Friday night's showdown between Putnam and Killingly turned out to be a showcase for Killingly junior Shane Gibson.
Gibson won his second consecutive Most Outstanding Player award at the Putnam Clipper Classic as he scored 23 points but was a thorn in Putnam's side all over the court. Gibson had seven steals, dished out four assists and grabbed four rebounds.
What's even better, he could have and, probably, should have scored more.
"He should be more selfish than he is," Putnam coach Tony Falzarano said of his opponent. "We've played Stonington, Windham,Plainfield, and scouted others and he's the best player I've seen so far. He could be the best player in the league amongst all 19 teams- that's how good he is."
Gibson didn't exactly set the house afire in Putnam as even though he made 7 of 15 from the floor. He and his teammates, however, did more than enough to beat Putnam and take the tournament title for a second straight year.

Here's just a couple of random thoughts from the world of high school basketball.
St. Bernard coach Tim Payne was happy to be 5-0, after all, it means his Saints need just three more wins to qualify for the state tournament.
He also knew his Saints hadn't faced the tough part of their schedule yet and part of that began Thursday night when they were brought back to earth a bit by Plainfield.
The Panthers have had some tough games but rallied for the 75-70 win behind 22 points from Chris Smith and 21 from Corey Dilweg. Payne knew that St. Bernard would have trouble against Plainfield's inside strength and that rang true.
If you want to see an old fashioned high school basketball game tonight, you might want to check out the Putnam-Killingly game. It takes place in the band box gymnasium of Putnam complete with a pep band, large crowds (or what passes for a large crowd at Putnam's small facility), plenty of heat and generally a game that goes down to the wire between the two next door neighbors. The game is the finale to the Clipper Classic tournament and begins around 7 p.m. (Hint, it may be advisable to get there a little early, they have a habit of locking the doors when the gym is full).

I had an interesting call the other night from a college coach (no, I'm not going to mention from where) asking if it was a good idea to go and see Waterford's Kerrianne Dugan.
I thought it was a great idea.
Kerrianne can only be described as a blue-collar player. She's very physical, not afraid to mix it up in the post and more than willing to take the likes of Heather Buck from Stonington.
You may say Buck scored 22 points against Dugan and Waterford last Friday night but consider this. The Stonington junior made only 6 of 18 from the floor and the 22 points was eight below her average. In addition, Dugan frustrated her enough to get her into foul trouble in the second quarter and the Lancers, essentially, put the game away before the first half ended.
Dugan finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds and a stat that some may dismiss- seven steals.
That kind of effort led coach Rob Von Achen to say she was the toughest player he's ever coached and she's certainly proved she's also one of the toughest to play against.

This is the transition week for high school hoops. A week where many teams spend their time at tournaments playing competition they see but once a year. It also comes just a week before the true battles start, the divisional competition.
Wouldn't you like to be one of the Montville Indians girls basketball team right now?
They worked hard to raise the money and now they get to enjoy the fruit of their labor as they travel to Florida later on this week to participate in a basketball tournament at Disney World.
The way coach Derek Wainwright explained it to me was that 72 teams will be in Florida for the holiday break with Disney World doing it's best to keep the schools aligned along the lines of school size and the previous year's record (although Melbourne, Florida seems a little bigger than Montville and the Indians play their first game against Melbourne).
The nice thing for the Indians, play a little basketball, enjoy the sun and the Disney parks as the trip is an all-expense paid deal including meals.
This wasn't given to them, though, the girls did have to work raising the majority of the money and their parents had to kick in some as well.
As for the rest, most stay in the state although Stonington does cross into Rhode Island to play in the Westerly tournament. The only real local tournament takes place in Putnam where the Clippers play host to Parish Hill, Ellington and Douglas,MA. later on this week.

