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The season opener for the Woodstock Academy Gold prep basketball featured some numbers that may cause concern for some coaches.
The Centaurs shot 38 percent from the floor, just 17 percent from 3-point land and 57 percent from the free throw line.
Coach Jacque Rivera was not worried. After all, his team posted a 68-53 win over Thetford Prep in the Woodstock Academy Invitational opener Nov. 2 despite those stats.
“In the land of prep school basketball, when you don’t play your best and still come out on top, you just want to keep it moving in the right direction. If you can have those horrific numbers and still have success, that ball will go in. It’s the law of averages. We’re not going to shoot that bad every night,” Rivera said.
New York International Academy was on the receiving end of a much more typical offensive performance by the Gold squad which rolled to a 127-61 victory at the Alumni Fieldhouse.
The Centaurs didn’t miss much against the Eagles and they started with not one, but two 3-pointers.
Off the tip, Woodstock Academy found Michael Jefferson open in the left corner. He buried the 3-pointer.
The Eagles turned the ball over and the Centaurs again found Jefferson in the corner. Same result.
“That was key,” said Centaurs’ teammate Dyondre Dominguez. “We had to start off good (Sunday) after the bad start (on Saturday).”
Josh Davis and Cairo McCroy chimed in with 3-pointers of their own a few minutes later and five consecutive points by Jamon Kemp put the Centaurs up by 16.
The Centaurs just had too many answers offensively for New York International and too much length defensively.
The Eagles had troubles just getting the ball over halfcourt due to their lack of size.
The barrage continued. The Centaurs went up by 27 when McCroy and Kemp hit back-to-back slams. Kemp, who scored 19 of his 21 points in the first half, added two more buckets and Dominguez, who led the Centaurs with 23 points, added a basket off a nifty behind the back pass from McCroy and then drained a 3-pointer.
McCroy also set up Dominguez in the second half with a little kiss off the glass that resulted in a two-handed slam for the 6-8 post from Providence.
By the time that dunk went down, the Centaurs were having a little fun, putting on a show for the fans. The game was essentially over by halftime when Woodstock Academy owned a 65-25 lead.
The win over Thetford Prep took a bit more work. It was only a seven-point lead for the Centaurs with 4:54 to play.
But a 10-0 run spurred by eight points from Quran McPherson, who led the team with 14 points, put the game away. McCroy and Kemp each added 13 points in the win.
Blue Team Splits
With just under 10 seconds left in the game between the Woodstock Academy Blue prep basketball team and Thetford Prep Nov. 3 at the Alumni Fieldhouse, Centaurs’ guard Nahshon Battle got the ball on the left side, just beyond the 3-point arc.
Battle, who finished with a game-high 20 points, let it fly.
“One hundred percent,” Blue coach Denzel Washington said when asked if he thought it was going down. It went down and, unfortunately, came back out.
The Centaurs fell two points short, 45-43, and had to settle for a split in the season-opening Woodstock Academy Invitational tournament over the weekend.
The Centaurs opened with an 87-68 win over New York International Academy Nov. 2. The Blue team started off well against Thetford Prep.  Vondre Chase scored the first two points of the game and Trevor Green, after a Thetford turnover, hit a 3-pointer.
Add five more unanswered points by Battle and Woodstock Academy opened a 10-0 lead with 13:23 left in the first half.
That was the end of the good news. The Centaurs scored five more points in the remainder of the first half and never were able to find their stride offensively. Thetford Prep was able to establish the tempo it wanted against the Centaurs.
The Centaurs only other first half points came on a 3-pointer by Chase and a Darryl Mackey bucket.
Thetford Prep led at the break, 20-15. 
The Centaurs made only 5-of-32 from the floor and had to endure a pair of five-minute scoring droughts. Still, Woodstock Academy did take the lead back early in the second half on a 3-pointer by Battle.
Thetford retook the lead for good when it went on a 10-2 run midway through the second half. Green finished with eight points in the loss.
The Centaurs received 21 points from Chase and 20 from MacKey off the bench in the win over New York International.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

