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10/22/2018 12:00 AMFootball
The Valley Regional-Old Lyme football team earned its fifth win of the season by recording a 27-6 home victory over Pequot Conference Sassacus Division rival North Branford in Deep River on Oct. 19. The Warriors improved their overall record to 5-0 with the win and now have a mark of 4-0 in their division.
Valley-Old Lyme was bolstered by a strong performance from senior captain quarterback Ryan Santos, who went 6-for-9 passing for 91 yards and a touchdown, in addition to rushing for a pair of touchdowns against North Branford. Senior Nick Braga ran six times for 105 yards and a touchdown to go with a TD reception, as well as an interception on defense. Jae’Len Arnum and fellow senior Jason O’Brien turned in steady performances in the secondary, while the Warriors’ the front line held the Thunderbirds to just 23 yards on the ground.
The Warriors struck first in the opening quarter on a 10-yard touchdown run from Santos. Junior Brian Funk kicked home the extra point for a 7-0 lead. The score remained that way through the end of the first half.
In the third quarter, Valley got back into the end zone when Braga caught a 23-yard touchdown pass from Santos. Funk followed with the extra point to bring the score to 14-0. Santos ran for an 8-yard TD later in the frame to make it a 20-0 advantage for the Warriors going into the fourth. Braga broke open a huge run of 74 yards for Valley’s final touchdown of the game, after which Funk hit another extra point for a 27-0 lead. North Branford (2-3, 1-3) scored on a 25-yard pass late in the fourth quarter.
Valley-Regional-Old Lyme Head Coach Tim King was pleased with the result of this game, even though he believes that the Warriors can get better if they take less penalties. King knows that the rest of the season will only get tougher, and he wants his squad to peak during the final weeks of the campaign.
“We had a few too many mistakes. We’re averaging a touchdown a game called back. That’s insane,” said King. “We’ve been good up front defensively, and Ryan is getting better with more experience at quarterback. He’s getting more snaps under his belt, and that really helps. That’s the biggest thing. We’ve got four more games left, and they’re all going to be a dog fights for us.”
Up next for Valley-Old Lyme is divisional matchup at Cromwell-Portland (5-1, 4-1), which coming off of its first defeat of the season. The contest is set to kickoff at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 26 at Cromwell High School.
Field Hockey
Valley had three games last week and posted two home victories to improve its record to 8-3-1-2 on the season.
On Oct. 17, the Warriors scored a 6-0 win against Haddam-Killingworth at home. Two days later, Valley lost a 3-2 contest in overtime against Suffield on the road. Then on Oct. 20, the Warriors won another game versus Haddam-Killingworth, this time by a 1-0 margin.
Girls’ Cross Country
The Warriors competed at the Shoreline Conference Championship meet and finished in fifth place as a team at Hale-Ray High School on Oct. 19.
Freshman Ava Cunningham led Valley Regional by turning in a time of 21 minutes and 11 seconds for ninth place and a spot on the All-Shoreline Conference First Team. Also competing for Valley at the meet were sophomore Caitlyn Bogan (25th, 23:19), junior Lacey Hall (28th, 23:29), sophomore Audrey Lenda (38th, 24:12), and freshman Isaballa Sacks (45th, 24:36). Other runners for the Warriors included sophomore Hanna Babek (51st, 25:07) and freshman Campbell Toth (56th, 25:43).
Boys’ Cross Country
The Warriors posted a sixth-place finish at last week’s Shoreline Conference Championship.
Senior Jason Montecavo came in 12th place with a time of 17 minutes and 49 seconds to solidify a spot on the All-Shoreline Conference Second Team on behalf of Valley. The Warriors also saw junior Macklin Miezejeski (14th, 17:54), Peter Halsey (24th, 19:01), Ryan Reed (25th, 19:05), and Henry McPherson (65th, 21:28) hit the trails at Shorelines. Henry SantaMaria (66th, 21:35) and Anthony Joia (68th, 22:02) also competed for Valley in the meet.
