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10/09/2016 12:00 AMFootball
The North Haven football team took its second loss of the season by dropping a 49-34 barnburner to Notre Dame-West Haven at Vanacore Field on Oct. 7. The Indians held a 27-14 lead early in the second half, but were outscored 35-7 the rest of the way in moving to 3-2 overall and 1-2 in SCC Tier 1 action. Even though his team was able to throw the ball with success, Head Coach Anthony Sagnella said that North Haven lost the battle at the line of scrimmage against the Green Knights. Notre Dame (3-2, 2-1) gave up 336 yards in the air, but held the Indians to just 54 rushing yards on 27 carries.
“The story of the game is that they won the line of scrimmage battle on both sides of the ball and they asserted themselves on us in the third and fourth quarters. That was it. That was the game,” said Coach Sagnella. “We were in the game because we were able to score and throw the ball successfully, but we were really not going to beat them until we took control of the line of scrimmage, and we never did and they won.”
Tom Dodge scored on a 1-yard run for the game’s first touchdown and Notre Dame used a short TD run to tie it at 7 after one quarter. North Haven’s passing attack took off in the second quarter as Jack Steinman found junior Mark Montano on 22-yard scoring strike that made it 14-7. The Green Knights tied it on a touchdown run, but the Indians came back with another when Dodge connected with Montano from 16 yards out to put North Haven up 21-14 at halftime.
Steinman threw a 4-yard TD pass to junior tight end Steven Erbe on the first series of the second half for a 27-14 advantage. However, Green Knights’ running back Josh Witkowsky scored two short rushing touchdowns later in the third quarter to give Notre Dame a 28-27 lead entering the fourth. Notre Dame extended it to 35-27 on a 29-yard touchdown pass early in the final frame and made it 42-27 when a Green Knights’ player recovered his teammate’s fumble on a punt return and took it 50 yards for the score. North Haven cut it to 42-34 on Steinman’s 8-yard TD toss to Montano, but then Witkowsky scored his fourth touchdown of the night to put a capper on the 49-34 Notre Dame victory.
Steinman completed 23-of-32 passes for 274 yards and three touchdowns in the loss. Montano had eight receptions for 114 yards and a trio of TDs, while Kyle Melillo caught 10 passes for 156 yards. Colin Finkle went 4-for-5 on extra points.
On defense, Montano had an interception, while junior Eric Millard recovered a fumble. Zach Orth led North Haven in tackles with 12, Korbin Pecora and Max Sullivan both had eight, while Montano and Paul Murray had seven apiece.
North Haven has this week off and its next game is against another Tier 1 opponent in Shelton (5-0, 3-0), which the Indians will host at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 21. Coach Sagnella assessed how his team is shaping up at the midway point of campaign.
“We’ve made a lot of improvements since the preseason, but we really have a challenge ahead of us, and we’re going to have to figure out how to deal with the issues that we faced in the Notre Dame game because we’re going to face them every week from this point on,” said Sagnella. “Shelton, West Haven, Xavier—it’s not going to get any easier, and we have to figure out how to manage these issues a little better or we’ll find ourselves in the same situation.”
Girls’ Soccer
North Haven claimed victory in both of last week’s contests to run its record to 5-4-1 on the campaign. The Indians began their week by notching a 2-1 victory at Branford on Oct. 4, avenging a loss to the Hornets from earlier in the season. Three days later, North Haven hosted Lyman Hall and prevailed 3-1 for its third-straight win and a season sweep of the Trojans.
Boys’ Soccer
The Indians had one game last week and lost a 1-0 decision at Wilbur Cross in New Haven on Oct. 7. North Haven’s record dropped to 1-7-2 with the defeat.
Girls’ Swimming and Diving
The Indians lost to a pair of top-notch teams last week with a 93-84 defeat to Lauralton Hall on Oct. 4 and a 100-77 loss versus Cheshire on Oct. 6. North Haven is now 3-4 this fall. Head Coach Martha Phelan noted a number of personal-best performances between the two meets. She said that her athlete’s times dropped while competing against strong teams in recent weeks and she feels that bodes well for the Indians in the postseason.
On the week, senior Callyn Priebe swam lifetime-best marks in the 100 backstroke (1:08.10), the 100 freestyle (58.84), and the 50 freestyle (26.89). Fellow senior Lauren Spencer turned in lifetime bests for the 500 freestyle (5:28.22) and the 100 backstroke (1:04.15). Senior Victoria Ferraro went a lifetime best of 1:28.40 in the 100 butterfly and swam 1:17.65 in the 100 backstroke for another all-time best. Senior Molly Duffy posted a season-best time of 1:14.35 in the 100 breaststroke. Juliet Garney swam a lifetime best of 35.14 seconds for the 50 freestyle, while fellow junior Avery Hill had all-time top marks in the 200 free (2:23.73) and the backstroke (1:15.95). Sophomore Emily Gibson recorded all-time bests in the 50 free (30.57) and the 100 free (1:10.29).
North Haven also saw several freshmen post lifetime-best times last week. Doing so were Mackenzie Montesi in the 200 individual medley (2:30.87), Kiersten Winter in the butterfly (1:10.52) and the breaststroke (1:18.12), Abby Kirtland for the backstroke (1:15.99), Gillian Regan in the 500 free (6:58.29), 50 free (32.50), and 200 free (2:35.20); Daria Padro in the 100 freestyle (1:13.57) and 100 breaststroke (1:28.70), Gabrielle Weaver for the 50 freestyle (37.97), and Brinley Rainey in the breaststroke (1:38.32). Angela Gambardella swam a season-best time of 1:08.95 in the breaststroke, while fellow freshmen Mia Coppola went a season best 2:45.53 in the 200 freestyle.
Volleyball
North Haven lost three matches at home last week and now owns a record of 4-9. The Indians took a 3-2 defeat to Lyman Hall on Oct. 4, dropped a 3-0 contest versus Guilford the following day, and lost 3-0 to Foran on Oct. 7.
In the Lyman Hall match, North Haven lost the first two sets (17-25, 15-25) and won the two middle sets (25-21, 25-18) to set up a decisive fifth set, which was won by the Trojans, 15-10. Olivia Peterson had 20 assists and three kills for the Indians. Bella DelVecchio recorded 23 digs and two aces, while Celeste Battipaglia had 11 kills, eight digs, and one block.
Against Guilford, North Haven was swept 25-17, 25-17, 25-14. DelVecchio had 15 digs and Anna Stowe had five kills with two digs.
Facing Oronoque opponent Foran, the Indians lost 25-20, 25-9, 25-18. DelVecchio posted 14 digs, while Laurissa Amaker had six kills and two aces for North Haven.
Field Hockey
The Indians played three games last week and took three defeats to move to 2-7. On Oct. 4, North Haven played at Lyman Hall and lost a 1-0 contest. The next day, North Haven had a home game against Mercy and took a 6-0 loss. Then on Oct. 7, the Indians played at Guilford and lost by a 9-0 final.