Roundup
Woodstock Academy gets 1st win on gridiron
After a game the Woodstock Academy football team would rather forget against the Griswold-Wheeler cooperative the week before, the Centaurs put things back together on Friday.
“The word of the week was execution,” said head coach Connor Elliott.
Woodstock was flagged only three times and did the right things in the red zone and it resulted in the first win of the season for the Centaurs on the football field, 36-14, over Windham.
“We went over film with the team (on Saturday morning) and highlighted the fact that these plays worked because we executed. Simple as that. We lined up properly, we made the right read, ran the right routes and had the right blocks and we didn’t shoot ourselves in the foot with penalties,” Elliott said.
The win raised the Centaurs record to 1-4 overall and 1-0 in Div. II of the ECC.
It was also the first Centaurs win under Elliott’s guidance as the official head coach of the team.
“You want to win and I don’t care about me, I just am happy for the kids. We have just worked so hard and they have stuck with us. I could imagine other 0-4 teams having a lot different attitude and mindset when it comes to the situation they found themselves in and these guys have been awesome. They understand their mistakes, understand how to get better, want to get better and have not given up,” Elliott said.
The Centaurs did have to account for an early mistake.
They turned the ball over on their first possession at their own 23-yard line but the defense stepped up and stopped the Whippets at the 11-yard line. To make things a bit better, the Centaurs also blocked a field goal attempt by the Whippets to keep them off the scoreboard early.
Woodstock became the first to score when junior quarterback Elijah Poh found Caydem Herlihy with a 39-yard touchdown pass with 1 minute, 14 seconds left in the opening quarter.
Poh was on target all night long as he completed 13 of his 15 pass attempts for 183 yards in the game.
“I told him to just take what was there because he is such a good thrower of the football that it doesn’t have to be downfield all the time. That’s on me, too. On third-and-10, I don’t have to call a deep pass. Give them something quick because we have playmakers all over the place. That completion percentage was impressive but he also wasn’t focused on one guy, he hit (six) different receivers,” Elliott said of Poh’s performance.
The key to the game came in a four-minute stretch that began at the end of the second quarter and carried into the third.
After they were forced to punt in the second quarter, the Centaurs got the ball back when Cayson Barile-Castillo was unblocked, rushed, and knocked the ball out of Windham quarterback Francisco Alvarado’s hands. Barile-Castillo recovered the football and the Centaurs took over on Windham’s 20.
 “Defense had our back early; they picked us up when we needed it. You always want to score before the half,” Elliott said.
A pass from Poh to Cooper Harris brought it down to the 5-yard line where Poh found senior H-back Dylan Phillips with the quick toss for the score with 1:50 left in the half.
“It wasn’t like I was trying to milk it down before the half but I told (defensive coordinator) Cahan (Quinn) that I was sorry we scored a little earlier than I wanted to. He said, ‘Don’t worry, we will get the ball back.’”, Elliott said.
It was also Phillips’ first career touchdown in high school, or for that matter, going back to youth football where he also had never scored.
True to his words, Quinn’s defense did get the ball back as they forced Windham to punt in less than a minute.
Woodstock got the ball back on the Whippets’ 33 and on the first play from scrimmage, Poh found Griffen Bloom down the left sideline to give the Centaurs the 20-0 lead.
Phillips did not have to wait long for his second career touchdown.
Early in the third quarter, a Windham fumble popped into his arms at the Woodstock Academy 43 and he went the distance for the 57-yard touchdown.
“I was very happy for Dylan. He was tired after that scoop-and-score but that was huge coming out of the half and we were off to the races from there,” Elliott said.
Giovanni Rodriguez did put Windham (1-4) on the board with a 3-yard run halfway through the third quarter but Cooper Harris (14 carries, 59 yards) answered for the Centaurs with a 1-yard dive into the end zone late in the third.
Wyatt Matulis added a 20-yard field goal to account for the remainder of the Centaurs scoring.
Woodstock moves on to meet Waterford (4-1, 1-0 ECC Div. II) at 6 p.m. Friday on the road.
“We’re treating this as kind of our divisional championship game. They’re a very good program. They have a new head coach and it kind of seems like he is picking up where the previous head coach left off. They’re very disciplined, athletic and powerful football team which will give us all we can handle but I think we match up well. We’re very similar in terms of offense so the defenses will be used to it,” Elliott said.

