Legal Notice

Public Hearing 

Notice

Town of Pomfret

Planning and

Zoning Commission

The Pomfret Planning & Zoning Commission will hold the following Public Hearings at its regular meeting on October 18, 2017, starting at 7:00 PM at the Old Town House:

 

1. David Santosuosso, 143 Kearney Road — Special permit application for an in-law apartment.  Conversion of a two-family home into a single-family with in-law apartment.

2. Roger Daigle, 193A Pomfret Street — Special permit application for a 694 square foot addition to an existing storage building.

3. David Heroux, 25 Ragged Hill Road — Special permit application for an 1132 square foot garage addition to an existing building.

 

A copy of these applications is on file in the office of the Planning and Zoning Commission, 5 Haven Road, Pomfret Center, Connecticut. These files are available for review during normal business hours.

 

Town of Pomfret

Planning & Zoning Commission

Dated this 25th day 

of September 2017

 

Lynn L. Krajewski, 

Clerk

 

Oct. 4 2017

Oct. 11, 2017

 

 

PUTNAM — After transferring to Putnam Science Academy last fall, expectations for sophomore forward Akok Akok were sky high. During preseason workouts and open gym sessions he was a high-flying, shot-blocking beast. 

When the calendar turned to the beginning of the season it became more difficult for the young forward to find minutes in a crowded front court that featured older, more seasoned players. His teammates in the front court this year are now freshman at high major schools such as Georgia, South Florida, Texas Tech and Xavier. With all of them now moved on the stage is set for Akok to take over. 

Last season Akok saw limited playing time on the 34-7 Mustangs Prep team, but come the offseason he was ready to work. Akok focused on getting stronger in the weight room and developing his skill set on the court. 

“It was definitely tough for Akok to sit on the bench and watch because he is a competitive kid and wants to play,” said Head Coach Tom Espinosa. “I give him a ton of credit that in the face of adversity he came to practice each day and worked hard. Then come game day he was always supportive and cheering on his teammates.”

All of the hard work and long practices in the season prepared Akok for the big AAU season in April. After having an outstanding April live period in front of hundreds of division 1 colleges numerous ACC schools were knocking on his door. His offers from April included Louisville, Virginia Tech and N.C. State to name a few.

Now with offers in hand Akok is ready to prove himself in the world of prep school basketball. Espinosa says Akok will be his starting power forward this year and that he is expecting big things from the junior. 

“This fall Akok has been great on the court and in the classroom. He is a completely different kid this fall,” said Espinosa. “Last year he was quite and at times lacked confidence, but this year he is always talking, being a leader and extremely confident.”

Akok has been a priority for a numerous high major schools this fall as Virginia Tech, Michigan, N.C. State, Tulane, Providence, Rutgers and others have made the trip to the quiet corner of Connecticut to see PSA’s budding star.

“Akok does things that a lot of kids can’t do. He is 6-feet, 8-inches, can knock down the 3 point shot and defensively he blocks everything in sight. If he continues to work hard the sky is the limit,” said Espinosa.

 

 

The girls’ soccer team certainly knows how to spread the wealth.

Brynn Kusnarowis and Emma Redfield scored their first-career varsity goals in a 2-0 win over Killingly Oct. 4.

The Centaurs (8-2, 5-1 Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II) now have 10 different goal scorers in the first 10 matches.

Kusnarowis is just a freshman while Redfield is a sophomore who didn’t play last year.

For Kusnarowis, her first career goal came in an unusual fashion.

Olivia Perry normally takes the free kicks, but coach Dennis Snelling with 12 minutes, 17 seconds left in the first half told Kusnarowis to give it a shot.

It was hardly a threat.

The ball was 42 yards from the net and Kusnarowis was just trying to get the ball to Ivy Gelhaus on the play. But the ball sailed over the head of the Woodstock Academy forward, bouncing right in front of Killingly keeper Sarah Azizi and then, over her head to the back of the net.

Kusnarowis said the goal wasn’t due to any strategy especially since the turf is not something the Centaurs get on often.

“Our team doesn’t really get to practice too often on the turf, it’s not necessarily a disadvantage, because we love playing on it,” she said.

Snelling said his decision to have Kusnarowis take the free kick was because “she can crush the ball.” Whether the freshman knew it or not, she also sent it in the right direction.

“Put the ball in the penalty box, opposite post, there is a better chance it lands in the right spot. It landed in the right spot,” Snelling said.

It was one of the few shots by Woodstock that did. 

The Centaurs took 25 shots at the Killingly net.

“It’s definitely something that our team needs to work on,” Kusnarowis said of the inability to finish. “We’re great on connecting those passes. We have to work on finishing.”

The only other goal came with just 4:24 left when an Ashleigh Angle shot was knocked away but the rebound came out to Redfield who scored from just inside the penalty area.