I know it's Christmas and you may not be the motivated to go and pick up the newspaper but today would be a great time to pick up the Norwich Bulletin.
It's our annual All-Bulletin issue with our choices for the top high school athletes of the past fall and it's worth a few minutes of your time on this Christmas Day.
Brian Girasoli did a fantastic job of putting together this section with the help of the Bulletin's photography team and the rest of us in the sports department. There are full color pictures of the athletes and coaches whom we, and fellow coaches, felt deserved a little extra praise for a job well done this fall.
That's not all when it comes to high school sports in the Bulletin today. Check out the high school page for our Monday basketball notebook complete with the first scoring and 3-point leaders of the season as well as complete standings and stories about St. Bernard, Montville, Waterford, Putnam and others.
And last, but certainly not least, from everyone at the Norwich Bulletin Sports Department - Merry Christmas!

I know many of you are asking yourself this and, frankly, so am I.
Was Bob Brackett forced to withdraw his application for the football job at New London or was it of his own volition?
Brackett told me that it was because he still has other things in his educational career to pursue and that his being a football coach would certainly hinder if not make those pursuits impossible.
But let's look at the writing on the wall too.
A rather large group of parents and players went to the Board of Education and asked them to re-instate Jack Cochran as head coach. That group also included some of Brackett's (probably the correct term here is Cochran's) staff.
The Board of Education left the decision up to Superintendent Christopher Clouet whose salary is made possible by the Board of Ed through the taxpayers. The taxpayers spoke and Clouet had to listen.
Brackett's salary is also made possible by the taxpayers and it's pretty clear he did see the writing on the wall.
In everyone's life, however, you have to take a walk on the wild side. Sometimes the move you make turns out to be a very positive, life changing, event. In others, it turns out to be a short-lived, had-to-do-it at the time, decision.
Brackett accepts that this was one of the latter as he knew his chances of being retained as coach were 50/50 at best. He also felt, at the time however, that to turn down such an opportunity to coach a New London High football team was something he couldn't let pass by him.
Without decisions like these, life can be boring.
You have to credit Brackett for taking the plunge and you have to hope that Cochran comes back as the same born-to-coach kind of guy, only this time he carries a rule book in his pocket.

I had a chance to talk with Gene Blain just last week and it looks like the Eastern Connecticut Conference will be in good hands under his interim leadership.
Why?
The Windham High Principal sees the role of the Principals of the member schools as a lesser one in the overall scheme of things. Under previous leadership, it was believed the Principals should make policy but it wasn't always that which the real conference leaders, the Athletic Directors, thought was the correct decision.
Blain told me that he thought it was time to leave most of the decision-making process to those who truly know what's happening- the AD's. That was glimpsed in the last big vote when the Principals followed the Athletic Director's guidance and voted to revert back to a three-division football alignment next fall.
The old Quinebaug Valley Conference, generally, ran pretty well because the AD's were the ones who guided the policy-making. No offense to the Principals but they have many other things on their minds than interscholastic athletics.
Blain assumed the post of chairperson of the ECC when former Putnam Principal Linda Joyal chose not to serve. Blain said he volunteered to be chairman for the next couple of years because "no one was jumping out of their seats to take the position" and because when Windham's true turn to be chairman takes place, "sometime around 2025", Blain will likely no longer be in the picture.

Many coaches would say they've reached a milestone, 100,200,300 wins because they've been around for awhile. Reaching this milestone, however, means you've not only been around for awhile but you've also been a pretty darn good coach.
500 wins is a number that few have reached but Griswold's Gary Kinel is on brink of becoming one of the elite few to accomplish it. The Griswold coach needs just five wins to become only the ninth coach in state history to reach that level in boys basketball.
Kinel, like fellow 500 game winner Tony Falzarano of Putnam, is a veteran of the Quinebaug Valley Conference which saw many a spirited battle in it's time. He, like Falzarano, have experienced the growth of the area which has seen the small school battles become larger school battles in the Eastern Connecticut Conference.
But he has kept his focus, he didn't want this chase to a milestone of his own to dwarf the accomplishments of his players this season and didn't even want to talk about it. So, we let his players and a fellow coach do the talking for him, check out today's edition of the Norwich Bulletin to see what I mean.

