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01/07/2017 11:00 PMBoys’ Basketball
The Warriors’ boys’ basketball squad recently faced three Shoreline Conference opponents on the road and defeated two of them to improve to 3-4 on the season. Valley claimed a 46-30 road victory versus Hale-Ray on Dec. 30, took a 65-49 loss in Cromwell, on Jan. 3, and then prevailed at Portland 80-66 on Jan. 6.
In the Hale-Ray victory, Valley jumped out to an 11-3 lead after the first quarter and held a 25-13 halftime advantage on its way to the victory. Jordan Moran scored 12 points and had two steals to lead the Warriors, while Ben Weinstein added eight points and Ryan Kelly scored seven. Kelly also corralled 10 rebounds and had four steals with Cory Craco and Kevin Fasulo grabbing seven boards apiece for Head Coach Kevin Woods’s club. Craco added a pair of blocks and Jason O’Brien had three steals.
In the Cromwell game, Valley trailed 15-13 following the first quarter and was then outscored 22-6 in the second to trail 37-19 at halftime. The Warriors won the third quarter by a 20-14 margin to draw within 51-39, but were unable to get much closer. Moran’s 18-point performance led the Warriors, while O’Brien and Fasulo chipped in with nine and eight points, respectively. Weinstein had six rebounds with two steals and Kelly also had two steals for Valley.
To close the week, Valley trailed Portland 49-46 entering the fourth quarter, but dominated the final frame by outscoring the opposition 34-17 to emerge victorious. Five Warriors reached double digits in Moran (19 points), Weinstein (13), O’Brien (13), Brian Tonks (13), and Colin Sparaco (10). Weinstein was a beast on the glass with 13 rebounds, while O’Brien had seven. Valley was in a giving mood with the basketball as Moran had 10 assists with Weinstein and Tonks both dishing out five. Moran also collected four steals and Craco had two blocks.
Gymnastics
Valley Regional recently hosted a pair of meets at Flip-Flop Gymnastics in Deep River and came away with a victory at both of them. On Dec. 29, the Warriors scored a 125.70 to defeat Haddam-Killingworth/Hale-Ray/Morgan, which scored 98.65, while also losing to Mercy (128.40) and Law (125.95). Then on Jan. 5, Valley put up a score of 113 to earn a victory versus Haddam-Killingworth/Hale-Ray/Morgan, which scored 92.5 points. The Warriors’ co-head coaches are Carl Cavrell and Monica Bauer.
Wrestling
Sophomore Ben Falivene competed on behalf of Valley Regional when the Morgan wrestling team faced Terryville on the road on Jan. 4.
Falivene trains with the squad at Morgan and then represents the Warriors at the team’s meets. In the recent contest, Terryville did not have a wrestler in Falivene’s weight class and so he wrestled up a class and took a 9-3 defeat to Terryville’s heavyweight, Jay Hume.