MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Lee Moses
WARWICK
BEACON
ALL
CITY TEAMS
ATHLETES
FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Abby Ellis Abby Ellis first picked up a hockey stick a long time ago. In the time since, she went to high school and found a golf club too. A couple of years later, she added a tennis racket to her repertoire. Ellis excelled with all of them. Her junior year saw her soar the highest. “She’s just a great athlete,” said Toll Gate girls’ tennis coach Gary Gorman It started in the fall, when Ellis began her tennis career with a talented Titans squad, immediately made an impact in the doubles lineup and helped them to an undefeated regular season and a Division II finals berth. When the winter came around, she strapped on the skates and dominated the local hockey scene, serving as the best defenseman in the state on the best team, as she led Warwick all the way to the state title. And finally, after celebrating her hockey championship, Ellis played her third season with the golf team, where she was a fixture in the top three on the co-ed team before finishing 17th at the girls’ state tournament. It was a whirlwind, but a special year all the way from the fall to the spring. The best highlight, though, came in the winter. With hockey as her main sport of focus, Ellis has been a three-year starter for the Lady Titans, and has been a crucial part of the program’s building process, which culminated this season. As the postseason came around,
she played some of her best hockey in leading Toll Gate to the title – the first for a public school in history – with a state championship sweep of La Salle. “It was just a really, really surreal feeling,” Ellis said. “I knew we had potential. But the fact that we were the only public school to ever win it, we kind of took everyone by surprise. Last year, our school didn’t even know that we had a hockey team. The fact that we won it this year was amazing.” Ellis was one of the leading scorers in the state, despite spending most of her time in the back. She finished tied for seventh in D-I with 25 points, comprised of nine goals and 16 assists. As the bench shortened later in the season to utilize the team’s top players more, she was on the ice as much as anybody. She was simply too good to take off. “She came in pretty talented as a freshman, but progressed each year,” said hockey head coach Dave Tibbetts. “Her game kind of evolved quite a bit from the first year. She learned how to play a tougher game, especially in the corners, battling for pucks.” Part of the reason for Ellis’ evolution on the ice was her work with trainer Rodney Millette. She trains three times a week with the former AHL player, and it’s made quite a difference in almost every aspect of her game. “I’ve definitely gotten lower body and upper body strength,” ■
ELLIS - PAGE 23
OF THE
YEAR COACHES
OF THE
YEAR WARWICK’S
BEST
Lee Moses claims he wasn’t very good at football when he first put on shoulder pads as an 8-year-old in the North End 49ers program. He also claims he wasn’t too good at track, either, when he gave it a shot as a freshman at Bishop Hendricken High School. Now that he’s an All-State regular in both sports, it’s a little hard to believe him, but his recollection of his humble beginnings speaks to exactly what makes Moses one of the best athletes in the state. He never let himself believe that he could get by without working at it. “It’s been a long run – working hard, practicing a lot, a lot of great coaches,” Moses said. “I’ve learned so much from them and I’ve been surrounded by so many great players. I watch people who have done it before me. I saw how hard they worked. I just wanted to do what they did.” He’s done that and more. With his willingness and desire to work paving the way, Moses authored a year so good that even Hendricken’s storied history doesn’t have many to match. In the fall, he starred for Hendricken’s football team in its run to a fourth consecutive state championship. In the winter, he won his second consecutive long jump state championship and added two sprint medals, and in the spring, he added another long jump title at the outdoor track state meet. If not for a hamstring injury suffered in the 100-meter dash, he likely would have won that, too. But even without the perfect finish, it was a near-perfect year. “It’s been amazing,” Moses said. He came to Hendricken with plenty of athletic potential, and flashed it for the freshman football team right off the bat. He gave track a try, too, just to have a sport in the winter and spring. He set the course for big things. The last two years, Moses has been a starting defensive back for the Super Bowl champion Hawks. From day one, he was making big plays all over the field. “Just his athleticism makes him
special,” Hendricken head coach Keith Croft said. “His closing speed is incredible. A lot of times, he’s chasing people down and making touchdown-saving tackles that don’t show up in the box score.” Moses emerged as a bigger threat on both sides of the ball this past season, as a junior. He was a game-breaker at the wide receiver spot, and he made huge plays as a kick returner. “He just got better and better and more confident as the year went on,” Croft said. Along the way, he was responsible for two plays that defined Hendricken’s season. In a comeback win over La Salle in the season finale, Moses caught a 53-yard touchdown pass that put his team ahead for good in the fourth quarter. Then, in the Super Bowl against Cranston East, he delivered the play of the season. The ’Bolts had just taken a one-point lead with only 14 seconds to go before halftime, but Moses returned the ensuing kickoff 88 yards for a gamechanging touchdown. Hendricken never trailed again. “I looked at the clock and realized we were about to go into halftime,” Moses recalled. “I thought they were just going to kick it short. I remember when they kicked it long, it bounced up, I caught it and I didn’t know where to go. I looked and Nate Gyampo waved me over so I just followed him.” Moses added two more touchdowns in the second half as Hendricken held off East for its fourth consecutive Super Bowl championship. “It was big to win another one, especially with the young team we had,” Moses said. “It was great to battle and get it done. We had to work really hard to get it back to where we were the year before. It felt great to do it.” Moses didn’t have much time to bask in the glow, with the indoor track season starting immediately ■
MOSES - PAGE 27
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