It's not all that hard on a reporter but when it comes to the athletes and coaches- that's another ballgame.
Here's a little trade secret, you probably won't see many of us carrying a pen and notebook around early in a wrestling match like Saturday as 15 teams competed in the Waterford Lancer Invitational.
Reporters generally show for some of the semfinals and the championship matches, we get to miss the other nine or 10 hours of actual competition and more than that for those who organize these large scale events.
Waterford's tournament actually started at 7:30 a.m. when the first people arrived to begin the set up process, the first match was at 10:30 a.m., the last one around 9:15 p.m.
"It's tough on everybody, it's draining," Ledyard coach Steve Bilheimer agreed. "This sport is a draining sport, you have have to have a lot of endurance, a lot of stamina to watch it, to do it, and to coach it."
But it can be pretty exciting too such as Saturday when Waterford eeked out a one-point win over Southington that went down to that final match before it was decided.
Just as an aside, look for the high school notebooks in the Norwich Bulletin this winter. The basketball notebooks are scheduled to appear on Monday and the other winter sports on Friday. It's just more information for you from your information center.

Expect it before Christmas, in fact, expect it early this coming week.
That's the word from New London Athletic Director Leo Facchini on a decision by the school as to who will coach the Whalers football team next fall.
The New London Board of Education heard plenty of public comment from players and even assistant coaches Thursday night, all in favor of bringing back Jack Cochran as head coach. Cochran was replaced last year year by former Griswold coach Bob Brackett but was allowed to re-apply for the job.
Facchini said the turnout at the Board of Education meeting was something that he expected would happen. The Board turned over the hiring process to New London Superintendent Christopher Clouet.
Although the Board gave Clouet the blessing to go out and organize a committee to handle the hiring process, Facchini said he thinks the process will end early this week as they would like to end the situation "sooner rather than later".
We'll keep you posted.

The Putnam Clippers got some great news on Wednesday and it wasn't only a win over Tourtellotte.
Without getting into the specifics since it is a health-related issue, the Clippers were very concerned about the status of their one remaining starter from last year's team that advanced to the Division IV state championship.
Tim Sabourin had been forced to the sidelines awaiting the result of some tests but got the news he wanted to hear as he has been cleared to play as of next week. He missed the Clippers opener against Tourtellotte and, likely, will not play vs. Stonington Saturday.
Without Sabourin in the lineup, Putnam didn't play particularly well offensively against Tourtellotte but had more than enough to get by. They beat the Tigers 59-33 as John Herlihy led a balanced attack with 12 points. The Clippers also dominated the boards with Sam Arcand leading the way with eight rebounds and Dan Derosier chipped in six.

What's it like playing in the shadow of Heather Buck?
Not all that bad, really.
The Stonington Bears beat Lyman by 24 points on Tuesday night to go 3-0 and Buck was her normal self as she scored 29 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked nine shots. That happening, of course, while a coach from Notre Dame was on hand amongst others to see how she had progressed, no less than nine Division I coaches were in the stands in her first game of the season.
You would think there might be some jealousy from her Stonington teammates with all the attention the six-foot-four center recieves- quite the contrary.
"She's a great leader, she's so nice, really helpful," fellow forward Erin Wiley said following Tuesday night's game.
"When I need help going over plays, she's right there. That's why she's team captain," she added.
And there's another fringe benefit. While all the coaches have been there to see Buck, others have recieved some notice such as point guard Arie Woods who was complimented for her play by a college coach through another person Tuesday night. (College coaches cannot speak directly to a high school player.)

There was some doubt as to how Stonington would prosper after losing four starters to graduation.
The defending Class M girl's basketball champs had the answer all along, just give the ball to Heather Buck a bit more.
The 6'4" junior, who is being recruited by just about everyone in the realm of women's basketball, has responded with a pair of 36-point performances in her first two outings and the Bears are also on their way to developing a supporting cast. Erin Wiley stepped up nicely against East Lyme and the Bears are off to a 2-0 start going into their game vs. Lyman tonight.
A little side note about Heather, a player whom I've been impressed with ever since I saw her as a freshman and not only because of her size. She continues to take things in stride despite some pretty large decisions ahead- no rash moves, no overnight decisions.
She admits to having eliminated a few schools from the list of possibilities but when you have everyone from UConn in your own back yard to Stanford some 3000 miles away chasing you, that leaves a whole lot of possibilities.
She has been on some visits, she has taken in first night at UConn and visited places like Notre Dame, North Carolina State, Duke and Holy Cross but don't put them above any one else on the list- she was just taking a look-see and has no plans to announce where she's going to attend college any time soon, at least, that's the game plan for now.
It's nice to see a player from the Eastern side of the state enjoying this kind of attention- it doesn't happen all that often.
See you at the Stonington-Lyman girls game tonight.

