Past Issues of the Putnam Town Crier
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High School Notes
Funny things
occurring on
basketball
courts
By Ron P. Coderre
As the schoolboy and girl basketball season approaches the home stretch and the postseason nears for those fortunate enough to qualify, the noose around the collar gets a little tighter and the pressure to perform is somewhat more intense. This week witnessed some unusual events taking place on the hardwood.
Marianapolis Prep enjoying some of its best team play of the year hit an unusual road block thanks to the weatherman. In mid-week, with the temperatures soaring to the near 60 degree mark, the humidity in the air created moisture on the Golden Knights playing surface creating a hockey game atmosphere. Players were slipping and sliding rather than soaring and gliding, forcing officials to halt the contest against Worcester Academy at the half with the visitors in front 35-28. The teams are awaiting a decision on how the game will be concluded.
In Colchester at Bacon Academy another unusual occurrence took place. Woodstock Academy lost a basketball game to the Bobcats, a 48-46 overtime stunner. On “Military Night” in honor of Afghanistan based Major Raymond Chicoski, whose sons Connar and Ray play for Bacon, the Bobcats played as though they were on a military mission. They ambushed the Centaurs at every turn and regaled in victory.
Ellis Tech needing a miracle to qualify for State Tournament play must be saying its prayers every day. The Techsters beat Grasso Tech to raise their record to 5-9. They need three wins in the final six opportunities to get into the postseason. Tourtellotte behind the play of Kaevon Safford, Mike Jezierski, Shawn Houle and “Big Ben” Benkowski picked up wins over Wheeler and Griswold to qualify for postseason play.
On the distaff side there was nothing funny about Pomfret School’s two wins. The Lady Griffins continue to roll at 15-2. Plainfield behind the leadership of Morgan Griffin (63 points in two games) is playing like a team on a mission. The Lady Panthers are 12-5 thanks to big wins over Lyman and St. Bernard. Putnam behind the great play of Ashley Espinosa continues to roll along at 12-4.
Scoring Races
The boys’ scoring race witnessed a new name pop up to challenge Ian Converse of Woodstock for the top spot among offensive leaders. Converse has been on top of the heap all season and was being chased by Kaevon Safford of Tourtellotte until this week. Dayshon Smith of PSA with a 32 point performance against McDuffie School has forced his way into the runner-up spot only a 10th of a point behind the leader. Converse is at 20.6 points per game while Smith is at 20.5.
Safford (19.3) and Ryan Pambuku (18.1) of Plainfield occupy the next two spots. A newcomer to the scoring race, Isaiah Henderson of Pomfret moved into the fifth spot with an average of 17.6 ppg.
Jonte Rutty of Putnam Science Academy continues his torrid pace from beyond the three-point arc. He now has 60 treys in 17 games for the Scientists. He extended his lead in the race to 19 over his teammate, Dayshon Smith who has 41. Killingly’s Devon Willard has suddenly emerged as a three-point threat and is tied with Smith behind Rutty at 41. Plainfield’s Pambuku with 39 is next followed by a newcomer, Malkese Edwards of Pomfret who has 36. Eric D’Aguanno (31) of Marianapolis rounds out the leaders..
Steady Morgan Griffin of Plainfield has moved into the lead in the ladies’ scoring race, averaging 16.7 points a game. Putnam’s Ashley Espinosa with a big offensive performance against Ellis Tech is right on Griffin’s tail, at 16.4 points a game. Last week’s second place scorer Janicha Diaz of Hyde-Woodstock is in the show spot at an even 15 points a contest.
Putnam’s Monica Phongsa who’s been the three-point leader all season is now tied at the top with Jill Bodreau of Marianapolis. Phongsa and Bodreau are leading the pack with 26 treys.
