St. Joseph has had the edge in possession, Montville in position in the first half of the Class SS state championship game in West Haven.
The Indians have had more than their share of big plays, but turnovers have been costly.
A 52-yard pass from J.P. Morales to Jesse Sutherland got Montville down to the 33-yard line of the Cadets. A fumble by Tyler Girard Floyd was then picked up by Sutherland at the 13 and he moved it to the two. But the Indians fumbled into the end zone one-play later to end the threat.
The Indians also got a 44-yard run by Skyler McNair (4 carries, 46 yards), to the St. Joseph 29-yard line, only to fumble it back to the Cadets three plays later.
The Cadets, meanwhile, have not been able to get much against the Montville defense. Tyler Matakevitch has 58 yards on the ground, but it's taken him 14 carries to get it. Quarterback Joe DellaVecchia has completed 4-of-10 passes for just 19 yards.
The game right now rests on the leg of Montville kicker Ben Middel who kicked a 47-yard field goal on the last play of the first half to give the indians the 3-0 lead.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Wilcox says 'Montville is ready'
"This is Montville weather!," Montville assistant coach Gary Wilcox said as the indians left the field from pregame warmups.
The rain continues to come down at West Haven High School where Montville and St. Joseph's will square off for the Class SS state championship in just about 20 minutes.
Along with the rain, a stiff breeze has started to develop, blowing left to right across the field and it's definitely getting colder. Montville running back Skyler McNair went to find his gloves on the sidelines as he "couldn't feel his fingers" after about 20 minutes of warmup work.
Still, Wilcox thought the weather will work in Montville's favor as St. Joseph comes out of the spread offense.
"The kids are excited, they're up, they're pumped and they're just happy to be here," Wilcox said. "Now, we just have to go play against a very good opponent."
The rain continues to come down at West Haven High School where Montville and St. Joseph's will square off for the Class SS state championship in just about 20 minutes.
Along with the rain, a stiff breeze has started to develop, blowing left to right across the field and it's definitely getting colder. Montville running back Skyler McNair went to find his gloves on the sidelines as he "couldn't feel his fingers" after about 20 minutes of warmup work.
Still, Wilcox thought the weather will work in Montville's favor as St. Joseph comes out of the spread offense.
"The kids are excited, they're up, they're pumped and they're just happy to be here," Wilcox said. "Now, we just have to go play against a very good opponent."
Bundle up
The game between Montville and St. Joseph's will take place today, but the conditions are far from ideal.
A steady, cold rain is falling at West Haven High School and the wind is beginning to pick up as evidenced by the umbrellas getting inverted in the stands.
The 2 p.m. games, including the Indians and Cadets and New Canaan against East Lyme will be played today. The two night games, however, will not take place until tomorrow at 2 p.m. as today's rain is expected to turn into snow by nightfall.
The Indians arrived at West Haven well in advance of St. Joseph's which came in around 12:30 p.m. this afternoon. The Cadets do have the proximity advantage as their school is just a short 20-minute ride away.
A steady, cold rain is falling at West Haven High School and the wind is beginning to pick up as evidenced by the umbrellas getting inverted in the stands.
The 2 p.m. games, including the Indians and Cadets and New Canaan against East Lyme will be played today. The two night games, however, will not take place until tomorrow at 2 p.m. as today's rain is expected to turn into snow by nightfall.
The Indians arrived at West Haven well in advance of St. Joseph's which came in around 12:30 p.m. this afternoon. The Cadets do have the proximity advantage as their school is just a short 20-minute ride away.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Evans not bothered by today's signing
Norwich Free Academy senior Kastine Evans is making one of the biggest decisions of her life today.
She didn't let that affect her on the volleyball court Thursday night.
Evans had 18 kills and 11 assists to help NFA defeat Fitch, 3-1, for its first-ever ECC championship in the sport Thursday night at Griswold High School.
This afternoon at 3 p.m. on the NFA campus, Evans will make her decision known as to what school she will attend to play Division-I college basketball, CiCincinnati or Kentucky.
"I already know," Evans said when asked if the announcement was weighing heavy on her mind Thursday night. "It's just there, everybody else is waiting, I already know."
Evans sounded pretty confident about the decision that she has made.
"Very comfortable," Evans said. "I know that where I go, I'm going to be in the right place. I think it's going to be the right fit for me."
She didn't let that affect her on the volleyball court Thursday night.
Evans had 18 kills and 11 assists to help NFA defeat Fitch, 3-1, for its first-ever ECC championship in the sport Thursday night at Griswold High School.
This afternoon at 3 p.m. on the NFA campus, Evans will make her decision known as to what school she will attend to play Division-I college basketball, CiCincinnati or Kentucky.
"I already know," Evans said when asked if the announcement was weighing heavy on her mind Thursday night. "It's just there, everybody else is waiting, I already know."
Evans sounded pretty confident about the decision that she has made.
"Very comfortable," Evans said. "I know that where I go, I'm going to be in the right place. I think it's going to be the right fit for me."
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Power and Ziegler are a handful
Woodstock Academy coach Jason Gerum came over to me at midfield as we watched his Centaurs battle the East Lyme Vikings in a boys soccer game on Wednesday and had one question.
"I wonder what their goal-to-shot ratio is?," Gerum questioned.
I only had a two-word answer for him, "pretty good."
The Vikings, at one point in the second half, had only three shots on goal- two of them found their way into the net.
That's what happens when you have players like Phil Ziegler and Gary Power. Ziegler is noew the school's all-time leading scorer and , not surprisingly , Power is now the all-time playmaker. Put that together and it spells more than trouble for opponents.
What's worse, the Vikings continue to put things together and could be primed for a run like last season. A run that carried them into a state championship game.
"We've had a very tough schedule and the only game we've lost in the past three weeks was to Waterford," East Lyme coach Paul Christensen said.
"We've fought back and started the momentum going again- we've played our best soccer in the last three days," he added. "We've come together as a team - it took a little while longer than I hoped - but this is the time of year that we want to play."
Ziegler finished with two goals on Wednesday to give him 26 on the season. Power helped on one of those to give him 23 assists on the season.
"This was a great way to end the season and go into the tournament on a high," Ziegler said of the Woodstock win. "Hopefully it ends like last year, in the finals."
"I wonder what their goal-to-shot ratio is?," Gerum questioned.
I only had a two-word answer for him, "pretty good."
The Vikings, at one point in the second half, had only three shots on goal- two of them found their way into the net.
That's what happens when you have players like Phil Ziegler and Gary Power. Ziegler is noew the school's all-time leading scorer and , not surprisingly , Power is now the all-time playmaker. Put that together and it spells more than trouble for opponents.
What's worse, the Vikings continue to put things together and could be primed for a run like last season. A run that carried them into a state championship game.
"We've had a very tough schedule and the only game we've lost in the past three weeks was to Waterford," East Lyme coach Paul Christensen said.
"We've fought back and started the momentum going again- we've played our best soccer in the last three days," he added. "We've come together as a team - it took a little while longer than I hoped - but this is the time of year that we want to play."
Ziegler finished with two goals on Wednesday to give him 26 on the season. Power helped on one of those to give him 23 assists on the season.
"This was a great way to end the season and go into the tournament on a high," Ziegler said of the Woodstock win. "Hopefully it ends like last year, in the finals."
Monday, November 2, 2009
Tournament time
If you are looking for something else to do other than just checking election results, there will be some good volleyball being played at Griswold High School.
The Eastern Connecticut Conference volleyball semifinals get underway at 4;30 p.m. with the Plainfield Panthers taking on Fitch in the first semifinal. The second matchup will pit the top seed, NFA, against No. 4 East Lyme.
One thing the Wildcats will not be able to do this season is sneak around. NFA is, of course, the defending Class LL state champ and that means the bullseye will be large, not only in the ECC tournament, but in the states which begin next week.
"It's tough to repeat, but we're hungry," NFA coach Bill Howard said. "People didn't know about us last year and we kind of flew under the radar. They will be expecting us this year."
That includes the Vikings who lost to NFA, 3-0, just a week ago but look like they have recovered with their bout with the flu bug that took place last week.
The Panthers have a tough task today as it will be their first appearance in a match at this level. The three-year old varsity program advanced with a little revenge -match win over Lyman Monday night.
"Fitch is a really good team and a well-established program," Plainfield coach Bob Arremony said.
The Eastern Connecticut Conference volleyball semifinals get underway at 4;30 p.m. with the Plainfield Panthers taking on Fitch in the first semifinal. The second matchup will pit the top seed, NFA, against No. 4 East Lyme.
One thing the Wildcats will not be able to do this season is sneak around. NFA is, of course, the defending Class LL state champ and that means the bullseye will be large, not only in the ECC tournament, but in the states which begin next week.
"It's tough to repeat, but we're hungry," NFA coach Bill Howard said. "People didn't know about us last year and we kind of flew under the radar. They will be expecting us this year."
That includes the Vikings who lost to NFA, 3-0, just a week ago but look like they have recovered with their bout with the flu bug that took place last week.
The Panthers have a tough task today as it will be their first appearance in a match at this level. The three-year old varsity program advanced with a little revenge -match win over Lyman Monday night.
"Fitch is a really good team and a well-established program," Plainfield coach Bob Arremony said.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Young offensive line coming together for Bears
Nick Burton anchors the middle with Henry Williamson and Ben Macko on his left and right andx the duo of Alex Mitchell and Luke Brogno at tackles.
The five comprise the offensive line for the Stonington Bears and without them, the double-wing could not hope to be as successful as it was against Killingly Friday night.
The Bears had the ball eight times at home against the Redmen and on seven of those occasions, they found the end zone in a 48-13 win. The win guarantees the Bears at least a share of the Eastern Connecticut Conference's Small Division title .
"Our offensive line really stepped up," Jim Connelly said. "Everyone blocked well, everyone played extremely well (Friday night)."
Connelly should know as he was one of the big beneficiaries, recording 149 yards on just nine carries. Josh Whitford added 101 yards in only 13 carries and scored twice for the Bears.
The nice thing for coach A.J. Massengale, that offensive line is comprised of almost all juniors and sseniors.
"They did a great job," the Stonington coach said. "They really opened up some good holes, we went right after people and for some young kids, they've come a long way."
The five comprise the offensive line for the Stonington Bears and without them, the double-wing could not hope to be as successful as it was against Killingly Friday night.
The Bears had the ball eight times at home against the Redmen and on seven of those occasions, they found the end zone in a 48-13 win. The win guarantees the Bears at least a share of the Eastern Connecticut Conference's Small Division title .
"Our offensive line really stepped up," Jim Connelly said. "Everyone blocked well, everyone played extremely well (Friday night)."
Connelly should know as he was one of the big beneficiaries, recording 149 yards on just nine carries. Josh Whitford added 101 yards in only 13 carries and scored twice for the Bears.
The nice thing for coach A.J. Massengale, that offensive line is comprised of almost all juniors and sseniors.
"They did a great job," the Stonington coach said. "They really opened up some good holes, we went right after people and for some young kids, they've come a long way."
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Practice makes perfect for Lyman
Seniors on the Lyman Memorial volleyball team are used to success in the Eastern Connecticut Conference Small Division, but it hasn't always been that way.
The Bulldogs captured their second Small Division title in the last three years on Wednesday afternoon with a 3-0 win in Putnam. But this group also remembers when it finished 4-6 in the Division just four short years ago.
The difference between then and now; practice.
"I think that most of our players are doing something in the offseason," senior Kyla Bielert said. "Everyone's doing club ball or something over the summer that helps you get in shape for the season. Our coach (Stephen Lewis) has also adjusted to the times, making sure he's up to date with everything that can help us out."
Fellow senior Kena Perry said it's a world of difference between what is now and what was when Lewis first came on board.
"There's been so many big improvements since four years ago," Perry said. "It's fantastic how the girls are working in the offseason to get better. It's turned things around."
Putnam coach Curt Hull knew his Clippers didn't really have much of a chance against the Bulldogs on Wednesday. That was not only due to their youth, but also their commitmentto the game and most times, it's not their fault.
"A lot of our girls don't have the ability to travel distances to go play in leagues outside of the season ," Hull said.
"The family doesn't have the financial wherewithal to send them to those leagues and every girl on the Lyman squad is playing in those leagues - that makes a huge difference., " Hull added.
The Bulldogs captured their second Small Division title in the last three years on Wednesday afternoon with a 3-0 win in Putnam. But this group also remembers when it finished 4-6 in the Division just four short years ago.
The difference between then and now; practice.
"I think that most of our players are doing something in the offseason," senior Kyla Bielert said. "Everyone's doing club ball or something over the summer that helps you get in shape for the season. Our coach (Stephen Lewis) has also adjusted to the times, making sure he's up to date with everything that can help us out."
Fellow senior Kena Perry said it's a world of difference between what is now and what was when Lewis first came on board.
"There's been so many big improvements since four years ago," Perry said. "It's fantastic how the girls are working in the offseason to get better. It's turned things around."
Putnam coach Curt Hull knew his Clippers didn't really have much of a chance against the Bulldogs on Wednesday. That was not only due to their youth, but also their commitmentto the game and most times, it's not their fault.
"A lot of our girls don't have the ability to travel distances to go play in leagues outside of the season ," Hull said.
"The family doesn't have the financial wherewithal to send them to those leagues and every girl on the Lyman squad is playing in those leagues - that makes a huge difference., " Hull added.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Just the beginning for the Wildcats
You had to like the camaraderie shown on Monday night in Norwich.
The Coventry girls volleyball team hung around and shared the Senior Night celebration with their Norwich Free Academy counterparts after the Patriots had just beaten the Wildcats, 3-0.
It's not like the result was unexpected as Coventry had posted 86 consecutive wins coming into the matchup between the defending Class S champion Patriots and Class LL champion, Wildcats.
Both teams have bulked up for the final week of the regular season with NFA set to play East Lyme on Wednesday and RHAM on Friday. Coventry was also bulking up its schedule as the Patriots still have to play Southington, Avon and Ellington.
"This is the best stretch of volleyball, in terms of opponents, that we have played- ever," Coventry coach Matt Hurlock said.
What's even tougher for Coventry is that they will be playing those teams on the road and most of them, like NFA, will be celebrating their Senior Nights.
"NFA is much improved," Hurlock added as his team beat the Wildcats, 3-0, earlier in the season. "We saw them at the beginning of the year and we played the way we play and it wasn't even a ballgame. They went on a run and dominated the ECC and they're going to be a tough out in the (Class) LL tournament."
The Coventry girls volleyball team hung around and shared the Senior Night celebration with their Norwich Free Academy counterparts after the Patriots had just beaten the Wildcats, 3-0.
It's not like the result was unexpected as Coventry had posted 86 consecutive wins coming into the matchup between the defending Class S champion Patriots and Class LL champion, Wildcats.
Both teams have bulked up for the final week of the regular season with NFA set to play East Lyme on Wednesday and RHAM on Friday. Coventry was also bulking up its schedule as the Patriots still have to play Southington, Avon and Ellington.
"This is the best stretch of volleyball, in terms of opponents, that we have played- ever," Coventry coach Matt Hurlock said.
What's even tougher for Coventry is that they will be playing those teams on the road and most of them, like NFA, will be celebrating their Senior Nights.
"NFA is much improved," Hurlock added as his team beat the Wildcats, 3-0, earlier in the season. "We saw them at the beginning of the year and we played the way we play and it wasn't even a ballgame. They went on a run and dominated the ECC and they're going to be a tough out in the (Class) LL tournament."
Monday, July 27, 2009
A look ahead to Tuesday
Montville and New London will battle one another to decide who remains in Bristol and who comes home.
That's the result of Montville's 4-3, 10-inning loss to Branford in the winner's bracket of the American Legion State Tournament earlier this morning.
The Norwich Bulletin will cover that game in Bristol this afternoon with John Shishmanian coming along to provide the photos.
Joe Perez will continue our coverage of Jewett City's quest for a Little League softball state championship. Jewett City faces a must win tonight at 6 p.m. when they play Milford at Waterford South Little League. Milford won the first game between the two, 4-3, in nine innings on Sunday.
That's the result of Montville's 4-3, 10-inning loss to Branford in the winner's bracket of the American Legion State Tournament earlier this morning.
The Norwich Bulletin will cover that game in Bristol this afternoon with John Shishmanian coming along to provide the photos.
Joe Perez will continue our coverage of Jewett City's quest for a Little League softball state championship. Jewett City faces a must win tonight at 6 p.m. when they play Milford at Waterford South Little League. Milford won the first game between the two, 4-3, in nine innings on Sunday.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
A look ahead
Jewett City's Little League softball All-Star team begins its quest for a state title tonight at 6 p.m. in Waterford as they open a best-of-three series against Milford at the Waterford South Little League complex.
The series is starting a day later than planned thanks to a rainout earlier in the week in the Section II finals. Jewett City coach Archie Drobiak was concerned that if the series had started yesterday, as originally planned, his pitching rotation would have been compromised. (Little League softball pitchers must have a day of rest between outings). Thus, the first game was pushed back to tonight, we do plan to have complete coverage for you in Monday's Norwich Bulletin.
The Connecticut Defenders are back at home and Joe Perez will be on hand to report on today's game.
Matt Stout also has a look back at yesterday's WNBA All-Star game especially the lady of the day, Most Valuable Player Swin Cash.
The series is starting a day later than planned thanks to a rainout earlier in the week in the Section II finals. Jewett City coach Archie Drobiak was concerned that if the series had started yesterday, as originally planned, his pitching rotation would have been compromised. (Little League softball pitchers must have a day of rest between outings). Thus, the first game was pushed back to tonight, we do plan to have complete coverage for you in Monday's Norwich Bulletin.
The Connecticut Defenders are back at home and Joe Perez will be on hand to report on today's game.
Matt Stout also has a look back at yesterday's WNBA All-Star game especially the lady of the day, Most Valuable Player Swin Cash.
Friday, July 24, 2009
What tomorrow brings
You can call this a little preview of what to expect in Saturday's sports pages of the Norwich Bulletin.
Joe Perez will be in Rocky Hill tonight covering the Little League softball 11-12 year-old Section II championship. Jewett City takes on Vernon in the game slated to begin at 5:30 p.m. (You can check Thursday's sport section for directions to the park). A win for Jewett City sends them to the state championship against the Section I champion. That series is slated to begin Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Waterford South Little League complex. It's a best two-out-of three series for the state title.
Matt Stout and I have been working on a special preview for the WNBA All-Star game that takes place tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. at the Mohegan Sun Arena. We'll have a complete rundown of the members of both teams as well as several features.
We'll also have the results from Montville's rain-delayed American Legion play-in game (Montville trailed Stamford 5-1 in the fifth inning when it was suspended) and our weekly NASCAR page.
We hope you enjoy.
Joe Perez will be in Rocky Hill tonight covering the Little League softball 11-12 year-old Section II championship. Jewett City takes on Vernon in the game slated to begin at 5:30 p.m. (You can check Thursday's sport section for directions to the park). A win for Jewett City sends them to the state championship against the Section I champion. That series is slated to begin Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Waterford South Little League complex. It's a best two-out-of three series for the state title.
Matt Stout and I have been working on a special preview for the WNBA All-Star game that takes place tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. at the Mohegan Sun Arena. We'll have a complete rundown of the members of both teams as well as several features.
We'll also have the results from Montville's rain-delayed American Legion play-in game (Montville trailed Stamford 5-1 in the fifth inning when it was suspended) and our weekly NASCAR page.
We hope you enjoy.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
State championship odyssey
I always love to see where state championship Saturday will take me, because it's always an adventure.
This year is no exception as I begin this Saturday at Palmer Field in Middletown where the New London Whalers are playing the Knights of Ellington for the Class M baseball championship.
I love Palmer Field, it's a great baseball venue, I just hate getting here. Coming from my home in Killingly, there's only one route that's even semi-direct and it's two-lane blacktop all the way on Route 66. It's a great road through the middle of the Connecticut countryside, but you don't get any where very fast.
From here, provided the weather doesn't go downhill, it's off to West Haven for the Class L girls softball championship game between Waterford and Darien at 3:30 p.m.