He certainly is one of the more colorful characters on the sidelines in high school sports.
Former Putnam High assistant Dave Vitale used to make a great team with head coach Tony Falzarano (just ask the officials!) but he's not bad by himself either.
Vitale, now the head coach of the Marianapolis Golden Knights keeps things pretty animated over on the bench.
"This guy is already in church and it's not even Sunday," one of the more original quips that was uttered by Vitale on Saturday in his team's game vs. St. Thomas More in Oakdale referring to a call that went the way of St. Thomas coach John Hastings and his team.
I talked with Vitale later about the team's early season hectic schedule and he told me what makes it even more difficult was the team's language barrier. Some of his players don't speak english all that well and that makes for a tough combination with a "lunatic" like himself running the show.
As good as he is for a quote, Vitale is equally as good on the sidelines as he has re-vitalized the Marianapolis program. What was once one of the most feared, and controversial, programs in the public school ranks is now one of the more respected on the prep school circuit thanks to Vitale's contribution over the last three years.

I do hope everyone has noticed the new high school sports page in the Norwich Bulletin because I think it will provide a lot of what everyone has been asking for.
Updated standings will now be consistently available, the local high school schedules will be much easier to find and we will continue to publish high school scoring leaders.
Of course, that means we need the help of all the coaches out there. If you don't call in your games, the standings and leaders may not reflect your team and individual athletes correctly.
If you happen to notice something, a record or a statistic, that differs from what you have- let us know. I can be reached at 425-4212, leave me a message and I will call back.
You will also be seeing one of our most popular features in the fall, the high school notebook, back this winter for basketball, indoor track, wrestling, gymnastics, and hockey. If you have an interesting tidbit for us to use in the notebook section, once again, give me a call or drop me an e-mail at mallard@norwichbulletin .com. We would love to hear from you.

Let me start by saying sorry about a lack of new posts here on this blog but the blogger has been out of town.
I had to make a semi-annual trek to Las Vegas this week (not to gamble mind you, there's plenty of opportunity in our own backyard to do that). Let me tell you, it was a rude awakening to be greeted by that nasty wind chill Thursday night after enjoying 65 degree temperatures out west.
The wind and the chill means it's not only the Christmas season but also the basketball season and with girls basketball underway this week, we have to bid adieu to a pair of long time coaches who left with little fanfare.
Plainfield's Jan Voland had been at the helm of the Plainfield girls for 19 years before she turned the program over to Dave Wilcox this winter. Voland also stepped down as softball coach last spring to, not only devote more time to her Athletic Director duties, but also to herself. Voland doesn't know what a winter or spring vacation feels like- maybe she will get the chance to experience one this year.
A tip of the fedora as well to Killingly coach Paul Coutu who leaves the Killingly program in the capable hands of long time assistant Rich Lebel and former player Gina Derosier.
See you at the Norwich Tech-Windham Tech girls game tonight.

We all know the saying, "Nice guys finish last".
It's nice to see that isn't always necessarily true.
The Windham Whippets coaching staff are just that, a bunch of nice guys, who get the honor of playing for the Class M state championship in football Saturday afternoon.
I can honestly say that Brian Crudden is one of the most friendly and cooperative of coaches that I've met in my travels and a state championship will be a just reward for the efforts that he and his staff have put in.
Talking with Brian, his Principal Gene Blain, and his volunteer assistant coach Bob Chalifoux just the other day showed their true qualities. They care not only about the program, they care about the athletes who make up that program. What's even better- they're having as much fun this season as those athletes are.
"Personally, it's a lot of fun," Blain said, "It's great grabbing one of the football players aside and talking to them about a game. They respect your opinion and you can have a real high level conversation around football. What this has done for the school and the way it changes the atmosphere is really something to watch."
Blain is in Atlanta right now but is hoping that he can arrive back in time to see the game on Saturday.
We hope many of you, Windham fans or soon-to-be Windham fans, get on out to New Britain and cheer on the Whippets against Hillhouse. Brian Girasoli will be on hand to give you first-rate preview and post-game reaction in the Norwich Bulletin. Look for it today, tomorrow, Sunday and Monday.

