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Tuesday, March 22, 2011

REPOST: Spring Sports: SCHEDULES, 2010 Champions and 2011 Look Ahead

I thought this was relevant to re-post:

The CIAC released the Spring sports schedules on Saturday (2/12) and in anticipation/to get in the mood, I will go over every championship from last year:

Boys' Volleyball http://www.casciac.org/scripts/vs1011.cgi?sport=boys-volleyball
-I'm going to start with what I know best.
Class M: Lewis Mills 3-1 over Masuk (19-25, 33-31, 25-22, 26-24)
-Lewis Mills lost their entire starting six to graduation and since Newington has made the decision to play in Class M again this year they are my favorite to win it this year.  They make have graduated their best player in Vicente Ithier but the tandem of now seniors Setter Reed Feery and Outside Hitter Glen Johnson is enough to dominate Class M.
Class L: Southington 3-2 over Staples (10-25, 28-26, 25-23, 19-25, 15-11)
-The first time Staples did not win the state championship ever, aside from when they moved up to Class L in 2005.  Southington had lost the previous three times in the championship to Staples too.  However, Southington lost their entire team in Middle Hitter Brendan Charamut, a staple on the outside Neal Ayotte, their setter, and also their best defensive player.  Yeah Staples lost seniors too but they start playing volleyball at age six in Wesport so expect the title to return there.

Baseball http://www.casciac.org/scripts/vs1011.cgi?sport=boys-baseball
Class S: Northwest Catholic 4-2 over Cromwell
Class M: Montville 6-4 over Waterford
Class L: Sheehan 9-4 over Notre Dame-West Haven
Class LL: Pomperaug 2-1 over Xavier

Softball http://www.casciac.org/scripts/vs1011.cgi?sport=girls-softball
Class S: Terryville 2-0 over St. Bernard
Class M: St. Joseph 3-2 over Lauralton Hall
Class L: Waterford 3-2 over Bristol Eastern
Class LL: Westhill 4-2 over Newton

Boys' Lacrosse http://www.casciac.org/scripts/vs1011.cgi?sport=boys-lacrosse
Class S: Weston 7-6 over St. Joseph
-Weston won it all back in '07 but finished second in both 2008 and 2009.  Expect them to be very good again this year.
Class M: Darien 17-5 over New Fairfield
-That was Darien's sixth in a row, going back to 2005 when there were still division instead of classes (Darien was DI).  It was also their 8th all-time and the CIAC has only been sponsoring boy's lax for 16 years (this will be the 17th) so talk about dominance.
Class L: Cheshire 9-8 over Fairfield Prep
-It was a special year for Cheshire as they stopped Prep from winning their fifth straight.  Bucknell-bound attackman Todd Heritage was a major part of the Rams success and they will also be losing goalkeeper Nate Guadio (Middlebury), midfielders Mike Devine and Chris Barney.  They will return CT All-American Torrey Marton on defense.  Prep graduated Brendan Rotanz (Dartmouth) on attack and middie Darric White (Middlebury); both were also CT All-Americans.  In addition, they had another attackman, another middie, and two defensemen make All-State...all were seniors.  I'm not saying Prep will be bad this year (are they ever?) but the door for another new champion is definitely open.

Girls' Lacrosse http://www.casciac.org/scripts/vs1011.cgi?sport=girls-lacrosse
Division II: Fairfield Ludlow 15-9 over Staples
Division I: New Canaan 10-9 over Greenwich

Boys' Tennis http://www.casciac.org/scripts/vs1011.cgi?sport=boys-tennis
Class S: Singles-Dante Terenzio (Trinity Catholic) 6-1, 6-1 over Jeremy Schwartz (Weston); Doubles-Cameron Hagen & David Freeman (Weston) 7-5, 7-6(9) over Connor Fallon & Morgan White (Old Lyme)
Class M: Singles-Evan Sahlman (Lewis Mills) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 over Luka Bagi (Branford); Doubles-Alejandro Lluberes & Kyle Gaboury (Guilford) 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 over Nick Vonderheyde & Chris Ettore (Jonathan Law)
Class L: Singles-Ben Lee (New Canaan) 6-0, 2-6, 7-5 over Kevin Budrawich (New Canaan); Doubles-Chase Urban & Nick Laub (New Canaan) 7-5, 7-5 over Peter Huff & Patrick Newton (New Canaan)
-Yes, those are all supposed to say New Canaan...they are a tennis powerhouse, tearing up Class M back when they were in it and now Class L for the past two years.
Class LL: Singles-Daniel Hirschberg (Staples) 6-2, 6-0 over Tom O'Brien (Fairfield Prep); Doubles-John Petrini & Flash Hoyos (Westhill) 6-2, 6-0 over Reid Risinger & Alexander Levine (Glastonbury)
-The thing that is missed from just these results is that Greenwich was the team champion by two points over Fairfield Prep, and that is their sixth team championship in a row (8th since 1999).
State Open: Singles-Dante Terenzio (Trinity Catholic) 6-1, 6-2 over Ryan Carr (Fairfield Prep); Doubles-Chase Urban & Nick Laub (New Canaan) 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 over John Petrini & Flash Hoyos (Westhill)