Girls’ Cross-Country
The passing of the torch. That’s what coach Joe Banas saw at the finish of the ECC girls’ cross-country championship Thursday.
There, at the finish line, Lyman Memorial senior Hazel DeLucia, who captured her third consecutive and final ECC individual title, was waiting for her cousin and heir apparent to the title, freshman Emelia Langevin.
DeLucia finished first in 18 minutes, 39 seconds with Langevin in second in a time of 19:54. The two embraced at the finish line.
“It was pretty good,” Langevin said of the second race of her career against her cousin. “It was nice to come in second after her. Running in a race with her was nice.”
The two also met in the very first race of the season at Fitch with the results being similar.
Langevin’s finish led the Centaurs to a second-place finish as a team with East Lyme in first (39 points), followed by Woodstock (88) and DeLucia’s Lyman team (91).
DeLucia certainly had the advantage in experience. It was the first time Langevin had competed at the Norwich Golf Course and she didn’t have the benefit of a course walk.
Due to the hilly nature of the course, the Centaurs elected not to do a course walk prior to the race.
“I was going off what I could see as far as the flags (that outlined the course) so now that I’ve run it. I can tweak where I run whether it’s on the left, right or middle for next year,” Langevin said.
Banas was a bit concerned early on as Langevin toured the first mile in 5:48, a bit faster than had been planned.
“She was able to hold it together and then when I saw (Stonington’s Molly Musselman) stumbled at the 2-mile mark when Emme had only 30 meters on her, by the time (Musselman) got back up, Emme had doubled the distance and was well on her way. I knew that (Ledyard’s Maggie Littler) wasn’t going to catch her so there it was, the family in 1st and 2nd,” Banas said.
And it’s truly a family affair not a family rivalry.
“It’s just fun. We support one another. She is going off to college so this is my last year running with her. We’re just having a fun time. Our first meet at Fitch, we were just goofing off, laughing at the starting line, it was fun.”
Langevin’s goal was to finish inside 20 minutes.
“This course is a lot easier than ours. I took about a minute off my time from my best on the Woodstock course,” Langevin said.
She wasn’t alone as the Centaurs filled in behind her.
Fellow freshman Claire Bruneaux was 18th with Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain in 19th, Bella Amlaw 23rd and Olivia Tracy was 26th.
It was just not good enough to beat the Vikings.
“East Lyme had an incredible 39. How do you beat that? You just don’t,” Banas said. “We ran very well. I had said I wanted top three in the varsity race. Bella had a personal best; she had a personal best at Wickham (Saturday). She is just steadily making a mark on this team. She went from being a bubble runner for us to being one of our frontrunners.”
The Centaurs next travel back to Wickham Park for the Class MM state championship and Langevin said her performance at the ECC should bolster her confidence for the state race.
Unfortunately for Woodstock, East Lyme is also a Class MM team.
“I think we have a shot at one of the eight wild cards (to qualify for the State Open championship),” Banas said. “We run in the 11th race out of the 12 so depending how much rain we get between now and then, the course may not be to our advantage. I think we will be well prepared. We have the kids going back to the Fairgrounds on Tuesday so we will hit the hills again.”

