Cairo McCroy had a big day coming up on Monday.
That’s when he signed his National Letter of Intent to play for the University of Massachusetts.
But the Woodstock Academy Gold postgraduate basketball player got ready for that with a pretty impressive display on the court Nov. 16.
The Hartford native scored 20 of his 27 points in the first half and led the Centaurs to a 91-73 win over Spire Academy of Ohio in the Power 5 Conference Tip Off tournament.
The win raised the Gold team’s record to 5-0.
“I had a good shoot around, I was feeling good, knocking down shots. Coach (Jacque Rivera) is giving me a lot of confidence in my jump shot and my skills. He gets mad at me if I don’t apply them so I had to do what I had to do,” McCroy said.
Spire Academy was capable and took a 7-2 lead out of the gate.
McCroy had the only early points, a pair of free throws, but Michael Jefferson’s free throw and baskets by Lawrence Foreman and Quinton McElroy quickly knotted the game.
The Centaurs took their first lead, 16-15, when McCroy put down a 3-pointer with 10:20 left in the first half.
The Centaurs took advantage of a drought by Spire, brought on, in part, by the pressure that Woodstock Academy put on their opponents.
Spire Academy’s Zim Nwokeji, who has committed to play for Florida State, hit a basket with 14:32 left in the half.
The next field goal didn’t come until just 4:53 was left.
After the McCroy 3-pointer, Quran McPherson went on a run of his own. The Woodstock guard hit a pair of two-point field goals and a 3-pointer, interrupted only by a Spire Academy free throw to put the Centaurs ahead, 23-16.
Benjamin Fort and McCroy followed with unanswered baskets and Joe Moon added a traditional three-point play to put the Gold team up, 30-16.
The lead would expand to as many as 15, but Spire Academy was still within range at the half when it cut the deficit to 12.
Spire Academy got it down to as few as 10 points once early in the second half but had foul trouble and eventually saw three starters foul out.
The Centaurs got a shot in the arm from Dyondre Dominguez who scored all 15 of his points in the second half.
It was similar to his effort in the tournament opener for the Gold Nov. 15 when they rolled past Rocktop Academy from Philadelphia, 128-62.
Dominguez scored all 18 of his points in the second half in that game as well.
The win over Rocktop featured seven players in double figures with center Chad Venning adding 13, Noel Scott 12 and both Joshua Davis and Ronnie DeGray finished with 11.
The Gold team does have some tougher assignments on the horizon.
It will take part in the National Prep Showcase this weekend at Albertus Magnus College.
The Centaurs play Hargrave Military Academy from Virginia at noon Nov. 22 and Mt. Zion Prep from Maryland at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 24.
Blue Back to .500
The Woodstock Academy Blue postgraduate team righted the ship over the weekend.
The Centaurs downed first-year prep program, Notre Dame-West Haven Nov. 15, 83-77 in a foul-marred contest and followed that up with a 90-41 victory over Hoosac School Nov. 16.
The two wins evened the Blue team’s record at 3-3.
“There is so much pressure off my back now,” a relieved Blue team coach Denzel Washington said. “All the team is back and this is most important for the guys.”
Woodstock wasted little time against Hoosac School.
Five points by Trevor Green and a Vondre Chase hoop put the Centaurs up early, 8-0.
The lead gradually built in the first half and by halftime, it was up to 22 points, 43-21.
Washington was able to utilize his bench in the second half.
Chase led the balanced attack with 12 points.
Hakan West and Elijah Blackman each added 11 points, Blackman getting all of his in the second half. Malikai Delgado added 10.
The victory came against former Blue head coach Nick DeFeo who is in the first year of coaching his own prep program.
The Blue team is back in action Nov. 20 against Capital Prep Harbor; at MacDuffie School Nov. 22. MacDuffie is coached by former Woodstock Academy athletic director and boys’ basketball coach Aaron Patterson.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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Honored
Woodstock Academy cross-country runners, left to right: juniors Stella DiPippo and Ethan Aspiras and sophomore Linsey Arends received their Class MM All-State certificates at the Connecticut High School Coaches Association Cross-Country banquet. Arends finished second and DiPippo seventh in the Class MM girls’ state championship meet. Aspiras was fourth in the boys Class MM state meet. The top eight runners earned All-State recognition. Photo contributed by Jeff Arends.