Why did they reverse a decision that was made just a little under a month ago?
That's the question Montville Principal Tom Amanti wanted an answer to in Wednesday's meeting of the Eastern Connecticut Conference.
Amanti, who backed a vote in early November to remain a two-division conference, had a good point. When is something official in the ECC?
The answer is, apparently, when everyone is satisfied.
Griswold and Plainfield clearly were not and the AD's agreed with them as NFA's Gary Mackowicki pointed out that his scheduling committee always thought a three division format would be better.
Mackowicki said the others agreed when they saw the enrollment numbers.
"It wasn't just the two schools (Griswold and Plainfield) who were the 8th and 9th in the Large, it was the 3-4 others that were so close in enrollment that, in any given year, it could be them in the Large Division."
ECC Chairman Gene Blain said he didn't know if he was walking into a hornet's nest yesterday but he was happy when it turned out to be a happy hive as a unanimous vote put the ECC back into three divisions in football for the next two seasons.
At least, that's what they said yesterday.

Anyone who has been around high school football had to know the St. Bernard/Norwich Tech Saints had their hands full with Hillhouse very early on.
Standing on the sidelines, I was watching Hillhouse, which won 40-0 to advance to the Class M championship, fly to the ball and when they got there- they hit.
"On most of my carries, I saw somewhat of a hole, hit the hole, there was no more hole," St. Bernard junior Christian Mulcahy said.
The Academics truly made it academic by midway through the first quarter when they had 28 points on the board. Admittedly, 14 of those points came from Saints miscues, an interception and a blocked punt but even without those factors, Hillhouse was dominant. Running back Danny Williams touched the ball three times offensively and scored on all three occasions, one of them was called back by a holding penalty. Quarterback Keerome Lawrence out ran the entire St. Bernard team on a 94-yard sprint to the end zone in the second quarter.
Coach Marc Romano said it was clear who the better team was, "When you have three guys tackling one kid every single time, it's hard to break anything. We had little bits and pieces we tried to do but, hats off, they're a great team."
The nice thing for Romano and the Saints- they can say the same thing.

Hopefully, they prove me wrong but I only see one ECC team moving on to a state championship game come this weekend.
The Windham Whippets, the top-seed in Class M, have the best chance to succeed in tonight's semifinal. They're playing on their home turf, against a known opponent and that opponent has more than its' share of injury issues.
The Whippets will likely be without Tyrese Nickson but the Colonels will be playing minus quarterback Marc Mignault and either with or without a banged up running back in Tim McNeil.
The Whippets just have to avoid the trap of looking ahead as it might be easy to do considering the situation. They also have to contend with a staunch Ledyard defense.
My pick: Windham 20-12.

I haven't personally seen Hillhouse but everything seems to indicate their game at East Haven vs. St. Bernard will likely belong to the Academics.
Everyone says the same thing about the hosts - they're fast and they're big. Hillhouse is paced by senior quarterback Keerome Lawrence who can throw, 645 yards passing and run, 608 yards rushing. He is also responsible for 14 of the Academics touchdowns. When they hand off, Danny Williams is the man who has scored 11 times this season as Hillhouse has outscored their opponents 267-84.
The Saints hope Kyle Brahm will be ready as the senior fullback is a key to their ball-control hopes. Keep the ball away from the Hillhouse offense and you have a chance.
My pick: Hillhouse 28-14.

