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Woodstock Academy freshman Lucas Quercia tries to get past East Lyme’s Apolonio Montejano to get to the ball in a match Friday at the Bentley Athletic Complex.

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Woodstock Academy sophomore John Bennett dribbles the ball downfield against East Lyme at the Bentley Athletic Complex Friday.
Woodstock Academy junior Maggie Marshall takes the ball downfield against Waterford. Photos by Marc Allard.


Roundup
Centaurs lose
close one
to Windham
It was a beautiful Homecoming Day. There was nary a cloud in the sky; the temperature, in the high 50s, was almost perfect for a football game.
Unfortunately, while it was a storybook start for the Woodstock Academy football team’s home opener, it was not a storybook ending as Windham held on for a 20-14 win over the Centaurs.
Acting head coach Connor Elliott said, “I thought it was a really good football game that we, unfortunately, came out on the short end of.”
The Whippets (3-0) took the lead just a little under two minutes into the fourth quarter.
Quarterback Zach Robinson-Smey, who had a 28-yard touchdown run called back by a chop-block call just eight plays before, got inside the pylon from four yards out to put the Whippets up four and a two-point conversion pass from Smey to Travis Mangual raised that to six.
Woodstock (1-1) looked like it was going to answer quickly.
The Centaurs drove to the Windham 14-yard line and had a 2nd-and-6. But one of the nine sacks by Windham of Woodstock quarterback Teddy Richardson and an incompletion left the Centaurs with a 4th-and-11.
A pass from Richardson to Carter Morissette came up 1-yard shy.
The defense held and forced a Windham punt giving Woodstock the ball at the Whippets 45-yard line. Three sacks and two false starts later, the Centaurs were back on their own 19 and an incomplete pass ended the game.
Whippets’ defensive ends Asael Garcia and Jaycee Diaz gave the Woodstock offensive line fits.
The Centaurs moved the ball on their first possession but it ended on fourth down when Richardson was sacked at his own 40.
Windham needed only six plays to score on a 23-yard run by Victor Mejia (20 carries, 111 yards).
The Woodstock defense held tough twice, stopping Windham when the Centaurs turned over the ball on their own 22 and again on the 16-yard line.
“I’m just so proud of the effort against a team that is as physical as we’re going to see for, at least, the first half of the season. Windham should probably be a state playoff team with their experience, the way they play and how they run,” Elliott said.
It was a special teams mistake that allowed the Centaurs to take a 7-6 lead just before the half.
A fumble on a rare Woodstock punt was recovered by Brandon Nagle at the Windham 33.
It took nine plays, but Richardson (7 carries, 26 yards) finally found the end zone from two yards out for a 7-6 halftime lead.
The Whippets re-took the lead early in the second half when Mejia knocked a ball loose and Diaz recovered it at the Windham 45-yard line. Six plays later, Mangual weaved his way through the Woodstock Academy defense for a 12-7 lead with 5:29 left in the third quarter.
The Centaurs roared back with an eight-play drive that took just a little over two minutes. Richardson found Lucas Theriaque near the sideline. The senior made a slick move around a Windham defensive back and crossed the goal line for a 14-yard score.
Theriaque finished with seven catches for 78 yards.
“We know we always have him and Brandon Nagle,” Elliott said. “Lucas had his number called more (Saturday) which is why he stood out more. If they were giving us looks to Brandon Nagle’s side, he would have done the same thing. Hats off to Jackson Gallagher, making his first start, I thought he played really well.”
Despite the pressure Richardson was under from Windham, the junior quarterback was still able to 13 of his 27 passes for 136 yards.
“He’s a tough kid,” Elliott said. “He got beat up (Saturday). He’s over at the trainer now. He may be kind of a string bean but he keeps getting up if he gets knocked down. I’m really proud of that and I’m glad he’s here. He’s working his butt off just like everyone else.”
Girls’ Cross-Country
Centaurs raise record to 4-1
Coach Joe Banas called it “the biggest meet of the regular season.” Unfortunately, this round belonged to host E. Lyme.