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What Woodstock Academy girls’ soccer coach Dennis Snelling wanted for the final regular season game was a good, close match with Plainfield.
He got his wish.He would have liked it even better if it had gone the other way, but the Centaurs had to settle for a 1-0 loss to the Panthers  last week.
The loss meant the Centaurs finished 10-5-1 on the season.
“I don’t think too many people outside of myself would have guessed that we would be a 10-win team based on what we graduated. It’s nice to overachieve,” Snelling said.
Snelling said, additionally, it went by pretty fast because the group he has this season has been a lot of fun to work with.
“It’s been really good,” agreed senior Linda St. Laurent. “The girls are great and we just gel so well together as a team. We lost a lot from last year, it made a little bit of a difference, but I feel like we fired back strong. We knew what we had to fill in and filled it in well.”
One of the biggest losses to graduation last year was the 19 goals provided by Ivy Gelhaus.
Her younger sister, freshman Grace, and junior Peyton Saracina picked up that slack.
Grace Gelhaus finished with 16 goals and added 8 assists while Saracina had 13 goals and 9 assists.
“I think they are two of the best forwards in the league, particularly in Division I. I don’t think we’ve had a duo up top that has put up those kind of statistics. It’s been great to watch especially since they both have another year or three, it’s exciting for the future of the team,” Snelling said.
The two have grown as the season has progressed, not only as soccer players.
But in the final game of the season, Plainfield (12-1-3) did something that more teams are trying to do.
Take one of the front duo out of the equation.
The Panthers put senior Izzy Newbury on Gelhaus and it was an effective strategy.
Gelhaus had to fight for her touches and had only two second half shots.
“It seems like every team we played, like NFA with Kayla Park, seem to feel like they have to keep one of their faster players back and they’re probably right to honor Grace’s speed and skill,” Snelling said.
They went into the ECC Div. 1 tournament as the fourth seed and their semifinal game will be another matchup with the Panthers, the top seed, in Plainfield on Tuesday (the game ended too late for this edition).
“I think we will make a few changes tactically,” Snelling said. “I don’t think you can show up with the same thing a week later and expect anything different.”
Plainfield’s defense played well last week, so did Woodstock Academy’s.
The Panthers came into the match, outshooting opponents, 230-71.
The Centaurs outshot them, 10-4.
“They gave us a good challenge at the beginning of the season (a 5-3 win for the Panthers) and a good challenge (last week). It was just one goal, it’s not that big of a scoring differential,” Centaurs senior Hallie Saracina said.
The only goal came with 5:29 left in the first half when Plainfield was awarded a free kick from 35 yards out.
The Panthers’ senior put it into the box where Centaurs keeper Rachel Holden made the initial stop.
Unfortunately, the rebound got away from her. Kate Carleson found it and the Assumption College-bound senior kicked it past Holden and into the net for her team-leading 13th goal of the season.
Carleson also had a chance on a breakaway in the second half but her shot went wide right.
If the Panthers have to overcome something in the league semifinals, it will be the old adage that it is very difficult to beat a team three times in one season.
The Centaurs do go in as defending ECC champs. Plainfield has been in the last two finals, but has yet to win. It was likely not the final home match for the Centaurs who should get a home match in the state tournament.
But it was Senior Day and the five seniors on the team, Holden, Emma Redfield, St. Laurent, Kayla Gaudreau and Hallie Saracina were all honored prior to the contest.
 Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

