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11/05/2017 11:00 PMFootball
The Valley Regional-Old Lyme football team notched a 28-6 home victory over Rockville on Senior Night on Nov. 3 to improve to 7-1 overall on the season. Even with the win, the Warriors did drop to the No. 10 spot for the Class S State Playoff rankings in which the top eight teams qualify. Valley-Old Lyme can get in if it wins its final two games against Lewis Mills and Haddam-Killingworth.
Against Rockville (0-8), The Warriors started the scoring in the first quarter, when senior quarterback Mike Cullina ran 13 yards to the end zone. Valley scored again in the second quarter, but this time, Cullina aired it out with a 40-yard pass to Ryan Santos to make it 14-0 after a successful extra point from Brian Funk. Rockville then got on the board with a short TD run to make it 14-6. Shortly thereafter, Cullina connected with Santos again for a touchdown to extend the lead to 21-6. Right before the end of the first half, Jaelen Arnum reeled in a 24-yard TD pass from Cullian to make it 28-6, which stood as the final score.
Cullina went 10-for-18 with three touchdowns, while Santos finished with two receptions for 64 yards and a pair of touchdowns. On defense, Ernest Jean-Pierre snagged two interceptions, while Jason O’Brien grabbed one.
The Warriors’ next matchup will be against Lewis Mills (1-7) on the road on Saturday, Nov. 11 at 1 p.m.
Boys’ Soccer
The Warriors won a Shoreline Conference Tournament quarterfinal game last week before losing in the semifinal round. Valley is now 11-5-2 as it gets ready to play in the Class M State Tournament this week.
On Oct. 31, Valley faced off at home against Coginchaug in the Shoreline quarterfinals. The game began as scheduled, but after 25 minutes, the power went out, and so the teams had to come back the next day to complete the game.
The Warriors scored in the 18th minute on a goal by Michael Dilger off an assist from Adrian Sperzel. Seven minutes later, the game was halted due to the power outage. It was game restarted on Nov. 1 with 14 minutes to go in the first half. Dan Hearn scored an unassisted goal to make it 2-0 Valley going into the halftime.
In the second half, Coginchaug played super aggressive, nearly leaving its backfield wide open in an attempt to create offensive opportunities. Morales scored from Dilger in the 49th minute to make it 3-0 Valley. After a Coginchaug penalty kick made it 3-1, the Warriors scored three more goals in quick succession. The first was another from Morales in the 57th minute, then Dilger got his second off a helper from Ryan Shasha, after which Coginchaug put the ball in its own goal to make it 6-1. The two squads traded goals in the final minutes as Valley prevailed 6-3.
Then on Nov. 2, Valley faced off against Haddam-Killingworth in the semifinals and took a 1-0 defeat. After a scoreless first half, H-K scored the game’s lone goal five minutes into the second half. Goalie Charlie Haughton made an outstanding save later in the half to give the Warriors a boost of confidence, but they were unable to capitalize, and lost by a 1-0 final.