We finish off tonight at 7 p.m. in Stratford at DeLuca Field as Fitch meets Masuk for the Class LL girls softball state title.
Matt Stout, meanwhile, is headed to Trumbull to cover St. Bernard's Division II girls lacrosse state championship match with Immaculate at 3 p.m..
We'll keep you up-to-date as time, and facilities, permit.
This year is no exception as I begin this Saturday at Palmer Field in Middletown where the New London Whalers are playing the Knights of Ellington for the Class M baseball championship.
I love Palmer Field, it's a great baseball venue, I just hate getting here. Coming from my home in Killingly, there's only one route that's even semi-direct and it's two-lane blacktop all the way on Route 66. It's a great road through the middle of the Connecticut countryside, but you don't get any where very fast.
From here, provided the weather doesn't go downhill, it's off to West Haven for the Class L girls softball championship game between Waterford and Darien at 3:30 p.m.
We finish off tonight at 7 p.m. in Stratford at DeLuca Field as Fitch meets Masuk for the Class LL girls softball state title.
Matt Stout, meanwhile, is headed to Trumbull to cover St. Bernard's Division II girls lacrosse state championship match with Immaculate at 3 p.m..
We'll keep you up-to-date as time, and facilities, permit.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Montville leading, 3-1, in M quarterfinals
You almost wonder if both Montville and Ellington had proms last night.
Neither is playing the smoothest of baseball right now in their Class M quarterfinal meeting at ECSU in Mansfield.
The Indians have already committed three errors in the game, but have managed to build a 3-1 lead through three innings.
Montville scored one in the first on a RBI ground out by Tyler Seeley. After the Knights answered with a run in the top of the second, Montville added two more in the third off Ellington lefty Brian Francolini.
Jesse Sutherland singled hard past short to score J.P. Morales who had reached on an error. Sutherland came home on a triple by Alec Brown.
Derek Wilcox (8-0) is pitching for the Indians.
Neither is playing the smoothest of baseball right now in their Class M quarterfinal meeting at ECSU in Mansfield.
The Indians have already committed three errors in the game, but have managed to build a 3-1 lead through three innings.
Montville scored one in the first on a RBI ground out by Tyler Seeley. After the Knights answered with a run in the top of the second, Montville added two more in the third off Ellington lefty Brian Francolini.
Jesse Sutherland singled hard past short to score J.P. Morales who had reached on an error. Sutherland came home on a triple by Alec Brown.
Derek Wilcox (8-0) is pitching for the Indians.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Vincent likes Dodd Stadium site
Eastern Connecticut Conference baseball chairman Pete Vincent said the crowd could have been a bit more robust, but he's been pleased with how everything has gone in tonight's ECC baseball championship at Dodd Stadium.
"Dodd Stadium has been great offering up the facility," Vincent, the Ledyard High athletic director, said. "The kids got on the field for batting practice before the game, the field is in great shape and, hopefully, we can continue this for years to come."
The Defenders did chip in and help create the atmosphere. Connecticut General manager Charlie Dowd was even out in the parking lot prior to the game helping to direct traffic.
"It's a family crowd, a high school kid crowd, two good rivals (Montville and NFA), the only thing that could have been better was that the sun could have been shining a bit more," Dowd said.
"Dodd Stadium has been great offering up the facility," Vincent, the Ledyard High athletic director, said. "The kids got on the field for batting practice before the game, the field is in great shape and, hopefully, we can continue this for years to come."
The Defenders did chip in and help create the atmosphere. Connecticut General manager Charlie Dowd was even out in the parking lot prior to the game helping to direct traffic.
"It's a family crowd, a high school kid crowd, two good rivals (Montville and NFA), the only thing that could have been better was that the sun could have been shining a bit more," Dowd said.
Nice crowd at Dodd
They're adorned in Norwich Free Academy red down the third base line and Montville orange on the first base side.
A good crowd has come out for the Eastern Connecticut Conference baseball championship being played at Dodd Stadium in Norwich between the Wildcats and Indians on this gloomy Thursday night.
The Indians' fans have had more to cheer about thus far as Montville shortstop Jesse Sutherland led off with a double and scored on a base hit by Alec Brown in the bottom of the first inning for the early lead.
Tyler Contillo added a triple for Montville in the first, but a base-running miscue was followed by a pair of strikeouts which prevented any further damage by the Indians.
A good crowd has come out for the Eastern Connecticut Conference baseball championship being played at Dodd Stadium in Norwich between the Wildcats and Indians on this gloomy Thursday night.
The Indians' fans have had more to cheer about thus far as Montville shortstop Jesse Sutherland led off with a double and scored on a base hit by Alec Brown in the bottom of the first inning for the early lead.
Tyler Contillo added a triple for Montville in the first, but a base-running miscue was followed by a pair of strikeouts which prevented any further damage by the Indians.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Montville owns 1-0 lead over Fitch in ECC Semifinal
Halfway through the Eastern Connecticut Conference baseball semifinal between No. 1 Montville and No. 4 Fitch at East Lyme High, the Indians hold a 1-0 lead over the Falcons in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Ray Ingram scored the only run of the game thus far in the second inning when he reached on an error, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. Montville catcher Kyle Holland then stroked a single to left to give the Indians the lead.
Montville also had runners on second and third in the first inning and first and second in the third. The Indians have five hits off Fitch starter Kevin Wallace, the Falcons have mustered just three off Montville pitcher Dave MacCracken.
Over on the football field, East Lyme scored two goals in the first 23 seconds but things have tightened up considerably since in its ECC semifinal match up with NFA. The Wildcats trail just 4-3 with five minutes left in the first half.
Ray Ingram scored the only run of the game thus far in the second inning when he reached on an error, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. Montville catcher Kyle Holland then stroked a single to left to give the Indians the lead.
Montville also had runners on second and third in the first inning and first and second in the third. The Indians have five hits off Fitch starter Kevin Wallace, the Falcons have mustered just three off Montville pitcher Dave MacCracken.
Over on the football field, East Lyme scored two goals in the first 23 seconds but things have tightened up considerably since in its ECC semifinal match up with NFA. The Wildcats trail just 4-3 with five minutes left in the first half.
Weather holds up for ECC semifinals
It's not exactly warm, but it's dry and that was a big concern coming into the Eastern Connecticut Conference semifinals at East Lyme High School tonight.
The match-up is certainly a good one with two of the top 10 teams in the state, top-seeded Montville, playing No. 4 seed Fitch.
The Indians advanced in typical fashion with a 6-0 win over Killingly earlier this afternoon at East Lyme High. Jesse Sutherland had his 10th home run of the season in the first at-bat for Montville in the bottom of the first.
Killingly coach Dan Vogt wasn't going to take chances in the fourth inning when Sutherland came up with runners on second and third. Vogt intentionally walked Sutherland for the second time in the game which brought a smattering of boos down upon the the Killingly coach and apparently fired up Alec Brown. The Montville third baseman took Killingly starter Anthoney Tetreault yard for a grand slam and Montville never looked back as senior pitcher Derek Wilcox won his sixth straight game, he hasn't lost since his sophomore year.
The Falcons played just down the road in Waterford and gained a little revenge on Woodstock. The Centaurs beat the Falcons last week to claim a share of the ECC Large Division title, but couldn't repeat the magic.
Joey Gingerella (6-2) spun a three-hitter and the Falcons backed him up with three first inning runs.
Kevin Wallace doubled home two of those as he finished with a pair of hits on the day. John Leese also had two hits for the Falcons who finished with seven against Woodstock losing pitcher, Jim Sullivan.
It's a busy night here at East Lyme.
In addition to the baseball game, the NFA Wildcats are playing East Lyme in an ECC lacrosse semifinal on the football field.
An earlier girls semifinal saw the host Vikings, the top seed in the ECC tournament, advance with a win over No. 4 seed Waterford, 10-6. The Vikings face the winner of tonight's NFA at St. Bernard game in the ECC Championship Friday night at 7 p.m. here at East Lyme.
The match-up is certainly a good one with two of the top 10 teams in the state, top-seeded Montville, playing No. 4 seed Fitch.
The Indians advanced in typical fashion with a 6-0 win over Killingly earlier this afternoon at East Lyme High. Jesse Sutherland had his 10th home run of the season in the first at-bat for Montville in the bottom of the first.
Killingly coach Dan Vogt wasn't going to take chances in the fourth inning when Sutherland came up with runners on second and third. Vogt intentionally walked Sutherland for the second time in the game which brought a smattering of boos down upon the the Killingly coach and apparently fired up Alec Brown. The Montville third baseman took Killingly starter Anthoney Tetreault yard for a grand slam and Montville never looked back as senior pitcher Derek Wilcox won his sixth straight game, he hasn't lost since his sophomore year.
The Falcons played just down the road in Waterford and gained a little revenge on Woodstock. The Centaurs beat the Falcons last week to claim a share of the ECC Large Division title, but couldn't repeat the magic.
Joey Gingerella (6-2) spun a three-hitter and the Falcons backed him up with three first inning runs.
Kevin Wallace doubled home two of those as he finished with a pair of hits on the day. John Leese also had two hits for the Falcons who finished with seven against Woodstock losing pitcher, Jim Sullivan.
It's a busy night here at East Lyme.
In addition to the baseball game, the NFA Wildcats are playing East Lyme in an ECC lacrosse semifinal on the football field.
An earlier girls semifinal saw the host Vikings, the top seed in the ECC tournament, advance with a win over No. 4 seed Waterford, 10-6. The Vikings face the winner of tonight's NFA at St. Bernard game in the ECC Championship Friday night at 7 p.m. here at East Lyme.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
East Lyme scores big win over Montville
The way Montville tossed around East Lyme starting pitcher Kevin Bartlett in the first two innings Thursday afternoon, there was no reason to believe that he would still be on the mound in the seventh inning.
But the tall, lanky left-hander proved to be resilient against a Montville team that has been one of the better hitting squads to start the season. Bartlett survived the early barrage, settled down and his teammates rallied behind him as the Vikings handed the Indians their first loss, 13-6.
“This is my first start of the year, so I haven’t thrown in a while, and I still have to get my groove back,” Bartlett said. “I just kept fighting and battling. (The Montville) guys are good hitters, and I surprised myself and went a lot further than I thought.”
Bartlett got some early support when the Vikings scored three runs in the top of the first on a double by Caleb Gulovsen, singles by Alec Christian and Bryan Rowe, a pair of walks and an error.
Montville starting pitcher Jesse Sutherland (0-1) got one of those runs back quickly for the Indians. He was the first batter of the season that Bartlett faced, and Sutherland took him over the fence in right-center.
Bartlett escaped further damage in the first inning, but ran into much more trouble in the second. Ray Ingram had a one-out double and Sutherland almost went yard again an out later. He took a pitch that was just inches off the dirt and muscled it to centerfield where it bounced off the fence on one hop for an RBI triple.
“He’s a great player; probably the toughest hitter I’ve pitched against in awhile,” Bartlett said.
Sutherland didn’t stay at third for long. After Tyler Contillo was hit by a pitch, Montville coach Phil Orbe called for a delayed steal at second, which worked to perfection as an attempt to get Contillo — who was goading East Lyme into throwing — sailed into centerfield to allow Sutherland to score and Contillo to move to third. He came home on a single by Tyler Seeley (3-for-4 and a run scored) after Alec Brown had also been hit by a pitch. Brown came around on another delayed steal.
East Lyme got those runs back in the fifth off Sutherland as Jon Nazarko and Christian singled and Al Lloyd reached on an error to bring up junior first baseman Eric Morse. “Moose,” as coach Jack Biggs affectionately refers to him, was coming off bicep tendinitis and has struggled at the plate early as a result.
“I went up there thinking that we needed to get back in this game and I wanted to do something that would bring the momentum back to our side,” Morse said.
He delivered as he drilled a ball over the head of John Wasilko in left field for a bases-clearing double that put East Lyme ahead for good, 7-5. Morse added to his excitement in the sixth inning — after Montville had cut the lead to one — with a tailing two-run double to right field.
“I was feeling even better — I was on cloud nine,” Morse said.
The Vikings posted only their second win in five games.
“It may gain us some confidence, but everyone has to know also that it’s a long season ahead of us, especially with all the rain outs and the games backed up,” Biggs said.
While East Lyme was looking for a boost, Montville coach Phil Orbe said a little humble pie was probably good for his club after a 4-0 start.
“We have a lot of stuff to work on and sometimes winning becomes a big deodorant for things that you’re not doing well,” the Montville coach said. “When you give up 13 runs, it will help us focus and really come out and work (Friday).”
But the tall, lanky left-hander proved to be resilient against a Montville team that has been one of the better hitting squads to start the season. Bartlett survived the early barrage, settled down and his teammates rallied behind him as the Vikings handed the Indians their first loss, 13-6.
“This is my first start of the year, so I haven’t thrown in a while, and I still have to get my groove back,” Bartlett said. “I just kept fighting and battling. (The Montville) guys are good hitters, and I surprised myself and went a lot further than I thought.”
Bartlett got some early support when the Vikings scored three runs in the top of the first on a double by Caleb Gulovsen, singles by Alec Christian and Bryan Rowe, a pair of walks and an error.
Montville starting pitcher Jesse Sutherland (0-1) got one of those runs back quickly for the Indians. He was the first batter of the season that Bartlett faced, and Sutherland took him over the fence in right-center.
Bartlett escaped further damage in the first inning, but ran into much more trouble in the second. Ray Ingram had a one-out double and Sutherland almost went yard again an out later. He took a pitch that was just inches off the dirt and muscled it to centerfield where it bounced off the fence on one hop for an RBI triple.
“He’s a great player; probably the toughest hitter I’ve pitched against in awhile,” Bartlett said.
Sutherland didn’t stay at third for long. After Tyler Contillo was hit by a pitch, Montville coach Phil Orbe called for a delayed steal at second, which worked to perfection as an attempt to get Contillo — who was goading East Lyme into throwing — sailed into centerfield to allow Sutherland to score and Contillo to move to third. He came home on a single by Tyler Seeley (3-for-4 and a run scored) after Alec Brown had also been hit by a pitch. Brown came around on another delayed steal.
East Lyme got those runs back in the fifth off Sutherland as Jon Nazarko and Christian singled and Al Lloyd reached on an error to bring up junior first baseman Eric Morse. “Moose,” as coach Jack Biggs affectionately refers to him, was coming off bicep tendinitis and has struggled at the plate early as a result.
“I went up there thinking that we needed to get back in this game and I wanted to do something that would bring the momentum back to our side,” Morse said.
He delivered as he drilled a ball over the head of John Wasilko in left field for a bases-clearing double that put East Lyme ahead for good, 7-5. Morse added to his excitement in the sixth inning — after Montville had cut the lead to one — with a tailing two-run double to right field.
“I was feeling even better — I was on cloud nine,” Morse said.
The Vikings posted only their second win in five games.
“It may gain us some confidence, but everyone has to know also that it’s a long season ahead of us, especially with all the rain outs and the games backed up,” Biggs said.
While East Lyme was looking for a boost, Montville coach Phil Orbe said a little humble pie was probably good for his club after a 4-0 start.
“We have a lot of stuff to work on and sometimes winning becomes a big deodorant for things that you’re not doing well,” the Montville coach said. “When you give up 13 runs, it will help us focus and really come out and work (Friday).”
Saturday, March 14, 2009
NFA leads Wilbur Cross, 11-9
Stephanie Long has scored four points to help give NFA an 11-9 lead over Wilbur Cross after on quarter of the Class LL girls basketball state semifinals at Central Connecticut State University.
Bacon Academy advances to Class M title game
It may have taken place on a larger stage, but the script changed little and that was bad news for Windham.
The Whippets – as they had on their home floor and as they had in Colchester in previous losses to Bacon – played well in the first half and actually held the lead going into the second half. But as it has in the previous two encounters, the third eight-minute dance proved to be the decisive one and it was dominated by the Bobcats.
As a result, Bacon advanced to its first Class M state championship game since 2001 with a 59-50 win at Central Connecticut State University Saturday over their Eastern Connecticut Conference rivals.
The top-seeded team in the M Division will now play third-seeded Berlin for the state championship at the Mohegan Sun Arena next weekend at a time to be determined. Berlin advanced with a 54-41 win over Ellington on Saturday.
"Our kids showed a lot of guts," Bacon coach Dave Shea said. "They showed that they have character and can come from behind, keep their spirit up and keep working hard."
The Bobcats trailed, 30-26, going into the second half but knew one important thing.
"The third quarter wins games," Bacon senior Brooke Bailey said.
The Bobcats (24-2) wasted little time tying the game up as Katie Mahoney followed up a McKenzie Hyde miss to make it a two-point game. After Dominique Demar blocked a Windham attempt on the other end, Hyde followed up her own missed shot to tie the game at 30.
The senior forward was held to three points in the first half, part of that due to the fact that she had picked up her second foul with 2 ½ minutes left in the first quarter.
"It was frustrating, but I just kept my head in the game and tried to stay composed on defense," Hyde said.
Since she failed to pick up her third infraction in the first half, Hyde was able to play more aggressively in the second and had another putback to complete a 9-0 Bacon run to open the second half.
Windham (20-6) did tie the game on a three-point play by Amie Toner (14 points, 14 rebounds), but Katie Mahoney hit five of the next seven points and Hyde - who finished with a game-high 21 points and 10 rebounds- followed that with six consecutive points to give Bacon the 46-37 lead going into the final quarter.
"We talked about that at halftime," Windham coach Ken Valliere said. "We had been in that position before- been ahead of them at halftime- but we had to go out and play a good 16 minutes and it was what, 20-7(in the third quarter); it’s an uphill battle from there."
Bacon also switched up the defenses as Shea elected to go man-to-man in the first half which produced a lot of open looks for sophomore guard Ali Risley. She took advantage of those to drop four 3-pointers on the Bobcats. Those looks went away in the second half when Bacon went back to its traditional 2-3 zone and extended it.
"It’s kind of funny to go into a zone after Risley was hitting all those shots, but we’re pretty good in that 2-3 zone and extend out to the wings really well," Shea said.
"My teammates were really good kicking it out in the first half, but in the second half they got out on me more- maybe, I should have moved around more," said Risley who finished with those 12 points as she didn’t score after the first quarter.
"They’re big across the baseline and (Shea’s) crazy to play man-to-man against us, I don’t know why he did that in the first half" Valliere said. "We penetrate the zone pretty good, but they swallow us up."
The Whippets had a run left in them late in the fourth quarter as Danyelle Rodriguez went baseline for two and, after two missed Bacon free throws, hit a 3-pointer with 51 seconds left to cut the deficit to four, 54-50. The Bobcats finished things from the free throw line where Mary Corrado and Bailey both sank a pair and Hyde added one with 22 seconds left to send the Bobcats into the championship game.
"I know the coaches know about them," Mahoney said when asked about Berlin. "Right now, I’m just so happy we won and we have a week to prepare."
"Berlin has a really tall girl (Katelyn Zarotney), she’s like Amie (Toner) on the boards," Hyde said. "I’ve played AAU with her and we just have to box her out."
Bacon has never won a state title game as it lost in 2001 to Plainville in the Class M final and fell to Westbrook in a Class S championship game in 1979.
The Whippets – as they had on their home floor and as they had in Colchester in previous losses to Bacon – played well in the first half and actually held the lead going into the second half. But as it has in the previous two encounters, the third eight-minute dance proved to be the decisive one and it was dominated by the Bobcats.
As a result, Bacon advanced to its first Class M state championship game since 2001 with a 59-50 win at Central Connecticut State University Saturday over their Eastern Connecticut Conference rivals.
The top-seeded team in the M Division will now play third-seeded Berlin for the state championship at the Mohegan Sun Arena next weekend at a time to be determined. Berlin advanced with a 54-41 win over Ellington on Saturday.
"Our kids showed a lot of guts," Bacon coach Dave Shea said. "They showed that they have character and can come from behind, keep their spirit up and keep working hard."
The Bobcats trailed, 30-26, going into the second half but knew one important thing.