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Before the CIAC State Open championship even took place Nov. 1 in Manchester, Woodstock Academy girls’ cross-country coach Joe Banas sat down and crunched the numbers for the three Centaur runners who had qualified for the event.
He then projected where each should finish based on the previous week’s performance by everyone at the state championship meets.
He thought both sophomore Linsey Arends on the girls’ side and junior boys’ runner Ethan Aspiras had a chance albeit less than a 50-50 one to finish in the top 25 and qualify for the New England championship race this weekend.
“The numbers going in had (Arends) at 37th or 38th and from that list and she just needed to drop about 15 or 16 seconds,” Banas said.That would have been to reach the  top 25. Nov. 1, she finished in 33rd.
After a storm the night before, the course was, at best, mushy. At worst, downright treacherous.
Gusts were occasionally peaking around 40 miles per hour during the race. “It was very tough,” Arends said.
Arends tried to start a little slower so as to conserve energy for the end of the race.
That was also difficult as runners tend to get swept up in the pack.
It hurt Arends a bit when she tried to catch ECC champ and fellow sophomore Jordan Malloy of Bacon Academy.
Arends was, like she had been in the ECC championship meet, within shouting distance of Malloy. She just couldn’t quite catch her.
Malloy also just missed out on qualifying for New England’s with a 30th place finish.
It was Arends’ second State Open opportunity. She finished 61st as a freshman.
She’s hopeful that she will again make the Open in 2020 and, this time, crack the top 25.
Woodstock Academy junior Stella DiPippo was running in her first State Open championship.
She found one of the pitfalls quickly.
“There was a huge crowd around me the whole race. It was not like any other race I had run at Wickham. I got swallowed up in the middle of a big circle. It kind of makes it more fun because you stick with one girl and try to pass another but it is hard with the footing because you have people in front, behind and to the side,” DiPippo said.
With nowhere to go, DiPippo finished in 84th.
“It looked like she was trapped because I saw her on a hill and she couldn’t go left, couldn’t go right and when you can’t get traction or shift to either side, trapped is a good term to use,” Banas said.
Boys
Woodstock Academy junior Ethan Aspiras was the only Centaur boys’ runner to qualify for the State Open and, like both Arends and DiPippo, had outside hopes of making the New England championship by placing in the top 25.
Aspiras was running in his first-ever State Open race. He finished in 46th.
He wasn’t disappointed.
“I was just going for time,” Aspiras said. “I got 17:05 and on a day like (Friday) where there were mud pits and 40 miles per hour wind, it was brutal. But I think I still did well just based on my time.”
Aspiras was locked back in the 80s early in the race but gradually worked his way through the pack.
The Woodstock Academy coaching staff, based on prior times, had predicted Aspiras might break the top 40, coming in around 39th. His actual finish was not all that far off.
He ran the kind of race that we expected him to run. There’s always that tug between running hard from beginning to end and possibly burning out, and holding back a little bit at parts of the race so that you can finish strong. I feel he did a little bit of both (Friday),” said Woodstock Academy boys’ cross-country coach Peter Lusa.
Aspiras, the ECC champ, was the third finisher from the league in the race. E. Lyme sophomore Luke Anthony finished 38th and Griswold freshman Michael Strain was 42nd.
No runner from the ECC qualified for the New England championship.
Lusa said the big challenge for Aspiras may be taking on the one person who can hold him back and that is himself.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

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Rev. Frank Perkins,
WWII vet
KILLINGLY — Rev. Frank Card Perkins, 92, of Killingly died Oct. 17, 2019, at the Colonial Health & Rehab Center of Plainfield.
He was born Dec. 9, 1926, the son of the late Vivan and Viola (Johnson) Perkins. Raised in E. Killingly, he left home in 1944 to enlist in the U.S. Navy to serve in WWII as a seaman on board the USS Daniel, a destroyer escort ship engaged in the cross Atlantic convoy supply effort.
Frank worked for many years in the polishing dept. at Ivanhoe Tool & Die Co. in Thompson, a maker of high-precision injection molds. In his spare time he was an adept cabinet maker, spending many hours in his well-equipped woodshop constructing quality furniture for his family and friends. In his retired years he expanded his talents to decorative painted crafts with his youngest daughter Mary.
Frank was for many years the pastor at the Attawaugan Methodist Church and later at the South Killingly Congregational Church.
Aug. 30, 1952 Frank married the love of his life, Rosamond Flagg, who predeceased him in August, 2009. He leaves three daughters, Susan Smith (Wayne) of E. Hartford, Melody Ingalls (James) of Brooklyn, and Mary Blain of Danielson; five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren; Laura (Ingalls) Muollo of Dracut, Mass., and her children Tyler and Rose; Zachary Blain of Hebron and his children Theo and Alex; Ezekiel Blain of Watervliet, N.Y.; Eric Ingalls of Rego Park, N.Y.; and Nicole (Blain) Puhlick of Amston, and her daughter Gabriella.
A Memorial Service was Oct. 26 in Tillinghast Funeral Home, Danielson. Donations: The American Diabetes Association, 2451 Crystal Drive – Suite 900, Arlington, VA 22202.