Boys Scoring Leaders
Ian Converse, Woodstock 20.6
Dayshon Smith, PSA 20.5
Kaevon Stafford, Tourtellotte 19.3
Ryan Pambuku, Plainfield 18.1
Isaiah Henderson, Pomfret 17.6
Three-Point Leaders
Jonte Rutty, PSA 60
Dayshon Smith, PSA 41
Devon Willard, Killingly 41
Ryan Pambuku, Plainfield 39
Malkese Edwards, Pomfret 36
Eric D’Aguanno, Marianapolis 31
Girls Scoring Leaders
Morgan Griffin, Plainfield 16.7
Ashley Espinosa, Putnam 16.4
Janicha Diaz, Hyde-Woodstock 17.3
Three-Point Leaders
Monica Phongsa, Putnam 26
Jill Bodreau 26
RPC’s Super
Conference Standings
Boys
Marianapolis 14-4
Woodstock 13-2
PSA 12-8
Plainfield 10-5
Pomfret 8-7
Tourtellotte 8-7
Hyde-Woodstock 7-9
Ellis Tech 5-9
Killingly 5-11
Putnam 3-12
Girls
Pomfret School 15-2
Marianapolis 14-7
Putnam 12-4
Plainfield 12-5
Hyde-Woodstock 9-3
Woodstock Academy 7-11
Tourtellotte 3-13
Killingly 2-16
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The following charges were listed in the Putnam Police Department logs. The people charged are innocent until proven guilty in court. The Town Crier will publish dispositions of cases at the request of the accused. The dispositions must be accompanied by the proper documentation. The Putnam Police Department confidential Tip Line is 963-0000.
Jan. 28
Kylene Rickaby, 25, Laconia Avenue, Putnam; disorderly conduct.
Jan. 29
Sean Morrisette, 45, Marshall Street, Putnam; traveling too fast for conditions, evading responsibility.
Jan. 30
Amber Burke, 32, Providence Street, Putnam; disorderly conduct.
Mary Booker, 44, Front Street, Danielson; sixth-degree larceny.
Robert O’Connor, 20, Railroad Street, Putnam; third-degree criminal attempt at burglary.
Andrea Bernier, 20, Quinebaug Road, Thompson; simple trespass.
Zach Remillard, 18, Ash Street, Worcester; simple trespass.
Dillon Britland, 18, Quinebaug Avenue, Thompson; sixth-degree larceny, criminal attempt at larceny, third-degree criminal trespass.
Feb. 1
Mark Beaudreault, 35, Church Street, Putnam; disorderly conduct.
Feb. 2
Brandy Griffin, 36, Seward Street, Putnam; operating under the influence, failure to drive right, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia.
Jennifer Stromberg, 36, Church Street, Dayville; operating without a license, failure to obey control signal.
Jessica Gaugh, 21, Church Street, Putnam; breach of peace.
Feb. 3
Mark Mayo, 46, Harrison Street, Putnam; third-degree assault, disorderly conduct.
Lisa Racine, 52, Harrison Street, Putnam; third-degree assault, disorderly conduct.
Feb. 4
Christine Rodrigues, 36, no certain address; two counts of breach of peace, sixth-degree larceny, conspiracy to commit sixth-degree larceny, risk of injury to a minor.
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PUTNAM — The following students were promoted at the December Graduation 2012 at Mike Bogdanski’s and Kristin Duethorn’s Quest Martial Arts.
Orange Dragon: Cassidy Chabot, Ethan Hall, Conor Lafortune, Paul Poplasky.
Blue Dragon: Isabella Selmecki, Campbell Fraser, Greyson Magnan.
Green Dragon: Ela Gadoury, Autumn Taylor, Emm Rainville, Joshua Salop.
Child Orange: Ava Fabiano, Evan Odorski.
Orange/Blue: Aidan Danburg.
Child Blue: Connor Dunkley, Seth Dunton, Diego Rodriguez, Ethan Benoit.
Blue/Green: Abby Card, Sophie Griffin, Annie Griffin, Katelyn Norman, Zachary Wesolowski, Sabrina Berard.
Green/White: Nicholas Boligan, Jack Heroux, Zachary Rainville.
Child Green: Max Dionne.
Child Red: AJ Willimas.
Green/Red: Linsey Arends, Paige Campbell.
8 GUP Blue: David Anderson, Adriana Anderson, Rachel Davis, Spencer Hall.
7 GUP Blue: Cameron Driscoll, Denise Wesolowski.
6 GUP Green: Zach Davis, Michael Davis, Gary Pazienza.
2 GUP Red: Javier Alvarez.
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Honored
PROVIDENCE --- Emily Sachs, a resident of Pomfret Center, and a member of the Class of 2014, has been named to the dean’s list at Providence College for the Spring 2012 semester.
On the list
LANCASTER, Penn. --- Emily Mooney from Promfret Center made the Honors List for Franklin & Marshall College’s spring 2012 semester. She's the daughter of Laurin Mooney and John Mooney of Pomfret and is a graduate of Pomfret School.