"The third quarter wins games," Bacon senior Brooke Bailey said.
The Bobcats (24-2) wasted little time tying the game up as Katie Mahoney followed up a McKenzie Hyde miss to make it a two-point game. After Dominique Demar blocked a Windham attempt on the other end, Hyde followed up her own missed shot to tie the game at 30.
The senior forward was held to three points in the first half, part of that due to the fact that she had picked up her second foul with 2 ½ minutes left in the first quarter.
"It was frustrating, but I just kept my head in the game and tried to stay composed on defense," Hyde said.
Since she failed to pick up her third infraction in the first half, Hyde was able to play more aggressively in the second and had another putback to complete a 9-0 Bacon run to open the second half.
Windham (20-6) did tie the game on a three-point play by Amie Toner (14 points, 14 rebounds), but Katie Mahoney hit five of the next seven points and Hyde - who finished with a game-high 21 points and 10 rebounds- followed that with six consecutive points to give Bacon the 46-37 lead going into the final quarter.
"We talked about that at halftime," Windham coach Ken Valliere said. "We had been in that position before- been ahead of them at halftime- but we had to go out and play a good 16 minutes and it was what, 20-7(in the third quarter); it’s an uphill battle from there."
Bacon also switched up the defenses as Shea elected to go man-to-man in the first half which produced a lot of open looks for sophomore guard Ali Risley. She took advantage of those to drop four 3-pointers on the Bobcats. Those looks went away in the second half when Bacon went back to its traditional 2-3 zone and extended it.
"It’s kind of funny to go into a zone after Risley was hitting all those shots, but we’re pretty good in that 2-3 zone and extend out to the wings really well," Shea said.
"My teammates were really good kicking it out in the first half, but in the second half they got out on me more- maybe, I should have moved around more," said Risley who finished with those 12 points as she didn’t score after the first quarter.
"They’re big across the baseline and (Shea’s) crazy to play man-to-man against us, I don’t know why he did that in the first half" Valliere said. "We penetrate the zone pretty good, but they swallow us up."
The Whippets had a run left in them late in the fourth quarter as Danyelle Rodriguez went baseline for two and, after two missed Bacon free throws, hit a 3-pointer with 51 seconds left to cut the deficit to four, 54-50. The Bobcats finished things from the free throw line where Mary Corrado and Bailey both sank a pair and Hyde added one with 22 seconds left to send the Bobcats into the championship game.
"I know the coaches know about them," Mahoney said when asked about Berlin. "Right now, I’m just so happy we won and we have a week to prepare."
"Berlin has a really tall girl (Katelyn Zarotney), she’s like Amie (Toner) on the boards," Hyde said. "I’ve played AAU with her and we just have to box her out."
Bacon has never won a state title game as it lost in 2001 to Plainville in the Class M final and fell to Westbrook in a Class S championship game in 1979.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Superintendents nix football plan
The football committee of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) thought it was a good idea, as did a majority of football coaches. But as a proposal to expand the state high school football playoff format climbed the ladder, it ran into resistance.
The top rung of that ladder decided that it, as it stands now, will go no further.
CIAC Executive Director Michael Savage said on Wednesday that he had met with the executive board of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents last Thursday and the superintendents expressed reservations about the plan.
The idea, devised by a group within the CIAC football committee, called for an expansion of the high school football playoffs from 24 teams to 48 by adding a quarterfinal round that would take place the Thursday prior to Thanksgiving.
The committee decided that Thanksgiving Day football rivalries are sacred to many and that those games should continue in the midst of the new playoff system. The semifinals, as is the case now, would be held the Tuesday after the holiday and the championship games on the following Saturday.
According to Savage, the Superintendents took exception to the plan based on three issues:
— The physical toll on high school players of playing four games in 16 days.
— The impact on Thanksgiving Day games
— Shortening the regular season for all to lengthen the playoff season for fewer teams
“The superintendents sent a letter to the Board of Control asking to postpone any decision on this matter until the superintendent’s concerns were addressed and that no action be taken until after the 2009 season,” Savage said.
The death knell of the plan is in the details, as the superintendents made it clear these issues would have to be dealt with without any discussion of extending the football season, according to Savage.
“Everyone, including the superintendents familiar with the situation, is pleased that the football committee discussed the extension of tournament play for the last 18-24 months and commend them for their work,” Savage said. “If there are ways to address these concerns without extending the season, everyone is open to listen to those recommendations.”
Supporters of the plan such as Ledyard High School coach and football committee member Jim Buonocore felt the new system was the way to go.
“I felt we had a viable plan that met the needs of the coaches and the powers that be,” Buonocore said. “I was satisfied with the effort that we made, disappointed that we didn’t get a full vote, but I support and respect the decision of the superintendents.”
The CIAC Board of Control meets on March 19 and will likely follow the superintendents’ recommendations and table the proposal. Savage said in his 30 years with the CIAC, he has never seen the Board of Control not follow the superintendents’ advice.
“It’s a dilemma to get more games in and deal with issues concerning the safety of the kids. Four games in 16 days is significant,” Windham High principal and Board of Control member Gene Blain said. “It’s a concern and I think we need to have some medical opinion on that before moving forward.”
Savage said the proposal had the “overwhelming support” of coaches. Athletic directors were less enthusiastic, but still “reasonably supportive.” As you went up the ladder, however, principals and superintendents were much less enthusiastic.
“You try to get as much feedback as possible,” Blain said. “This was precedent setting and you need to have everybody on board. Everything had to be perfect for it to happen (this fall); that wasn’t likely.”
Savage said one alternative to the plan could be increasing the number of divisions from six to as many as 10. That could give more opportunities to more teams, but Blain said he felt coaches may feel more divisions would dilute the field too much.
Cochran to be discussed
One issue the Board of Control will take up on March 19 is that of former New London baseball and current football coach Jack Cochran.
Cochran resigned last Friday before he even coached a baseball game after the school self-reported to the CIAC that it had evidence of a minimum of three rule violations regarding offseason practice for the baseball team.
Cochran said Friday that resigned so the kids on the team will not be punished for his actions, which included facilitating the use of the gym for baseball practice by players and parents.
Savage said the Board of Control has the “authority to do whatever it wishes” as far as Cochran is concerned, including taking disciplinary actions. That discipline could include fines or sanctions such as suspension or probation against the school, coaches and players.
New London was fined by the CIAC this past fall after Cochran allowed eighth graders into preseason practice with the high school varsity football team.
The top rung of that ladder decided that it, as it stands now, will go no further.
CIAC Executive Director Michael Savage said on Wednesday that he had met with the executive board of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents last Thursday and the superintendents expressed reservations about the plan.
The idea, devised by a group within the CIAC football committee, called for an expansion of the high school football playoffs from 24 teams to 48 by adding a quarterfinal round that would take place the Thursday prior to Thanksgiving.
The committee decided that Thanksgiving Day football rivalries are sacred to many and that those games should continue in the midst of the new playoff system. The semifinals, as is the case now, would be held the Tuesday after the holiday and the championship games on the following Saturday.
According to Savage, the Superintendents took exception to the plan based on three issues:
— The physical toll on high school players of playing four games in 16 days.
— The impact on Thanksgiving Day games
— Shortening the regular season for all to lengthen the playoff season for fewer teams
“The superintendents sent a letter to the Board of Control asking to postpone any decision on this matter until the superintendent’s concerns were addressed and that no action be taken until after the 2009 season,” Savage said.
The death knell of the plan is in the details, as the superintendents made it clear these issues would have to be dealt with without any discussion of extending the football season, according to Savage.
“Everyone, including the superintendents familiar with the situation, is pleased that the football committee discussed the extension of tournament play for the last 18-24 months and commend them for their work,” Savage said. “If there are ways to address these concerns without extending the season, everyone is open to listen to those recommendations.”
Supporters of the plan such as Ledyard High School coach and football committee member Jim Buonocore felt the new system was the way to go.
“I felt we had a viable plan that met the needs of the coaches and the powers that be,” Buonocore said. “I was satisfied with the effort that we made, disappointed that we didn’t get a full vote, but I support and respect the decision of the superintendents.”
The CIAC Board of Control meets on March 19 and will likely follow the superintendents’ recommendations and table the proposal. Savage said in his 30 years with the CIAC, he has never seen the Board of Control not follow the superintendents’ advice.
“It’s a dilemma to get more games in and deal with issues concerning the safety of the kids. Four games in 16 days is significant,” Windham High principal and Board of Control member Gene Blain said. “It’s a concern and I think we need to have some medical opinion on that before moving forward.”
Savage said the proposal had the “overwhelming support” of coaches. Athletic directors were less enthusiastic, but still “reasonably supportive.” As you went up the ladder, however, principals and superintendents were much less enthusiastic.
“You try to get as much feedback as possible,” Blain said. “This was precedent setting and you need to have everybody on board. Everything had to be perfect for it to happen (this fall); that wasn’t likely.”
Savage said one alternative to the plan could be increasing the number of divisions from six to as many as 10. That could give more opportunities to more teams, but Blain said he felt coaches may feel more divisions would dilute the field too much.
Cochran to be discussed
One issue the Board of Control will take up on March 19 is that of former New London baseball and current football coach Jack Cochran.
Cochran resigned last Friday before he even coached a baseball game after the school self-reported to the CIAC that it had evidence of a minimum of three rule violations regarding offseason practice for the baseball team.
Cochran said Friday that resigned so the kids on the team will not be punished for his actions, which included facilitating the use of the gym for baseball practice by players and parents.
Savage said the Board of Control has the “authority to do whatever it wishes” as far as Cochran is concerned, including taking disciplinary actions. That discipline could include fines or sanctions such as suspension or probation against the school, coaches and players.
New London was fined by the CIAC this past fall after Cochran allowed eighth graders into preseason practice with the high school varsity football team.
Monday, March 9, 2009
St. Bernard squeaks by Ellis Tech
Joey Cyr may play for the St. Bernard boys basketball team, but he probably has more in common with the team his Saints met Monday in the first round of the Class M tournament.
Cyr lives just about five miles from Ellis Tech in Danielson and grew up playing basketball with some of the Eagles players.
It added just a little more fuel to Cyr’s fire, not that he needed much more in the way of motivation. After all, this was a state tournament game and the St. Bernard senior knew it would be his last in a Saints uniform if they lost.
He helped make sure that didn’t happen, netting 18 points to help St. Bernard (14-8) slip by the upset-minded Eagles, 46-45, and into the next round.
“(Ellis Tech junior) Sean (Haythe) was on my team for three or four years in rec. league, so it was fun to play him,” Cyr said. “Beating Killingly before and then beating Ellis twice this year, it’s definitely bragging rights in northeastern Connecticut.”
Cyr put the Eagles behind in the first half after he outscored their team, 13-8, in the second quarter. Ellis Tech had sliced an early seven-point deficit to just two at the beginning of the second quarter when Andre Curiel (10 points, seven rebounds) hit a free throw, the only St. Bernard point in the quarter that was not scored by Cyr.
After Ellis Tech missed five consecutive shots, Cyr laid down the first of two 3-pointers within 25 seconds of one another. A free throw by Joe Guilmette for the Eagles did little to cool Cyr’s fire as he followed with a traditional three-point play and then added four more free throws to push the Saints’ lead to 24-14 at the half.
“Wow, I didn’t notice that,” St. Bernard coach Tim Payne said with a laugh about Cyr’s second-quarter barrage. “Did I take him out?”
Ellis Tech coach Dan Piccione, meanwhile, couldn’t believe what he was seeing. His Eagles made just 5-of-28 shots from the floor in the first half and followed that with a 5-of-18 performance in the third quarter.
Lay-ups, 3-pointers, put-backs — nothing was falling, which led Piccione at one point to turn to his assistant coach, Josh Dinerman, and exclaim, “I give up.”
“(It was) really frustrating. It’s lucky that we were even in the game,” Piccione said. “When you can’t make a shot, it’s tough.”
But the Eagles still trailed by only nine entering the fourth quarter, and a pair of 3-pointers by brothers Jon and Josh Arraje brought Ellis back to life, closing the gap to three points. Three minutes later, Jaymie Cellucci’s only basket of the night cut it to one with 2:08 left.
“They’re a good team, they played hard,” Cyr said. “We kind of overlooked them a little when we got the lead and just started coasting.”
Cyr, who had been quiet since the second quarter with the exception of two free throws in the fourth, made three of four from the line. Dylan Delacruz added one from the charity stripe and Josh Bowyer sealed the deal with a pair with 12 seconds left to make it 46-42.
Jon Arraje (16 points) hit a 3-pointer with six seconds left to cut the deficit to one, but Ellis Tech (11-12) was out of time-outs.
“It’s a shame, but there was nothing we could do about it,” Jon Arraje said. “If it happens, it happens. Game’s over.”
The Eagles are still seeking the first state tournament victory in program history.
“We’re just going to have to wait, hopefully until next year,” Piccione said. “It seems like we’re cursed.”
The Saints get another Constitution State Conference team next as they travel to Danbury to take on that league’s champ, Abbott Tech, on Wednesday.
Cyr lives just about five miles from Ellis Tech in Danielson and grew up playing basketball with some of the Eagles players.
It added just a little more fuel to Cyr’s fire, not that he needed much more in the way of motivation. After all, this was a state tournament game and the St. Bernard senior knew it would be his last in a Saints uniform if they lost.
He helped make sure that didn’t happen, netting 18 points to help St. Bernard (14-8) slip by the upset-minded Eagles, 46-45, and into the next round.
“(Ellis Tech junior) Sean (Haythe) was on my team for three or four years in rec. league, so it was fun to play him,” Cyr said. “Beating Killingly before and then beating Ellis twice this year, it’s definitely bragging rights in northeastern Connecticut.”
Cyr put the Eagles behind in the first half after he outscored their team, 13-8, in the second quarter. Ellis Tech had sliced an early seven-point deficit to just two at the beginning of the second quarter when Andre Curiel (10 points, seven rebounds) hit a free throw, the only St. Bernard point in the quarter that was not scored by Cyr.
After Ellis Tech missed five consecutive shots, Cyr laid down the first of two 3-pointers within 25 seconds of one another. A free throw by Joe Guilmette for the Eagles did little to cool Cyr’s fire as he followed with a traditional three-point play and then added four more free throws to push the Saints’ lead to 24-14 at the half.
“Wow, I didn’t notice that,” St. Bernard coach Tim Payne said with a laugh about Cyr’s second-quarter barrage. “Did I take him out?”
Ellis Tech coach Dan Piccione, meanwhile, couldn’t believe what he was seeing. His Eagles made just 5-of-28 shots from the floor in the first half and followed that with a 5-of-18 performance in the third quarter.
Lay-ups, 3-pointers, put-backs — nothing was falling, which led Piccione at one point to turn to his assistant coach, Josh Dinerman, and exclaim, “I give up.”
“(It was) really frustrating. It’s lucky that we were even in the game,” Piccione said. “When you can’t make a shot, it’s tough.”
But the Eagles still trailed by only nine entering the fourth quarter, and a pair of 3-pointers by brothers Jon and Josh Arraje brought Ellis back to life, closing the gap to three points. Three minutes later, Jaymie Cellucci’s only basket of the night cut it to one with 2:08 left.
“They’re a good team, they played hard,” Cyr said. “We kind of overlooked them a little when we got the lead and just started coasting.”
Cyr, who had been quiet since the second quarter with the exception of two free throws in the fourth, made three of four from the line. Dylan Delacruz added one from the charity stripe and Josh Bowyer sealed the deal with a pair with 12 seconds left to make it 46-42.
Jon Arraje (16 points) hit a 3-pointer with six seconds left to cut the deficit to one, but Ellis Tech (11-12) was out of time-outs.
“It’s a shame, but there was nothing we could do about it,” Jon Arraje said. “If it happens, it happens. Game’s over.”
The Eagles are still seeking the first state tournament victory in program history.
“We’re just going to have to wait, hopefully until next year,” Piccione said. “It seems like we’re cursed.”
The Saints get another Constitution State Conference team next as they travel to Danbury to take on that league’s champ, Abbott Tech, on Wednesday.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Cochran resigns as New London baseball coach
Jack Cochran was named baseball coach of the New London a couple of months ago, but he won’t get a chance to ever step foot in the dugout.
Cochran handed in his resignation to athletic director Bob Brackett Friday after Brackett told him that he had committed an offseason practice violation and the school was going to report the incident to the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference.
New London High principal Dan Sullivan said that he had received a report that Cochran had committed violations and asked Brackett to investigate.
“(Brackett) determined that on a minimum of three occasions, Jack had provided access to (the school’s) facilities during which time parents and students participated in hitting drills and other baseball-related activities,” Sullivan said.
Cochran admitted that he did open up the New London gym for the parents.
“I didn’t know (that it was a violation),” Cochran said. “I was trying to do something good for parents and kids who didn’t have the resources on their own. I wish it never happened.”
It’s the second time in three sports seasons that New London has had to self report a violation involving Cochran, he was also cited in the fall for allowing eighth grade students to participate in a New London football practice and the school was fined by the CIAC.
“I’m certainly concerned, I’m certainly disappointed and I’m sure that it’s something the (CIAC) Board of Control will look at seriously,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said he didn’t know if this would affect Cochran’s status as football coach in the fall, saying it was “up to the Board of Control.” Cochran said he hoped his resignation as baseball coach was punishment enough and that he hadn’t even considered any ramifications when it came to football.
Cochran led the Whalers to a state championship this past fall and was named the Norwich Bulletin Coach of the Year.
Cochran handed in his resignation to athletic director Bob Brackett Friday after Brackett told him that he had committed an offseason practice violation and the school was going to report the incident to the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference.
New London High principal Dan Sullivan said that he had received a report that Cochran had committed violations and asked Brackett to investigate.
“(Brackett) determined that on a minimum of three occasions, Jack had provided access to (the school’s) facilities during which time parents and students participated in hitting drills and other baseball-related activities,” Sullivan said.
Cochran admitted that he did open up the New London gym for the parents.
“I didn’t know (that it was a violation),” Cochran said. “I was trying to do something good for parents and kids who didn’t have the resources on their own. I wish it never happened.”
It’s the second time in three sports seasons that New London has had to self report a violation involving Cochran, he was also cited in the fall for allowing eighth grade students to participate in a New London football practice and the school was fined by the CIAC.
“I’m certainly concerned, I’m certainly disappointed and I’m sure that it’s something the (CIAC) Board of Control will look at seriously,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said he didn’t know if this would affect Cochran’s status as football coach in the fall, saying it was “up to the Board of Control.” Cochran said he hoped his resignation as baseball coach was punishment enough and that he hadn’t even considered any ramifications when it came to football.
Cochran led the Whalers to a state championship this past fall and was named the Norwich Bulletin Coach of the Year.
New London claims ECC title
You don’t plan for moments like these, they just happen.
The clock was ticking down toward 10 seconds and the 1,500 gathered in the Waterford High School gym stood waiting for the inevitable.
The 10 players on the court will re-play those waning seconds over the years and remember what they did. They’ll think about what they could have done as the crowd rose in unison waiting for the inevitable New London time out.
New London’s Torin Childs-Harris stood 10 feet inside halfcourt with the ball, NFA’s Anthony Clarke was watching his every move with the Wildcats trying to protect a one-point lead. New London coach Craig Parker finally brought his hands together to signal for the time out with 10 seconds left and his focus fell on Childs-Harris.
The sophomore with the silky smooth touch was not about to disappoint his coach or the New London faithful as he caught the in-bounds pass, dribbled inside the 3-point line and lofted up a perfect 15-foot jump shot that found only net, the go-ahead basket that the Whalers needed with six seconds left that led to New London’s 51-48 win over NFA in the Eastern Connecticut Conference boys basketball championship game Friday night.
“We made the decision, if they were going to sit back off of us, we were going to hold the ball until 10 seconds to go and put it all on the line,” Parker said.
NFA coach Neal Curland felt like he had no choice but to go with the flow.
“We were happy with that,” Curland said. “We weren’t going to try and chase them and foul them because we had the lead. If you go out and guard them tight and try to get a five-second call, they’re going by you because they’re quicker than we are.”
