Printer Friendly Version - North Branford Football Drops Contest to Valley-Old Lyme; Field Hockey Earns a Win and a Tie

Kaylee Velez and the North Branford field hockey team earned an important draw against Westbrook last week, before shutting out Haddam-Killingworth to pick up their ninth victory of the year. Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Sound

The North Branford football squad hit the road to play divisional foe Valley Regional-Old Lyme on Oct. 19 and took a 27-6 defeat against the Warriors in Deep River. The Thunderbirds are now 2-4 overall on the season and have a record of 1-3 in the Pequot Conference Sassacus Division.

It was a tight game throughout the first half when North Branford faced Valley. The Warriors scored an early touchdown and held a 7-0 advantage at halftime. Valley scored another TD to open the third quarter and push its lead to 14-0. The Warriors (5-0, 4-0) followed by scoring two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to make it 27-0. North Branford got on the board when senior running back Lou Raffone caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Brandon Fratta.

Fratta completed 14-of-26 passes for 199 yards for North Branford. Raffone caught four passes for 88 yards, senior Nate Raymond had three receptions for 50 yards, and senior Nick Mancini had three catches for 35 yards. On the defensive side of the ball, senior RJ Sobask and sophomore Jamison O’Brien each recorded a sack, while Raymond grabbed an interception in the game.

North Branford will return home for a divisional tilt against Haddam-Killingworth (5-1, 3-1) on Friday, Oct. 26. Kickoff is slated for 6:30 p.m. at Colafati Field.

The T-Birds played two games in Shoreline Conference action last week, coming away with a win and a tie to improve to 9-2-1-1 for the year.

On Oct. 17, North Branford hosted Westbrook and earned a 1-1 draw against the Knights. Following the tie, the Thunderbirds went out and defeated Haddam-Killingworth by a 3-0 score at home on Oct. 19.

The Thunderbirds went 1-1-1 during a stretch of three road games last week and now have a record of 6-2-5 on the season.

On Oct. 16, North Branford played Cromwell to a 2-2 tie. The next day, the T-Birds took a 4-0 loss versus Mercy in a non-conference game. North Branford rebounded by posting a 4-0 win against Shoreline Conference opponent Portland on Oct. 20.

North Branford hosted Cromwell and took a 9-0 defeat on Oct. 16. Following that game, the Thunderbirds were on the road to face Amistad and lost by a 4-0 score.

The T-Birds took three defeats on the road last week. North Branford lost to Haddam-Killingworth by a 3-0 score on Oct. 17, took a 3-0 loss versus Hale-Ray on Oct. 19, and then lost to Coginchaug by that same final the following day. North Branford is now 2-15 on the year.

In the match against H-K, the Cougars took the win with scores of 25-19, 25-16, and 25-16. Juniors Julia Ricardo, Emily Cole, and Jetta Powers all had three kills apiece for North Branford, while Ricardo added four aces and 12 digs. Cole handed out five assists, and junior Katy Pedersen punched up 11 digs.

North Branford lost to Hale-Ray by the score of 25-17, 25-11, 25-5. Junior Sally Cucinotta finished with five kills, Pedersen had 18 digs, and Cole recorded six assists in the match.

Closing out the week, North Branford took a 25-20, 25-8, 25-13 loss versus Coginchaug. Cucinotta had seven kills, while freshman Marissa Ricardo served up five aces. Pedersen finished with 10 digs, senior Sam DeAngelo added nine digs, and junior Sofia Cavalier had eight assists for the Thunderbirds.

North Branford competed at the Shoreline Conference Championship and finished in 11th place at Hale-Ray High School on Oct. 19.

Sophomore Roberto Didiano recorded the top time for North Branford by crossing the finish line in a time 20 minutes and 23 seconds. Also competing for the T-Birds at the meet were junior Joe DeLucia (21:00), senior Alvin Chan (21:01), freshman Zachary Chittenden (22:32), senior Patrick Miconi (23:36), sophomore Conor Leete (24:36), and senior Noah Taylor (25:13).

The T-Birds sent three runners to last week’s Shoreline Conference Championship.

Sophomore Onna Ott posted a time of 24 minutes and 7 seconds on behalf of North Branford. Sophomore Riley Kendall finished in 24:13, and freshman Regan Leete crossed the finish line with a time of 25:01.