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Gibbs finishes 9th
There are four divisions in New England Prep Cross Country. At the divisional championships, the top 20 finishers qualify for the All-Star Meet. By virtue of his 6th place finish in the Div. III Championship last week, Pomfret School senior co-captain Jeffrey Gibbs ’20 qualified for the recent All-Star Meet.
Thirty-five qualifiers toed the starting line for the 4,910 meter race. Gibbs ran his signature style, letting the rabbits go at the start and stalking them down, Jeffrey moved up, especially on the uphills where he excels, from 14th place at the 1st mile to 12th after the 2 mile mark, before finally sprinting past one runner in the final 10 meters for a terrific 9th place finish.
By David Ring
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Woodstock Academy junior Peyton Saracina said she looked at her sister, senior Hallie, at the end of the Centaurs Class L girls’ soccer state tournament 1st round match with East Haven and had just one thing to say.
“I said to her, ‘This feels weird,’” Peyton Saracina said.
For a change, the Centaurs were not packing up their gear for a final time.
The No. 12 Centaurs downed the 21st ranked Yellowjackets, 3-0, in the rain, snow and cold early last week.
Unfortunately, the state tournament run didn’t last as long as Woodstock would have liked.
The Centaurs traveled to a second round match Nov. 21 and fell to No. 5 Mercy High School, 1-0.
Woodstock Academy finished with an 11-7-1 record.
Still, the win over East Haven was the first state tournament victory for the Centaurs girls’ soccer program since 2013.
The jinx is over.
“It’s great,” said coach Dennis Snelling. “We wanted to win a state tournament game. To finally get one, not moving on because of a bye, is a nice thing.”
“For the rest of the season, it’s going to be like this,” said Centaurs’ senior Emma Redfield. “It’s definitely tough. Snow, freezing cold, you couldn’t feel your fingers, but we’re all athletes, we have to play through it.”
Woodstock Academy took 18 shots and held East Haven to one.
The Centaurs got on the scoreboard in the first half when freshman Grace Gelhaus sent a cross from deep on the left side to the opposite post which Peyton Saracina redirected into the goal.
Peyton Saracina finished with 15 goals on the season.
The Centaurs had 10 other shots on the goal in the half, but six of them were fired at the 6-foot E. Haven keeper, Angelina Munoz.
“1-0 in a state game, we’ve had before and it’s not enough. We talked about not getting too emotional with the lead, wait until the game is over,” Snelling said about his halftime chat with his team.
The Centaurs certainly didn’t settle in the second half.
Woodstock added the insurance goal it needed when Gelhaus scored an unassisted goal, her 17th of the season, 12 minutes into the second half.
Adeline Smith finished off the scoring with a header off a cross from Peyton Saracina with just under 16 minutes to play.
It was Smith’s fourth goal of the season.
The Centaurs were optimistic going into their second-round match with the Tigers. It was a scoreless match at halftime in the less than ideal conditions.
The Woodstock coach said his team had three or four good first half chances.
One, a shot by Peyton Saracina, just cleared the cross bar and landed on the back of the net.
Peyton Saracina also helped create a couple of other first half chances that just would not go in.
The only real opportunity in the second half was a free kick from just outside the box that Redfield put a little too close to the Mercy keeper.
The Tigers finally broke the deadlock with 11 ½ minutes to play. Emma McMurray took a pass from Katie Menard and slipped it past Centaurs’ keeper Rachel Holden.
“The ball went across the box and two of our defenders slipped and missed it in succession. (McMurray) did not,” Snelling said.
The good thing for Snelling was that the Centaurs saved the best for last. The Centaurs lose Holden, Redfield, Linda St. Laurent, Kayla Gaudreau and Hallie Saracina to graduation.
“The whole roster is varsity ready and I think we’re set up nice for next year,” Snelling said. “The goal was to get better every day and we did that. We wanted to make the (ECC) tournament and we did that. We finished with our best game. We had a lot of positives in terms of leadership and few major injuries so it was a good season.”
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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