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02/24/2019 11:00 PMWrestling
Senior Ben Falivene finished his wrestling career at Valley Regional when he competed at the State Open Championship at Floyd Little Athletic Center on Feb. 22 and 23. Falivene earned a victory in the 285-pound weight class at the Open and completed his senior season with a record of 23-10, including 22 wins on pins.
Falivene earned a bye through the first round as a result of his second-place finish in the 285-pound division at the Class S State Championship the previous week. Falivene started off action at the Open by squaring off against Matt Weiner of Shelton on Feb. 22. The two grapplers had split their matches against each other during the season. Weiner won this match on pin at the 1:33 mark, moving Falivene into the consolation rounds the following day.
On Feb. 23, Falivene went up against Armando Castaneda of East Haven. The two wrestlers had faced each other twice at the Griswold Invitational, where Falivene came out as the victor on pins in both matches. Falivene made it three wins versus Castaneda when he scored another win by pin at the 2:16 mark. In Falivene’s next bout, he lost to Hayden Minski of Ellis Tech by pin in the 4:43 mark.
Boys’ Ice Hockey
The East Haven-Old Lyme-Old Saybrook-East Hampton-Morgan-Valley Regional (EH-OL-OS-EH-M-VR) boys’ ice hockey team lost its final two games of the regular season to finish with a record of 8-10-2. The Yellowjackets will open play in the Division II State Tournament by playing a first-round game on Monday, March 4.
EH-OL-OS-EH-M-VR hosted Branford on Senior Night and took a 4-1 defeat at DiLungo Rink on Feb. 21. Old Lyme junior Alec Speirs scored the goal on assists from East Haven senior Chris Giglietti and Valley Regional senior Ricky Persico. East Haven junior Logan Hamilton made 42 saves in net for the Yellowjackets, who were outshot 46-22 for the game.
Two nights later, the co-op squad dropped a 4-1 road game against Haddam-Killingworth in its regular season finale at Northford Ice Pavilion. Hamilton recorded 37 saves in the defeat. East Haven sophomore Dave Amatruda scored the Yellowjackets’ goal on an assist by Persico.
Girls’ Basketball
Valley Regional is the No. 31 seed in the Class M State Tournament and will open the draw by playing a first-round game at No. 2 seed Cromwell (17-3) at 7 p.m. on Tuesday Feb. 26. With a victory, the Warriors (10-12) would either play at No. 15 Morgan or No. 18 Ellington in a second-round contest on Friday, March 1 at 7 p.m. The Class M quarterfinals are on Thursday, March 7; the semis take place on Monday, March 11 and the Class M state final will be held at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville on either Saturday, March 16 or Sunday, March 17.