Parker decided that Childs-Harris had to be the man since his best outside shooter, Nick Singleton, was not with the team due to family issues.
“It was designed for me to shoot the 3, but no one came out,” Childs-Harris said. “I turned around too late to shoot the 3, so I thought if I drove to the middle and threw a floater that I would get it. I was waiting my whole life for a shot like that.”
Though the winning play wasn’t drawn up on the spot, it might as well have been.
“That play we had for the game-winner, ironically, we just put it in two or three days ago and that’s the first we’ve run it all year,” Parker said. “It could have been a 3-pointer had he been wide open but he made a good decision, made a move, pulled up with a kid in his face and made the tough shot.”
Curland could only compliment Childs-Harris afterwards.
“That was a big-time play — a great shot, off the dribble, guarded, 15-16 feet with a guy on him, leaning a little bit.”
The game wasn’t over yet. There were still 5.9 ticks of the clock left as NFA called for a time-out immediately after Harris made his shot. The time-out didn’t help as the Wildcats threw away the in-bounds pass and were forced to foul. Teaurean Nolan hit two free throws to give the Whalers a three-point lead. NFA’s Wes Murphy did get off a shot just before the buzzer just inside half court, but it bounced off the rim and harmlessly to the ground.
“It is (a little sweeter than a year ago) because of the circumstances (the missing players, which also included Lamont Singleton and center Sylvere Vanterpool),” Parker said. “For these kids to not to let that affect them and keep their focus on the game — this has a special meaning (Friday night).”.
For his efforts, Childs-Harris brought home the Tournament Most Valuable Player Award as he led the Whalers with 22 points. Freshman Kris Dunn added 13 to the New London (22-1) effort.
“It’s like a dream come true,” said Dunn, who was named to the All-Tournament team. “I didn’t think I was going to help win it, because I’m a freshman.”
Mike Mailhot led the Wildcats (19-4) with 13 points and Darryl Ferguson returned to the NFA lineup after being too ill to play in the semifinals to score 10 points, grab eight rebounds, block four shots and alter a host of others. Both Mailhot and Ferguson were named to the All-Tournament team along with Woodstock’s Kyle Senick.
“It took a great shot to beat us and that makes it harder for the kids and for me, too,” Curland said, “but I’ve coached in a lot of games and for them, this is their one chance, the seniors, so it’s really hard.”
The clock was ticking down toward 10 seconds and the 1,500 gathered in the Waterford High School gym stood waiting for the inevitable.
The 10 players on the court will re-play those waning seconds over the years and remember what they did. They’ll think about what they could have done as the crowd rose in unison waiting for the inevitable New London time out.
New London’s Torin Childs-Harris stood 10 feet inside halfcourt with the ball, NFA’s Anthony Clarke was watching his every move with the Wildcats trying to protect a one-point lead. New London coach Craig Parker finally brought his hands together to signal for the time out with 10 seconds left and his focus fell on Childs-Harris.
The sophomore with the silky smooth touch was not about to disappoint his coach or the New London faithful as he caught the in-bounds pass, dribbled inside the 3-point line and lofted up a perfect 15-foot jump shot that found only net, the go-ahead basket that the Whalers needed with six seconds left that led to New London’s 51-48 win over NFA in the Eastern Connecticut Conference boys basketball championship game Friday night.
“We made the decision, if they were going to sit back off of us, we were going to hold the ball until 10 seconds to go and put it all on the line,” Parker said.
NFA coach Neal Curland felt like he had no choice but to go with the flow.
“We were happy with that,” Curland said. “We weren’t going to try and chase them and foul them because we had the lead. If you go out and guard them tight and try to get a five-second call, they’re going by you because they’re quicker than we are.”
Parker decided that Childs-Harris had to be the man since his best outside shooter, Nick Singleton, was not with the team due to family issues.
“It was designed for me to shoot the 3, but no one came out,” Childs-Harris said. “I turned around too late to shoot the 3, so I thought if I drove to the middle and threw a floater that I would get it. I was waiting my whole life for a shot like that.”
Though the winning play wasn’t drawn up on the spot, it might as well have been.
“That play we had for the game-winner, ironically, we just put it in two or three days ago and that’s the first we’ve run it all year,” Parker said. “It could have been a 3-pointer had he been wide open but he made a good decision, made a move, pulled up with a kid in his face and made the tough shot.”
Curland could only compliment Childs-Harris afterwards.
“That was a big-time play — a great shot, off the dribble, guarded, 15-16 feet with a guy on him, leaning a little bit.”
The game wasn’t over yet. There were still 5.9 ticks of the clock left as NFA called for a time-out immediately after Harris made his shot. The time-out didn’t help as the Wildcats threw away the in-bounds pass and were forced to foul. Teaurean Nolan hit two free throws to give the Whalers a three-point lead. NFA’s Wes Murphy did get off a shot just before the buzzer just inside half court, but it bounced off the rim and harmlessly to the ground.
“It is (a little sweeter than a year ago) because of the circumstances (the missing players, which also included Lamont Singleton and center Sylvere Vanterpool),” Parker said. “For these kids to not to let that affect them and keep their focus on the game — this has a special meaning (Friday night).”.
For his efforts, Childs-Harris brought home the Tournament Most Valuable Player Award as he led the Whalers with 22 points. Freshman Kris Dunn added 13 to the New London (22-1) effort.
“It’s like a dream come true,” said Dunn, who was named to the All-Tournament team. “I didn’t think I was going to help win it, because I’m a freshman.”
Mike Mailhot led the Wildcats (19-4) with 13 points and Darryl Ferguson returned to the NFA lineup after being too ill to play in the semifinals to score 10 points, grab eight rebounds, block four shots and alter a host of others. Both Mailhot and Ferguson were named to the All-Tournament team along with Woodstock’s Kyle Senick.
“It took a great shot to beat us and that makes it harder for the kids and for me, too,” Curland said, “but I’ve coached in a lot of games and for them, this is their one chance, the seniors, so it’s really hard.”
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Windham rolls on in Class M girls basketball
Windham High School was disappointed when it fell in the quarterfinal round of the Eastern Connecticut Conference girls basketball tournament.
What made that disappointment even more intolerable was what followed — a long lay-off without any games.
“We had nine days off and it’s not fun hanging around the gym with me for nine days after a tough loss,” Windham coach Ken Valliere said.
Plainfield felt Windham’s pent-up frustrations Tuesday as the fourth-seeded Whippets rolled on in the Class M state tournament with an 81-35 first-round win over the No. 29 Panthers.
“It felt so good to get back out and our team was really up-beat,” guard Ali Risley said. “Coach said we had to come in like any other game and put it away.”Risley, who scored a game-high 20 points, was part of the formula to accomplish that. The sophomore wasted no time in putting down a 3-pointer just 45 seconds into the game, and then followed that up with a fast-break basket off an Amie Toner block.
Plainfield did stop the run ever so briefly when freshman Heather Evans (six points, six rebounds) hit a 3-pointer, but the respite was short.
Toner sank two free throws and, after another Plainfield turnover, came another 3-pointer from Risley to raise Windham’s lead to 10-2 with just 2 1/2 minutes gone in the opening quarter.
“After the last few practices, I thought Ris was going to have a good tournament,” Valliere said. “She seems to be really focused, has been shooting the ball well in practice. We ran three plays right off the bat for her to shoot and she knocked down two out of three. She’s capable of that.”
Risley scored 10 first-quarter points, but she was far from alone. Toner, the lone senior starter for the Whippets, added six and both Carlee Smith and Haley Mather added four as the Whippets built its lead to 27-8 after the first quarter.
Plainfield coach Dave Wilcox did all he could to stop the tide as he just about exhausted his allotment of time-outs through the first eight minutes.
“We have to aspire to be them, but we also have to aspire to beat them,” Wilcox said of Windham. “Them and Bacon, and Stonington and Montville — it’s a different clientele next year.”
That was the kicker to the one-sided loss for the Panthers, who finished the season 9-13. They move up to the ECC Medium Division next season and will have to play the Whippets twice during the regular season.
“We definitely became a team (by) the end, and we all worked together, but this was a hard team,” Plainfield freshman point guard Kim Bouten said. Asked how much her team will have to improve to compete with Windham or Bacon next year, Bouten simply said, “A lot.”
Bouten paced the Panthers with nine points, Denise Vergato added eight while junior Kate Montgomery had seven rebounds.
Danyelle Rodriguez added 13 points for the Whippets (18-5) who left with only one concern. Toner pulled herself from the game in the third quarter with a stiff back. Valliere is hoping she will be ready for Thursday night’s second-round game against Rocky Hill.
“She has done so much in her life in basketball and this is her two weeks,” Valliere said of the senior, who will go on to play at Division-I Sacred Heart. “She should be taking no prisoners out there, laying it all on the line and dominating as best she can.”
Her teammates will have her back, stiff or not, in that pursuit.
“We want to go far especially for Amie,” Risley said. “It’s her last year. We want to do something for her.”
What made that disappointment even more intolerable was what followed — a long lay-off without any games.
“We had nine days off and it’s not fun hanging around the gym with me for nine days after a tough loss,” Windham coach Ken Valliere said.
Plainfield felt Windham’s pent-up frustrations Tuesday as the fourth-seeded Whippets rolled on in the Class M state tournament with an 81-35 first-round win over the No. 29 Panthers.
“It felt so good to get back out and our team was really up-beat,” guard Ali Risley said. “Coach said we had to come in like any other game and put it away.”Risley, who scored a game-high 20 points, was part of the formula to accomplish that. The sophomore wasted no time in putting down a 3-pointer just 45 seconds into the game, and then followed that up with a fast-break basket off an Amie Toner block.
Plainfield did stop the run ever so briefly when freshman Heather Evans (six points, six rebounds) hit a 3-pointer, but the respite was short.
Toner sank two free throws and, after another Plainfield turnover, came another 3-pointer from Risley to raise Windham’s lead to 10-2 with just 2 1/2 minutes gone in the opening quarter.
“After the last few practices, I thought Ris was going to have a good tournament,” Valliere said. “She seems to be really focused, has been shooting the ball well in practice. We ran three plays right off the bat for her to shoot and she knocked down two out of three. She’s capable of that.”
Risley scored 10 first-quarter points, but she was far from alone. Toner, the lone senior starter for the Whippets, added six and both Carlee Smith and Haley Mather added four as the Whippets built its lead to 27-8 after the first quarter.
Plainfield coach Dave Wilcox did all he could to stop the tide as he just about exhausted his allotment of time-outs through the first eight minutes.
“We have to aspire to be them, but we also have to aspire to beat them,” Wilcox said of Windham. “Them and Bacon, and Stonington and Montville — it’s a different clientele next year.”
That was the kicker to the one-sided loss for the Panthers, who finished the season 9-13. They move up to the ECC Medium Division next season and will have to play the Whippets twice during the regular season.
“We definitely became a team (by) the end, and we all worked together, but this was a hard team,” Plainfield freshman point guard Kim Bouten said. Asked how much her team will have to improve to compete with Windham or Bacon next year, Bouten simply said, “A lot.”
Bouten paced the Panthers with nine points, Denise Vergato added eight while junior Kate Montgomery had seven rebounds.
Danyelle Rodriguez added 13 points for the Whippets (18-5) who left with only one concern. Toner pulled herself from the game in the third quarter with a stiff back. Valliere is hoping she will be ready for Thursday night’s second-round game against Rocky Hill.
“She has done so much in her life in basketball and this is her two weeks,” Valliere said of the senior, who will go on to play at Division-I Sacred Heart. “She should be taking no prisoners out there, laying it all on the line and dominating as best she can.”
Her teammates will have her back, stiff or not, in that pursuit.
“We want to go far especially for Amie,” Risley said. “It’s her last year. We want to do something for her.”
Monday, March 2, 2009
State tournament awaits for girls basketball teams
Win and move on, lose and go home.
That’s the cruel fate that awaits basketball teams once the state tournament gets underway, although that start had to be pushed back a day.
The snowstorm to start the month of March also served to push back the girls state tournament although it’s not as big a deal as it has been in the past. That’s because the girl’s state championship games have been pushed back a week to accommodate the schedule with the Mohegan Sun and there is time built into the schedule now.
The Class LL and Class M games that were scheduled for Monday simply got pushed back a day to tonight with six local teams playing, two against one another.
Fourth-seeded Windham plays at home in a Class M first-round game against No. 29 Plainfield.
“I just hate to play teams in our league because one of us has to be done and it doesn’t give (the ECC) the opportunity to move teams on, that’s the biggest thing,” Windham coach Ken Valliere said.
“We didn’t play them in the regular season, so it is someone different in that sense,” he added. “Hopefully, being laid off for nine days, we can get off on the right track and get some momentum.”
Valliere said to scrape some of the rust off, the Whippets did scrimmage E.O. Smith last Thursday.
“I think myself and the kids would be disappointed if we don’t go deep into the tournament, “ Valliere said. “But we have to take one game at a time and win one game, ugly or not, you have to move on. When we won the state championship four years ago, that’s what we said and this is no different.”
Whomever wins tonight will take on the winner of the Rocky Hill/Wolcott game in a second round contest. A win there produces a quarterfinal against either Morgan, Stonington, New Fairfield or East Hampton while the semifinal could bring the top seed, Bacon Academy.
“I think it looks good, hopefully we’ll have two home games and then it goes neutral,” Valliere said. “If Bacon is the best — we’ve played some very ball against them although they beat us twice — I think it’s wide open in the M.”
Also in the M Division and also in the upper bracket is a team that truly feels out of place. St Bernard coach Mike Nystrom doesn’t feel the rules — which automatically vault a Catholic school up a division or more — favor his team which played more of a Class S schedule for much of the season.
“There’s very few easy games in the Class M tournament whereas if you get lucky in Class S, you can go to the quarters or even the semis and not beat anyone,” Nystrom said.
The Saints drew the No. 8 seed in the tournament, good in some ways, bad in others.
The good is that they have a home game tonight against the 25th seeded Thunderbirds of North Branford.
“I saw them play (Feb. 21) and they’re on the small side,” Nystrom said. “They’re OK, they could beat us, but if we play well, we have a chance — if we shoot good.”
That’s something the Saints didn’t do against Bacon in the ECC semifinals when they lost, 47-27, and that’s the bad news. A win over North Branford means St. Bernard will host either Northwestern Regional or Watertown on Thursday, a win there gives them a likely rematch with the top-seeded Bobcats in the Class M quarterfinals.
Speaking of the Bobcats, they will have the target on their backs being the top-seed.
“That doesn’t really mean anything now,” said Bacon sophomore guard Katie Mahoney. “We have to still keep winning and improving.”
Both Mahoney and her coach and grandfather, Dave Shea, believed that a 60-53 loss to NFA in the ECC Championship game Friday night could only pay dividends come the state tournament.
“This got us ready for the state tournament — we had three games — and if we hadn’t won the first game, we would have had almost a two-week layoff before the states,” Shea said, “so it’s a great way to get ready.”
The Bobcats get a bye tonight and will host the winner of the Suffield-Lewis Mills game on Thursday. Shea was happy for the bye as it will give him a chance to travel to Burlington to check out Thursday’s opponent.
“I’m looking forward to winning on Thursday, it’s one game at a time, I don’t want to look any further than that,” Shea said.
Only one other team has a home game tonight in Class M as No. 14 Montville will host No. 19 Jonathan Law. Stonington, seeded 28th, goes on the road to Morgan and No. 22 New London plays at Hartford Classical.
Fitch is the only local Class LL team in action as the Falcons, seeded 21st, play at No. 12 St. Joseph’s.
The only other local team in LL, Norwich Free Academy, has to consider themselves fortunate. The Wildcats have the No. 1 seed and, in this case, that’s extremely important as the majority of the division’s heavy hitters are on the other side of the bracket. Career Magnet, Lauralton Hall, New Britain, Mercy and Holy Cross are in the lower portion of Class LL and NFA coach Bill Scarlata liked the bracket when he first saw it.
“I did and then I thought it was going to be really good because I thought Wilbur Cross was going to be on that side, but they snuck on our side, they’re a tough team,” Scarlata said. “You never know, I saw Southington play and they have a pretty good point guard and are taller than us; Cheshire beat us three years ago with the same team and they’re huge and I haven’t seen Stamford.”
Scarlata wasn’t happy about one thing, he’s going to have to drive to Westport tonight to watch the Staples/Manchester game.
The Class L and Class S teams have to wait until Wednesday to get back on the floor.
It has been a long wait for East Lyme which lost in the quarterfinals of the ECC tournament back on Feb. 21 and get to host No. 25 Notre Dame- Fairfield Wednesday night.
But for East Lyme to advance, it will have to play the role of giant killer again. The Vikes knocked off top-seed Wethersfield last year in a second-round game, they’re going to have to do the same this year if they win on Wednesday and again on Friday. That means a quarterfinal game with this year’s top seed, Fairfield-Warde.
Waterford goes on the road Wednesday night as the No. 21 seed meets No. 12 Northwest Catholic in West Hartford.
“They’re older, they’re faster, they’re quicker and we’re going to have to slow the game down a lot,” Waterford coach Rob Von Achen said.
Only two Class S teams get to host a game as Putnam is home to Portland on Wednesday and Parish Hill plays Shepaug Valley in Chaplin. Lyman, Windham Tech, Wheeler and Holy Family go on the road.
That’s the cruel fate that awaits basketball teams once the state tournament gets underway, although that start had to be pushed back a day.
The snowstorm to start the month of March also served to push back the girls state tournament although it’s not as big a deal as it has been in the past. That’s because the girl’s state championship games have been pushed back a week to accommodate the schedule with the Mohegan Sun and there is time built into the schedule now.
The Class LL and Class M games that were scheduled for Monday simply got pushed back a day to tonight with six local teams playing, two against one another.
Fourth-seeded Windham plays at home in a Class M first-round game against No. 29 Plainfield.
“I just hate to play teams in our league because one of us has to be done and it doesn’t give (the ECC) the opportunity to move teams on, that’s the biggest thing,” Windham coach Ken Valliere said.
“We didn’t play them in the regular season, so it is someone different in that sense,” he added. “Hopefully, being laid off for nine days, we can get off on the right track and get some momentum.”
Valliere said to scrape some of the rust off, the Whippets did scrimmage E.O. Smith last Thursday.
“I think myself and the kids would be disappointed if we don’t go deep into the tournament, “ Valliere said. “But we have to take one game at a time and win one game, ugly or not, you have to move on. When we won the state championship four years ago, that’s what we said and this is no different.”
Whomever wins tonight will take on the winner of the Rocky Hill/Wolcott game in a second round contest. A win there produces a quarterfinal against either Morgan, Stonington, New Fairfield or East Hampton while the semifinal could bring the top seed, Bacon Academy.
“I think it looks good, hopefully we’ll have two home games and then it goes neutral,” Valliere said. “If Bacon is the best — we’ve played some very ball against them although they beat us twice — I think it’s wide open in the M.”
Also in the M Division and also in the upper bracket is a team that truly feels out of place. St Bernard coach Mike Nystrom doesn’t feel the rules — which automatically vault a Catholic school up a division or more — favor his team which played more of a Class S schedule for much of the season.
“There’s very few easy games in the Class M tournament whereas if you get lucky in Class S, you can go to the quarters or even the semis and not beat anyone,” Nystrom said.
The Saints drew the No. 8 seed in the tournament, good in some ways, bad in others.
The good is that they have a home game tonight against the 25th seeded Thunderbirds of North Branford.
“I saw them play (Feb. 21) and they’re on the small side,” Nystrom said. “They’re OK, they could beat us, but if we play well, we have a chance — if we shoot good.”
That’s something the Saints didn’t do against Bacon in the ECC semifinals when they lost, 47-27, and that’s the bad news. A win over North Branford means St. Bernard will host either Northwestern Regional or Watertown on Thursday, a win there gives them a likely rematch with the top-seeded Bobcats in the Class M quarterfinals.
Speaking of the Bobcats, they will have the target on their backs being the top-seed.