Girls' Tennis http://www.casciac.org/scripts/vs1011.cgi?sport=girls-tennis
Class S: Weston 6-1 over Stonington
Class M: New Canaan 7-0 over Wilton
Class L: Fairfield Warde 4-3 over Greenwich
State Open: Singles-Kimmy Guerin (Weston) 6-3, 6-3 over Vanessa Petrini (Westhill); Doubles-Marie Gargiulo & Emma Samson (Weston) 6-3, 7-6(7-5) over Kimberly Glerum & Alyssa Baker (New Canaan)

Boys' Golf http://www.casciac.org/scripts/vs1011.cgi?sport=boys-golf
Division IV: Team: 1-Northwest Catholic 314, 2-Canton 325, 3-Portland 328; Individual: 75- Ryan Strid, Northwest Catholic, 75- Brendan Lemp, Northwest Catholic, 77- Jeff Realigo, Portland
Division III: Team: 1-East Catholic 307, 2-Granby Memorial 316, 3-Weston 317; Individual: 69-Alex DiClemente, Lewis Mills, 71- Joe D'Amato, Weston, 72- Andy Mai, Suffield and Nick Brodeur, Granby Memorial
Division II: Team: 1-New Canaan 298, 2-Avon 312, 3-Woodstock Academy 314; Individual: 70- Brian Tohir, New Canaan, 73- Dane Rosa, E.O. Smith; Michael Griffin, Torrington, 74- Kevin Jud, Berlin; Ryan Moore, Guilford
Division I: Team: 1-Staples 300, 2-Farmington 310, 3-Greenwich 313; Individual: 72- Monte Mullen, Farmington and Dylan Murray, Staples, 73- Zach Zabrach, Farmington; Kirk Massie, Staples; John Flaherty, Glastonbury, 74- David Pastore, Greenwich and Geoff Vartelas, Xavier

Girls' Golf http://www.casciac.org/scripts/vs1011.cgi?sport=girls-golf
Team: 1-Farmington 363, 2-Greenwich 373, 3-Darien 386; Individual: 79- Kelsie Carralero, Jonathan Law, 80- Andra Frappier, Cheshire, 82- Brooke Nethercott, Greenwich

Boys' Outdoor Track http://www.casciac.org/scripts/vs1011.cgi?sport=boys-outdoortrack
Class S: 1-Northwest Catholic 92, 2-Coginchaug 76, 3-Canton 59
Class M: 1-Bloomfield 123, 2-Weston 66, 3-Montville 61
Class MM: 1-Brookfield 60, 2-New London 58, 3-East Lyme 52.5
Class L: 1-Hand 85.5, 2-Notre Dame-West Haven 83, 3-Windsor 48
Class LL: 1-Amity 107, 2-Norwich Free Academy 92, 3-Hamden 64
State Open: 1-Notre Dame-West Haven 36, 2-Amity 32, Classical Magnet 28

Girls' Outdoor Track http://www.casciac.org/scripts/vs1011.cgi?sport=girls-outdoortrack
Class S: 1-Bloomfield 106, 2-East Hampton 72, 3-Old Saybrook 51
Class M: 1-Career 106.5, 2-Nonnewaug 92, 3-Weston 68.5
Class MM: 1-Hand 98, 2-Weaver 80, 3-Ledyard 58
Class L: 1-Windsor 122, 2-Simsbury 99, 3-Darien 83
Class LL: 1-Glastonbury 111.5, 2-Danbury 107, 3-Norwich Free Academy 66
State Open: 1-Danbury 71, 2-Windsor 61, 3-Glastonbury 48

Basketball: Championship Results (3/18 and 3/19)

Boys' CLASS S Championship
(1) Valley Regional 70 vs (3) Classical Magnet 46

Girls' CLASS S Championship
(4) Portland 45 vs (2) Cromwell 41
Girls' CLASS M Championship
(21) Weaver 46 vs (2) Windham 54
Boys' CLASS M Championship
(1) Career Magnet 51 vs (18) Trinity Catholic 57
Girls' CLASS LL Championship
(9) Career Magnet 39 vs (2) Mercy 37

Girls' CLASS L Championship
(4) Hillhouse 77 vs (2) E.O. Smith 50

Boys' CLASS L Championship
(1) Northwest Catholic 55 vs (3) New London 63
Boys' CLASS LL Championship
(9) Fairfield Prep 53 vs (2) St. Joesph 79

Boys' Hockey: Division I Championship Results (3/19)

I was not at the game because I was at Mohegan for Mercy basketball's game.
Here are links to articles about Prep's 5-0 win; don't worry it wasn't a very good game:

http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Fairfield-Prep-routs-St-Joseph-to-claim-state-1209326.php

http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Galiani-defense-key-to-Jesuits-victory-1212365.php

http://nhregister.com/articles/2011/03/19/sports/high_school/doc4d851e981350c713084998.txt

I wish New Canaan was in the championship for Prep to prove their number one ranking against but all the other polls now agree with my rankings, at the very top at least.  A NOTE ON FINAL RANKINGS: I do not believe in them because all that matters is how you did in the state tournament; ranking teams based on how they did in one postseason raises a lot of complications (just check out the Register's poll and how even more messed up it is now).  For examples, would anyone rank Morehead State ahead of Louisville in the finals rankings of college basketball?