And finally, you don't beat up on the fifth ranked team in the state and get taken lightly. Stratford is tough and Griswold, unfortunately, may find that out tonight. The Wolverines have to hope their big offensive line can punch enough holes to allow the Wolverines to move the football.
Personally, I think this one is a tough task for the Wolverines.
My pick: Stratford 34-14.

Remember, I've been wrong this season (quite a few times in fact). Let's hope that's the case again. See you tonight in East Haven at the St. Bernard-Hillhouse game.

It may be time for the high school playoffs but it's next year's football season that will be the topic of discussion come Wednesday.
The Eastern Connecticut Conference Principals are scheduled to sit down at NFA Wednesday morning to, once again, discuss the football alignment. It's too early to tell how the Principals are feeling now but two schools feel they were hoodwinked back in early November.
Griswold and Plainfield voted in favor of a new alignment based on October 2006 enrollment numbers for boys only grades 10-12. That formula changed the whole dynamic of the two-division format and sent the Panthers and Wolverines into the Large Division next season with New London and Killingly dropping down to the Small.
Needless to say, once those enrollment numbers were figured out there were those crying foul.
The Principals have instructed the Athletic Directors to draw up several other scenarios in addition to the two division format for this meeting. It's a good bet that a three-division format will be looked at very closely as some Medium Division teams, in addition to Plainfield and Griswold, may side with those looking for relief from the two-division deal.
If they do decide on a three division package, there will likely also be debate on whether the divisions will be split 6-6-5 or 5-6-6 or some other break down.
The ironic thing, this year's two division format worked just fine as far as competition. New London was in the heat of the battle in the Large Division, ahead of such enrollment giants as NFA and Fitch, and the Small was very competitive.
Here's a novel idea - don't tinker for a year. Leave the teams in the same divisions as they are currently with the same scheduling matrix.
Then again, the ECC has never been one to leave good enough alone.

It was tough to see Ledyard quarterback Marc Mignault on crutches in the second half of Friday's game vs. Fitch. Mignault tore a ligament in his left knee late in the first half of the game and, according to head coach Bill Mignault, is all done for the season including the semifinal game vs. Windham on Tuesday. If there is any bright spot in the injury, it's that Mignault is only a junior and has not played his last game as a Colonel.
With Mignault on the sidelines, the offensive burden rested with Tim McNeil. But the running back didn't last much longer as he left the game with a concussion just after scoring a touchdown to cut the deficit to one with 10:13 left in the third quarter.
Without those two players, the Ledyard offense stumbled. The Colonels had 14 running plays which netted only 40 yards, 25 of those on a reverse by Hector Torres. The passing game was even less effective as it produced two completions in six attempts for a negative three-yards and an interception.
If McNeil does not return, the Colonels could be in for a long night at Windham Tuesday in a Class M Semifinal. The Ledyard defense is staunch but they need the offense to hold on to the ball to keep Windham's talented offensive players on the sidelines.
By the way, nice crowd at Fitch on Friday despite it being the day after Thanksgiving. It was a much nicer day to watch a football game.

I've been covering high school football a long time and let me tell you, as most of you already know, Thursday had to be one of the most miserable I've seen in awhile. Cudos to everyone who went out and stayed out in the wind driven rain to cheer on the mud caked players. The weather took me back to the early 80's when I was at a Putnam-Plainfield game and the rain that was falling gradually turned to ice and then snow over the course of the game. Although yesterday may have been a little worse due to the wind.
One thing about weather, it's a great equalizer and can certainly change the complexion of a game. If you had a big back and a big line that could move straight forward, you probably did well yesterday as opposed to those teams that relied on their quickness and cutting ability.
NFA's win over New London could be directly attributed to that, Griswold was helped by the field conditions and so were RHAM/Lyman and Tourtellotte/Ellis Tech.
Speaking of the Tigers, they and Woodstock had the honor of playing in one of the games that many didn't talk too much about because of their records. Tourtellotte/Ellis Tech finished 2-7 and Woodstock 0-9 so maybe Matt Wendorf of the Tigers hit it right on the head when I asked him if his team's win yesterday made things a little better.
"It almost seems like the season doesn't matter any more because it's Thanksgiving and it's just great to be around family and friends."Wendorf said to me.
That, my friends, is what Thanksgiving is all about.
See you at the Ledyard-Fitch game today.