Boys’ Cross Country
Prior to the ECC boys’ championship meet at the Norwich Golf Course Thursday, the Woodstock team did an abbreviated course walk.
“We didn’t take them around the whole course because we didn’t want to tire them out too much but we took them to some central locations where we could see the two real hills here. I pointed out one and sad, ‘That’s the big one.’ They said, ‘That’s it?’ To have them walk out here and say that when other teams are looking and saying ‘Oooh’ about those same hills meant we were ready for,” coach Josh Welch said.
It certainly played out that way. The Centaurs finished in as tie with Fitch for third at 111 points but took the tiebreaker thanks to the finish of their sixth man, Oliver Pierce, who placed 41st.
East Lyme easily walked away with the win with only 22 points while Ledyard got a little redemption for a loss earlier to the Centaurs with a second-place finish with 79 points.
Woodstock is used to running at the extremely hilly Woodstock Fairgrounds course and sophomore Lucas Hecker used that to his advantage.
He finished seventh overall.
Hecker came in as the 13th seed but was confident that he could do better.
He was looking for a top-10 finish but a seventh-place finish in 17 minutes, 16 seconds, exceeded even his expectations.
“Running at the Woodstock Fairgrounds helped so much because it made these big hills here seem way smaller. Our small hill is bigger than the big one here so running on those four times in one race definitely helped,” Hecker said.
It wasn’t only the hills that benefited Hecker. It was also his work ethic. It was his second time around at the Norwich Golf Course but this time, he came in prepared.
“I learned that running this much helps,” the sophomore said. “I thought last year running in the summer was stupid because it was my offseason so why should I run in the summer? I did a little and did OK last year but running a lot this past summer helped me move up 11 spots (in the ECC) and 11 people did not graduate in the ECC. I just got better,” Hecker said.
Sam Greene was 16th, Harrison Durand placed 21st, Bronson Eddy 30th and Carter Mydlarz placed 37th.
“Team-wise, we had a few runners who were not at their absolute fastest but it’s hard to ask everyone to be at their absolute fastest. We’re near where Ledyard is, nearer than the results indicate, but they were the better team (Thursday),” Welch said.
The Centaurs now have to prep for the Class MM state championship which takes place next Saturday at Wickham Park.
The goal for the Centaurs is to qualify as a team for the State Open championship.
“I’m really hoping that we can get up near there and I think we’re in the mix,” Welch said. “We would really have to have an amazing day, that’s not out of the realm of possibilities. In some ways, when you have a day like (Thursday) when not everything clicked, that means we have one more shot. It’s hard to do it twice in a row. Hopefully, that’s the one. You know what they say, you can have a bad dress rehearsal and a great performance. Not that this was a bad rehearsal but maybe next week, everything lines up.”

Girls’ Volleyball
It was the last regular season home match for the girls’ volleyball team on Wednesday and as tradition, it was Senior Night.
The Centaurs made the event a bit more special with a 3-1 victory over Conard at the South Campus gymnasium.
“It’s very satisfying,” setter Lily Morgis, one of the six seniors who were recognized prior to the match, said. “It was the last home game for all the seniors. It was very nice.”
The Centaurs will have, at least, two more opportunities to play at South Campus as they will host an ECC tournament quarterfinal match versus Waterford next Thursday. They will also host a Class L state tournament match, likely more than one if they continue to win.
In addition to Morgis, fellow seniors Alexa Delmonaco, Emma Raymond, Kaylee Bundy, Vivian Bibeau and Gianna Musumeci were also recognized.
“I like to think back to when I was a freshman and it’s like ‘Wow’ that feels like it was last week and now I am a senior and have to do all the college stuff,” Morgis said.
For Woodstock Academy coach Adam Bottone, it means he has to consider replacing his starting setter, outside hitter, opposite hitter, Libero, middle hitter and reserve defensive specialist next year.
“Yeah, I know,” Bottone said in a voice most high school coaches would use when discussing the cyclical nature of their profession. “I’m going to miss them. It was a very different crew from last year so it was good to get to know them better and have a connection with them. They’re a good group of girls.”
On Wednesday, it was a bit of a redemption match for the Centaurs who lost to the Red Wolves, 3-2, a year ago in their first meeting.
Woodstock did have one advantage --- It had Morgis back.
The setter had to leave Friday’s match with a leg injury but returned on Wednesday.
Morgis delivered 33 assists in the win.
Early on, it looked like the host team was going to walk away with it.
“We came out (Wednesday), guns blazing. Then, we got into a funk and lost the second set,” Bottone said.
Indeed, the Centaurs jumped out to an eight-point lead and posted the 25-19 win in the first set.
Unfortunately, a 10-2 lead in the second set did not hold up.
Conard tied the set at 15 and went on to a 25-20 victory.
One of the bigger problems, the serve. The Centaurs had 15 service errors in the match and they came at inopportune times.
“They came when we were on a run and pushing them and all of a sudden, we serve it into the net or they were on a service run, we finally get a side out and gave it right back to them. We need to have the ability to maintain the serve and get those points back. It’s just a killer. We served about 81 percent and I would like to be 90 or higher for sure,” Bottone said.
But the outside hitters were there.
Bundy delivered 19 kills and Kennedy McCooey was right there with the senior as she added 14.
“They both had a really good game. We worked a lot in the past few days on hitting with everyone but especially with the outsides because they are so dynamic and can jump high and really need to explode into their last two steps. We really stressed that with Kennedy (Tuesday) and she did exactly that, ripping balls down the line. Kaylee just jumps through the roof, she’s insane, I’m surprised they didn’t recruit her to be a high jumper,” Bottone said.
The Centaurs came back from the 25-20 disappointment in the second set to post 25-19 and 25-20 victories in the third and fourth sets to post the victory.
“Being in the (Central Connecticut Conference), they have faced stiff competition throughout their season so getting this win was a good thing,” Bottone said.
The Centaurs did battle South Windsor tough on Thursday but fell short, 3-2, and then were blanked by Amity on Saturday afternoon, 3-0.
The two losses meant the Centaurs finished the regular season with a 13-7 record but Bottone was hoping the experience playing some tough competition at the end of the season would pay dividends in the postseason.
“I think it helps us for our trajectory for the postseason, playing Conard, then South Windsor and a really tough one versus Amity is a real good tune up,” Bottone said.
The two teams split the first four sets on Thursday with South Windsor getting the victory when it downed the Centaurs in the decisive fifth set, 15-6.
Bundy had 15 kills and McCooey added 14 while Musumeci had 14 digs for the Centaurs.
The team also play Amity Regional close, falling in the three sets, 25-21, 26-24 and 25-18.
Bundy had 17 kills for the Centaurs and also had 11 digs.
Morgis finished with 21 assists and McCooey had 9 kills and 11 service points including four aces on Saturday.
Woodstock is locked in as the third seed in the ECC tournament and will host No. 6 Waterford Thursday when the postseason gets underway.
“I’m very happy with the third seed, probably should have been the two seed, but it is what it is and we’re happy to be home and we should be home for States also. I’m looking forward to it,” Bottone said.