Boys’ Soccer
Valley played a home-and-away series against Morgan last week and came away with a 1-1 tie and a 4-2 loss. The Warriors have a record of 9-2-3 as they approach the final week of the regular season.
On Oct. 16, Valley hosted Shoreline Conference opponent Morgan and the game ended in a 1-1 draw. Following a scoreless first half, Morgan went ahead with a goal in the 67th minute to make it 1–0. Then with eight minutes to go in the game, senior Chris Morales netted a goal on a header off a corner kick from freshman Jake Burdick to tie the score at 1. Senior vice captain Charlie Haughton had a great game in net by making 13 saves for Valley Regional.
Three days later, Valley headed to the Indian River Complex in Clinton, where the team took a 4-2 loss against the Huskies. The Warriors started strong by scoring goal 16 minutes into the game on a penalty kick from Morales. In the second half, Morgan quickly evened the score at 1-1 and then went up 2-1 just a few minutes later. With 18 minutes to go in the game, Morales scored off an assist from senior captain Sean Cole to make it 2-2. Five minutes later, Morgan went ahead by scoring a goal on a set play off a free kick. The Huskies scored an insurance goal off a free kick with nine minutes remaining in the contest.
Girls’ Soccer
The Warriors played four recent games and recorded one victory to stand at 5-6-2 entering the last week of the regular season. Valley took a 3-1 loss at Morgan, before earning 1-0 victory against Haddam-Killingworth last week. After that, Valley lost a 3-1 game versus Portland and then took a 2-0 defeat against Woodstock academy.
On Oct. 15, the Warriors traveled to the Indian River Complex to face Morgan and lost a 3-1 decision. Even though Valley outshot Morgan 13-8, the Huskies were able to pick up the win. Junior Ava Duval scored Valley’s lone goal in the game.
Morgan started the scoring with a goal just six minutes into the first half to take a 1-0 lead. Duval put an unassisted goal in the net in the 27th minute to equalize the score. Just before the end of the half, Morgan scored a goal in the 39th minute for a 2-1 advantage. With two minutes left, Morgan scored on a penalty kick to make it a 3-1 game. Junior Alexis DellaRocco made four saves in goal, including an outstanding stop in the second half, to keep it a one-goal game.
The next day, Valley hosted Haddam-Killingworth and earned a 1-0 victory over the Cougars. Senior Lexi Finnerty netted the only goal of the day in the 45th minute of the contest. DellaRocco made six saves in the match.
On Oct. 18, the Warriors dropped a 3-1 decision versus Portland. Valley’s goal came from junior Sam Calamari off a Finnerty assist just seven minutes into the first half. One minute later, Portland scored the tying goal for a 1-1 halftime score. Portland went ahead with a goal in the 42nd minute and then scored another in the 76th minute to make it 3-1.
Two days later, Valley hosted Woodstock Academy and took a 2-0 loss. Woodstock scored in the 25th minute for a 1-0 lead and then added a second goal 14 minutes later. DellaRocco made 18 saves in the contest.
Volleyball
The Warriors took three defeats last week to move to 4-14 on the season. Valley lost matches against East Hampton (3-0), Griswold (3-0), and Haddam-Killingworth (3-2) in its recent contests.
On Oct. 15, the Warriors lost a 3-0 match in East Hampton. Two days later, Valley took a 3-0 loss at Griswold with scores of 25-17, 25-17, and 25-17.
On Oct. 19, the Warriors hosted Haddam-Killingworth and lost a hard-fought contest by a 3-2 (25-18, 20-25, 20-25, 25-20, 15-13) score. Senior captain Maddy Just had eight aces, nine kills, one block, 17 receptions, and nine digs for Valley. Fellow senior captain Emily Hutchinson finished with seven kills, one ace, and a block. Sophomore Alena Crosby notched two aces, 29 assists, and 12 digs, while senior Zoe Hollwedel served up two aces to go with 15 receptions and 29 digs. Sophomore Ava Boyles added 10 kills, and junior Carlee Kirla had seven kills, one ace, six digs, and three receptions.