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By Ron Coderre
In late November and early December 2012 the boys and girls high school and prep school basketball seasons got under with a flurry of activity. Entering the season every team had aspirations of posting winning records, winning division or conference championships, making the State and prep tournaments and some even spoke of winning a State title. All those memories seem like so long ago.
Now slightly more than three months since the start of the season only one local team can proudly say they are State Champions. The Woodstock Academy Centaurs under the direction of coach Greg Smith are the only team from the area left standing. The Acads reached the apex of high school basketball with a hard fought, well deserved 52-49 victory over Trinity Catholic of Stamford, in a game played at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville. (See story starting on page 1 for the details.)
There were numerous heroes for the Acads, who led the game at every stop. Ian Converse, the team’s “go to” guy all season didn’t disappoint, posting a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds as he played the entire 32 excruciating minutes in leading his mates to victory. Chris Lowry, who was also on the court for 32 minutes, had five points while dishing out 11 rebounds, many of the spectacular variety. Workhorse Sullivan Gardner was immense off the boards with 14 caroms, while contributing eight points, as he also played the entire game. The other half of the Woodstock rebounding tandem, “BIG” John McGinn had six boards and five points, while long range bomber, Tristan Welch tossed in two treys, the closer coming with 3:23 to play, as he tallied eight markers. Trent Peters, who was the lone bench player to see action, played six minutes but contributed a huge three-pointer from beyond the arc. It was a total team effort for the Woodstock Academy Centaurs, who are now the reigning Connecticut Class L champions.
Notes
It was truly amazing sitting on press row and scanning the huge crowd at the Mohegan Sun Arena and thinking there were some folks who were originally opposed to moving the championship games to that venue…The bottom tier of the arena was filled to capacity and many of the seats in the upper arena were also occupied…Often the crowd is referred to by the media as the “sixth man.” In the case of the Woodstock crowd, they deserve a “tip of the sports fedora.” They filled a large part of the arena and were positively vocal all evening…When the team arrived in Putnam and exited Route 395 at Exit 95, the Putnam Police along with two fire trucks were waiting to lead a parade that snaked up Kennedy Drive, over the Bridge Street bridge, up Woodstock Avenue and into Woodstock and to the Academy campus. Along the route more fire trucks and ambulances were waiting at the Farmer’s Market and at the Woodstock Avenue and West Thompson Road intersection…Most of the Woodstock Academy faculty and coaches from other sports were on hand for the game as were many area coaches and fans from throughout Northeastern Connecticut…Jim Gothreau was spotted roaming around the arena, snapping photos of the game and the fans for the Putnam Town Crier…Prior to the start of the contest, Academy senior Austin Stone captivated the audience with patriotic rendition of the National Anthem…WINY Radio with John Wilbur and Paul Coutu were located at courtside, providing the play-by-play and color analysis for those listening at home. The game was also streamed far and wide around the world via the internet…Woodstock Academy golf coach Rich Garceau upon exiting the stadium, “This was a great victory. It puts a lot of pressure on my golf team to also bring home a State title…According to Coach Smith the team watched the movie “Hoosiers” the night before the big game. It worked.
RPC’s Super Conference Final Standings
Boys Girls
Woodstock 24-3 Pomfret 20-5
PSA 22-8 Marianapolis 19-9
Marianapolis 21-9 Plainfield 16-7
Plainfield 12-10 Putnam 15-7
Hyde-Woodstock 10-11 Hyde-Woodstock 11-6
Tourtellotte 10-12 Woodstock Academy 8-14
Ellis Tech 9-12 Tourtellotte 4-16
Pomfret 8-12 Killingly 2-18
Killingly 7-13 Ellis Tech 1-19
Putnam 4-16