MATTAPOISETT — John Butler was in the stands at the DCU Center in 2015 when the Old Rochester boys basketball team beat Hoosac Valley 61-47 to capture the program’s first state championship.
Now he’ll be on the court at the Tsongas Center in Lowell on Saturday as the No. 2 Bulldogs face top-seeded Charlestown in the MIAA Div. 3 state finals.
“I’ve been a really big Bulldogs basketball fan my whole life,” said Butler, a senior forward. “When Noah Fernandes won it (in 2015), they were a great team. I knew almost everyone on that team.
“I was at the championship game. It was really fun for me. It’s fun when I recall going to all of those games and I was a fan of all those players and now I get to experience what it was like for them. It’s surreal.”
This Saturday marks Old Rochester’s first state finals appearance in nine years and the second in program history.
“It’s tough to get back and a lot of teams never even get to this point,” said Old Rochester head coach Steve Carvalho. “I knew this team had the potential to do well. It feels great. They’ve earned every bit of it. We’ve gone through a tough road to get here.”
The Bulldogs enter the Div. 3 state finals with five different starters from a year ago when they reached the Final Four after three graduated, one transferred to Tabor Academy and another is no longer with the team.
“Last year one of our greatest strengths was our depth and this year a lot of guys got opportunities to step up and everyone stepped up,” said Butler, the team’s sixth man in 2023. “Everyone put in a ton of work in the offseason and we came back as a really strong team.”
Junior Zack Mourao believes Old Rochester’s challenging schedule has prepared them for their matchup with the Townies.
“We can compete with anybody,” he said. “I think we’re going to go out and give them a good game.
“We’ve played a lot of tough competition and this is our biggest game yet. Hopefully we can show everybody what we’re all about.”
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A turning point in the season for Old Rochester was a 43-point loss to rival Wareham. Since that game, the Bulldogs have reeled off 13 straight wins.
“We knew we could compete with them so to lose by that much it hurt inside so we knew we had to step up,” Mourao said. “We knew we had to go on a run from that point on.”
ORR not only handed Bourne its only loss of the season, the Bulldogs also beat Somerset Berkley to wrap up the conference crown. The Canalmen are playing Wareham in the Div. 4 state final while the Raiders reached the Div. 2 Final Four.
Scouting report on Old Rochester
The South Coast Conference Blue Division champion Bulldogs have enjoyed a balanced offensive attack this year. Butler led Old Rochester in scoring during the regular season with 16.4 points per game while Mourao had 14.5 PPG and senior Chase Besancon had 13.5 PPG.
“What got us here we’re going to continue to do, but at the end of the day we have to be disciplined and we have to take care of the basketball. The free throw vs. turnover ratio is vital and we have to keep them off the glass,” Carvalho said.
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Scouting report on Charlestown
The Bulldogs will have their hands full defensively against a Charlestown team led by senior Damante Vanheyningen, junior Jaylin Williams Crawford and sophomore Jaylen Hunter-Coleman.
“They have tremendous athleticism and they also can finish,” Carvalho said. “They create havoc out there.”
Dictating the pace will be key for Old Rochester.
“They’re a really fast team and a really athletic team,” Besancon said. “We have to slow them down and try to focus on creating turnovers.”
Butler added, “They’re a team that drives off of momentum. When they get going, they’re a really tough team to stop. I think we’re going to have to play really smart basketball and we’re going to have to play our best basketball.”
Road to Lowell
Finishing the regular season with a record of 17-4, the Bulldogs locked up the No. 2 seed in Div. 3. Old Rochester has beaten No. 31 Foxboro (65-59), No. 15 Salem (66-58), No. 23 Dover-Sherborn (72-55) and No. 3 Pittsfield (82-72) to reach the finals.
The Bulldogs plan to make the most of their opportunity at winning a second state championship.
“These kids are where they are for a reason,” Carvalho said. “It’s a great challenge and we look forward to it and appreciate all the support.”
IF YOU GO
What: Div. 3 State Final
Matchup: No. 1 Charlestown (22-2) vs. No. 2 Old Rochester (21-4)
When: 4 p.m. on Saturday
Where: Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell
Tickets: Available at the Tsongas Center website
Follow: @SC_Varsity on Twitter for updates
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Preview of MIAA Div. 3 state final between Old Rochester, Charlestown
