It’ll be a long time — if ever — before Pioneer Valley Regional School has an athletic year like the one it just had. 

Why the confidence in saying that? Because what the school’s athletic teams did this year is simply unprecedented. 

Since 1972 when the MIAA moved into it’s modern state tournament format, there have only been two times where a school won a boys basketball and baseball state championship in the same year. That would be New Bedford, which won the Division 1 championship in both sports in back-to-back years in 1993 and 1994. 

That mark stood for 31 years, when Pioneer became the second school to accomplish the feat this year after winning the Div. 5 baseball title following a 6-5 extra inning thriller over Boston English. They had previously taken home the Div. 5 boys basketball championship in the winter. 

Not only did the Panthers win back-to-back state titles, they did so without losing a game along the way. Combining the boys basketball and baseball teams, Pioneer won 52 straight games to take home its two state titles as each team finished with unblemished 26-0 records. 

“It feels pretty damn good,” senior Braeden Tsipenyuk said after Saturday’s win over Boston English. “You don’t see many schools like ours win one state championship, never mind two in a row. It says so much about the work ethic and the love for one another that we’ve had throughout the years. I credit the success we have to the camaraderie we have and the connections we have. We’ve been playing together since we were little kids and we always knew we wanted to play at the highest level. It’s really cool to be able to do this with the kids you grew up with.” 

When you take into account the small number of students that attend Pioneer, the accomplishment is all the more impressive. 

The MIAA website lists Pioneer as having 169 total students from grades 9-12. Of the 85 schools that compete in Div. 5 boys basketball, only 19 have a smaller enrollment. Baseball is even more stark, as Div. 5 features 77 schools in total and only five have a smaller enrollment than the Panthers. 

“We just won baseball so that’s what we’re focused on but once we really think about it, it’s going to be even crazier,” senior Alex McClelland said. 

“We have dogs in this school,” senior Ethan Quinn added. 

The success wasn’t limited to just boys basketball and baseball. The Panther boys soccer team went 17-2-2 last fall, capturing a Western Mass. Class D title along the way. 

For athletes like McClelland, Jackson Glazier, Judah Glenn and Hayden Girard who played on the soccer, basketball and baseball teams, they finished this past school year with an overall record of 69-2-2, won three Western Mass. titles and two state titles.

Not too shabby. 

“It’s insane,” Glazier said. “I don’t even know how to put it into words. We just play.” 

With the Panther boys basketball and baseball teams also winning Western Mass. Class D championships, Pioneer became the first school since 1997 to win a Western Mass. title in boys soccer, boys basketball and baseball in the same school year, joining Cathedral (1996-97) and Wahconah (1990-91) as the only teams to accomplish that since 1972. 

“The bond these kids have, not just on the baseball team but throughout the school, it shows the determination of what the school teaches,” Pioneer baseball coach Kevin Luippold said. “It’s not just the baseball team that provides the culture, it’s the school. You saw that with the leadership in basketball translating over to baseball. Some of these kids haven’t lost a game in 52 games.” 

It wasn’t just the Pioneer boys athletes that etched themselves into Panther lore this year. 

The Pioneer girls track team had a year to remember, setting nine different school records during the indoor and outdoor seasons. 

Sahana Heilman broke the Pioneer school record in the long jump (16 feet, 6 inches), 100 meters (16.35 seconds) and 55-meter hurdles (9.37). Emmanuelle Flagollet broke the record in the 400 hurdles (70.04), Louise Flagollet won the Western Mass. Div. 2 championship in the high jump and broke the school record in the process (5-4¼) while Natalie Rios set the school record in javelin (120-10) and won the Div. 6 state title in the event. 

Heilman, Dani Teaca, Emmanuelle Flagollet and Louise Flagollet broke the 4x100 (51.72) and 4x200 (1:52.48) relay records while Heilman, Ahnna Berthiaume, Emmanuelle Flagollet and Louise Flagollet broke the school record in the 4x100 shuttle hurdle relay (70.79). 

Ryan Spofford broke the school record in the boys 800 (2:07.46) as well. 

Doing that with a program that had just 14 girls and 11 boys made it all the more impressive. 

“For such a tiny team, it’s pretty incredible what this team did,” Panthers coach Matt Heilman said. “With all the records they set, you wouldn’t think a school this small would be able to do all that in one year.” 

Despite having just 14 girls on the team overall and six qualify for the Western Mass. Div. 2 meet, the Panthers were still able to place third overall as a team, beating out schools with much larger rosters at their disposal. 

“The older girls have been improving each year and have been pretty good for a while,” Matt Heilman said. “So have our younger girls who are just sophomores but they’ve been building over the last couple years during the winter and spring seasons. We’re lucky to have so many talented kids here at once. You’d never expect all these teams from Pioneer to be doing all these great things at once. It’s very impressive.”

It was a year to remember in Northfield, one that would challenge any other school’s best year on record – and a year that people will be talking about for generations to come.