Prep Soccer
The Prep 1 soccer team continued its undefeated ways on Saturday but it was tested.
The Centaurs came away with a 2-0 victory over the Hoosac School but got both of its goals in the final 15 minutes.
Richard Sarpong scored his team-leading ninth goal of the season off a pass from Alexavier Gooden to put the Centaurs on the board with 15 minutes to play,
Arthur Masson followed six minutes later with his second goal of the season for the Centaurs’ second tally off an Alex Tevez assist.
The Centaurs are now 9-0 on the season overall and 5-0 in the Prep Premiere League.
The Prep 2 soccer team remained undefeated in the Global Education Sports Partners League with a 1-0 victory over Hoosac.
Fabian Crespo scored the only goal of the match, his second of the season, with five minutes left in the first half with help from Haesung Kim.
The Prep 2 team is now 8-3 overall and 4-0 in the GESP.

Boys’ soccer
The boys’ soccer team kept its state tournament hopes alive with a 2-1 win over Norwich Free Academy/
Tyler Odorski put the Centaurs (3-7-4, 2-4-2 ECC Div. I) ahead halfway through the first half as he scored off a free kick from Zach Armbruster.
The Centaurs got what proved to be the game winner with three minutes left when Riley Quinn-Perkins tallied for a first time this season off a Phillip Feaney-Aleman pass.
The Wildcats scored with three seconds left to avoid the shutout.
The Centaurs can hardly afford to take a breath, however.
They must win their two remaining matches against Bacon Academy (the game was played on Monday and ended too late for this edition) and Fitch on Wednesday to qualify for the state tournament.

Girls’ Soccer
The girls’ soccer team rallied to tie up its match with Norwich Free Academy when Avery Danis scored off a Kaylee Saucier assist with 25 minutes left in regulation Friday.
But the Wildcats picked up the 2-1 victory when it scored with 2 ½ minutes to play in regulation in Norwich.
The loss dropped the Centaurs to 3-9-3 overall and 2-5-3 in Div. I of the ECC. 
The loss ended the Centaurs hopes of qualifying for the state tournament.
They have a Senior Day match against Plainfield to finish the regular season on Tuesday and will end their season in the ECC tournament which will follow.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

captions:
DSCO7344: Woodstock Academy junior quarterback Elijah Poh completed 13 of his 15 passes for 183 yards and three touchdowns in a 36-14 win over Windham Friday night.  (Photo by Joshua Hernandez / actionframe_media)

DSC0937:  The Woodstock Academy volleyball team recognized its seniors on Senior Day last week at the South Gym. Pictured (from l to r) Alexa Delmonaco. Emma Raymond, Kaylee Bundy, Gianna Musumeci, Vivian Bibeau, Lily Morgis. (Photo by Joshua Hernandez / actionframe_media)

DSC09476 – Woodstock Academy quarterback Elijah Poh completed 13 of 15 passes for 183 yards and three touchdowns in a 36-14 win over Windham Friday. ((Photo by Joshua Hernandez / actionframe_media)

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