Warriors Extend Streak to 15; Co-op Hockey Squad Makes States
Boys’ Basketball
The Valley Regional boys’ basketball team had just a single game against Shoreline Conference foe Morgan on the schedule last week. The Warriors earned a victory over the Huskies to improve their record to 16-3 as well as extend their winstreak to 15 games in a row.
On Feb. 18, Valley hosted Morgan on Senior Night, and took a decisive 59-34 win against the Huskies. The Warriors stifled Morgans offense and took an 11-3 lead after the first quarter. Valley extended the lead to 30-15 by the end of the first half. After halftime, Valley outscored Morgan 29-19 en route to a 59-34 win.
Cade Ensinger had a big game with 19 points, five steals, five rebounds, two assists, and two blocks. Gavin Grabowski added 17 point, four assists, and three steals, while Jake Grow supplied nine points and three boards. Chris Sparaco manned the paint and hauled in nine rebounds and swatted a block.
Boys’ Ice Hockey
The East Haven-Old Lyme-Old Saybrook-Morgan-Valley Regional-East Hampton (EH-OL-OS-M-VR-EH) co-op boys’ ice hockey squad qualified for states by earning a 4-3 home victory against Lyman Hall/Haddam-Killingworth/Coginchaug (LH/H-K/C) last week. The Yellowjackets have an overall record of 8-9 with a Division II State Tournament berth in the bag heading into the last week of regular-season action. This marks the 34th year in a row that Head Coach Lou Pane’s club has made the state tourney.
EH-OL-OS-M-VR-EH started off last week by taking an 8-0 home loss to divisional opponent Hand at Patsy DiLungo Ice Rink on Feb. 19. Three days later, the Yellowjackets punched their playoff ticket by skating to a 4-3 home victory against LH/H-K/C in another SCC/SWC Division II clash. They now stand at 5-2 in divisional play with the win.
The Yellowjackets were down 2-1 entering the third period against LH/H-K/C, but scored a pair of goals in the frame to send it to overtime. With 12:34 left in the extra session, senior Alec Speirs put a shot past the opposing goalie to give East Haven the 4-3 victory, as well as a place in states.
Junior Dave Amatruda, fellow junior Duncan Rider, and sophomore Michael Robert also scored goals for EH-OL-OS-M-VR-EH in the win. Senior goalie Logan Hamilton made 33 saves in net.
Girls’ Ice Hockey
The Hand-Coginchaug-Valley Regional-Old Lyme (H-C-VR-OL) girls’ ice hockey team lost both of its contests last week to finish the regular season with a record of 5-15. The Tigers are competing in the SCC Tournament this week.
On Feb. 17, the Tigers lost a road game against Wilton-Norwalk-McMahon by a 7-2 score at Winter Garden Ice Arena. The following day, they dropped a 6-0 contest against Greenwich on the road at Dorothy Hamill Skating Rink.
H-C-VR-OL is the No. 6 seed in the SCC Tournament and will open the draw with a first-round road game against No. 3 West Haven-Sacred Heart Academy at Bennett Rink at 4 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 24. With a victory, the Tigers would play at No. 2 seed Guilford in the semifinals at Patsy DiLungo Ice Rink. If the Tigers win that game, they would advance to the SCC final at Bennett Rink on Saturday, Feb. 29 at 1 p.m.
Boys’ Swimming and Diving
The Haddam-Killingworth/Morgan/Valley Regional (H-K/M/VR) boys’ swimming and diving squad competed against Classical-University for its final home meet of the season on Feb. 18. The Cougars came away with a 61-59 victory at H-K High School to improve to 9-1 on the year.
Junior Kyle Mazziotti took first place in the 200 individual medley (2:10.75) and the 500 freestyle (5:14.81) for the Cougars. He also joined forces with freshman Jack Ferguson, senior Jimmy Clemente, and freshman AJ Campo de la Vera to win the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:53.16.
In the 200 freestyle relay, the quartet of Mazziotti, senior Zach Houlton, senior Eli Houlton, and junior Egan Rothrock posted a mark of 1:41.19 to come in first place. The 400 freestyle relay of Zach Houlton, Eli Houlton, Clemente, and Ferguson earned top honors with a time of 3:46.46.
Eli Houlton also took first in the 50 freestyle (23.84) and the 100 backstroke (59.88) in the victory. Ferguson was first in the 100 breaststroke at 1:08.79.