I would like to thank everyone again from the bottom of my heart for reading my stuff, especially when you come back again and again.  In a quick look ahead, I will take the next two weeks off since it is only practice for spring sports and when sports are back I will cover, although less extensively, boy's lacrosse, baseball and I still haven't decided what I am going to do for volleyball yet (I play).  You can be sure to expect some surprises and random posts on other sports along the way.  For those of you who just follow hockey, the road ends here and thank you again for read; who knows, you may see my name again, whether it be in a local paper, on TV, or running for President of the United States...I'm Mark Scalzo and I'm out.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Boys' Hockey: Division III Championship Results (3/19)

I'm gonna keep DIII short and sweet and I can't do that any better than my man Matthew Conyers did for the Hartford Courant.  Here is his recapitulation of the game:

Trevor St. Onge had 31 saves and Jack Murphy scored two goals to help Watertown/Pomperaug defeat second-seeded Staples/Weston/Shelton 4-0 at Yale's Ingalls Rink for the Division III Championship. 

It is the first championship for Watertown/Pomperaug and comes in the co-op's first championship appearance. 

Kevin Murphy and Ryan Borsari also had goals for the fourth-seeded Indians (18-7). 

St. Onge stole the show Saturday morning with several key saves, including the back breaker for Staples with 8:22 left when he stopped Sean Stewart on breakaway. 

The shutout was the first for Staples/Weston/Shelton (16-7), which was coming off a six-goal performance in the semifinals.
 
-credit: Matt Conyers and The Hartford Courant

Boys' Hockey: Division II Championship Results (3/18)

(1) Guilford 1 vs (2) Cheshire 3
-As the saying goes, the post is a goalie's best friend!  If the goals were a couple inches wider Guilford probably would have won this game 5/7-2 but 18 saves by Tyler Carbone, 1 by Tom Dupont and four to six "saves" by the posts lead Cheshire to their second DII Championship in the past year.  I'll mention right here that since Cheshire only has seniors leaving this team next year, and when you look at the hockey program the Rams have created, there is a lot of talk in the CIAC about moving them up to DI next year, whether they want to or not (which is a good thing).  On to the game:

Guilford started off the game better and Cheshire looked a little, almost sloppy.  It was a very physical game from the get-go but Guilford managed to get off a lot of shots with Tony Raccuia almost scoring at around the eleven minute mark but Carbone made a good save.  As you would expect though, the Indians scored first, with forty-three seconds left in the first period.  Stephen Petrick scored a powerplay goal on an assist from Ryan Moore and Guilford had all the momentum after one in front of the huge crowd at Ingalls on Friday night.  Shots were 9-5 in favor of Guilford.

Cheshire freshman Tyler Violano was in the sin bin during Guilford's goal and he made up for it big time netting the equalizing goal, 3:58 into the second period.  John Cunningham had the shot that Violano redirected past Guilford goalie Luc Amatruda (16 saves).  Guilford responded very well hitting the post on back-to-back shots but then Cheshire's Ryan Powers started getting the Rams back on the offensive.  After a long- and hard-fought period, Cheshire took the lead with only four seconds left.  Matt Muzyka scored on wrist-shot from a Will Devine pass; Owen Powers also assisted on the goal.  At the end of the period, Guilford was still outshooting Cheshire 15-13 though.

Now when I look at my game notes for the third period, all I see is chances for Guilford and one season-saving championship-winning (or heartbreaking depending on how you look at it) play by Cheshire's Tommy Dupont.  For the first three to four minutes of the period the puck was in Cheshire's zone practically the entire time.  Jake Lane had a chance in front of the net: Carbone was down and the puck was but there was a lot of scrum and Lane just couldn't get his stick to the puck.  Later, Drake hit the post right after a faceoff.  Then came the play of the tournament, heck of the YEAR, when Carbone was down, outside of the crease and a Guilford player had the loose puck in front of the net.  Dupont was standing next to the net and when he saw the situation he drove across the net and deflected the Guilford player's shot off his body.  The place went CRAZY; one side in the good way and one side in the bad way!  Dupon picked a penalty for rushing at 6:11 in the 3rd but Guilford couldn't get past Carbone to tie it up at 2.  Guilford' penalty at 9:51 for too many men on the ice didn't come back to haunt them either.  Finally, in the offensive onslaught that is the ending of most close games, Guilford's closest thing to a goal was Jack Fitzgerald hitting the post, yet again, with about one minute left.  Violano added an open netter with seventeen seconds left but Guilford still outshot Cheshire in the game 20-18.  Both teams acted with class after the game and congratulations to the Cheshire Rams!
On paper, you'd think Guilford won this game, but all that matters is what's on the scoreboard...