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02/15/2020 11:00 PMWrestling
North Haven High School freshman Joe Iamunno took first place in the 120-pound weight class when he represented Indians’ wrestling by competing as a team-of-one at the Southern Connecticut Conference Championship last week. Iamunno won three bouts at 120 pounds on his way to claiming the conference crown when the SCC meet took place at Mercy High School on Feb. 15.
Iamunno trained with the wrestling team at Notre Dame-Fairfield and also competed at the Lancers’ meets during the regular season. Iamunno then wrestled in his first postseason meet at the SCC Championship.
Iamunno earned a bye through the first round of the 120-pound bracket. In his first bout, he pinned Jaiden Boity of Guilford at the 1:43 mark of the first period. That victory sent Iamunno to the semifinal round, where he defeated Jace Korab from Branford via a 9-2 decision.
Iamunno then went up against Colin Loria of Xavier with the SCC title on the line. Iamunno solidified his place as a conference champion by winning the bout on a technical fall after taking a 15-0 lead on points 4:54 into the match.
Boys’ Basketball
The North Haven boys’ basketball team punched its ticket into the playoffs by earning a home victory versus Foran last week. On Feb. 13, the Indians hosted Foran and claimed a 59-49 win against the Lions in an SCC Oronoque Division game at Fred Kelly Gymnasium. North Haven improved to 8-9 on the season by defeating Foran, while earning berths into both the SCC Tournament and the Division III State Tournament.
North Haven built up an early lead over Foran and held off the Lions the rest of the way to emerge victorious. The Indians grabbed a 17-11 advantage after the first quarter and then outscored Foran by a 10-7 margin in the second quarter for a 27-18 lead at intermission.
North Haven had a 12-10 edge in the third quarter to make it 39-28 entering the fourth. The Lions tried to mount a rally in the final frame, but to no avail, as the Indians walked off the floor with the 59-49 victory and a playoff spot in the bag. North Haven improved to 2-5 in SCC Oronoque Division play with the win.
Senior Justin White scored 14 points, and fellow senior Dave Christoforo dropped 12 points for North Haven. Junior Torray Armfield had 10 points, and while seniors Bryce Charney and Jaden Watson scored nine points apiece for Head Coach Justin Falcon’s squad.
Earlier in the week, the Indians took a 72-45 defeat at Cheshire in a divisional game. With the scored tied 13-13 after the first quarter, the Rams outscored North Haven by a 15-10 margin during the second to take a 28-23 lead into the locker room at halftime. Cheshire then extended its lead by outscoring the Indians during both the third (24-11) and fourth (20-10) quarters to get the win.
Charney scored 17 points, and Christoforo had 15 points for North Haven. White added six points on the night.
Girls’ Basketball
North Haven gained a split while playing a pair of games in SCC Hammonasset Division action last week. The Indians have an overall record of 12-6 and are 3-4 in the division with two games left in the regular season. North Haven will open the postseason by competing in the SCC Tournament with a first-round game on Thursday, Feb. 20.
North Haven took a 65-42 road loss against Amity on Feb. 11. The Spartans were up 16-11 after the first quarter and held a 30-19 halftime advantage over North Haven. Amity outscored the Indians during both the third (20-11) and fourth (15-11) quarters to walk away with the victory.
Junior Sarah Puzone had eight points with four steals for North Haven, while senior Zoi Burns scored seven points in the game. Senior Colleen Lucey had four points and five rebounds.
Then on Feb. 14, the Indians hosted Law for another Hammonasset contest and claimed a 49-36 victory on Senior Night. North Haven was up 9-3 after the opening quarter and increased its lead to 21-8 at the halftime break. The Indians then outscored Law 14-8 during the third quarter to take a 35-16 lead into the fourth.
Senior Laura Petrafesa celebrated Senior Night by scoring 17 points for North Haven in the victory. Petrafesa, who made four 3-pointers, also had five rebounds and four steals to help the Indians prevail. Sophomore Eveani Okwuosa shot 7-of-8 from the field on her way to scoring 15 points. She also had six rebounds with three assists and two steals. Puzone had seven points and three steals, Lucey scored six points to go with 10 rebounds, and senior Giuliana Ciarleglio had five boards for Head Coach Tom Blake’s club.
Boys’ Indoor Track
North Haven sent a collection of athletes to compete at the Class L State Championship at Floyd Little Athletic Center on Feb. 14. The Indians finished in 16th place by scoring eight points at the meet.
North Haven picked up all of its points in the shot put at states. Senior Luke Maruca took third place in the event with a throw of 48 feet-4.5 inches. Fellow senior Kyle Maruca finished fifth for the shot put by throwing 45 feet-0.5 inches.