“That doesn’t really mean anything now,” said Bacon sophomore guard Katie Mahoney. “We have to still keep winning and improving.”
Both Mahoney and her coach and grandfather, Dave Shea, believed that a 60-53 loss to NFA in the ECC Championship game Friday night could only pay dividends come the state tournament.
“This got us ready for the state tournament — we had three games — and if we hadn’t won the first game, we would have had almost a two-week layoff before the states,” Shea said, “so it’s a great way to get ready.”
The Bobcats get a bye tonight and will host the winner of the Suffield-Lewis Mills game on Thursday. Shea was happy for the bye as it will give him a chance to travel to Burlington to check out Thursday’s opponent.
“I’m looking forward to winning on Thursday, it’s one game at a time, I don’t want to look any further than that,” Shea said.
Only one other team has a home game tonight in Class M as No. 14 Montville will host No. 19 Jonathan Law. Stonington, seeded 28th, goes on the road to Morgan and No. 22 New London plays at Hartford Classical.
Fitch is the only local Class LL team in action as the Falcons, seeded 21st, play at No. 12 St. Joseph’s.
The only other local team in LL, Norwich Free Academy, has to consider themselves fortunate. The Wildcats have the No. 1 seed and, in this case, that’s extremely important as the majority of the division’s heavy hitters are on the other side of the bracket. Career Magnet, Lauralton Hall, New Britain, Mercy and Holy Cross are in the lower portion of Class LL and NFA coach Bill Scarlata liked the bracket when he first saw it.
“I did and then I thought it was going to be really good because I thought Wilbur Cross was going to be on that side, but they snuck on our side, they’re a tough team,” Scarlata said. “You never know, I saw Southington play and they have a pretty good point guard and are taller than us; Cheshire beat us three years ago with the same team and they’re huge and I haven’t seen Stamford.”
Scarlata wasn’t happy about one thing, he’s going to have to drive to Westport tonight to watch the Staples/Manchester game.
The Class L and Class S teams have to wait until Wednesday to get back on the floor.
It has been a long wait for East Lyme which lost in the quarterfinals of the ECC tournament back on Feb. 21 and get to host No. 25 Notre Dame- Fairfield Wednesday night.
But for East Lyme to advance, it will have to play the role of giant killer again. The Vikes knocked off top-seed Wethersfield last year in a second-round game, they’re going to have to do the same this year if they win on Wednesday and again on Friday. That means a quarterfinal game with this year’s top seed, Fairfield-Warde.
Waterford goes on the road Wednesday night as the No. 21 seed meets No. 12 Northwest Catholic in West Hartford.
“They’re older, they’re faster, they’re quicker and we’re going to have to slow the game down a lot,” Waterford coach Rob Von Achen said.
Only two Class S teams get to host a game as Putnam is home to Portland on Wednesday and Parish Hill plays Shepaug Valley in Chaplin. Lyman, Windham Tech, Wheeler and Holy Family go on the road.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Bowman, Spencer win in New Haven
Kirk Jenkins knew when the season started that his St. Bernard wrestling team was going to be a better tournament team than a dual meet team.
The Saints proved him right Saturday night at the State Open wrestling championships at the New Haven Athletic Center. Lucas Bowman captured an individual state title at 189-pounds and the Saints finished seventh, best among the local teams involved with 46 points.
That point total was far behind that of Danbury, which finished with 124 points, but Jenkins was more than happy to finish best out of the ECC schools.
“It was important,” Jenkins said. “We talked about it and I told the guys who came here — I call them my five horses — that we were going to come over here and make some noise in the State Open. They impressed me.”
Bowman was the most impressive. The East Lyme transfer who failed to make the final in the Eastern Connecticut Conference championship, came up big in New Haven.
The senior pinned his way to the final where he ran into Dillon Ritchie of Southington. Ritchie finished second in Class LL and came in sporting a 34-3 record, but Bowman scored a pair of takedowns early to grab the advantage.
“I was trying to avoid him and push him, try to get him even more open than he was,” Bowman said.
Bowman allowed Ritchie back into the match with a series of escapes before getting a neutral and a takedown to give him a four-point lead. Ritchie scored a reversal late, but ran out of time.
“I’ve been working towards this all my high school career,” Bowman said. “People have said I would never do it, so I just came out here and did whatever I could.”
Bowman finished with 22 of the Saints points. Michael Daly added the others as he scored a fourth-place finish.
The only other local champion hailed from East Lyme and it was not Ryan Clarke. Ross Spencer continued his undefeated ways as he made it 41 matches in a row without a loss, winning with a win by pin at 103 pounds over the always-difficult Rob Lonergan of Jonathan Law in two-minutes, 54 seconds. It was the only pin of the finals.
“I didn’t expect to get a pin,” Spencer said. “I didn’t expect to do as well as I did in all of my matches (Saturday).”
Thanks to Spencer’s win and Clarke’s third-place finish at 140-pounds, the Vikings finished eighth with 45 1⁄2 points, just ahead of Ledyard.
Caleb Morth made it to the Open final for the Colonels, but lost to Tucker Schaefer of Danbury, 8-0.
“I knew it was going to be a tough match,” Morth said. “He beat me earlier in the season.”
Just as tough a loss was suffered by Killingly senior Brandon Thuotte, who suffered a takedown and a back-point early in the match, came back to get a takedown of his own, but lost to Rob Ferrante of Shelton, 3-2.
“I made a good run at it this year, but I was surprised he got three back points and I thought I had two on the cradle in the third period,” Thuotte said.
NFA’s Pat Sawyer, who missed a month of the season with torn ligaments in his foot, came back to win the Class LL state championship a week ago and made it to the Open final, where he lost to Tim Vollaro of Somers 11-3.
“I came back refreshed and thought I was ready to go,” Sawyer said. “It was nice to get here and I did better than I thought I was going to.”
There were different ideas as to the lack of success on the team side for some, but Waterford coach Chris Gamble who saw his “M” division champion Lancers finish 14th with 39 points, said a big reason could have been fatigue for both his team and Bacon Academy, which finished with only seven points.
“The amount of matches these kids wrestle to get to this point is unbelievable and you get to this point and the mental part of it takes over,” Gamble said. “You have a sick kid out here, not on his ‘A’ game, it’s not going to get done.”
Montville coach Gary Wilcox said the competition certainly weeded out the better wrestlers from the rest of the field.
“I saw a lot of close matches here and the top six wrestlers here are definitely the top six. I didn’t see anyone sneak in,” Wilcox said.
One Montville competitor Wilcox was very happy with was Jessica Bennett, who became the first female to qualify to wrestle in State Open competition. It ended fast for the senior, as she lost to Griswold’s Ron Allen, 6-4, in her 103-pound opener. Bennett then fell to Cam Barnard of Fairfield Warde, 4-2, in a consolation match.
“I got caught having one of those tough matches where it was hard to keep your focus and score the points you need to,” Bennett said of the opening match. “All it really takes at this level is one mistake and I made that one mistake.”
Wilcox said the lack of focus on Bennett’s part could have been because of the commotion she caused just by taking to the mat.
“I know she felt a little pressure being the first girl to perform and, sometimes, that will freeze you a little bit,” Wilcox said. “I think that happened a little bit, but I’m not disappointed with what she showed at all. I think she did a marvelous job.”
The Saints proved him right Saturday night at the State Open wrestling championships at the New Haven Athletic Center. Lucas Bowman captured an individual state title at 189-pounds and the Saints finished seventh, best among the local teams involved with 46 points.
That point total was far behind that of Danbury, which finished with 124 points, but Jenkins was more than happy to finish best out of the ECC schools.
“It was important,” Jenkins said. “We talked about it and I told the guys who came here — I call them my five horses — that we were going to come over here and make some noise in the State Open. They impressed me.”
Bowman was the most impressive. The East Lyme transfer who failed to make the final in the Eastern Connecticut Conference championship, came up big in New Haven.
The senior pinned his way to the final where he ran into Dillon Ritchie of Southington. Ritchie finished second in Class LL and came in sporting a 34-3 record, but Bowman scored a pair of takedowns early to grab the advantage.
“I was trying to avoid him and push him, try to get him even more open than he was,” Bowman said.
Bowman allowed Ritchie back into the match with a series of escapes before getting a neutral and a takedown to give him a four-point lead. Ritchie scored a reversal late, but ran out of time.
“I’ve been working towards this all my high school career,” Bowman said. “People have said I would never do it, so I just came out here and did whatever I could.”
Bowman finished with 22 of the Saints points. Michael Daly added the others as he scored a fourth-place finish.
The only other local champion hailed from East Lyme and it was not Ryan Clarke. Ross Spencer continued his undefeated ways as he made it 41 matches in a row without a loss, winning with a win by pin at 103 pounds over the always-difficult Rob Lonergan of Jonathan Law in two-minutes, 54 seconds. It was the only pin of the finals.
“I didn’t expect to get a pin,” Spencer said. “I didn’t expect to do as well as I did in all of my matches (Saturday).”
Thanks to Spencer’s win and Clarke’s third-place finish at 140-pounds, the Vikings finished eighth with 45 1⁄2 points, just ahead of Ledyard.
Caleb Morth made it to the Open final for the Colonels, but lost to Tucker Schaefer of Danbury, 8-0.
“I knew it was going to be a tough match,” Morth said. “He beat me earlier in the season.”
Just as tough a loss was suffered by Killingly senior Brandon Thuotte, who suffered a takedown and a back-point early in the match, came back to get a takedown of his own, but lost to Rob Ferrante of Shelton, 3-2.
“I made a good run at it this year, but I was surprised he got three back points and I thought I had two on the cradle in the third period,” Thuotte said.
NFA’s Pat Sawyer, who missed a month of the season with torn ligaments in his foot, came back to win the Class LL state championship a week ago and made it to the Open final, where he lost to Tim Vollaro of Somers 11-3.
“I came back refreshed and thought I was ready to go,” Sawyer said. “It was nice to get here and I did better than I thought I was going to.”
There were different ideas as to the lack of success on the team side for some, but Waterford coach Chris Gamble who saw his “M” division champion Lancers finish 14th with 39 points, said a big reason could have been fatigue for both his team and Bacon Academy, which finished with only seven points.
“The amount of matches these kids wrestle to get to this point is unbelievable and you get to this point and the mental part of it takes over,” Gamble said. “You have a sick kid out here, not on his ‘A’ game, it’s not going to get done.”
Montville coach Gary Wilcox said the competition certainly weeded out the better wrestlers from the rest of the field.
“I saw a lot of close matches here and the top six wrestlers here are definitely the top six. I didn’t see anyone sneak in,” Wilcox said.
One Montville competitor Wilcox was very happy with was Jessica Bennett, who became the first female to qualify to wrestle in State Open competition. It ended fast for the senior, as she lost to Griswold’s Ron Allen, 6-4, in her 103-pound opener. Bennett then fell to Cam Barnard of Fairfield Warde, 4-2, in a consolation match.
“I got caught having one of those tough matches where it was hard to keep your focus and score the points you need to,” Bennett said of the opening match. “All it really takes at this level is one mistake and I made that one mistake.”
Wilcox said the lack of focus on Bennett’s part could have been because of the commotion she caused just by taking to the mat.
“I know she felt a little pressure being the first girl to perform and, sometimes, that will freeze you a little bit,” Wilcox said. “I think that happened a little bit, but I’m not disappointed with what she showed at all. I think she did a marvelous job.”
NFA boys move on to ECC basketball semifinals
When Griswold played at Norwich Free Academy earlier this season, it was the Wolverines who dictated the tempo and that was troublesome for the Wildcats. NFA decided that it couldn’t let that happen again when the two teams met in the Eastern Connecticut Conference quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon at St. Bernard.
The second-seeded Wildcats were off and running early, much to the chagrin of Griswold, as the Wildcats walked away with the 56-36 win to advance to the ECC semifinals.
NFA will take on (Woodstock/Stonington) in the first semifinal game at 6 p.m. at Waterford High School. The (Centaurs/Bears) advanced with a ( - ) win in the second game of the afternoon Saturday.
"In terms of tempo, we got what we wanted early and converted some shots," NFA coach Neal Curland said. "It would have been real hard for (Griswold coach) Rob (Mileski) to have long offensive possessions which is probably what he wanted had it been a closer game early."
Indeed, that was the plan, but the Wildcats foiled that by scoring 15 of the first 20 points in the game. Six-foot-six junior Trevor Bundy had his way inside early on as he scored four of the first six points for NFA, Sharif Brown scored four of his six points and Mike Mailhot put down a 3-pointer to help the Wildcats build that 15-5 advantage.
Chris Vincent made it 21-10 at the end of the first quarter and then threw a couple of exclamation points down. The senior guard followed that up by connecting on a pair of 3-pointers to open the second quarter and then added another at the buzzer to give NFA the 35-13 halftime lead.
"The offense that they run - that stall offense - we didn’t want them to do that the whole game so we knew we had to score a few so they had to rush their offense," said Vincent who finished with a game-high 18 points."That pushed up the tempo, that’s why we pressed the whole game, too, and got out to a pretty big lead," he added.
"The last game, tempo was at our pace and it was 18-15 at the half," Mileski remembered. "This game, Neal said ‘we’re not going to do that’. They wanted to force the issue and they did."
The 22-point deficit at the half had Mileski searching for a consolation prize in the locker room.
"Our goal at halftime was not to roll over, we wanted to still compete, so I just put some numbers up on the board and said ‘let’s get it to 42-30’, try to get it to a dozen going into the fourth and see what happens," Mileski said.
The Wolverines (15-7) fell a little short of that goal although a 3-pointer by Sean Brackett (14 points) and a basket by Ray Phonthapanh late in the third did reduce the deficit to 16 points. It was to be as close as Griswold was going to get as the Wildcats quickly brought it back up to 20 points, in part, due to the play of six-foot-seven center Darryl Ferguson.
Ferguson, who had a lone jumper in the first half, scored six points in the second, but more importantly blocked five shots and altered about five others. The other NFA "big", Bundy, finished with eight points, all in the first half.
"They played well alternately," Curland said. "We do different things with them, we played them together and now we’re back to one at a time. I thought Trevor played well in the first half and Darryl played well in the second, I thought both of them took a half off. We’re not going to get very far if they don’t come for the whole game."
The second-seeded Wildcats were off and running early, much to the chagrin of Griswold, as the Wildcats walked away with the 56-36 win to advance to the ECC semifinals.
NFA will take on (Woodstock/Stonington) in the first semifinal game at 6 p.m. at Waterford High School. The (Centaurs/Bears) advanced with a ( - ) win in the second game of the afternoon Saturday.
"In terms of tempo, we got what we wanted early and converted some shots," NFA coach Neal Curland said. "It would have been real hard for (Griswold coach) Rob (Mileski) to have long offensive possessions which is probably what he wanted had it been a closer game early."
Indeed, that was the plan, but the Wildcats foiled that by scoring 15 of the first 20 points in the game. Six-foot-six junior Trevor Bundy had his way inside early on as he scored four of the first six points for NFA, Sharif Brown scored four of his six points and Mike Mailhot put down a 3-pointer to help the Wildcats build that 15-5 advantage.
Chris Vincent made it 21-10 at the end of the first quarter and then threw a couple of exclamation points down. The senior guard followed that up by connecting on a pair of 3-pointers to open the second quarter and then added another at the buzzer to give NFA the 35-13 halftime lead.
"The offense that they run - that stall offense - we didn’t want them to do that the whole game so we knew we had to score a few so they had to rush their offense," said Vincent who finished with a game-high 18 points."That pushed up the tempo, that’s why we pressed the whole game, too, and got out to a pretty big lead," he added.
"The last game, tempo was at our pace and it was 18-15 at the half," Mileski remembered. "This game, Neal said ‘we’re not going to do that’. They wanted to force the issue and they did."
The 22-point deficit at the half had Mileski searching for a consolation prize in the locker room.
"Our goal at halftime was not to roll over, we wanted to still compete, so I just put some numbers up on the board and said ‘let’s get it to 42-30’, try to get it to a dozen going into the fourth and see what happens," Mileski said.
The Wolverines (15-7) fell a little short of that goal although a 3-pointer by Sean Brackett (14 points) and a basket by Ray Phonthapanh late in the third did reduce the deficit to 16 points. It was to be as close as Griswold was going to get as the Wildcats quickly brought it back up to 20 points, in part, due to the play of six-foot-seven center Darryl Ferguson.
Ferguson, who had a lone jumper in the first half, scored six points in the second, but more importantly blocked five shots and altered about five others. The other NFA "big", Bundy, finished with eight points, all in the first half.
"They played well alternately," Curland said. "We do different things with them, we played them together and now we’re back to one at a time. I thought Trevor played well in the first half and Darryl played well in the second, I thought both of them took a half off. We’re not going to get very far if they don’t come for the whole game."
NFA boys move on to ECC basketball semifinals
When Griswold played at Norwich Free Academy earlier this season, it was the Wolverines who dictated the tempo and that was troublesome for the Wildcats. NFA decided that it couldn’t let that happen again when the two teams met in the Eastern Connecticut Conference quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon at St. Bernard.
The second-seeded Wildcats were off and running early, much to the chagrin of Griswold, as the Wildcats walked away with the 56-36 win to advance to the ECC semifinals.
NFA will take on (Woodstock/Stonington) in the first semifinal game at 6 p.m. at Waterford High School. The (Centaurs/Bears) advanced with a ( - ) win in the second game of the afternoon Saturday.
"In terms of tempo, we got what we wanted early and converted some shots," NFA coach Neal Curland said. "It would have been real hard for (Griswold coach) Rob (Mileski) to have long offensive possessions which is probably what he wanted had it been a closer game early."
Indeed, that was the plan, but the Wildcats foiled that by scoring 15 of the first 20 points in the game. Six-foot-six junior Trevor Bundy had his way inside early on as he scored four of the first six points for NFA, Sharif Brown scored four of his six points and Mike Mailhot put down a 3-pointer to help the Wildcats build that 15-5 advantage.
Chris Vincent made it 21-10 at the end of the first quarter and then threw a couple of exclamation points down. The senior guard followed that up by connecting on a pair of 3-pointers to open the second quarter and then added another at the buzzer to give NFA the 35-13 halftime lead.
"The offense that they run - that stall offense - we didn’t want them to do that the whole game so we knew we had to score a few so they had to rush their offense," said Vincent who finished with a game-high 18 points."That pushed up the tempo, that’s why we pressed the whole game, too, and got out to a pretty big lead," he added.
"The last game, tempo was at our pace and it was 18-15 at the half," Mileski remembered. "This game, Neal said ‘we’re not going to do that’. They wanted to force the issue and they did."
The 22-point deficit at the half had Mileski searching for a consolation prize in the locker room.
"Our goal at halftime was not to roll over, we wanted to still compete, so I just put some numbers up on the board and said ‘let’s get it to 42-30’, try to get it to a dozen going into the fourth and see what happens," Mileski said.
The Wolverines (15-7) fell a little short of that goal although a 3-pointer by Sean Brackett (14 points) and a basket by Ray Phonthapanh late in the third did reduce the deficit to 16 points. It was to be as close as Griswold was going to get as the Wildcats quickly brought it back up to 20 points, in part, due to the play of six-foot-seven center Darryl Ferguson.
Ferguson, who had a lone jumper in the first half, scored six points in the second, but more importantly blocked five shots and altered about five others. The other NFA "big", Bundy, finished with eight points, all in the first half.
"They played well alternately," Curland said. "We do different things with them, we played them together and now we’re back to one at a time. I thought Trevor played well in the first half and Darryl played well in the second, I thought both of them took a half off. We’re not going to get very far if they don’t come for the whole game."
The second-seeded Wildcats were off and running early, much to the chagrin of Griswold, as the Wildcats walked away with the 56-36 win to advance to the ECC semifinals.
NFA will take on (Woodstock/Stonington) in the first semifinal game at 6 p.m. at Waterford High School. The (Centaurs/Bears) advanced with a ( - ) win in the second game of the afternoon Saturday.