Get degrees
BOSTON --- The following local residents recently received degrees from Simmons College in May: Robin Messier, a Danielson resident, received a Master of Science in Education degree; Claudia Willett, a Putnam resident, received a Bachelor of Arts degree; Bruce Elliott, a Putnam resident, received a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from the School Nursing Health Sciences.
In production
FRANKLIN, Mass. --- Thompson resident Samantha Laabs starred in Dean College's major dance & theatre production show.
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WOODSTOCK — The Woodstock Academy sports roundup for last week includes:
Jan. 30
Wrestling
Academy 48 - E. Lyme 24
The Woodstock Academy wrestling team wins on the road in a ECC Division meet. Nine of the 13 matches were won by the Centaurs including six by pin and five of the six pins came in the first period.
Stats: 106: Double Forfeit; 113: Anthony Ramos (E) def John Currie (W) by pin in :48; 120: Kareem Smalls (E) def Jacob Bowen (W) by pin in 1:06; 126: Graysen DeLuca (W) def Kyle Bernard (E) by pin in 1:33; 132: Tanner McReynolds (W) def Corey Levesque (E) by pin in 1:59; 138: Ben Sylvestre (W) win by forfeit; 145: Brent Sorensen (W) def Mason Pajon (E) 7-5; 152: Andrew Lovah (E) def Joe Listro (W) by pin in 3:02; 160: Zach Hunt (W) def Jacob Gordon (E) by pin in 2:43; 170: Cody Maiorino (W) def Matt Pagon (E) 6-0; 182: Devan Ciapocha (W) def Jorge Brackett (E) by pin in 1:24; 195: TJ Hillyer (E) def Mike Thompson (W) by pin in 4:26; 220: Doug Putnam (W) def Sid Shan (E) by pin in 1:26; 285: Avery Rollins (W) def Kyle Gaudio (E) by pin in 1:05.
Ice Hockey
Academy 1 – Suffield/Granby/Windsor Locks Coop Team 1
The Academy ice hockey team played to a tie 1-1. Often times tie games can be boring, but this one was far from that; well at least in the final two minutes. After playing 43 scoreless minutes, the Suffield-Granby-Windsor Locks coop team scored with 2 minutes left in the game. The Centaurs called a timeout and regrouped and put a plan together to give them a chance to tie the game and that is exactly what they did. With a little over a minute left in the game coach Star waived in goaltender Baylee Johns to put on an extra skater. When Johns got to the home bench Zach Burnham replaced him and he was the right player for that spot. Zach hit the ice hard and found himself in front of the net with the puck on his stick. He shot and the puck found the back of the net with 53 seconds remaining.
Boys’ Basketball
Academy 45 – Fitch HS 39
The Centaurs boys’ basketball team keeps on winning even though it may not always look pretty. Their record now stands at 13-1 overall and they are a perfect 7-0 in the ECC Large Division. They have six games remaining, five of which are on the road and three of which are ECC Large Division games. They need to win two of the final three ECC Large Division games to win the Academy’s first ever ECC league title.
Gymnastics
The Academy gymnastics team kept on their year-plus winning streak alive with an impressive 143.75 to 125.00 victory over the Bears from Stonington High School. The Centaurs had a balanced attack on route to the victory. The Centaurs put up one of their highest point totals for the season. Woodstock Academy took the top three spots in the all-around and won each of the four individual events tonight. Winning the all-around was Courtney Osborne, second was Bree Hussong, and in third place was Nickie Deary. In the individual events Courtney Osborne won both the Vault and Floor and Sheila Segal, who is coming off an ankle injury, won both the beam and bars. Coach Robin Deary-Fillmore said, “I asked each of the girls to do something tonight for the team and they pulled together and had a great meet. I was very proud of them.”
Jan. 29
Girls' Basketball
The girls basketball team had an outstanding win last night at Fitch. The win moves them one win away from qualifying for postseason play. Early in the game, the team was given a lift by Bridget Matsas as she scored 7 of her 11 points in the first quarter. Liz Rondeau scored 10 points for the game, all in the third quarter, as she found room against the Fitch zone. Mary Leonard had a strong game including a huge 3 pt play late in the fourth. Harley Blodgett made two big foul shots down the stretch. Lindsey Weigand scored 8 points and Coleen Topliff did an excellent job distributing the ball and playing defense. The girls finish the season with Bacon, NFA, and Killingly all at home.