The Centaurs hung in last week with their top four runners finishing in the sixth through ninth spots in the quad-meet; however, E. Lyme got the 1-2-3 finish against the Centaurs to guarantee itself the 23-32 win.
“At the moment, the gap between their top three and our first is huge,” Banas said.
But that could change by the time the two next get together at the ECC championship meet in October.
The Centaurs have a high ceiling with room to improve as they were led by two newcomers, Leila Kwairedinord and Olivia Tracy, who finished sixth and seventh overall.
“Olivia ran very little over the summer and she is coming up to the front with Leila who has not touched her tip yet. If those two can move a little closer and an East Lyme runner has a bad day, it could be interesting,” Banas said.
Banas said both Lauren Brule and Julia Coyle, who finished eighth and ninth respectively, could also potentially close the gap a bit as they felt like they could have run a little better
The Centaurs did raise their record to 4-1 overall with a 25-33 win over Ledyard and a 15-50 victory over Tourtellotte.
Kira Greene placed 12th, Sydney Lord 15th and Tessa Brown 18th to round out the seven runners for Woodstock.
The Centaurs did get a measure of revenge against E. Lyme later in the week.
Woodstock finished eighth overall in the girls Varsity 2 race Sept. 24 at the Ocean State Invitational cross-country meet in Warwick.
E. Lyme, which did hold a couple of their top runners out of the meet according to Banas, was 11th.
Tracy was first for the Centaurs in 41st place overall while Coyle was 47th.
 Boys’ Cross-Country
Centaurs happy with quad-meet results
The Woodstock boys’ cross-country team took on numbers-rich E. Lyme last week and came away pretty happy with its effort.
The Centaurs (3-2, 0-1 ECC Div. I) didn’t win but they were within shouting distance, falling 27-37.
Coach Peter Lusa said, “I was pleased with all the boys’ efforts. Christian (Menounos) ran a slightly slower time (than the first meet in Waterford) but it was a very competitive course. All I kept hearing the boys say was that they went out too fast so more training and practice will be good and they are diagnosing themselves.”
Menounos finished in third overall (17:32) behind E. Lyme’s Brendan Fant and Nate Bergman. The Centaurs Vince Bastura was fifth with Colton Sallum in 10th.
Charlie Cagiano was 14th and Joel Koleszar finished 18th to account for the top five.
Woodstock did post wins over Ledyard 26-29 and Tourtellotte 15-50.
“It was a nice win over Ledyard. They have something like 40 guys on their team so it was good for our kids to go up against these folks and see what things were like,” Lusa said.
Lusa was pleasantly surprised later in the week as his Centaurs placed fifth in the boys’ Varsity 2 race Sept. 24 at the Ocean State Invitational.
Menounos placed 13th and Bastura 14th for the Centaurs.
Volleyball
Centaurs surpass 2021 win total
Last year is now clearly in the rearview mirror. The Centaurs surpassed their five-win total of 2021 last week with a pair of victories over Killingly and Coventry to open the season on a six-match win streak.
“We struggled through last season to get those five wins so coming out and get six right away was nice,” said coach Adam Bottone. “I was hoping it could have been seven.”
The Centaurs saw the early season win streak come to an end when they fell to NFA on the road, 3-2, Sept. 23.
“If we use (the loss) as a learning experience, don’t dwell on it and don’t let it negatively impact us moving forward, there is still a lot of volleyball to be played. I still expect to get into the postseason, be a contender for the ECC titles, so there is still a lot to get done,” Bottone added.
The Centaurs needed just two more wins to get into the state tournament coming into this week.
It was a back-and-forth affair in Norwich. The Centaurs went into the match without senior libero Ellie Nunes due to a thumb injury. She did come on to play a little but was continually bothered by the injury.
The host Wildcats won the first (25-22) and third sets (25-21) while the Centaurs took the second and fourth by identical 25-19 scores.
The decisive fifth set went to NFA, 16-14.
The Centaurs (6-1, 0-1 ECC Div. I) went up 12-9 in the final set, but an NFA block and a service error by the Centaurs helped the Wildcats tie the match at 14 and they got the final two points for the win.