"In terms of tempo, we got what we wanted early and converted some shots," NFA coach Neal Curland said. "It would have been real hard for (Griswold coach) Rob (Mileski) to have long offensive possessions which is probably what he wanted had it been a closer game early."
Indeed, that was the plan, but the Wildcats foiled that by scoring 15 of the first 20 points in the game. Six-foot-six junior Trevor Bundy had his way inside early on as he scored four of the first six points for NFA, Sharif Brown scored four of his six points and Mike Mailhot put down a 3-pointer to help the Wildcats build that 15-5 advantage.
Chris Vincent made it 21-10 at the end of the first quarter and then threw a couple of exclamation points down. The senior guard followed that up by connecting on a pair of 3-pointers to open the second quarter and then added another at the buzzer to give NFA the 35-13 halftime lead.
"The offense that they run - that stall offense - we didn’t want them to do that the whole game so we knew we had to score a few so they had to rush their offense," said Vincent who finished with a game-high 18 points."That pushed up the tempo, that’s why we pressed the whole game, too, and got out to a pretty big lead," he added.
"The last game, tempo was at our pace and it was 18-15 at the half," Mileski remembered. "This game, Neal said ‘we’re not going to do that’. They wanted to force the issue and they did."
The 22-point deficit at the half had Mileski searching for a consolation prize in the locker room.
"Our goal at halftime was not to roll over, we wanted to still compete, so I just put some numbers up on the board and said ‘let’s get it to 42-30’, try to get it to a dozen going into the fourth and see what happens," Mileski said.
The Wolverines (15-7) fell a little short of that goal although a 3-pointer by Sean Brackett (14 points) and a basket by Ray Phonthapanh late in the third did reduce the deficit to 16 points. It was to be as close as Griswold was going to get as the Wildcats quickly brought it back up to 20 points, in part, due to the play of six-foot-seven center Darryl Ferguson.
Ferguson, who had a lone jumper in the first half, scored six points in the second, but more importantly blocked five shots and altered about five others. The other NFA "big", Bundy, finished with eight points, all in the first half.
"They played well alternately," Curland said. "We do different things with them, we played them together and now we’re back to one at a time. I thought Trevor played well in the first half and Darryl played well in the second, I thought both of them took a half off. We’re not going to get very far if they don’t come for the whole game."
Friday, February 27, 2009
NFA takes home ECC title
Call them Norwich as Bacon’s McKenzie Hyde suggested after the Bobcats advanced to the title game Wednesday or call them NFA, just call them good- Hyde and her teammates won’t argue.
The Wildcats returned to the top of the Eastern Connecticut Conference in girl’s basketball as the No. 1 seed captured the tournament championship with a 60-53 win over No. 2 Bacon Academy Friday night at Plainfield High School.
It’s the third time in four years that NFA has claimed the crown after a brief blip last year when the Wildcats fell to the Heather Buck-led Stonington Bears on NFA’s home floor.
“It’s nice, and you know, we even won a championship when it wasn’t on our court, so I guess that’s a good thing,” NFA coach Bill Scarlata said referring to the league’s decision to move the semifinals and championship game from Norwich to Plainfield this year.
What made it even more special to the players, such as tournament Most Valuable Player Kastine Evans, was that not only will all of the starters be able to bask in this year’s title, but all come back for another shot at it next year.
“Last year, we were still young and that might have been an excuse,” Evans said. “We showed this year that, even though we’re still young – all juniors and a sophomore – that we’re still able to come out and play against seniors.”
There comes a time in most games when the tide just seems to turn and Friday night was no exception as the two teams had battled through 22 ½ minutes against one another and were tied at 38.
That’s when the aspect of NFA’s game that worried Bacon coach Dave Shea the most, their famous pressure, started to take its toll.
Bacon was in the process of regrouping just a bit as Hyde (12 points, six rebounds) had been forced to the bench with her fourth foul when NFA struck. Jen Escobido hit a free throw to give the Wildcats the one-point lead. Bacon managed to get the ball down the floor, but a missed shot was followed by a travel call and Evans –who didn’t get a basket until 2 ½ minutes were left in the first half- followed a Gen Barlow miss for two of her game-high 24 points.
The Bobcats turned over the ball three more times before NFA capitalized again on an Evans basket off a nice feed from Stephanie Long. Another Bacon turnover, this time on a bad pass that landed in Escobido’s hands, resulted in two more fast break points for the Wildcats as they went up by seven, 45-38, with 6:13 left.
“We started playing defense with about three minutes left in the third period, that turned the game around,” Scarlata said. “I told them to come out and play as hard as they could from the get-go, they probably thought the game didn’t start until the end of the third period.”
NFA sophomore Jahira Smith was named to the all-tournament team despite scoring just one point in the game because of her role in causing the disruption of the Bacon offense.
“That’s where we wanted them, once we got them to that point, that was it- that was the turning point of the game,” Smith said of the defensive flurry that put the Wildcats in the lead for good.
“I think we rushed a lot, it was real intimidating and we let it get to us,” said Bacon sophomore guard Katie Mahoney who led the Bobcats with 19 points.
The Bobcats were so flustered that Shea was out of time outs with five minutes left in the game as he tried to rally his Bobcats. It almost succeeded as the Colchester squad was within four with 4:13 to play but a 7-2 NFA run took away whatever hopes the Bobcats still harbored. Long (17 points) capped it with six free throws and a basket for NFA as Bacon saw its 19-game win streak end at the hands of the last team who beat them in December.
“It’s not a disappointment,” Shea said, “it would have been a great thing had we won, but we knew it was going to be a real tough game. It would have been a disappointment if we had been blown out of here by 20 points or something, but this got us ready for the state tournament.”
Senior Brooke Bailey, who finished with 13 points and eight rebounds, agreed with her coach.
“(It was) Really good preparation (for the state tournament), it was good to play the game,” the forward said.
The Wildcats returned to the top of the Eastern Connecticut Conference in girl’s basketball as the No. 1 seed captured the tournament championship with a 60-53 win over No. 2 Bacon Academy Friday night at Plainfield High School.
It’s the third time in four years that NFA has claimed the crown after a brief blip last year when the Wildcats fell to the Heather Buck-led Stonington Bears on NFA’s home floor.
“It’s nice, and you know, we even won a championship when it wasn’t on our court, so I guess that’s a good thing,” NFA coach Bill Scarlata said referring to the league’s decision to move the semifinals and championship game from Norwich to Plainfield this year.
What made it even more special to the players, such as tournament Most Valuable Player Kastine Evans, was that not only will all of the starters be able to bask in this year’s title, but all come back for another shot at it next year.
“Last year, we were still young and that might have been an excuse,” Evans said. “We showed this year that, even though we’re still young – all juniors and a sophomore – that we’re still able to come out and play against seniors.”
There comes a time in most games when the tide just seems to turn and Friday night was no exception as the two teams had battled through 22 ½ minutes against one another and were tied at 38.
That’s when the aspect of NFA’s game that worried Bacon coach Dave Shea the most, their famous pressure, started to take its toll.
Bacon was in the process of regrouping just a bit as Hyde (12 points, six rebounds) had been forced to the bench with her fourth foul when NFA struck. Jen Escobido hit a free throw to give the Wildcats the one-point lead. Bacon managed to get the ball down the floor, but a missed shot was followed by a travel call and Evans –who didn’t get a basket until 2 ½ minutes were left in the first half- followed a Gen Barlow miss for two of her game-high 24 points.
The Bobcats turned over the ball three more times before NFA capitalized again on an Evans basket off a nice feed from Stephanie Long. Another Bacon turnover, this time on a bad pass that landed in Escobido’s hands, resulted in two more fast break points for the Wildcats as they went up by seven, 45-38, with 6:13 left.
“We started playing defense with about three minutes left in the third period, that turned the game around,” Scarlata said. “I told them to come out and play as hard as they could from the get-go, they probably thought the game didn’t start until the end of the third period.”
NFA sophomore Jahira Smith was named to the all-tournament team despite scoring just one point in the game because of her role in causing the disruption of the Bacon offense.
“That’s where we wanted them, once we got them to that point, that was it- that was the turning point of the game,” Smith said of the defensive flurry that put the Wildcats in the lead for good.
“I think we rushed a lot, it was real intimidating and we let it get to us,” said Bacon sophomore guard Katie Mahoney who led the Bobcats with 19 points.
The Bobcats were so flustered that Shea was out of time outs with five minutes left in the game as he tried to rally his Bobcats. It almost succeeded as the Colchester squad was within four with 4:13 to play but a 7-2 NFA run took away whatever hopes the Bobcats still harbored. Long (17 points) capped it with six free throws and a basket for NFA as Bacon saw its 19-game win streak end at the hands of the last team who beat them in December.
“It’s not a disappointment,” Shea said, “it would have been a great thing had we won, but we knew it was going to be a real tough game. It would have been a disappointment if we had been blown out of here by 20 points or something, but this got us ready for the state tournament.”
Senior Brooke Bailey, who finished with 13 points and eight rebounds, agreed with her coach.
“(It was) Really good preparation (for the state tournament), it was good to play the game,” the forward said.
Friday, February 20, 2009
New London stops NFA, 61-54
It was the type of game that New London sophomore Torin Childs-Harris was used to playing at his former high school in Virginia Beach. Va.
There are 12 schools within that city’s limits, according to Harris, which produced heated rivalries played in front of packed houses in games that came down to the wire.
Harris hasn’t had a chance to experience that much this season at New London where, outside of the first month of the season when they played Northwest Catholic, Manchester and Hartford Public, the games have generally been one-sided for the No. 4 team in the state.
That was until Friday night when the Whalers invaded Alumni Hall in Norwich and had a battle with their storied rival, NFA, and won their 18th-consecutive game, 61-54.
The setting was more to Harris’ liking with 1,200 fans packed inside of Alumni Hall as fans were turned away during halftime of the junior varsity game.
“The last big game was Hartford Public and this game felt good,” Harris said. “The atmosphere was great. It reminded me of Virginia and I just had to turn it up.”
The Whalers, who finished the season 19-1, have generally had it easy in their ECC Small Division schedule in between their games with Hartford Public on Dec. 29 and NFA.
“I said this before: I don’t particularly care for this league with the expansion; I like the old ECC,” New London coach Craig Parker said. “It’s not there, so we play who we play.
The scarcity of close contests hasn’t dulled the Whalers sharpness, however, as they put NFA behind quickly thanks in part to the talents of freshman Kris Dunn.
The Whalers guard scored seven first-quarter points and had three steals to help New London build a 19-10 lead after one.
“I sparked out a little bit and that just got other people involved and they started doing their thing,” said Dunn, who finished with a team-high 18 points.
New London followed that up with seven straight points to open the second quarter and the NFA faithful grew a little quiet as the Wildcats suddenly trailed, 25-10. Sharif Brown helped bring the crowd back a bit when he scored seven of his 12 points, including a three-point play in the final minute of the first half to bring NFA back to within eight, 31-23.
The Wildcats (17-3) whittled the New London lead down to five in the third quarter, but nine points from Dunn and Harris brought it back to as many as 13 before the Whalers settled for a 10-point lead, 45-35, going into the final quarter.
Despite using just six players much of the second half, NFA had one last gasp left in it. Brown opened the fourth with a strong drive to the basket for two. Henry Cordero stole the in-bounds pass, but was whistled for a foul. Undaunted, the Wildcat guard picked the Whalers’ pocket again and went in for a fast-break bucket to make it 45-39. That set up the loudest roar of the night when Mike Mailhot (20 points) drained a 3-pointer with 6:35 to play to make it a three-point game.
“When I heard that crowd roaring, our kids got some energy from that, but they made plays,” NFA coach Neal Curland said.
This time it was the sophomore Harris that stepped up his game as he scored the next four points, two on a drive to the basket and two from the charity stripe.
“We held them at bay and we got it back,” Parker said. “(Harris) made two big foul shots for us, settled us down a little bit, and we were able to increase the lead from there.”
The Whalers scored six of the next eight points to open the 11-point advantage and made six-of-eight free throws in the final 1:05 to send the Wildcats to their first loss in eight games.
“New London is very good and they played well, they shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half,” Curland said. “When you have quicks like that who can get by you and they can also hit outside shots — you kind of have to pick your poison. Their young guards, veteran guards and big kids all played well.”
There are 12 schools within that city’s limits, according to Harris, which produced heated rivalries played in front of packed houses in games that came down to the wire.
Harris hasn’t had a chance to experience that much this season at New London where, outside of the first month of the season when they played Northwest Catholic, Manchester and Hartford Public, the games have generally been one-sided for the No. 4 team in the state.
That was until Friday night when the Whalers invaded Alumni Hall in Norwich and had a battle with their storied rival, NFA, and won their 18th-consecutive game, 61-54.
The setting was more to Harris’ liking with 1,200 fans packed inside of Alumni Hall as fans were turned away during halftime of the junior varsity game.
“The last big game was Hartford Public and this game felt good,” Harris said. “The atmosphere was great. It reminded me of Virginia and I just had to turn it up.”
The Whalers, who finished the season 19-1, have generally had it easy in their ECC Small Division schedule in between their games with Hartford Public on Dec. 29 and NFA.
“I said this before: I don’t particularly care for this league with the expansion; I like the old ECC,” New London coach Craig Parker said. “It’s not there, so we play who we play.
The scarcity of close contests hasn’t dulled the Whalers sharpness, however, as they put NFA behind quickly thanks in part to the talents of freshman Kris Dunn.
The Whalers guard scored seven first-quarter points and had three steals to help New London build a 19-10 lead after one.
“I sparked out a little bit and that just got other people involved and they started doing their thing,” said Dunn, who finished with a team-high 18 points.
New London followed that up with seven straight points to open the second quarter and the NFA faithful grew a little quiet as the Wildcats suddenly trailed, 25-10. Sharif Brown helped bring the crowd back a bit when he scored seven of his 12 points, including a three-point play in the final minute of the first half to bring NFA back to within eight, 31-23.
The Wildcats (17-3) whittled the New London lead down to five in the third quarter, but nine points from Dunn and Harris brought it back to as many as 13 before the Whalers settled for a 10-point lead, 45-35, going into the final quarter.
Despite using just six players much of the second half, NFA had one last gasp left in it. Brown opened the fourth with a strong drive to the basket for two. Henry Cordero stole the in-bounds pass, but was whistled for a foul. Undaunted, the Wildcat guard picked the Whalers’ pocket again and went in for a fast-break bucket to make it 45-39. That set up the loudest roar of the night when Mike Mailhot (20 points) drained a 3-pointer with 6:35 to play to make it a three-point game.
“When I heard that crowd roaring, our kids got some energy from that, but they made plays,” NFA coach Neal Curland said.
This time it was the sophomore Harris that stepped up his game as he scored the next four points, two on a drive to the basket and two from the charity stripe.
“We held them at bay and we got it back,” Parker said. “(Harris) made two big foul shots for us, settled us down a little bit, and we were able to increase the lead from there.”
The Whalers scored six of the next eight points to open the 11-point advantage and made six-of-eight free throws in the final 1:05 to send the Wildcats to their first loss in eight games.
“New London is very good and they played well, they shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half,” Curland said. “When you have quicks like that who can get by you and they can also hit outside shots — you kind of have to pick your poison. Their young guards, veteran guards and big kids all played well.”
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
St. Bernard scores 3-0 win over Housy
St. Bernard/Bacon and Housatonic/Northwestern last played on Friday, and the Saints learned a couple of valuable lessons from that match up: don’t fall behind and don’t lose your cool.
The Saints didn’t fall victim to either of those pitfalls on Wednesday night and, as a result, reversed their fortune as they gained a measure of revenge with a 3-0 win at the Norwich Ice Rink.
“Intensity and consistency is what we asked of them in the locker room,” St. Bernard/Bacon assistant coach Rich Steele said as he picked up his first win as a varsity coach. Head coach Chris Avena was serving a one-game suspension after he was ejected from a game Monday night.
“The other night, up at their rink, we came out flat. We didn’t start playing until we were down 4-0 and we were up and down all night long,” Steele said. “We just wanted a nice, smooth effort from top to bottom. We kept preaching ‘15 minutes down to zero’ every period.”
Housatonic/Northwestern beat the Saints, 4-2, in their previous meeting, but had problems not only with the Saints, but with themselves from the start this time around. The Mountaineers (9-8) gave the Saints five power-play opportunities in the first period alone.
“I’m dealing with a bunch of high school kids who don’t know how to shut their mouths — it’s plain and simple,” Housatonic coach Dean Diamond said. “You play smart hockey, work hard and keep your mouth shut and you’re in the game. When you don’t stop yakking to the refs, take stupid penalties, you’re going to lose — it’s that simple.”
The Saints didn’t take advantage of the Mountaineers’ penalty box minutes until just under five minutes were left in the first period. Sam Nassetta, with help from Jack Berry and Charlie Tufo, flipped the puck over Housatonic goalie Kevin Diamond’s right shoulder and into the corner of the net for a 1-0 St. Bernard lead.
St. Bernard squandered a five-on-three chance in the second period, but came up with an insurance goal with 4:12 left. Jerry Theiler — who has accounted for more than 40 points this season for the Saints — flipped it to team captain Colin Morgan to light the lamp.
“I think I had the puck down low and I just slid it across,” Theiler described. “It got under everyone and Colin just slipped it in.”
There were some antsy moments for St. Bernard in the third period as the Saints couldn’t score despite two power play opportunities and nine shots on goal early. In the first of those short-handed episodes, the puck ended up on the stick of Housatonic center Sam LeGoyt, who had a one-on-one with Saints goalie Scott Steele (22 saves).
“I just thought I would come out, challenge the shot, take away the angle and he didn’t do anything special,” said Scott Steele, who corralled the shot with his stomach for the save.
Steele and his teammates also had to weather through a five-on-three situation where the Saints goalie turned aside three Housatonic shots.
“One of the keys (Wednesday night) was that we didn’t give them shots from in close, for the most part,” Rich Steele said. “A credit to the goalie for the shutout, but a credit to the whole team for giving him a chance to see the puck and do his job.”
Theiler put the finishing touches on the win as he found himself with a short-handed break away with 1:17 to play and didn’t miss.
“I missed one earlier in the game,” Theiler said. “I was kind of snakebit and the goalie had me on one, so I just tried to put that last one in and it was nice.”
The Saints improved their record to 9-8 and have already qualified for the state tournament.
“That takes the pressure off,” Rich Steele said. “Last couple of years, we’ve had to go right down to the wire to see if we’re in or out. Now, we can fine-tune the team a bit.”
The Saints didn’t fall victim to either of those pitfalls on Wednesday night and, as a result, reversed their fortune as they gained a measure of revenge with a 3-0 win at the Norwich Ice Rink.
“Intensity and consistency is what we asked of them in the locker room,” St. Bernard/Bacon assistant coach Rich Steele said as he picked up his first win as a varsity coach. Head coach Chris Avena was serving a one-game suspension after he was ejected from a game Monday night.
“The other night, up at their rink, we came out flat. We didn’t start playing until we were down 4-0 and we were up and down all night long,” Steele said. “We just wanted a nice, smooth effort from top to bottom. We kept preaching ‘15 minutes down to zero’ every period.”
Housatonic/Northwestern beat the Saints, 4-2, in their previous meeting, but had problems not only with the Saints, but with themselves from the start this time around. The Mountaineers (9-8) gave the Saints five power-play opportunities in the first period alone.
“I’m dealing with a bunch of high school kids who don’t know how to shut their mouths — it’s plain and simple,” Housatonic coach Dean Diamond said. “You play smart hockey, work hard and keep your mouth shut and you’re in the game. When you don’t stop yakking to the refs, take stupid penalties, you’re going to lose — it’s that simple.”
The Saints didn’t take advantage of the Mountaineers’ penalty box minutes until just under five minutes were left in the first period. Sam Nassetta, with help from Jack Berry and Charlie Tufo, flipped the puck over Housatonic goalie Kevin Diamond’s right shoulder and into the corner of the net for a 1-0 St. Bernard lead.