Still, Snelling said the ball has to go in the net more.

“Eventually, you’re going to outshoot someone 25-1 and you’re going to lose. We had a game where we outshot the other team, 18-3, and lost. I’m not worried about it, but it’s something we have to get better at,” Snelling said.

Woodstock Academy 1

Waterford 0

A Kennedy Davignon corner was the deciding factor for the second time in three matches.

Davignon’s corner to Ashleigh Angle provided an overtime victory over NFA just a week before and on Oct. 6, the senior delivered again.

Her ball found the foot of sophomore Emma Redfield - who scored for the second consecutive match – with 13 minutes left to give the Centaurs a 1-0 win over Waterford.

Woodstock outshot the Lancers, 25-8, and took 11 corners to just one for the Lancers (4-7, 1-6 Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II).

Irene Askitis made six saves for the Centaurs.

The win kept Woodstock (9-2) even with Bacon Academy for first place in Division II. Both teams sport 6-1 records.

Volleyball

Woodstock 3

Windham 0

Caroline Eaton had five kills to lead the Centaurs (9-3) to their sixth straight win, 3—0 over Windham, in Willimantic  Oct. 4.

Natalie Low added three kills as Woodstock posted wins of 25-7, 25-19, 25-12 over the Whippets (2-8).

Field Hockey

Enfield 6

Woodstock Academy 0

The Centaurs traveled to take on undefeated Enfield, currently the No. 1 tanked team in Class L, and suffered the shutout defeat.

Hannah Reynolds had seven defensive saves for the Centaurs (3-5), Rachel Roberts added six saves in the cage.

Kaitlyn Bourque and Tori Geaglone each had two goals and an assist for Enfield (8-0).

Woodstock 0

Fitch-Ledyard 2

Olivia Stanikmas made 11 saves for Woodstock Academy (3-4, 3-4 Eastern Connecticut Conference) but two got by and the Centaurs fell to the Fitch/Ledyard cooperative Oct. 5. The Centaurs mustered only eight shots against the Falcons (5-5, 4-4). Hannah Reynolds had eight defensive saves for Woodstock.

Volleyball

Woodstock 3

Ledyard 0

Newcomer Paula Hernandez had 19 kills and Sammie Orlowski added 32 assists to lead the Centaurs (10-3) to their seventh straight win, 3-0, over Ledyard Oct. 6. Woodstock posted victories of 25-15, 25-13 and 25-8. Natalie Low added 12 kills.

Cross Country

Woodstock 18

Stonington 43

Woodstock assistant coach Joe Banas, prior to the only home meet of the season for the Centaurs’ girls’ cross-country team Oct. 3, was already thinking about next week’s meet with Stonington.

Head coach John Ywarsky reminded Banas that the Centaurs first had to get past Waterford. Banas’ confidence was well-founded.

The Centaurs downed the Lancers 18-43 to raise their record to 4-0 in Division II of the Eastern Connecticut Conference and set up a meeting with the Bears Oct. 3.

“That is going to be a fight,” Ywarsky said of the Stonington meet. “They have one of the best teams and a couple of the top runners in the conference. Lily Anderson is fantastic, she will be in the running for the ECC championship in a couple of weeks and it’s going to be at their place and that always makes it tough.”

The Centaurs (6-0 overall) were pretty tough against the Lancers. They also scored victories over Windham and Plainfield which could not field full teams.

Freshman Stella DiPippo led the way, finishing first in 21 minutes, 52 seconds.

“We always try to take care of the freshmen because we know going from middle school to high school, it’s a lot more miles,” Ywarsky said. “She put in over 270 miles over the summer. She was ready to go.”

Ywarsky limited the freshman a bit in September, but let her have at it on the Stonebridge Road course.

DiPippo knew it wasn’t going to be easy, she was right.

“I was really tired, but I just kept pushing,” DiPippo said.

Senior teammate Hannah Matsas finished second in 23:06.

“She’s awesome. I’m so proud of her,” Matsas said of her young teammate. “I always knew she was going to be fast, but I didn’t realize how fast. She is insane. I’m excited to see what she will do this year.”

Iris Bazinet (24:04) placed fourth and Emily McClure (24:19) was fifth.

Marc Allard

Sports Information Director

 

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WOODSTOCK — A lot of effort, a lot of heart was evident on the football field Oct. 6.

“Unfortunately, the football was too sloppy,” Woodstock Academy coach Sean Saucier said. “I give Amherst a lot of credit.”

What the Hurricanes did was exploit a weakness in the Centaurs defense and it brought them a 22-14 win over Woodstock at Community Field on the Amherst- Pelham Regional School campus.

Saucier was concerned about the buck sweep with one back following a pair of guards around the corner.

