This past Friday, March 17th, Winthrop High School staff and students participated in a long standing WHS tradition: March Madness. Based off of the annual NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament, sixteen teachers hand pick their team from the student body and compete against each other in a 6 round basketball tournament. This year proved to be an intense competition with many close games. This year Mr. Hatzi, who works in the Special Education program at WHS, and his team took home the trophy. His team consisted of the following students: Nick Cappuccio, Phil Boncore, Timmy Vargus, and Sebastian Yepes. They proved to be tough competition throughout the many rounds and persevered through many close games. For a bit more insider information, I talked to Mr. Hatzi about his experience both playing in and winning this year’s March Madness tournament. 

Zoe Long: Which team was the toughest to play against? 

Mr. Hatzi: The toughest team we played was probably Mr. Crombies’ team or Kenny Hodgkins’ team. They both gave us difficult matchups and were talented. 

Zoe Long: Your team was obviously full of very strong players. How was the process of selecting that team and are there any students you would like to shout out? 

Mr. Hatzi: I really wanted to choose athletes and not specifically basketball players.  However, I got lucky in that these athletes are also pretty good at basketball; They just don’t play on the team, which may have dropped their draft value a little bit. Nick Cappuccio is a great all around athlete and Sebastian Yepes is a very good shooter, which really was big for us. Phil Boncore, who is a hockey guy, probably made two of the biggest shots, which were in the Semis and Championship. Timmy Vargus was all energy and hustle off the bench. 

Zoe Long: How did you and your team prepare for this competition? 

Mr. Hatzi: Leading up to the tournament these 4 students showed up to the gym after school and worked on their game. I kind of just watched them play, hoping I would be ready! 

Zoe Long: How did it feel winning your first March Madness?

Mr. Hatzi: Winning my first March madness felt great! The tournament is always one of the best days of the year and I thought Mr Crombie and Mr Serino did another great job with it. Hopefully we can start doing more days like this, but with other sports as well. 

Below I am going to list the 2023 WHS March Madness games and matches in order, which was provided to me by athletic director Matt Serino. I will be providing the scores of each team in parenthesis beside the name, and putting the winner of each match in bold. 

Game 1 (Round 1): 

• Hodgkins (7) v. Donnelly (6) 

Game 2 (Round 1): 

• Cadigan (8) v. Dorso (4)

Game 3 (Round 1):

• Cross (7) v. Gilston (5) 

Game 4 (Round1): 

• Tarantino (7) v. Santangelo (6)     

Game 5 (Round 1):

• Crombie (7) v. Dunn (2)

Game 6 (Round 1):

• Hatzi (7) v. Leonardo (1)

Game 7 (Round 1):

• Crocker (7) v. McKinnon (3)

Game 8 (Round 1):

• Delsolio (7) v. Serino (2) 

Game 9 (Losers Round 1):

• Donnelly (4) v. Dorso (3)

Game 10 (Losers Round 1):

• Santangelo (8) v. Gilston (6) 

Grade 11 (Losers Round 1): 

• Dunn (3) v. Leonardo (2) 

Game 12 (Losers Round 1):

• McKinnon (7) v. Serino (5)

Game 13 (Round 2):

• Hodgkins (6) v. Cadigan (4)

Game 14 (Round 2):

• Cross (4) v. Tarantino (2)

Game 15 (Round 2):

• Hatzi (7) v. Crombie (6) 

Game 16 (Round 2):

• Crocker (6) v. DelSolio (5) 

Game 17 (Losers Round 2):

• Cadigan (7) v. McKinnon (4)

Game 18 (Losers Round 2):

• Tarantino (5) v. Dunn (2)

Game 19 (Losers Round 2):

• Crombie (8) v. Santangelo (2) 

Game 20 (Losers Round 2): 

• Donnelly (4) v. DelSolio (2)

Game 21 (Losers Round 3):

• Cadigan (7) v. Tarantino (3)

Game 22 (Losers Round 3):

• Crombie (4) v. Donnelly (2)

Game 23 (Round 3):

• Hodgkins (7) v. Cross (3)

Game 24 (Round 3):

• Hatzi (7) v. Crocker (6)

Game 25 (Losers Round 4):

• Cross (7) v. Crombie (6)

Game 26 (Losers Round 4): 

• Cadigan (5) v. Crocker (3) 

Game 27 (Losers Round 5):

• Cross (7) v. Cadigan (5) 

Game 28 (Semifinals):

• Hodgkins (6) v. Hatzi (5) 

Game 29 (Losers Round 6): 

• Hatzi (6) v. Cross (3) 

Game 30 (Finals):

• Hatzi (7) v. Hodgkins (1) 

Thank you again to Mr. Hatzi for answering my questions! We are rooting for you and your selected team next year as this tradition continues. Make sure to congratulate Mr. Hatzi or his team if you see them in the hallways of our school!