Lequire Becomes the All-Time Leading Scorer for North Branford Boys’ Hoops
Boys’ Basketball
Senior Brett Lequire became the all-time leading scorer in the history of the North Branford boys’ basketball program when the 7th-seeded Thunderbirds posted a 70-56 home victory over No. 10 seed Shepaug Valley in the second round of the Division V State Tournament on March 8. The T-Birds later took a loss against Canton in the quarterfinals to finish with a record of 15-8 this year.
Lequire scored 39 points in the win against Shepaug to break 2000 graduate Chris Tracz’s school record for the most points scored as a member of the North Branford boys’ basketball team. Lequire finished his high-school career with 1,902 points for the T-Birds.
“It feels amazing, especially since I was convinced to come to North Branford High School by one of my old coaches, Steve Saunders. He pointed up at the 1,000-point banner when I was in 8th grade and said, ‘You will be up there if you come here,’” Lequire said. “I knew all I needed was another basket to break the record. I’ve never felt so good when I made the shot and the crowd was loud.”
Additionally in the win versus Shepaug, senior Jake Haeckel scored 13 points, junior Matt Cosgrove had seven points, and senior Sean Esposito added five points for North Branford.
Unfortunately, North Branford’s playoff run ended in the Division III quarterfinals when they took a 76-37 loss at No. 2 seed Canton on March 10. Haeckel scored 14 points, Esposito had nine points, and Lequire scored seven points for North Branford.
Boys’ Ice Hockey
The North Branford boys’ ice hockey squad won its first-round game in the Division II State Tournament, before taking a 2-1 overtime loss to Conard in a quarterfinal game at Trinity College on March 9. The 5th-seeded Thunderbirds finished their season at 14-8-1.
North Branford won its state tourney opener by defeating No. 12 seed East Haven-Old Lyme-Old Saybrook-East Hampton by a 3-1 score at Northford Ice Pavilion on March 6. Both teams played solid offensive games as the T-Birds fired 35 shots on goal to the Yellowjackets’ 41. Senior John Lovelace recorded 40 saves in the winning effort for North Branford, which saw Sean McKee net a pair of goals. Nick Poulin also scored for a goal for North Branford, while Jake Neubig had two assists.
Cheerleading
The North Branford cheerleading team competed at the Class M State Championship at Floyd Little Athletic Center on March 4. The T-Birds scored a total of 114.1 points to take 17th place out of 20 teams at the meet. Wolcott finished in first place, and Oxford took second place. The T-Birds had previously posted an fourth-place performance at the inaugural Shoreline Conference Championship.