His goal was to “stop the train.” The Centaurs (2-2) failed to do so.

“They kept doing it over and over and we, obviously, struggled to stop the play,” Saucier said.

It was that play that got the Hurricanes (4-1) what proved to be the game-winning touchdown with 6 minutes, 11 seconds left.

Alex Fernandes (18 carries, 150 yards) did what he had all night, getting to the outside, looking for the hole and when he saw it, cut it up the field for the 8-yard touchdown.

“He’s a very patient runner and he took what was there,” Saucier said.

Just moments before, Woodstock had tied the game at 14.

The Centaurs forged a seven-play, 82-yard drive with the help of a facemask call in just 2:42. Quarterback Derek Thompson (10-for-19 passing, 104 yards) found Luis Miranda for his second long catch of the night, a 22-yard reception, that got the Centaurs to the Hurricanes’ 32.

Thompson then hit Zach Douglas with a 7-yard pass to the 25 and Kameron Janice (22 carries, 123 yards) did the rest, taking it in for his only touchdown of the night.

“I thought Kameron ran his heart out,” Saucier said. “He was everything I had hoped he would be.”

But the Centaurs surrendered a big kickoff return by Steven Steele who took it to the Woodstock 37 and helped set up Fernandes winning score just under two minutes later.

The Centaurs did come back, driving the ball to the Amherst 31-yard line.

But on 4th down-and-1, the officials whistled the Centaurs for a false start and Thompson was sacked on the next play with 3:54 left.

Although they forced the Hurricanes to punt, the Amherst defense kept Woodstock from crossing the midfield stripe for the first time in the half to seal the win.

Amherst scored the only touchdown of the first half after the Centaurs failed to get a first down on a 4th-and-7 from their own 47. It took the Hurricanes nine plays to punch it in but Fernandes finally did so to give Amherst the 6-0 lead at the half.

Woodstock tied it up on their first drive of the second half on a 47-yard Thompson to Miranda (2 catches, 69 yards) connection.

But Amherst regained the lead on a 7-yard run by Joshua Vecchio (14 carries, 46 yards).

“It stinks. This one hurts, I’m not going to lie. The effort was there. The pride in themselves was there. We just have to learn how to win close games,” Saucier said.

Soccer

Woodstock 0

Waterford 2

Aaron Johnson hit the cross bar in the first half, but it was as close as the Centaurs would get to a goal Oct. 5 as Woodstock Academy fell in Waterford. The loss dropped the Centaurs to 7-4 overall, 4-3 in Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II.

Woodstock 2

Killingly 0

Ian Sohan scored the first goal of his high school career and helped Woodstock Academy to a 2-0 win over Killingly under the lights at Killingly High School Oct. 3. Eli Child put the Centaurs (7-3, 4-2 Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II) on the board in the first half when he scored a goal off an assist from Jack Gelhaus. “The boys passed the ball well, there was good movement. It was a good performance,” coach Paul Rearden said. Killingly fell to 2-6-1, 0-6.

Cross Country

Centaurs take 2 out of 3 in only home meet of season

Coach Peter Lusa didn’t know what to expect from Ethan Aspiras. The freshman runner is very familiar with cross-country, having run at St. James in Danielson for the last three years. But Aspiras let his mileage slide over the last few months.

“He didn’t run a lot this summer so I can’t wait to see what happens when he runs in the summer. His coach last year, Todd LePine, told me he was going to be a dynamo when he got here. I’ve been trying to hold him back, but he just needs to go,” Lusa said.

Lusa took off the reins Oct. 3.

The freshman from Brooklyn responded in the Centaurs only home meet of the season as he finished in 18 minutes, 52 seconds, good for first place on the team and third overall.

“I get worried every time I see him out front at the beginning, thinking he is going out too fast, but then, he just maintains. I’ve got to learn to put that fear aside,” Lusa said.

The Centaurs brought their overall record back to the .500 mark at 3-3 with wins over Plainfield and Windham by the same 23-36 score but saw their Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II record dip to 1-3 with a 19-43 loss to Waterford.

“This is the second-toughest course I’ve ever been on,” Aspiras said of the Stonebridge Road challenge. “A lot of hills, a lot of steep hills.”

The toughest course? Wickham Park.

The bad news for Aspiras is that the Centaurs next run on Saturday at the Wickham Park Invitational. The good news is that he will be running in the freshmen event which is a little shorter than what his varsity teammates will be facing.

Evan Gianfriddo (20:13) finished second for the Centaurs in 10th place overall while Kenneth Birlin was 12th in 20:27.

“It was OK,” Lusa said of the team’s performance. “I knew Waterford would be tough, they have a good pack (the Lancers put five in the top seven). Our guys held in. We had people to chase which was good.”

Marc Allard

Sports Information Director

 

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