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11/11/2016 11:00 PMFootball
The North Haven football team locked horns with Fairfield Prep in an offensive slugfest on Nov. 11 and came up on the short end of a 43-42 decision at Fairfield University. The Indians led 42-35 when Prep used a 5-yard touchdown run to draw within a point with 25 seconds left in the game. The Jesuits followed by converting the 2-point conversion pass to take a one-point advantage. North Haven used a big pass to Devan Brockamer to set up Colin Finkle with a long field goal attempt, but the 47-yard try was no good as Fairfield Prep came away with the victory. The Indians dropped to 3-6 on the season and finished with a record of 1-6 in Tier 1.
Even though the result marked another close loss against a quality SCC squad, North Haven Head Coach Anthony Sagnella was happy with how the Indians responded after taking their only lopsided defeat of the year—a 42-10 home loss to Xavier in the previous week’s action.
“Xavier came ready to play and dismantled us, so our concern coming into this week was, ‘Are we done playing? Have we hit a wall?’ or was that a one-time occurrence. That was the challenge,” Sagnella said. “They responded very well and positively. We went to Prep with a lot of energy and played very hard. We showed our resolve and our resiliency and I’m proud of the kids. We were down two scores and battled back.”
Fairfield Prep (6-3, 3-3) notched the game’s first score on a 60-yard touchdown run before Mark Montano brought home a 65-yard TD rush just 16 seconds later. Finkle’s kick made it 7-6, but the Jesuits came back and scored on a 10-yard run and got the 2-point conversion for a 14-7 lead after one. Doug Harrison’s 50-yard touchdown rush made it 21-7 early in the second quarter, after which Brockamer’s 15-yard scoring scamper cut it to 21-14 with 7:43 to go until halftime. The teams continued trading TDs as Prep scored on a 19-run, only to see the Indians answer when Jack Steinman found Brockamer on a 30-yard touchdown pass with 1:34 left in the half. Finkle kicked the extra point and North Haven was down 28-21 at the break.
Dillon Mirabile scored from two yards out early in the third to again put Prep up by two scores, but Montano followed with a 20-yard touchdown run midway through the quarter to cut it to 35-28 entering the fourth. The Indians scored the game’s next two touchdowns to take the lead. First, Steinman threw a 60-yard TD pass to fellow senior captain Kyle Melillo and then Finkle’s extra point tied the game at 35 with 10:08 remaining. Six minutes later, Montano scored from three yards out for his third touchdown of the night and a 42-35 advantage. However, Prep drove down the field and used a 5-yard touchdown run from Ryan Sullivan to make it 42-41 with 25 seconds left, after which the 2-point conversion put the Jesuits in the lead for good.
North Haven, which was playing without injured senior captain quarterback Tom Dodge for the second-straight week, was led by 130 yards and three TDs on 15 carries from Montano, who saw time at QB and also completed two passes for 45 yards. Fellow quarterback Steinman was 5-of-8 for 139 yards and two scores. Brockamer ran nine times for 66 yards and a TD, while also catching a pair of passes for 62 yards and two touchdowns. Melillo had three receptions for 99 yards and a TD. On defense, Melillo, Zach Orth, Max Sullivan, and Jake Tantorski all had seven tackles for North Haven.
The Indians’ last game of the season is against SCC Tier 2 opponent Amity (3-6) at Vanacore Field at 10 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning on Thursday, Nov. 24. North Haven has won the last seven meetings in the Turkey Day series, which is in its 21st year.
“I’m looking forward to it. It’s our last game together with this team and they’ve really grown on me. We have a lot to play for. We haven’t won at home all year and that’s important to these kids,” Sagnella said. “This is a huge opportunity for us to have one last time to try and put it all together and play our best football and we have no choice. We have to and I’d be blown away if the kids decided that they’ve had enough at this point.”
Girls’ Cross Country
Senior Elise Symon ran a time of 19 minutes and 7.15 seconds to finish in 40th place out of 261 competitors at the New England Girls’ Cross Country Championship at Ponaganset High School in North Scituate, Rhode Island on Nov. 12.
Symon’s time in the 5K was easily her fastest of the postseason and put her one spot ahead of Guilford’s Meredith Bloss (19:08.85), who Symon had defeated by three seconds to win the Class MM state title two weeks prior to New Englands.
In her previous three postseason meets this fall, Symon ran 19:54 to take fourth place at the SCC Championship (making All-Conference First Team for the second-consecutive year and All-SCC for the third-straight year), went a 19:52 in her victory at the state meet, and recorded a mark of 19:37 for her 12th-place performance at the State Open. Symon is the first athlete in North Haven girls’ cross country history to compete at the New England Championship.
Girls’ Soccer
North Haven’s season came to a close with a 6-2 sloss at Berlin in the first round of the Class L State Tournament on Nov. 9. The Indians, who returned to states after missing the tournament the past few years, finished their first campaign with Head Coach Rocco Christiana at 6-10-1.
North Haven was scheduled to be the No. 24 seed in the tourney and face Woodstock in the first round on Nov. 7. However, due to an error in seeding, the bracket had to be realigned and so the Indians were instead the No. 23 seed and played at No. 10 Berlin two days later. According to the CIAC, the error stemmed from Suffield being incorrectly placed in the Class L State Tournament when the success in the tournament factor used when designating soccer tournament divisions should have placed the team in the Class LL. The oversight was discovered on the day the tournaments were scheduled to begin, resulting in both of them being pushed back two days.
Girls’ Swimming and Diving
Freshman Ava Santacroce competed for the Indians at the Class M Girls’ Diving State Championship and posted a score of 310 points to finish in 10th place among 19 divers at Bulkeley High School on Nov. 9. North Haven is competing at Class M Swimming Championship at Wesleyan University at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 15.