It was a first for me on Wednesday night, taking in a football game on Thanksgiving Eve rather than Thanksgiving Day and I wasn't the only one.
It was great to see over a thousand people out at St. Bernard despite the cool, blustery conditions and the game, as expected, was probably one of the better finales to this football season.
Host St. Bernard didn't let their upcoming state semifinal blur what their true goals were- win the ECC Small Division and beat Montville. For those who missed the final score, it was 17-7.
You have to give cudos to Coach Marc Romano and his staff who came in and guided the Saints to an 8-1-1 record, their second consecutive ECC Small Division title and the first state playoff appearance for the Saints in 28 years.
There's a little bonus to playing Thanksgiving Eve when you're involved in the playoffs, it's called an extra day to prep. Romano said he and his staff would give their players Thanksgiving off but the staff will meet Thursday night to discuss the game plan against either Windham, Ledyard or Hillhouse. The Saints still had an outside shot to host a game if both Ledyard and Hillhouse lost on Thursday.
Montville left the field with a 5-5 record, much less than what they hoped for but it was a tough season. First-year head coach Tanner Grove saw things go awry from the start when his Indians were shocked by Putnam (still the upset of the year) and later lost quarterback Brian Emery and receiver Nick Markovitz to injury.
"You put in all this time, all this work and all this effort and to not have it pay dividends, it stings. I think the kids gave me everything they had in them but we didn't have enough players who could make plays when we needed to," Grove said.

There will be thousands of Eastern Connecticut folks who are going to start Thanksgiving morning off, not only with a cup of coffee, but a little high school football.
Many will be taking in the renewal of the New London/NFA rivalry or the battle between Griswold and Plainfield, or East Lyme trying to make the state playoffs against Waterford. There's of course, Windham which is shooting for a perfect regular season vs. E.O. Smith.
Let's take a time out, however, and focus on the newest of the rivalries. Tourtellotte/Ellis Tech at home against Woodstock.
Yeah, I know it's the 1-7 Tigers against the 0-8 Centaurs but let's consider a few things. A Woodstock win would be it's first ever varsity victory and there is that chance. It's the first ever Thanksgiving Day game to be played at Ellis Tech in Danielson and,possibly, the last. There has been talk, once lights are put on the field in Danielson, to move this game to a Wednesday night, Thanksgiving Eve affair. It also pits two programs put together in the same way, not by tax payer dollars directly, but by contributions to Booster clubs who got the whole thing started and keep it going.
Where ever you plan to be this Thanksgiving Day, remember one thing. It's not only the wins and losses that count- it's how you play the game. Happy Thanksgiving!

It may not have begun the way they had wanted nor did it end in the manner they would have wished but you had to admire the spirit of the East Lyme High School girls volleyball team in the Class L State Championship game o on Saturday in Fairfield.
The Vikes got a rude awakening when Bristol Eastern scored the first eight points of the first game and, in truth, they never seemed to recover.
East Lyme did put a little rally together in the second game thanks to the serve of Paige Babcock but a well-placed time out and a hard kill by Sara Plourde essentially ended any hopes that the Vikings had of a comeback.
There were some tears afterwards but players like Babcock and Brittni Taylor both expressed how good they felt about how far they and the program had come.
The two seniors will not be around next year to continue the Vikings forward progress but everyone around the program felt that this group of girls had started something. Most, especially head coach Jack Biggs, can only hope the kind of enthusiasm shown by the players in the program and those who supported the program in it's bid for a title continues.

Hi, I'm Marc Allard, a former sportscaster in Eastern Connecticut who now
proudly calls himself the Assistant Sports Editor of the Norwich Bulletin.
Welcome to the newest blog on the web and one that we hope you will find
informative, fun and a must to visit because it's about you. You being the
high school athlete in Eastern Connecticut and the parents, grandparents,
relatives and friends of that athlete.
I've been covering this area for the last quarter-century and I'm just
getting started. So if you want to know the scoop about high school
athletics, stop in often and welcome aboard.