Rockland Senior High School

Rockland Senior High School is public high school located at 52 Mackinlay Way in Rockland, Massachusetts.^[5] The current high school building opened in 1957.^[6] Between 2010 and 2012 it underwent an $86 million renovation project.^[7]

History

Rockland's first high school was located in the Lincoln School, built in 1892 at the corner of Howard and Church Streets. This building became a grammar school with the opening of the new Rockland High School in 1909.

In 1928, a new, larger senior-junior high school was built at 100 Taunton Avenue. It was designed by J. Williams Beal, Sons, who also designed the Rockland Post Office and the Dyer Memorial Library in Abington. The current high school, also designed by J. Williams Beal, Sons, opened in 1957. The first graduating class was in 1959.^[8]

Football

• State Champions - 1992, 1998, 2000
• State Finalists - 1982, 1999
• Patriot League Champions - 1982, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2009
• South Shore League Champions - 2010

The game

The annual Rockland-Abington football game is a sight to see. It is the very definition of bitter border rivals who just don't like each other. There was no better match-up between these two teams than in 2010. The build-up was tremendous. Both teams were 6-0, and the neighboring towns knew that this game would probably decide the South Shore League Champion. The game was played in Abington and the hosts had a 6-0 lead at halftime. The Green Wave quickly struck again early in the third quarter, taking a 12-0 lead. The Bulldogs finally got on the board with an 82-yard touchdown run by Brian Harrington off his own teammate's fumble, cutting the Abington lead to 12-7. With under three minutes to go in the fourth, Rockland quarterback D.J. Austin threw a backwards pass attempt to Jason Hall but was incomplete and picked up by Matt Muskegon of the Green Wave, who returned it for an apparent touchdown. The officials had already ruled the play dead, however, explaining that it was a forward pass. The call was clearly blown and Rockland capitalized. On fourth down, Coach Ken Owen sent back-up quarterback Ricky Witt into the game for his throwing arm, and Witt threw a 52-yard touchdown pass to Tim Fitzgerald to give Rockland its first lead of the game with 2:48 to go. Rockland added a two-point conversion to make the score 15-12 in favor of the visitors. Abington subsequently fumbled and Rockland punched it in again, this time by Mike Driscoll, sealing the Bulldogs' victory with a 21-12 lead. Rockland became the first visitor to win in Abington in 34 games, dating back to 2004, in front of almost 4,000 fans.

Basketball

• State Champions - 1972, 2004
• 27x League Champions- 1963, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1990, 1991, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2016

Rockland is regarded as the basketball capital of Massachusetts' South Shore and is the hometown of the 2012-2013 Massachusetts Gatorade Boys' Basketball Player of the Year, Tyler Gibson (Bentley University). Rockland won the 2004 state title under legendary coach Bob Fisher and backed by 1,000 point scorer and future collegiate (Brandeis University) All-American Joe Coppens. The Bulldogs finished with a 24-2 record that season with one of their losses coming to Cardinal Spellman whom they later beat in the South Sectional Semi-Finals. in the south finals, Rockland squared off against rival Norwell and knocked the Clippers off in dramatic fashion to move on to the state semi-finals at the then Fleet Center. The Bulldogs went on to knock off Lynn Tech and then New Leadership, 63-60, to clinch their second state championship in the school's history, backed by Coppens' 31 points. Rockland also had a remarkable run of 11 straight seasons in which the Bulldogs reached at least the South Sectional Finals. The home of the Bulldogs, simply known as "the Dog Pound" is currently under reconstruction along with the new renovations of the High School and the bulldogs expectations are higher than ever. The bulldogs have also in the 2010-2011 year have left the patriot league fisher division which they have lots of success in and have one league titles 4 of the last 6 years. They are now in the south shore league and are title contenders every year as they are finally with schools near there size and division, but the south shore league is also very competitive and will be tough to play in. the 2011-2012 campaign, Coach Fred Damon's Bulldogs finished with a record of 19-3, led by junior power forward and leading scorer Tyler Gibson and Senior tri-captain Ricky Witt. In the second round of the MIAA tournament, the fourth-seeded Bulldogs closed the Dog Pound with a crushing two-point loss to fifth-seeded Cardinal Spellman. In the 2012-2013 year, the bulldogs won the south shore league title and made it to the south sectional championship but there season was ended by the powerful wareham Vikings. The 2013-2014 bulldogs finished second in the south shore league by one game to powerhouse cohasset they made it to the second round of the MIAA state tournament before falling to Westport. The Bulldogs have qualified for the State Tournament 45 of the last 48 years.

Hockey

The Rockland hockey team made a historic run to the South Sectional Finals this past season, posting a regular season record of 14-5-1 while knocking of Blue Hills Regional and Somerset-Berkley in the first two round respectively. In the South semifinals, Rockland matched up against the No. 2 team in the state and No. 1 in the south: Medfield. The Warriors had the best goalie in the state by far, stopping 180 shots out of 202 taken up to that point. Serious underdogs, Rockland upset Medfield, 6-2, with help from Senior forward Kevin Sheehan who providing a hat trick, en route to the finals, where the scrappy Bulldogs fell to Medway High, 4-1. Rockland graduated two 100-point scorers in 2012, John Mulready and Kevin Sheehan.

References

Coordinates: 42°07′43″N 70°55′04″W / 42.1285°N 70.9177°W / 42.1285; -70.9177