The Indians saw two other athletes compete in the shot put. Senior Dominic Borrelli finished in 14th place (40-6), while fellow senior Matt Mullen came in 18th place (39-11).
Senior Ethan Testa took 16th place in the preliminaries of the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 9.22 seconds. Junior Patrick Rourke finished 17th in the 600-meter run by hitting the finish line in 1:31.48.
North Haven’s 4x800 relay of sophomore Kevin Rourke, senior Aidan Bergin, sophomore Mike Rubano, and Patrick Rourke finished in 14th place (9:12.62). The 4x200 relay of sophomore Jack Pollard, sophomore MJ DeVilliers, Jr., junior Anthony Vigliotto, and junior Taray Smart, Jr., finished 16th (1:43.89); and the 4x400 relay of Pollard, DeVilliers, Jr., Patrick Rourke, and Kevin Rourke finished 19th (3:56.32).
Girls’ Indoor Track
The Indians were represented by several athletes when the Class L State Championship took place last week.
Senior Courtney McFarland turned in North Haven’s top performance by taking seventh place in the shot put. McFarland’s best throw went 31 feet-10.75 inches to put her in seventh for the shot. Sophomore Emily Cocco finished 18th in the event with a toss of 28-7.5.
Senior Elizabeth De Vaux ran a time of 9.77 seconds to finish 12th in the preliminaries of the 55-meter hurdles. Fellow senior Samantha Curcio was 23rd for the prelims of the 55-meter dash at 7.97.
North Haven’s 4x400 relay of sophomore Lorlei King, sophomore Grace Finch, junior Sofia Fappiano, and sophomore Ada Forbes took 15th place (4:34.30) at the Class L meet. The 4x200 relay of Finch, Sofia Fappiano, junior Paula Fappiano, and Curcio came in 23rd place (2:00.49).
Boys’ Ice Hockey
The Indians hosted the Milford co-op team for an SCC matchup on Senior Night at Northford Ice Pavilion on Feb. 15. North Haven netted a 5-0 victory to improve to 10-4-3 overall with a record of 5-0-2 in SCC play heading into the last week of the regular season.
Following a scoreless first period, North Haven got on the board when junior Will Fiore scored from fellow junior Aaron Racino and Eli Brubacher with 10:35 left in the second. Junior Mason Sullivan scored a goal with 3:45 remaining and then Racino’s goal made it 3-0 after two periods.
North Haven added a pair of goals during the third period to seal the victory. Senior Donny Funaro scored with 11:11 to play in the game and then freshman Tommy Guidone’s goal with 5:02 remaining finished off a 5-0 victory for the Indians.
Sophomore Jared Anderson and freshman Bryce Petersen combined to make nine saves in net for the shutout.
Girls’ Ice Hockey
The Amity-North Haven- Cheshire (A-NH-C) girls’ ice hockey team clinched the regular-season SCC title by earning a home victory versus the Masuk co-op squad last week. On Feb. 12, the Blades hosted Masuk-Barlow-Newtown-Lauralton Hall-Shelton and claimed a 6-1 victory at Lou Astorino Ice Arena.
With the win, A-NH-C improved its overall record to 12-5-1 and also sealed the SCC regular-season title with a record of 7-0 in divisional play. The defending champion Blades will have the No. 1 seed in SCC Tournament that begins with semifinal action on Wednesday, Feb. 26 and concludes with the championship game at Bennett Rink at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 29.
The Blades took a 2-0 lead in the first period against Masuk. A-NH-C scored two goals in the second period for a 4-1 lead through two and tacked on more goals during the third period to make it 6-1. Tess Csejka had three goals with an assist for the Blades, while Nadia DiNatale scored a goal to go with two assists.
Boys’ Swimming and Diving
The Greater New Haven Warriors (GNH) boys’ swimming and diving team was on the road to face Foran-Law for a divisional matchup last week. GNH claimed a 96-79 win versus the Milford co-op at Foran High School to raise its record to 6-2 overall with a mark of 4-0 in SCC Division 2.
Freshman Aiden Cohen swam a lifetime-best time of 53.90 seconds in the 100 freestyle for the Warriors in the victory. Junior Joe O’Connor posted a lifetime-best score of 187.60 points for the diving competition, while freshman Christian Butler finished with a lifetime-best total of 185.70 points.
Junior Daniel Kamen swam a season-best time of 2:14.44 in the 200 individual medley for GNH. Also turning in season-best marks were junior Raymond Lewis in the 50 freestyle (29.73), sophomore Hethon Foster in the 100 butterfly (54.02), sophomore Miguel Pearce for the 100 freestyle (57.97), senior Stephen Borrelli in the 500 freestyle (5:39.86), and junior Tanner Powell in the 100 breaststroke (1:16.25).