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10/16/2016 12:00 AMFootball
Two weeks after taking its first defeat of the season, the Valley Regional-Old Lyme football team bounced back with authority by posting a 45-0 home shutout of Pequot Conference rival North Branford in Deep River on Oct. 14. With the victory, the Warriors improved their overall record to 4-1 at the campaign’s midway point. Daniel Stecher had a gargantuan game on the ground by rushing for three touchdowns and 216 yards on just nine carries. Fellow senior captain Matt Sapere ran for a TD and also threw one to sophomore Jason O’Brien. Senior Garrett Burdick grabbed two interceptions, one which he returned 103 yards for a touchdown.
“We had such a sour taste in our mouth through the bye that we had to live with for 14 days until we got back on the field [after losing 48-26 to Cromwell-Portland on Sept. 30],” Head Coach Tim King said. “So to be able to put a win together against a tough North Branford team—they’re young, but they’re tough kids—so to do that gives us some momentum going into our next five games.”
After his team was off the previous week, Coach King said the Warriors had to shake off the rust versus North Branford during an opening quarter that saw them have a few bad snaps and commit some penalties. Burdick’s 40-yard field goal was the only score of the quarter and Valley led 3-0 through one. The Warriors then blew the game open by scoring four touchdowns in the second quarter for a 31-0 halftime command. First, Sapere threw a 33-yard touchdown to O’Brien to make it 10-0. After that, Stecher broke free for TD runs of 16 and 81 yards to extend the lead to 24-0. The drive that yielded Stecher’s 81-yard score was set up by the first of Burdick’s two interceptions. Following an interception from junior Jake Kruszewski, Sapere’s 4-yard touchdown rush capped the quarter and had the Warriors up 31-0 at the break.
North Branford went on a drive to start the third quarter and worked its way deep into Warriors’ territory. However, Burdick picked off the Thunderbirds’ quarterback in the end zone and took it 103 yards to paydirt to extend the advantage to 38-0. Stecher’s 6-yard scoring rush later in the frame put the cherry on top for Valley. Burdick followed with his sixth extra point kick in as many attempts for the 45-0 final.
“The ground game was big for us. Matt had [68] passing yards and the rest were all rushing yards, so credit our offensive line, and Matt made a couple of great reads on the read option,” said Coach King. “We challenged our defensive front this past week. We didn’t play well against Cromwell and that showed in the final score with all their rushing, so we challenged them to get off the ball and make stuff happen and they did. The front did a great job of handling the run this week.”
Sapere completed five passes for 68 yards and a touchdown to go with 61 yards with a TD on the ground. Sophomore Ryan Santos added 64 rushing yards on just five carries for the Warriors, who ran for 364 yards as a team at a clip of 12.1 yards per carry.
In addition to Valley’s three interceptions on defense, the team was further bolstered by a senior captain Mitch Conard, who recorded one solo sack and teamed up with fellow senior Charlie Littler on another. Conrad also made seven tackles that included four for a loss, while Kruszewski piled up 10 tackles for Valley-Old Lyme. Stecher and junior Roan Sullivan added eight tackles apiece.
The Warriors’ next game is at home against non-conference squad Prince Tech (3-2) at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 21.
“They’re going to be a challenge, so we better come ready to play,” King said. “Their offensive line is bigger than everyone we’ve seen so far from tackle to tackle, their quarterback is shifty with great speed, and they have a 6-6, 6-7 receiver that goes up for the ball as good as anyone I’ve seen.”
Boys’ Soccer
The Warriors won all three of their games last week to improve to 7-3-2 and clinch a berth in the Class S State Tournament. On Oct. 10, Valley Regional posted a 1-0 home victory over North Branford. Three days later, Head Coach Mick Fearon’s squad traveled to Portland for a contest and came back to Deep River with a 3-0 win that put the team into states. The Warriors closed the week with a game in Cromwell and prevailed by the final score of 3-1. All three games were against Shoreline Conference opponents, but the one against Cromwell did not count toward the league standings. Valley is 6-2-1 in the conference and its recent victories will help the team’s chances of qualifying for that tournament, as well.
Girls’ Soccer
Valley had two games last week and came away with one defeat and a tie. The Warriors are now 5-4-2 overall with a mark of 5-2-2 in Shoreline Conference play.
The Warriors hosted Portland in their first game of the week and took a 3-1 defeat on Oct. 13. Rachel Trezza scored Valley’s goal in the defeat.
On Oct. 15, Valley played at conference rival North Branford and the two clubs battled to a scoreless tie.
Volleyball
Valley Regional is now 11-3 this season after claiming victory in two of its three matchups last week. The Warriors took a 3-0 loss at Hale-Ray on Oct. 10, prevailed at Morgan 3-1 on Oct. 13, and earned a 3-1 home victory versus Cromwell on Oct. 14.
Valley lost to Hale-Ray with scores of 25-15, 25-11, 26-24. Alex Figuenick had 11 digs and 30 serve receives for Valley. Jessica Paholski had 14 service receives and three aces, while Maddie Millard added 11 assists.
In the Morgan win, the Warriors won the first set 26-24 and then dropped the second set 22-25. Valley came back to take the next two sets by finals of 25-22 and 25-14 to win the match. Emily McLaughlin recorded 13 kills for the Warriors. Millard had 25 assists, Figuenick had 35 service receives, Rhyan Nedobity and Electra Cassells notched four aces apiece, plus Heidi Clark and Paholski posted 13 and 12 service receives, respectively.
Against Cromwell, the Warriors prevailed 25-17, 22-25, 25-19, 25-13 on their Dig Pink Night that raised money in support of breast cancer awareness. McLaughlin was once again Valley’s big hitter as she threw down 20 kills to complement her four aces. Cassells had a nice all-around game with four aces, seven kills, and two blocks. Additionally, Millard registered 19 assists, Nedobity placed six aces, Figuenick had 26 digs with 28 serve receives, and Clark added 12 serve receives for the Warriors.
Field Hockey
The Warriors lost one game and tied another last week in Shoreline Conference action last week and now own a record of 5-5-1 on the season. Valley’s week began with a 3-0 home defeat versus Westbrook on Oct. 10. On Oct. 14, the Warriors welcomed Old Saybrook to Deep River and played the Rams to a 2-2 stalemate.
Francesca Daniels scored the first goal of the Old Saybrook game midway through the first half before the Rams struck twice to take a 2-1 lead to halftime. With 2:30 to play, Daniels scored on an assist by Maria Pittsinger to tie it at 2 and help Valley earn a point from the game. Logan Burdick made nine saves in goal for the Warriors.