GREENFIELD — After splitting during the regular season, the Keene and Frontier boys basketball teams met for a third time on Wednesday, this one with the boys varsity championship of the DRIVE League on the line.

The Blackbirds — who won the league last year and went on to reach the Div. 1 championship game in New Hampshire last winter — came out firing in the rubber match, using their press to build an early 10-0 lead.

Keene later led 17-4 before taking a 32-20 lead into the half. Even while playing without leading scorer Max Millette, the Redhawks chipped away in the second half but were never able to close the gap, as the Blackbirds took home the championship with a 65-46 victory at Stoneleigh-Burnham.

“I think we played really well,” Frontier’s Alex Ellis said. “I think losing some of our main guys to injury didn’t help. We split with them during the regular season but they got the best of us tonight.”

It was a successful summer for the Redhawks, with Keene the lone team to take them down. Bringing back their entire team from a season ago, there was already reason to be confident heading into next year. After the showing in the DRIVE League, that confidence has only grown.

“We built a lot of confidence and a lot of team energy,” Ellis said. “We have a lot of young guys coming up too. I think this season is going to be special.”

Rowan Modestow led the way with nine points on Wednesday for Frontier. Dean Gray scored eight points, Diego Frazier and Ellis each recorded five points while Garrett Dredge added four points in the loss.

The summer is a time to work on your game and the Redhawks did just that, finding out how to gel as a unit. They hope that shows when they’re back on the court together in December.

“I learned that we have a lot of unique individual qualities,” Ellis said. “We can be dangerous when we put them all together. It’s a really fun league. It’s fun to build throughout the summer.”

The boys JV championship game also took place on Wednesday at Stoneleigh-Burnham, with Athol taking home the title with a victory over Brattleboro.

Massachusetts Amateur Public Links

Crumpin-Fox Club’s Mark Waskiewicz couldn’t have played much better at the 2025 Massachusetts Amateur Public Links Championship at Cyprian Keyes Golf Club this week.

Waskiewicz shot an even 72 on the first day of the tournament to enter the second and final day in fifth place. Waskiewicz then was one of two players to fire under par on Wednesday, shooting a 3-under 69 to finish 3-under for the tournament. Nobody was catching George Wright Golf Club’s Sean Fitzpatrick however, Fitzpatrick firing a 6-under 66 on Tuesday and a 4-under 68 on Wednesday to win the tournament with a score of -10. Waskiewicz settled for second.

Country Club of Greenfield’s Andy Lesenski also secured a top-10 finish, finishing in a tie for seventh with a total score of 3-over. He shot a 1-over 73 on Tuesday and a 2-over 74 on Wednesday. Crumpin-Fox Club’s Seth Rosenbloom finished in a tie for 58th with a total score of 23-over, going 15-over on Wednesday.

Greenfield Triathlon

The Greenfield Triathlon returns to Franklin County on Sunday, with the event seeking volunteers. To sign up to volunteer visit https://www.greenfield-triathlon.com/.

Knights of Columbus

Reggie Stevens took first with a score of plus-9 while Ed Sargent took second (8) in the Knights of Columbus League at Thomas Memorial Wednesday.

Kenny Mitzkovitz won closest to the pin on No. 7 (four feet, five inches) while Frank Penny won on No. 9 (9-5). Penny and Ed Terault won skins while Bob Bourbeau and John O’Riley tied for the low gross (37).