the regular season and by the time that the tournament seeding were announced they were not surprised they were named a two seed.

“We had been playing well and against top notch teams, so we were expecting a high seed,” the Hopedale Coach said. “Unfortunately, we ran into a very talented Prospect Hill team. It’s always tough when you don’t win, especially after getting so deep into the tournament, but it was fun.”

Now, with another four seniors leaving a successful season, the hope is Cordani will be able to replace them with enough talent to get the Blue Raiders back on the right path and into the State Tournament again next year.