Liliana Bottone finished with 17 kills for the Centaurs while Morgan Bonin added 10. Sophie Gronski was again solid at setter with 35 assists.
Woodstock opened the week with a 3-0 win in Killingly. Liliana Bottone had 12 kills and four digs while Nunes had seven digs and Gronski contributed 22 assists and 11 digs as Adam Bottone substituted liberally.
Coventry was much more difficult as the Centaurs were just able to prevail on the road, 3-2. Reegan Reynolds led the team with 16 kills while Liliana Bottone added 14 and Nunes had 25 digs in the five-set marathon.
“Coventry was a really good team with a really good defense and we just plugged away and pulled it out. It was nice to be away and win a decisive fifth set, 17-15. As we move further into the season and we’re in these situations where are backs are against the wall, we have some matches that have gone to a fifth set and further than 15 points. While I don’t thoroughly enjoy that, it does give us the experience that we need,” Adam Bottone said.
Boys’ Soccer
Ball just not going into the net for the Centaurs
Offense was hard to come by for the boys’ soccer team in matches this week against Bacon Academy and E. Lyme.
Fortunately for the Centaurs, they were able to scratch out a scoreless tie against Bacon early in the week.
Sept. 23 Woodstock played host to E. Lyme and fell, 2-0.
Assistant coach Jason Tata said, “We haven’t put one in the back of the net in the last two games and you can’t win games without putting the ball in. You look at the way we’re playing and we’re dominating teams in possession but it’s the six minutes that they get a hold of the ball and put it in the back of the net. We just have to figure out how to score more.”
Woodstock did have chances early including a header by Randall Rawcliffe that E. Lyme keeper Connor Piper was able to snatch out of the air.
The Centaurs (1-3-2, 1-2 ECC Div. I)  had three good chances early but the momentum began to shift.
“You have to win the midfield and we began to lose possession and started to give them a little more room and that made them more comfortable and they took advantage,” Tata said.
It led to the Vikings (4-2, 2-0 ECC Div. I) getting what proved to be the game winner 25 minutes into the contest when senior Ian Cambridge scored.
East Lyme added an insurance goal just about 10 minutes later on a tally from Ryan Wargo off a rebound from a shot by Quincy Gates-Graceson.
“Paul (Rearden) loves being down 2-0; he loves being in that position because it is so dangerous. It’s just enough where teams get a little overconfident and start throwing games away. Unfortunately, we couldn’t capitalize,” Tata said.
The Centaurs did not have a shot in the second half.
Against the Bobcats, Brian Jameson made nine saves in goal to save the scoreless tie for the Centaurs in Colchester.
Field Hockey
Goals continue to be hard to come by for Centaurs
Woodstock played well defensively against Killingly. But the offense continues to be looking for answers.
The Centaurs fell to Killingly, 2-0 Sept. 22. The loss dropped Woodstock to 2-4 overall and 0-3 in the ECC.
The Centaurs had just two shots on goal for the day.
“Not a lot of offensive chances,” said co-head coach Donte Adams. “But we’re going to get better on that. We’re doing really well on the defensive side but we definitely have to score some goals. We’re young. I think we just have to be more aggressive.”
Killingly scored 10 minutes, 22 seconds into the contest when Aila Gutierrez dribbled the ball into the shooting circle and passed to Alexis Rainey. The senior saw sophomore Lilah Dunn sneaking in from the far post and sent it to her, Dunn re-directed the ball into the net.
Killingly added an insurance goal when Gutierrez scored halfway through the third quarter.
Goalie Ava Basak made sure it didn’t get any worse as she recorded seven saves in net.
“Ava always comes out and plays hard for us,” Adams said of the senior. “She is definitely one of the leaders on this team and everyone relies on her. She’s our backbone. She kept us in there by limiting their goals with some really nice saves.”
The Centaurs scored 10 goals in their first two games but have been in a drought ever since.
“We aren’t worried about it but we have to get better. The girls are young and are willing to listen, adapt and adjust. That’s what (co-head) coach Gerry (LaMontagne) and I work on and they have done a pretty good job of keeping their spirits up.” Adams added.
The Centaurs opened the week with a 6-0 loss to Waterford.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy