Waterford High School boys basketball coach Mark Capasso resigned earlier this week as he cited health reasons as the motivation for his decision.
All I can say is, what a ride.
Capasso stayed on as head coach for all of a year and a half in Waterford. He tried to cool the situation down when he took over after Rich Conover resigned abruptly in the midst of the season in 2005-06.
Capasso came back this season and took Waterford to its first boys basketball state championship game in the school's history.
To say it was unexpected would not be emphatic enough.
In a run I can only compare to Tourtellotte back in 1987, the Lancers came together as a group of good players. There were no superstars, no six-foot-ten-inch monsters in the middle. It was a group of good friends that formed a strong unit and, not to take anything away from the effort, also had the luck of the draw in the Class M state tournament.
The Lancers nipped fellow ECC foes, Plainfield (48-46 in overtime) and Montville (51-45). They out ran Old Saybrook, which was in its first Class M state tournament game despite having Class S enrollment, and they overcame Joel Barlow's slow down attempt to beat them 34-33 in the quickest state semifinal I can ever remember.
Weston derailed the Waterford show at CCSU, 59-35, in the state title game but it certainly left plenty of memories that will linger a lifetime.
Unfortunately, that cannot be said of head coaches as Capasso's issues with his vocal chords wouldn't allow him to both teach and coach.