St. Bernard squandered a five-on-three chance in the second period, but came up with an insurance goal with 4:12 left. Jerry Theiler — who has accounted for more than 40 points this season for the Saints — flipped it to team captain Colin Morgan to light the lamp.
“I think I had the puck down low and I just slid it across,” Theiler described. “It got under everyone and Colin just slipped it in.”
There were some antsy moments for St. Bernard in the third period as the Saints couldn’t score despite two power play opportunities and nine shots on goal early. In the first of those short-handed episodes, the puck ended up on the stick of Housatonic center Sam LeGoyt, who had a one-on-one with Saints goalie Scott Steele (22 saves).
“I just thought I would come out, challenge the shot, take away the angle and he didn’t do anything special,” said Scott Steele, who corralled the shot with his stomach for the save.
Steele and his teammates also had to weather through a five-on-three situation where the Saints goalie turned aside three Housatonic shots.
“One of the keys (Wednesday night) was that we didn’t give them shots from in close, for the most part,” Rich Steele said. “A credit to the goalie for the shutout, but a credit to the whole team for giving him a chance to see the puck and do his job.”
Theiler put the finishing touches on the win as he found himself with a short-handed break away with 1:17 to play and didn’t miss.
“I missed one earlier in the game,” Theiler said. “I was kind of snakebit and the goalie had me on one, so I just tried to put that last one in and it was nice.”
The Saints improved their record to 9-8 and have already qualified for the state tournament.
“That takes the pressure off,” Rich Steele said. “Last couple of years, we’ve had to go right down to the wire to see if we’re in or out. Now, we can fine-tune the team a bit.”
Monday, February 16, 2009
Saints stop Clippers in season finale
It was a game that most thought would decide the Eastern Connecticut Conference Small Division in girls basketball. New London had other ideas.
The Whalers’ win over Putnam on Saturday took some of the starch out of the Clippers’ showdown with St. Bernard on Monday night as the Saints had already clinched the Small.
It didn’t mean, however, that either team played any less intense.
Putnam’s style of play caused the Saints some consternation, but the Clippers’ lack of offensive punch cost them in the end as they lost to the Saints, 37-28.
“We’ve been playing pretty good lately and we’ve been running, but they didn’t let us do it — they’re tough to play,” St. Bernard coach Mike Nystrom said.
The Saints (15-5, 11-1 ECC Small) looked like they were going to win their ninth in a row relatively easily as they came out and lit up the board in the first quarter. Senior Casey Brigham scored 11 of her 19 points in that opening period to give the Saints a 14-7 lead.
“I was just really excited about Senior Night and we really just came together,” Brigham said. “The JV team all wore T-shirts saying ‘We love our seniors,’ so I was just really excited about the night and felt it walking out on to the court.”
The opposite was true in the second quarter for the Saints. They cooled off rapidly and missed all eight shots from the floor, four of them from 3-point land, and scored only one second quarter point. The Clippers came up with 10 to take a 17-15 lead into the half. Putnam’s Katelyn Tarr scored nine of those and finished with 21 of the Clippers’ 28 points.
“The other kids need to grow around her and it’s a learning process,” Putnam coach Willie Bousquet said. “We’re just not as multi-faceted as we were. I give them credit because the defense is just as tenacious as its been and that’s a good thing. We’re one of the only division teams to hold (St.Bernard) under 40 points twice.”
The problem for the Clippers offensively is the absence of point guard Kelsey Rybacki, who injured her knee in the first game of the year against St. Bernard and has not returned.
“We’re uncertain, the ACL is loose,” Bousquet said of Rybacki’s injured knee. His hope is that she can return in time for the state tournament.
“It’s definitely difficult; we miss her points, she’s a very good outside shooter,” Tarr said. “But we’ve been practicing a lot and are getting a little better at getting open for the ball.”
Tarr put Putnam up by four with a basket to open the third quarter, but it was the only field goal that Putnam got in the entire quarter. The Saints turned the tables to take a 25-20 lead into the final quarter as Brigham scored five of the Saints’ 10 third-quarter points.
St. Bernard extended that lead to nine early in the fourth quarter before five more Tarr points cut it to four. The Saints put it away when they scored the next seven points.
Emma Sternloff added nine points and grabbed 11 rebounds for St. Bernard, while Ashley Walenta tossed in seven.
“We’ve been playing well lately,” Nystrom said. “When we get rolling, we’re looking pretty good.”
St. Bernard’s first postseason test will come against Lyman at home on Thursday night in an ECC play-in game. Putnam plays at home against Waterford the same night.
The Whalers’ win over Putnam on Saturday took some of the starch out of the Clippers’ showdown with St. Bernard on Monday night as the Saints had already clinched the Small.
It didn’t mean, however, that either team played any less intense.
Putnam’s style of play caused the Saints some consternation, but the Clippers’ lack of offensive punch cost them in the end as they lost to the Saints, 37-28.
“We’ve been playing pretty good lately and we’ve been running, but they didn’t let us do it — they’re tough to play,” St. Bernard coach Mike Nystrom said.
The Saints (15-5, 11-1 ECC Small) looked like they were going to win their ninth in a row relatively easily as they came out and lit up the board in the first quarter. Senior Casey Brigham scored 11 of her 19 points in that opening period to give the Saints a 14-7 lead.
“I was just really excited about Senior Night and we really just came together,” Brigham said. “The JV team all wore T-shirts saying ‘We love our seniors,’ so I was just really excited about the night and felt it walking out on to the court.”
The opposite was true in the second quarter for the Saints. They cooled off rapidly and missed all eight shots from the floor, four of them from 3-point land, and scored only one second quarter point. The Clippers came up with 10 to take a 17-15 lead into the half. Putnam’s Katelyn Tarr scored nine of those and finished with 21 of the Clippers’ 28 points.
“The other kids need to grow around her and it’s a learning process,” Putnam coach Willie Bousquet said. “We’re just not as multi-faceted as we were. I give them credit because the defense is just as tenacious as its been and that’s a good thing. We’re one of the only division teams to hold (St.Bernard) under 40 points twice.”
The problem for the Clippers offensively is the absence of point guard Kelsey Rybacki, who injured her knee in the first game of the year against St. Bernard and has not returned.
“We’re uncertain, the ACL is loose,” Bousquet said of Rybacki’s injured knee. His hope is that she can return in time for the state tournament.
“It’s definitely difficult; we miss her points, she’s a very good outside shooter,” Tarr said. “But we’ve been practicing a lot and are getting a little better at getting open for the ball.”
Tarr put Putnam up by four with a basket to open the third quarter, but it was the only field goal that Putnam got in the entire quarter. The Saints turned the tables to take a 25-20 lead into the final quarter as Brigham scored five of the Saints’ 10 third-quarter points.
St. Bernard extended that lead to nine early in the fourth quarter before five more Tarr points cut it to four. The Saints put it away when they scored the next seven points.
Emma Sternloff added nine points and grabbed 11 rebounds for St. Bernard, while Ashley Walenta tossed in seven.
“We’ve been playing well lately,” Nystrom said. “When we get rolling, we’re looking pretty good.”
St. Bernard’s first postseason test will come against Lyman at home on Thursday night in an ECC play-in game. Putnam plays at home against Waterford the same night.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Bacon topples Ledyard in ECC wrestling
Ledyard High School had won five straight Eastern Connecticut Conference Large Division championships in wrestling and four consecutive ECC Championship meets.
Bacon Academy coach Mike Voiland is quick to point out that the Colonels have won 29 of the 36 ECC wrestling titles overall, so indeed it was a rare occurrence that the Colonels didn’t find themselves atop again this year.
They didn’t go down without a fight, however.
Ledyard had a chance right up until the heavyweight match in the championship finals Saturday night at Waterford High, a match that Bacon heavyweight Brian Webster won and the Bobcats dethroned the Colonels by a slim, 192 1/2 to 186 1/2 margin, to win the championship. Bacon got an added bonus as Ledyard finished second, ahead of Waterford, which also gave the Bobcats the ECC Large Division championship.
“When someone hits a home run, it just has to clear the fence, it doesn’t have to be 500-feet, so six or 60 — it doesn’t matter,” Voiland said about the narrow margin of victory.
Bacon went into the championship round with an eight-point lead over Ledyard, but both teams had four wrestlers make it to the finals. Ledyard suffered a blow, however, when Nick Polonsky couldn’t wrestle at 189-pounds due to a neck injury suffered earlier in the day.
Bacon extended its lead by four points when Ryan Quinn scored an 8-5 decision over Killingly’s Tylor Herrick in the opening match of the championship round.
“I hate it,” Quinn said of being the first out on the mat, “but hopefully it got the rest of the kids in the finals a little loosened up.”
Like Quinn, who won the 112-pound ECC title a year ago, Ledyard’s Caleb Morth captured his second straight ECC individual title by taking the 145-pound championship with a pin 4-minutes, 30-seconds into his match with Montville’s Dan Alger.
“It was definitely a goal, to win the ECCs and hopefully, the (State) Open — those were my big goals,” Morth, a senior, said.
Morth’s pin also pulled the Colonels within six of the Bobcats. A Shane Sullivan pin could have tied that up at 152, but the junior had a battle with Woodstock’s Brohen Krsulic and had to settle for a 7-2 win by decision.
Waterford’s John Millaras helped Ledyard as he defeated Bacon’s Dan Thompson at 160, 7-1, to set up what turned out to be the decisive battle three matches later. Bacon’s Webster was pitted against Ledyard junior Alex Lawrence, and everybody in the gym knew what was on the line.
“That’s a whole lot of pressure for a high school kid,” Voiland said. “The season comes down to that on both sides of the house.”
The importance wasn’t lost on Webster.
“I was just like, ‘Oh my God, I have to win this thing.’ It was overwhelming, but I knew I had beaten him before and I knew I could do it again.”
Voiland didn’t like what he saw early on as Webster took a 2-1 lead, but then found himself on his back for only the second time this season in the second period. He escaped and then changed his strategy. Webster stayed on his feet the rest of the match, scored a takedown, let Lawrence get back up and scored on another takedown. The strategy was repeated four times in the third period and produced a 13-6 win.
“I knew it was coming,” Ledyard coach Jason Lanoue said. “I knew exactly it was going to be the strategy. I was loving it because the Bacon coaches had kind of forgotten about it in the beginning, but when (Lawrence) hit those two dangerous rolls, they were like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s right, we told you to let (Lawrence) up last time.’ ”
The team that was on top last week, Waterford, ended up going home empty-handed as the Lancers finished in third with 182 points.
“It’s a disappointment — clearly a disappointment,” Waterford coach Chris Gamble said. “You’re hoping that you will get some 3, 4, 5, 6th-place finishes and we didn’t get them. It’s a tough tournament and that’s what happens, we didn’t make our breaks.”
The other team that went home with a title was Montville as it finally untangled itself from Killingly and beat the Redmen by seven, 133 1/2 to 126 1/2, to capture the Small Division crown. The two teams had to go to criteria in their two regular-season encounters.
“We’ve been sick all week, and we didn’t wrestle as well as we should have, but my compliments to our kids because they came through in the end and did enough to win the ECC outright,” Montville coach Gary Wilcox said.
East Lyme senior Ryan Clarke, the 140-pound champion, was named the Most Outstanding wrestler in the tournament.
Bacon Academy coach Mike Voiland is quick to point out that the Colonels have won 29 of the 36 ECC wrestling titles overall, so indeed it was a rare occurrence that the Colonels didn’t find themselves atop again this year.
They didn’t go down without a fight, however.
Ledyard had a chance right up until the heavyweight match in the championship finals Saturday night at Waterford High, a match that Bacon heavyweight Brian Webster won and the Bobcats dethroned the Colonels by a slim, 192 1/2 to 186 1/2 margin, to win the championship. Bacon got an added bonus as Ledyard finished second, ahead of Waterford, which also gave the Bobcats the ECC Large Division championship.
“When someone hits a home run, it just has to clear the fence, it doesn’t have to be 500-feet, so six or 60 — it doesn’t matter,” Voiland said about the narrow margin of victory.
Bacon went into the championship round with an eight-point lead over Ledyard, but both teams had four wrestlers make it to the finals. Ledyard suffered a blow, however, when Nick Polonsky couldn’t wrestle at 189-pounds due to a neck injury suffered earlier in the day.
Bacon extended its lead by four points when Ryan Quinn scored an 8-5 decision over Killingly’s Tylor Herrick in the opening match of the championship round.
“I hate it,” Quinn said of being the first out on the mat, “but hopefully it got the rest of the kids in the finals a little loosened up.”
Like Quinn, who won the 112-pound ECC title a year ago, Ledyard’s Caleb Morth captured his second straight ECC individual title by taking the 145-pound championship with a pin 4-minutes, 30-seconds into his match with Montville’s Dan Alger.
“It was definitely a goal, to win the ECCs and hopefully, the (State) Open — those were my big goals,” Morth, a senior, said.
Morth’s pin also pulled the Colonels within six of the Bobcats. A Shane Sullivan pin could have tied that up at 152, but the junior had a battle with Woodstock’s Brohen Krsulic and had to settle for a 7-2 win by decision.
Waterford’s John Millaras helped Ledyard as he defeated Bacon’s Dan Thompson at 160, 7-1, to set up what turned out to be the decisive battle three matches later. Bacon’s Webster was pitted against Ledyard junior Alex Lawrence, and everybody in the gym knew what was on the line.
“That’s a whole lot of pressure for a high school kid,” Voiland said. “The season comes down to that on both sides of the house.”
The importance wasn’t lost on Webster.
“I was just like, ‘Oh my God, I have to win this thing.’ It was overwhelming, but I knew I had beaten him before and I knew I could do it again.”
Voiland didn’t like what he saw early on as Webster took a 2-1 lead, but then found himself on his back for only the second time this season in the second period. He escaped and then changed his strategy. Webster stayed on his feet the rest of the match, scored a takedown, let Lawrence get back up and scored on another takedown. The strategy was repeated four times in the third period and produced a 13-6 win.
“I knew it was coming,” Ledyard coach Jason Lanoue said. “I knew exactly it was going to be the strategy. I was loving it because the Bacon coaches had kind of forgotten about it in the beginning, but when (Lawrence) hit those two dangerous rolls, they were like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s right, we told you to let (Lawrence) up last time.’ ”
The team that was on top last week, Waterford, ended up going home empty-handed as the Lancers finished in third with 182 points.
“It’s a disappointment — clearly a disappointment,” Waterford coach Chris Gamble said. “You’re hoping that you will get some 3, 4, 5, 6th-place finishes and we didn’t get them. It’s a tough tournament and that’s what happens, we didn’t make our breaks.”
The other team that went home with a title was Montville as it finally untangled itself from Killingly and beat the Redmen by seven, 133 1/2 to 126 1/2, to capture the Small Division crown. The two teams had to go to criteria in their two regular-season encounters.
“We’ve been sick all week, and we didn’t wrestle as well as we should have, but my compliments to our kids because they came through in the end and did enough to win the ECC outright,” Montville coach Gary Wilcox said.
East Lyme senior Ryan Clarke, the 140-pound champion, was named the Most Outstanding wrestler in the tournament.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Caron, NFA win ECC titles
Fitch/Waterford senior Allie Black knew she had her work cut out for her from the start as she glanced over from the floor exercise to see Killingly junior Christine Caron compete on her opening apparatus, the bars.
Caron nailed her routine and the judges responded, giving Caron the top individual score of the night, a 9.65. She used that momentum to capture her second- consecutive Eastern Connecticut Conference individual gymnastics championship. Caron finished with a 37.4, while Black finished with a 36.95 on Friday night at Deary’s Gymnastics.
As happened last year, Caron’s individual win didn’t result in an ECC Championship meet title for the Redgals. Instead, NFA walked away with its fourth title in five years, 137.85 to Killingly’s 133-point total. The Fitch/Waterford cooperative actually finished with the highest points total (139.3), but wasn’t allowed to compete for the team title as it didn’t meet league criteria for the season.
“She’s awesome on bars,” Black said of Caron’s routine to open the championship meet. “There’s no competition there. I give her props — that’s a sick routine. I really enjoy it; I wish I could do it.”
The key for Caron on that bars came from a stunt that she’s been working on for awhile but has just started hitting consistently.
“I’ve been trying to get that release move for so long now and I finally got it,” Caron said. “I was having trouble actually making it in meets, but I finally started hitting it every meet.”
The release move, as described by Caron, is when she goes backwards around the upper bar to a handstand, let’s go, and then catches the lower bar.
Caron also finished first in the beam with a 9.3, was second in the vault (9.35) and tied for second on the floor (9.1).
“I’m happy, I just came out and tried my best as usual and whatever happens, happens — it’s in the judges’ hands from there,” Caron said.
Kathrin Lewis of Tourtellotte was third with a total of 36 points.
NFA won the championship thanks to Courtni McFarlane’s fifth-place finish, a sixth-place tie by Allie Sullivan and a seventh by Cindy Briggs.
“Part of me expected this, part of me wasn’t sure,” NFA coach Sue Hopkins-Terrell said of the title. “Fitch/Waterford has a heckuva group, but we’ve been pretty loose the past couple of days thanks to some goofy things we’ve been doing at practice.”
The Fitch/Waterford girls fully expected to compete as a team coming in, but were disallowed from doing so as they didn’t compete against NFA over the course of the season and had just one meet versus Killingly, thus not meeting the league’s criteria for eligibility.
“We don’t follow the (ECC) rules,“ Black said. “It’s hard being a gym that isn’t at the school. Our coaches do so much for us. They do it on their own, they’re not getting paid for this — our high schools don’t have a budget. We buy everything, like our leotards. We were fortunate just to come here and compete as individuals.”
Fitch/Waterford coach Carl Cavrell said he thought that the ECC athletic directors had agreed to relax the rules and allow the co-op to compete, as a team, in the ECC championship.
“That’s how the girls and I understood it. Whether it was real or not, I wasn’t a part of that (athletic director’s decision), I wasn’t in the loop,” Cavrell said by phone Friday night as he didn’t attend the championship.
“It’s my personal decision (to not meet the league criteria),” Cavrell said. “I have scheduling issues and it was our choice not to do, but we understand the consequences and if that’s the decision of the ADs, that’s fine.”
Caron nailed her routine and the judges responded, giving Caron the top individual score of the night, a 9.65. She used that momentum to capture her second- consecutive Eastern Connecticut Conference individual gymnastics championship. Caron finished with a 37.4, while Black finished with a 36.95 on Friday night at Deary’s Gymnastics.
As happened last year, Caron’s individual win didn’t result in an ECC Championship meet title for the Redgals. Instead, NFA walked away with its fourth title in five years, 137.85 to Killingly’s 133-point total. The Fitch/Waterford cooperative actually finished with the highest points total (139.3), but wasn’t allowed to compete for the team title as it didn’t meet league criteria for the season.
“She’s awesome on bars,” Black said of Caron’s routine to open the championship meet. “There’s no competition there. I give her props — that’s a sick routine. I really enjoy it; I wish I could do it.”
The key for Caron on that bars came from a stunt that she’s been working on for awhile but has just started hitting consistently.
“I’ve been trying to get that release move for so long now and I finally got it,” Caron said. “I was having trouble actually making it in meets, but I finally started hitting it every meet.”
The release move, as described by Caron, is when she goes backwards around the upper bar to a handstand, let’s go, and then catches the lower bar.
Caron also finished first in the beam with a 9.3, was second in the vault (9.35) and tied for second on the floor (9.1).
“I’m happy, I just came out and tried my best as usual and whatever happens, happens — it’s in the judges’ hands from there,” Caron said.
Kathrin Lewis of Tourtellotte was third with a total of 36 points.
NFA won the championship thanks to Courtni McFarlane’s fifth-place finish, a sixth-place tie by Allie Sullivan and a seventh by Cindy Briggs.
“Part of me expected this, part of me wasn’t sure,” NFA coach Sue Hopkins-Terrell said of the title. “Fitch/Waterford has a heckuva group, but we’ve been pretty loose the past couple of days thanks to some goofy things we’ve been doing at practice.”
The Fitch/Waterford girls fully expected to compete as a team coming in, but were disallowed from doing so as they didn’t compete against NFA over the course of the season and had just one meet versus Killingly, thus not meeting the league’s criteria for eligibility.
“We don’t follow the (ECC) rules,“ Black said. “It’s hard being a gym that isn’t at the school. Our coaches do so much for us. They do it on their own, they’re not getting paid for this — our high schools don’t have a budget. We buy everything, like our leotards. We were fortunate just to come here and compete as individuals.”
Fitch/Waterford coach Carl Cavrell said he thought that the ECC athletic directors had agreed to relax the rules and allow the co-op to compete, as a team, in the ECC championship.
“That’s how the girls and I understood it. Whether it was real or not, I wasn’t a part of that (athletic director’s decision), I wasn’t in the loop,” Cavrell said by phone Friday night as he didn’t attend the championship.
“It’s my personal decision (to not meet the league criteria),” Cavrell said. “I have scheduling issues and it was our choice not to do, but we understand the consequences and if that’s the decision of the ADs, that’s fine.”
Thursday, February 12, 2009
ECC Wrestling championship begins tonight
The fun is just beginning in Eastern Connecticut Conference wrestling.
Waterford has won the first set of battles, but the war is far from lost for programs such as Bacon Academy and Ledyard going into this weekend’s ECC championship at Waterford High School. The tournament begins tonight and continues through Saturday with the championship finals slated to begin around 4:30 p.m., that afternoon.
The championship tournament counts toward the regular season standings and even though Waterford swept through the first six matches against its Large Division foes, the Lancers still haven’t won anything yet. The same could be said for the Small Division title as Montville and Killingly have one more opportunity to decide things.
“If we’re not on our ‘A’ game, we’re not going to be challenging for anything,” Waterford coach Chris Gamble said after his now-No. 7 Lancers upset the No. 5 team in the state, Bacon, last weekend in Colchester.
“I tell my guys what really matters is the ECC and state tournament because if you go there and fall on your face, all of a sudden that (6-0) record means nothing, because you don’t have anything to show for it.”
Waterford had a battle with both Ledyard and Bacon, needing a point to move past the Colonels and two to beat the Bobcats. Bacon had it a little easier with the Colonels in handing them a 35-21 loss on Jan. 29.
“I’m just hoping that Jason’s (Ledyard coach Lanoue) premonition of what’s to come, (Ledyard) not being counted out, actually comes true,” Bacon Academy coach Mike Voiland said after his team’s loss to Waterford. “But I hope we finish ahead of them.”
Just like Gamble was telling his team that it hadn’t won anything yet, Voiland was telling his team that it hadn’t lost anything yet either.
“It’s always a battle in the ECC (Championship) and we’re just hoping to place as many guys as we can in the top four,” the coach said.
In a tournament setting, it’s not always how many weight-class championships a team take, but rather, how many wrestlers place that determines a squad’s fate.
“Last year, we only had two champions, (Ryan) Quinn and (Sean) Burgess, and we placed second above Windham and were just a few (points) away from Ledyard,” Voiland said. “I don’t see anyone dominating it this year. I think it’s pretty open.”
One thing going against Bacon is that it doesn’t have a full complement of wrestlers, as it will have a forfeit in the middle of its lineup in the 135-140 pound range.
“That’s a gimme,” Voiland said. “We realized the second week of practice that it was a hole.”
Waterford had a hole of its own last week when Reggie Allen was out due to sickness. Mental fatigue, meanwhile, could plague all the teams involved this weekend.
“Wrestling is mental and there are probably kids right now that are cashing out, because it’s a grind, (and) it’s hard to go to practice every day now,” Gamble said. “You’ve been sick, coach has been nagging you and telling you that you have to hold it together. The mental part is huge right now.”
While the Large Division will be a battle between Waterford, Ledyard and Bacon with other teams and wrestlers having their say, the Small Division championship will likely come down to Montville and Killingly.
The teams have met twice this season and on neither occasion was there a clear-cut winner, although Montville was declared the winner twice by criteria. The Indians won, 40-39, at the Killingly New Year’s duals on Jan. 3 (which didn’t count toward the league standings) and, in the regularly scheduled league match, they beat the Redmen, 34-33, at home.
Montville senior Jessica Bennett will be making her final appearance at the championship and thinks the Indians are going in with high hopes.
“Our record for the ECC Small is looking pretty good,” she said. “Generally speaking, we’re a pretty good tournament team, although this late in the season we do have a lot of injuries and illness. It should be a great tournament.”
Waterford has won the first set of battles, but the war is far from lost for programs such as Bacon Academy and Ledyard going into this weekend’s ECC championship at Waterford High School. The tournament begins tonight and continues through Saturday with the championship finals slated to begin around 4:30 p.m., that afternoon.
The championship tournament counts toward the regular season standings and even though Waterford swept through the first six matches against its Large Division foes, the Lancers still haven’t won anything yet. The same could be said for the Small Division title as Montville and Killingly have one more opportunity to decide things.
“If we’re not on our ‘A’ game, we’re not going to be challenging for anything,” Waterford coach Chris Gamble said after his now-No. 7 Lancers upset the No. 5 team in the state, Bacon, last weekend in Colchester.
“I tell my guys what really matters is the ECC and state tournament because if you go there and fall on your face, all of a sudden that (6-0) record means nothing, because you don’t have anything to show for it.”
Waterford had a battle with both Ledyard and Bacon, needing a point to move past the Colonels and two to beat the Bobcats. Bacon had it a little easier with the Colonels in handing them a 35-21 loss on Jan. 29.
“I’m just hoping that Jason’s (Ledyard coach Lanoue) premonition of what’s to come, (Ledyard) not being counted out, actually comes true,” Bacon Academy coach Mike Voiland said after his team’s loss to Waterford. “But I hope we finish ahead of them.”
Just like Gamble was telling his team that it hadn’t won anything yet, Voiland was telling his team that it hadn’t lost anything yet either.
“It’s always a battle in the ECC (Championship) and we’re just hoping to place as many guys as we can in the top four,” the coach said.
In a tournament setting, it’s not always how many weight-class championships a team take, but rather, how many wrestlers place that determines a squad’s fate.
“Last year, we only had two champions, (Ryan) Quinn and (Sean) Burgess, and we placed second above Windham and were just a few (points) away from Ledyard,” Voiland said. “I don’t see anyone dominating it this year. I think it’s pretty open.”
One thing going against Bacon is that it doesn’t have a full complement of wrestlers, as it will have a forfeit in the middle of its lineup in the 135-140 pound range.
“That’s a gimme,” Voiland said. “We realized the second week of practice that it was a hole.”
Waterford had a hole of its own last week when Reggie Allen was out due to sickness. Mental fatigue, meanwhile, could plague all the teams involved this weekend.
“Wrestling is mental and there are probably kids right now that are cashing out, because it’s a grind, (and) it’s hard to go to practice every day now,” Gamble said. “You’ve been sick, coach has been nagging you and telling you that you have to hold it together. The mental part is huge right now.”
While the Large Division will be a battle between Waterford, Ledyard and Bacon with other teams and wrestlers having their say, the Small Division championship will likely come down to Montville and Killingly.
The teams have met twice this season and on neither occasion was there a clear-cut winner, although Montville was declared the winner twice by criteria. The Indians won, 40-39, at the Killingly New Year’s duals on Jan. 3 (which didn’t count toward the league standings) and, in the regularly scheduled league match, they beat the Redmen, 34-33, at home.
Montville senior Jessica Bennett will be making her final appearance at the championship and thinks the Indians are going in with high hopes.
“Our record for the ECC Small is looking pretty good,” she said. “Generally speaking, we’re a pretty good tournament team, although this late in the season we do have a lot of injuries and illness. It should be a great tournament.”
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
CIAC, Mohegan Sun announce partnership
It’s been well known for a couple of months that the boys and girls high school basketball state championship games were coming to the Mohegan Sun in March.
The two parties, the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference and Mohegan, just made that official on Tuesday morning at Mohegan Sun Arena.
For the first time, the girls and boys championship games will be held on the same weekend, in the same venue.
The first session, consisting of two games, will be played on Friday, March 20 at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. That will be followed by six games on Saturday, March 21, beginning with the second session at 9 a.m. Two other games will follow at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. before an intermission. The last session will be played at 4:30, 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. on that Saturday.
The CIAC will wait and see what kind of match-ups take place before it makes a decision as to who plays when. Admission will be a flat rate for each session with a $10 ticket granting admission to all games in that session.
The big question on the mind of CIAC Executive Director Mike Savage on Tuesday was not whether there will be fall-out about having high school games played in a casino venue, but rather how many seats of the 10,000 in the Mohegan Sun Arena will be filled.
“We are always worried about that, because it’s an issue of our draws,” Savage said. “If we get quality draws, highly competitive teams with large spectator draws, it won’t be a problem. If we don’t, it could be.”
It’s not like the CIAC is on the hook for a lot of money. It’s more of a case of whether or not Mohegan will continue to host the games beyond this March. The two sides have agreed on a one-year deal and Savage is hoping that if the March games are successful, a multi-year deal could be struck.
“We’ve been fortunate enough to negotiate a financial package that is of minimal risk to the CIAC based on past attendance,” Savage said. “Our use of the Mohegan Sun is not a financial risk to us.”
The CIAC has come to Mohegan for several reasons, according to Savage. One was that the member of the state’s educational hierarchy have become less concerned about the casino’s gambling activities as proms and other high school activities are held regularly on the site. The Eastern Connecticut Conference actually opened the door to negotiations when its superintendents and principals approved the league’s championship games to be played at the arena, something that was eventually displaced by the state championship games.
There was also the fact that the CIAC had nowhere else to go. Central Connecticut State University in New Britain — a facility that the CIAC “loves,” according to Savage — holds only 2,800 people. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs was not available either, and frankly, according to Savage, the “time was right to re-kindle negotiations with the Sun,” which had been smoldering for about 12 years.
Since the announcement was originally made, Savage said he has received just one negative e-mail.
“Our biggest concern is hosting an event at a substantial distance from many of our member schools and the travel,” Savage said. “We are not particularly concerned about the issue of exposing our kids to a gambling facility because we’ve been assured that can be handled in a limited way.”
The senior vice-president of sports and entertainment at the Mohegan Sun, Paul Munick, expects more will be said about the partnership between the two and the issue of gambling, but he doesn’t expect it will be a long-term discussion.
“The colleges came in and that caused an uproar for a day or two,” Munick said. “I remember we were having a Nike clinic and I was standing next to (Duke coach Mike) Krzyzewski, (UConn coach Jim) Calhoun and the Marquette coach and the press asked me a few questions and I said, ‘If you really think there’s more gambling going on here — because the issue is about gambling on basketball — than on the campuses of these three schools, I think you’re all nuts.’ ”
The coming of high school basketball to Mohegan could pave the way for another athletic opportunity for the facility as it’s actively engaged in negotiations with two college basketball conferences to bring their postseason tournaments to Mohegan.
Although Munick declined to name the conferences, he did say another conference looked eager to come to the arena but the Sun turned them down out of fear of a lack of attendance.
“If high schools can do it, why can’t colleges do it?” Munick said.
The two parties, the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference and Mohegan, just made that official on Tuesday morning at Mohegan Sun Arena.
For the first time, the girls and boys championship games will be held on the same weekend, in the same venue.
The first session, consisting of two games, will be played on Friday, March 20 at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. That will be followed by six games on Saturday, March 21, beginning with the second session at 9 a.m. Two other games will follow at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. before an intermission. The last session will be played at 4:30, 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. on that Saturday.
The CIAC will wait and see what kind of match-ups take place before it makes a decision as to who plays when. Admission will be a flat rate for each session with a $10 ticket granting admission to all games in that session.
The big question on the mind of CIAC Executive Director Mike Savage on Tuesday was not whether there will be fall-out about having high school games played in a casino venue, but rather how many seats of the 10,000 in the Mohegan Sun Arena will be filled.
“We are always worried about that, because it’s an issue of our draws,” Savage said. “If we get quality draws, highly competitive teams with large spectator draws, it won’t be a problem. If we don’t, it could be.”
It’s not like the CIAC is on the hook for a lot of money. It’s more of a case of whether or not Mohegan will continue to host the games beyond this March. The two sides have agreed on a one-year deal and Savage is hoping that if the March games are successful, a multi-year deal could be struck.
“We’ve been fortunate enough to negotiate a financial package that is of minimal risk to the CIAC based on past attendance,” Savage said. “Our use of the Mohegan Sun is not a financial risk to us.”
The CIAC has come to Mohegan for several reasons, according to Savage. One was that the member of the state’s educational hierarchy have become less concerned about the casino’s gambling activities as proms and other high school activities are held regularly on the site. The Eastern Connecticut Conference actually opened the door to negotiations when its superintendents and principals approved the league’s championship games to be played at the arena, something that was eventually displaced by the state championship games.
There was also the fact that the CIAC had nowhere else to go. Central Connecticut State University in New Britain — a facility that the CIAC “loves,” according to Savage — holds only 2,800 people. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs was not available either, and frankly, according to Savage, the “time was right to re-kindle negotiations with the Sun,” which had been smoldering for about 12 years.
Since the announcement was originally made, Savage said he has received just one negative e-mail.
“Our biggest concern is hosting an event at a substantial distance from many of our member schools and the travel,” Savage said. “We are not particularly concerned about the issue of exposing our kids to a gambling facility because we’ve been assured that can be handled in a limited way.”
The senior vice-president of sports and entertainment at the Mohegan Sun, Paul Munick, expects more will be said about the partnership between the two and the issue of gambling, but he doesn’t expect it will be a long-term discussion.
“The colleges came in and that caused an uproar for a day or two,” Munick said. “I remember we were having a Nike clinic and I was standing next to (Duke coach Mike) Krzyzewski, (UConn coach Jim) Calhoun and the Marquette coach and the press asked me a few questions and I said, ‘If you really think there’s more gambling going on here — because the issue is about gambling on basketball — than on the campuses of these three schools, I think you’re all nuts.’ ”
The coming of high school basketball to Mohegan could pave the way for another athletic opportunity for the facility as it’s actively engaged in negotiations with two college basketball conferences to bring their postseason tournaments to Mohegan.
Although Munick declined to name the conferences, he did say another conference looked eager to come to the arena but the Sun turned them down out of fear of a lack of attendance.
“If high schools can do it, why can’t colleges do it?” Munick said.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Bennett brings home 100th career victory
It came a lot easier for Montville senior wrestler Jess Bennett than the previous 99 victories.
Bennett became the first female wrestler in Connecticut history to record 100 career victories Monday when she stepped to the middle of the mat and accepted a forfeit from New London in the 103-pound match of the Indians’ 77-6 win.
“I would rather have had it be an actual match,” Bennett said. “It’s nice to reach that kind of milestone, but at the same time, I wish it were a true win. Just the fact that I made weight makes it feel like I haven’t achieved much (Monday night).”
Her coach, Gary Wilcox, begged to differ.
“This girl has more than earned her 100 career wins,” Wilcox said. “She hasn’t had many forfeits, because most all teams have a 100-pounder, and if they don’t, we usually bump her up to 112. So she doesn’t get it too easy.”
Wilcox and Bennett both believe her feat to be a first in the state; the records listed on the Connecticut Sportswriters Alliance web site indicate the same thing.
That’s not a surprise, according to Wilcox, as Bennett has been able to do something that’s a must for female wrestlers: Maintain her weight over the four years of her career.
“I believe it’s going to be awhile before we get another one, because if a girl goes up too high on her weight, the testosterone and the strength (of males) really becomes different,” Wilcox said. “A girl has to remain at 103 and wrestle varsity for four years and average (more than) 25 wins a season to do this. It’s really quite a feat.”
It’s one that Wilcox feels compares favorably to a girl scoring 2,500 points in basketball.
Bennett began wrestling when she was 7-years-old, inspired by her brother Dylan, although it wasn’t exactly her mom’s choice of sport.
“I’m extremely proud of her and amazed, too,” Kim Bennett said. “She first told me that she wanted to do this, and I just so didn’t want it for obvious reasons. I was unfamiliar with the sport and it’s rough, but she’s quite the little firecracker and she was right and I was wrong.”
Bennett’s role started as a little sister on the wrestling team, according to her mother, but that role has gradually changed as she is now, as a senior, more like a mother to some of the younger Montville wrestlers. Her teammates, however, respect what Bennett accomplished Monday night.
“It’s pretty special,” junior captain Dustin Wilcox said. “Girls hardly can compete in this sport most of the time. Most of the time they’re lucky to be a good varsity wrestler, and she’s been great.”
Bennett said she knew there was a possibility she could reach the 100-win plateau when she was trying to consider whether she could reach 28 wins for the extra seeding point in state competition.
“I realized if I did that, I would reach 100,” Bennett said. “My goal in wrestling has always been to do the best that I can. This milestone means you’re a fairly accomplished wrestler.”
Bennett is making the most of her final year of high school wrestling. Her future plans have changed and they don’t include the sport. She has been offered an academic scholarship to Purdue University where she plans to pursue veterinary medicine.
“My ultimate goals in life are bringing me in a different direction,” she said. “I still want to be an active athletic person, but on a less competitive level. Women’s wrestling and veterinary medicine didn’t really mesh too well.”
Bennett became the first female wrestler in Connecticut history to record 100 career victories Monday when she stepped to the middle of the mat and accepted a forfeit from New London in the 103-pound match of the Indians’ 77-6 win.
“I would rather have had it be an actual match,” Bennett said. “It’s nice to reach that kind of milestone, but at the same time, I wish it were a true win. Just the fact that I made weight makes it feel like I haven’t achieved much (Monday night).”
Her coach, Gary Wilcox, begged to differ.
“This girl has more than earned her 100 career wins,” Wilcox said. “She hasn’t had many forfeits, because most all teams have a 100-pounder, and if they don’t, we usually bump her up to 112. So she doesn’t get it too easy.”
Wilcox and Bennett both believe her feat to be a first in the state; the records listed on the Connecticut Sportswriters Alliance web site indicate the same thing.
That’s not a surprise, according to Wilcox, as Bennett has been able to do something that’s a must for female wrestlers: Maintain her weight over the four years of her career.
“I believe it’s going to be awhile before we get another one, because if a girl goes up too high on her weight, the testosterone and the strength (of males) really becomes different,” Wilcox said. “A girl has to remain at 103 and wrestle varsity for four years and average (more than) 25 wins a season to do this. It’s really quite a feat.”
It’s one that Wilcox feels compares favorably to a girl scoring 2,500 points in basketball.
Bennett began wrestling when she was 7-years-old, inspired by her brother Dylan, although it wasn’t exactly her mom’s choice of sport.
“I’m extremely proud of her and amazed, too,” Kim Bennett said. “She first told me that she wanted to do this, and I just so didn’t want it for obvious reasons. I was unfamiliar with the sport and it’s rough, but she’s quite the little firecracker and she was right and I was wrong.”
Bennett’s role started as a little sister on the wrestling team, according to her mother, but that role has gradually changed as she is now, as a senior, more like a mother to some of the younger Montville wrestlers. Her teammates, however, respect what Bennett accomplished Monday night.
“It’s pretty special,” junior captain Dustin Wilcox said. “Girls hardly can compete in this sport most of the time. Most of the time they’re lucky to be a good varsity wrestler, and she’s been great.”
Bennett said she knew there was a possibility she could reach the 100-win plateau when she was trying to consider whether she could reach 28 wins for the extra seeding point in state competition.
“I realized if I did that, I would reach 100,” Bennett said. “My goal in wrestling has always been to do the best that I can. This milestone means you’re a fairly accomplished wrestler.”
Bennett is making the most of her final year of high school wrestling. Her future plans have changed and they don’t include the sport. She has been offered an academic scholarship to Purdue University where she plans to pursue veterinary medicine.
“My ultimate goals in life are bringing me in a different direction,” she said. “I still want to be an active athletic person, but on a less competitive level. Women’s wrestling and veterinary medicine didn’t really mesh too well.”
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