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Left: The girls’ soccer team attended a UConn women’s soccer team match. Photo by Dennis Snelling/Woodstock Academy. Below: Senior quarterback Teddy Richardson looks to hand off to running back David Bunning. Photo by Abby Ditzel/Woodstock Academy.
It didn’t look so good at the beginning of the season-opening football game for the Woodstock Academy Centaurs Sept. 9.
The Quinebaug Valley Pride held on to the football for the first 10 minutes of the game.
“You start to get frustrated,” said head coach and athletic director Sean Saucier. “I’m looking at the clock tick..tick..and there was literally two minutes left in the first quarter. I was starting to get a little impatient.”
In this case, patience was a virtue.
His defense stopped the Pride on the Woodstock 7-yard line.
It turned out to be a key play in the game which ended in a 42-0 win for the Centaurs Saturday.
When the Woodstock offense finally stepped on to the field, it was evident that Quinebaug Valley’s best defense was going to be its offense.
Quarterback Teddy Richardson ran for 30 yards, passed twice to Lucas Theriaque (3 catches, 47 yards) for 29 more.
Richardson ran for nine more yards, an encroachment penalty moved it to the 20-yard line of the Pride and then Richardson found tight end Sam Clark open over the middle for a touchdown.
Quinebaug Valley then coughed up the ball on their own 19.
Two plays later, Richardson (6-for-7 passing, 131 yards) found Theriaque for a 19-yard score.
“Game over,” Saucier said. “Lesson learned there, stay patient, stay composed even for the coaches. Trust your team that it can do that.”
A big key was Richardson.
The results showed as he also threw touchdown passes of 36-yards to Henry Wotton and a 27-yard strike to Clark.
In addition to the passing, the senior carried the ball eight times for 107 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Saucier also credited the play of the offensive line which opened the holes for Richardson and also gave him time to throw to players like Clark who shined at tight end.
The defense did pick up the pace.
It allowed 95 yards to the Pride in their opening series.
Quinebaug Valley only got 32 yards in the last 38 minutes.
One problem for the Pride was that junior running back Deven LaMothe, who finished with 63 yards in 12 carries, was injured in the second quarter and did not return.
For the Centaurs, it was a good confidence builder going into an ECC Div. I game against East Lyme Sept. 15
Prep Soccer
The boys’ prep soccer teams opened their season Sept. 10.
The Centaurs Prep 1 team took on Milton Academy, the No. 2 ranked team in the New England Prep School Athletic Council according to the New England Soccer Journal, and prevailed 1-0.
Hendrix Mota scored what proved to be the game-winning goal midway through the second half off an assist from David Lee.
The Centaurs were denied on several other opportunities but the goal was all the Centaurs needed.
The defense led by keeper Alvaro Medrano Jr. and his defensive buddies, Max Maneke, Alessandro Zannoni, Lucas de Pedro Sanchez, and Harrison Vail combined to ensure the shutout.
The Prep 2 soccer team also played at Milton Academy as it took on Phillips Exeter Academy.
The Prep 2 team followed in their Prep 1 teammates’ footsteps with a 2-1 season-opening victory.
Phillips-Exeter was physical but the Centaurs were able to retain possession for long stretches and that helped them find the back of the net twice.
Jaiden Banton got Woodstock on the board early on a goal off an effective counter attack that was assisted by Charlie Bragg and Nico Ochoa.
Phillips Exeter rallied to tie the contest but the Centaurs won it when Matias Solano headed home a Jorge Castellanos corner kick.
Girls’ Soccer
The youngsters shined early for the girls’ soccer team in its opener.
The Centaurs had several freshmen contribute in a 1-0 win over Rockville Thursday on the road, according to coach Dennis Snelling.
That’s good considering the Centaurs lost eight players to graduation.
It was freshman Rita Rawcliffe who got the only goal of the contest with 25 minutes left in regulation, scoring her first career high school goal.
It was fitting for the Centaurs who did have the advantage in possession and shots.
Keeper Rebecca Nazer only touched the ball once in the second half for the Centaurs.
The domination of possession was also good to see as the Centaurs did lose their two center-midfielders to graduation, Lennon Favreau and Grace Gelhaus.
In fact, it’s the first time the Centaurs haven’t had a Gelhaus on the team in nine years.
Considering the losses to graduation, Snelling thought it was important to get off to a good start.
“We don’t call it rebuilding, it’s just a re-load. The players who graduated are replaced by players that are very good also,” Snelling said.
The team also persevered through the recent heat and humidity wave.
That meant late practices and a late opening game.
The match at Rockville was pushed back to 7 p.m. to let that heat subside a bit.
The Centaurs have three tough home matches scheduled for this week as they will host Ledyard, Wethersfield and Stonington,
“I think we still have to work on connecting the midfield with the forwards a bit more so the forwards don’t have to do their own attack. We had a lot of individual attacks, it should be a little more connected, not so spread out, and more support for the strikers when they have the ball,” Snelling said.
Volleyball
The Centaurs knew the season opener would not be an easy proposition in Newtown.
That was the case as the Nighthawks posted a 3-0 victory Thursday.
“They were a good club last year (15-4) and we knew they were going to be again this year,” said coach Adam Bottone said. “They are very well coached and have a lot of girls with a lot of experience. They have some solid outside hitters and their defense was good.”
Still, the Centaurs hung tough. Especially in the first set. Woodstock held a 23-19 advantage late but a couple of crucial service errors led to a Nighthawk rally and a 25-23 win.
Newtown won the second set, 25-18 and the third, 25-13, to record the shutout. Gronski did finish with 12 assists while Cassidy Ladd had 13 assists and Liliana Bottone delivered six kills. “We have to work on our receive a little more,” Adam Bottone said.
Boys’ soccer
Coach Paul Rearden liked his team’s ability to attack coming into the season.
That was proven to be true in the opener Sept. 9 when the Centaurs put three goals up on the board.
Woodstock only scored three goals in a match once last season. The unfortunate part of the equation was that it wasn’t enough as the Granby Bears had some firepower too and outscored the Centaurs, 7-3.
Granby scored early in the first half but Woodstock knotted it up with a goal from Austin Byer off an assist from Zach Armbruster.
The Bears would go back up just before the half with a tally and then scored four unanswered goals to open the second half and bolt to the 6-1 lead.
Goals by Matt Johndrow, his first career high school tally, and Trevor Gold made it closer but Granby added another to account for the final score.
Byer and Nate Faucher added assists for the Centaurs.
Field Hockey
The Centaurs hung tough in their opener on the road in Somers.
But the Somers/Rockville co-op put five goals on the board in the second half and posted a 6-1 victory.
The Spartans opened the scoring in the first half despite some nice work in the cage by goalie Madison LaVallee who turned aside four shots.
LaVallee finished with 11 saves in the game.
Somers/Rockville added five second half goals to put the game away.
The Centaurs did get on the board when Mikayla Bessette tallied off an assist from Grace Pokorny.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
.