Nikos Agathos
PUTNAM — Nikos Agathos, 81, of Putnam, died Oct. 14, 2019, at Manchester Memorial Hospital in Manchester.
Nikos was born Oct. 14, 1938, in Kanakades, Kerkira, Greece, son of the late Spiro and Andromachi (Revis) Agathos. He served in the Greek Army.
He was married to Stella (Moumouris) Agathos for 60 years. Nikos immigrated to the U.S. in 1966. He was the owner and operator of Center Pizza in Putnam for 20 years. Nikos was an avid sports fan.
Besides his wife Stella he leaves two children, Spiros Agathos and Anna Agathos, both of Putnam; his brother Jimmy Agathos of Danielson; and sister Olga Revis of Greece; nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his brother George Agathos.
The Funeral was Oct. 18 at The Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, Danielson with burial in Westfield Cemetery. Donations: The Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church. Tillinghast Funeral Home, Danielson.

P. Sherman-Derouin
MOOSUP — Patti Sherman-Derouin, 67, of Moosup died Oct. 14, 2019. She was born in Putnam to the late George and Evelyn (Love) Roper.
She was the head of Human Resources for Vibranalysis Inc. and its subsidiaries. She enjoyed spending time with her family and dogs Bosch and Beau. Patti loved going for long rides, reading, music, beading, knitting, traveling and she was a decorative painting artist.
Besides her husband Jeffrey Derouin; she leaves three daughters Melissa and her husband Fredrick Nordstrom of Sterling, Keri Kania of Danielson, Tyesha Cox (Jamie) of Bristol; her sister Linda Roper Jameson (Jesse) of New Fairfield; grandchildren: Kaila, Zacharia Tyler, Madelene, Aleah, Justin, Brandan and Madelene; great-grandchildren: Destiny, Devon, Jaylen, Kadyn, Kamdyn, Kaiya, Tanner, Payton, Anastasia and Dominic. Nephews Neil, Scott and Ben.
Tillinghast Funeral Home, Danielson.

Norma F. Wolfe
PUTNAM — Norma F. Wolfe, 87, of Putnam, died Oct. 25, 2019, at Villa Maria Nursing and Rehabilitation Community in Plainfield.
She was born Nov. 12, 1931, in Danielson, daughter of the late Donald J. and Marion (Perry) Field. Norma retired in 1994 after being employed by The State of Connecticut for several years.
She leaves four children, Leisa Berube (Edward), Robert Rutledge (Pamela), James Rutledge (Cynthia) and Heidi Driscoll (Henry); eight grandchildren, Christopher Currier (Faith), Gregory Currier, Donald Rutledge (Rebecca), Erica Dumont (Eric), William Rutledge, Duncan Driscoll, Cameron Driscoll and Abigail Driscoll; eight great-grandchildren, Alexis, Brian, James Donald, Hannah, Flynn, Aurora, Avery and Allison; sister-in-law Jeanne Field; special friends Alice and Edward Senecal, Louise Salmon, and Frances “Mildred” Sharpe. She was predeceased by her brother Joslyn P. Field.
The Funeral was private. Donations: Charity of your choice. Tillinghast Funeral Home, Danielson.

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