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11/12/2017 11:00 PMFootball
The Valley Regional-Old Lyme football team played a Pequot League Sassacus Division matchup at Lewis Mills on Nov. 11 and prevailed by the final score of 35-3. The win puts the Warriors at 8-1 overall and 6-1 in the division. Valley is also in the No. 7 spot in the Class S State Playoff rankings in which the top eight teams make it, and can clinch a spot with a win over Haddam-Killingworth in its regular-season finale.
Against Lewis Mills, the Warriors got on the board first with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Mike Cullina to Blair Allen. Following the first of Brian Funk’s five extra-point kicks, the Warriors went up 7-0. That score held up until the second quarter, when Lewis Mills booted a 23-yard field goal through the uprights to close the gap to 7-3 before halftime.
The third quarter saw the Warriors do most of their damage as they put 28 points on the board in a variety of ways. First, Nick Braga ran in it in from 14 yards out to make it 14-3. Later, Cullina connected with Jason O’Brien on a 25-yard TD pass to widen the lead to 21-3. Cullina tallied another TD pass when he completed a toss of 14 yards to Ryan Santos to make it 28-3. Finally, Cole Ensinger ran in from three yards out for the final score of the game and a 35-3 command.
Cullina had another big night by going 13-for 18 passing with 267 yards and three touchdowns. Ernest Jean-Pierre moved the chains for the Warriors by reeling in five receptions for 112 yards. Jason O’Brien grabbed three receptions for 66 yards and a touchdown.
On defense, Justin Robida led the team with 12 tackles, including two for a loss. Jake Kruszewski had six tackles, while Blair Allen, Cole Ensinger, Alex Swanski, and Cole Hamparian each had four tackles. Swanski also had a sack for a loss of 15 yards. Roan Sullivan and John Balocca both recorded a sack, while Ian Neviaser and Jaelen Arnum combined for a half-sack.
The Warriors will play their final game of the regular season on the road against Sassacus Division rival Haddam-Killingworth (6-3, 5-2) in the battle for the Principal’s Cup, as well as a playoff spot, on Friday, Nov. 17 at 6:30 p.m.
Boys’ Soccer
Valley Regional played a first-round contest against Tolland in the Class M State Tournament and took a 4-2 defeat last week. The Warriors were the No. 14 seed and hosted the 19th-seeded Eagles. The loss gives Valley a final record of 11-6-2 for its 2017 campaign.
Tolland scored quickly by putting a goal on the board in the 7th minute and then followed that up with another goal 22 minutes into the first half. Shortly after Tolland went up 2-0, Chris Morales scored on a beautiful bicycle kick on a rebound off a shot by Cameron Ruel. Head Coach Mick Fearon felt his team showed some heart by cutting Tolland’s deficit in half, instead of relenting when faced with a two-goal deficit.
“It was at that point we could have fallen apart,” said Fearon. “Then Chris Morales scores a ball on a bicycle kick on a rebound. The kids were really excited, and the kids on the bench couldn’t believe it.”
Eight minutes later, Adrian Sperzel chipped a ball over the Tolland defense, after which Sean Cole hit one off the post that ricocheted across the goal line to knot the score up at 2-2 going into intermission.
In the second half, Tolland came out and launched shot after shot at the Valley goal. Charlie Haughton made several great saves to keep the Warriors in the game, but with 3:40 remaining, Tolland scored a goal to go up 3-2. Just 30 seconds later, Tolland added an insurance goal for a 4-2 lead.
Girls’ Soccer
Valley competed in the first round of the Class M State Tournament as the No. 26 seed last week. On Nov. 7, the Warriors hit the road to face 7th-seeded Rocky Hill and took a 3-0 defeat to finish the year at 4-7-6.
Field Hockey
The Warriors faced off against Canton in the first round of the Class S State Tournament last week. The No. 7 seed Warriors took a 2-0 loss to No. 10 Canton to finish the season with an overall record of 10-4-3-1.
Head Coach Beth Powers said that Canton was able to stifle the Warriors’ offense and kept them off the scoreboard in the loss.
“Canton played extremely well. They have some very skilled players in the front and the midfield. It was evenly matched, except on the scoreboard,” said Coach Powers. “Our attack struggled a bit getting quality shots on goal. So big kudos to Canton’s defense. But it was great experience for the freshman and sophomores to play in their first states game.”