Danvers Field Hockey Team To Play For Spot In State Championship Game

DANVERS, MA — The Danvers High School field hockey is now one victory away from a spot in the state championship match after topping Reading in the state quarterfinals.

The Falcons are one of the four area teams still in the state title hunt, along with cross country runners who experienced plenty of success on the trails in the Eastern Mass. championship meets this weekend.

Sixth-seeded Danvers (16-2-3) advanced to the Division 2 state semifinals with a 2-1 victory against third-seeded Reading in the Round of 8. The Falcons will next face second-seeded Nashoba Regional (13-5-3) in the state semifinals Wednesday night at Shrewsbury High School at 7.

The winner of that match will face the winner of that night's other semifinal (Shrewsbury High, 5 p.m.) between top-seeded Masconomet and fourth-seeded Longmeadow for the championship this weekend.

The seventh-seeded St. John's Prep of Danvers football team (8-2) reached the Division 1 semifinals with a 48-14 rout of second-seeded Andover. SJP will play third-seeded Central Catholic (8-2) on Friday night in Lowell for a spot in the state title game between Methuen and Springfield Central.

The sixth-seeded Bishop Fenwick football team (9-1) will play second-seeded North Reading (9-1) on Friday night at Lynn's Manning Bowl for a spot in the Division 5 state final.

The third-seeded St. John's Prep boys soccer team (19-0-1) will face second-seeded St. John's of Shrewsbury on Thursday at 4 p.m. for a berth in the Division 1 state final. SJP advanced to the state semifinals with a 2-1 victory against Concord-Carlisle.

Peabody High senior Sarah DiVasta was an individual qualifier for the Division 1 State Cross Country Championships with a ninth-place finish at this weekend's D1B Eastern Mass. Championships in Wrentham. DiVasta covered the 3.1-mile course in 18 minutes, 49.5 seconds.

Beverly junior Riley McGoldrick qualified for States in the D1B boys EMass. race with a 22nd-place finish in 16:32.9. The Peabody boys just missed qualifying for a team berth with an eighth-place finish, while Beverly was 11th.

Marblehead freshman Marri O'Connell was second in the D1C girls EMass. meet in 18:35.2 and qualified as an individual for States. The Marblehead girls were ninth as a team.

The Marblehead boys won the Division 1C meet and qualified as a team for States. Senior Ryan Thompson was eighth in 16:22.1, junior Isaac Gross with ninth in 16:24.8, senior Harrison Kee was 12th in 16:38.2, senior David DiCostanzo was 20th in 17:05.6 and junior Ryan Blestowe was 27th in 17:12.4.

The St. John's Prep boys qualified for States with a fifth-place team finish in D1A. Senior Nathan Lopez led the Eagles in third in 15:08.1.

The Danvers boys cross country team qualified for States with a third-place finish in Division 2 at Franklin Park. Junior Sean Moore led Danvers in 14th in 16:37.33 with sophomore Jonathan Rooney 19th in 16:52.02, sophomore William Conklin 20th in 16:54.37 and senior Charles Garlin 24th in 17:00.27.

Senior Shea Nemeskal was fourth for Danvers in the D2A girls race in 19:20.43. Senior Emma Eagan was 11th in 19:46.32. The Falcons finished eighth as a team and also qualified for States.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza)