Holy Cross relays doom Woodland
BEACON FALLS — The good news for the Woodland boys’ swimming and diving team is that it’s been close in just about every single meet. The bad news is that the Hawks have fallen short in most of those contests. That was the case last Friday, as Woodland fell narrowly to Holy Cross, 97-88.
Though the Hawks trailed the entire meet, strong individual performances by Patrick O’Dell and Adam Trumbley in the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard breaststroke, respectively, pulled Woodland within seven points heading into the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay. The Crusaders, though, pulled out a first-place finish by just .07 seconds to clinch the win.
Greyhounds can’t quite catch Cats
NAUGATUCK — The Greyhounds have struggled this season trying to run and gun with the best of the Naugatuck Valley League. They changed their tactic Friday and came out against Seymour with a defensive presence that knocked the Cats off their game.
But while working to keep Seymour in check, the Hounds lost a little bit of their own offensive oomph and came up on the short end of a 54-42 final.
“Our goal wasn’t to go out there and slow down the pace of the game,” Naugatuck head coach Kevin Wesche said. “We did want to limit them to one look at the basket and pick it up on the other end. For whatever reason, that didn’t happen the way we had planned it. Seymour did a good job of working the ball around, and they were very patient. We really had no answer for Kyle Moran, especially in the final period.”
CN Headlines 02-05-10
The borough sees some of those much-discussed federal stimulus funds, buys some new trucks, and gets a health commendation in this week's episode of...
Woodland faculty growing Hair for Haiti
BEACON FALLS — Every year atop the hill at Woodland, a select few teachers, led by English teacher Paul Geary, grow out their beards during midterm week in January. This year was no different—Geary, English teacher James Amato and history teacher Chris Tomlin all put down their razors prior to the four-day midterm exam week. Instead of shaving their scruffy beards after testing, though, the facial hair stayed—and it turned into Beards for Bucks, a fundraiser for Haiti relief.
The fundraiser, also known as Hair for Haiti, is a month-long event co-sponsored by the Woodland Regional Student Council and Woodland for Women Worldwide, in which teachers essentially grow the best facial hair possible while students cast $1 votes for their favorite beards. And, yes, this one-of-a-kind phenomenon all grew from the triumvirate’s annual ritual.
Rountree leads Woodland romp in Derby
DERBY — Woodland boys’ basketball head coach Tom Hunt said before the season that junior Yahmad Rountree would make a huge difference when he returned to the lineup. Hunt wasn’t kidding. Rountree, in just his second game of the season, poured in a game- and career-high 28 points in a 72-56 rout of Derby Tuesday night.
Twenty-two of Rountree’s 28 points came in the second half, helping the Hawks pull away from the Red Raiders, who stuck around until midway through the third quarter. Derby crept to within three at 30-27 with 5 ½ minutes left in the third, but Woodland put together an 8-0 run, started by an impressive fast-break dunk by Rountree, to gain a 38-27 lead that would never shrink to less than eight the rest of the way.
Naugy boys oh so close against Wilby
NAUGATUCK — The Naugatuck boys’ basketball team held the lead against Wilby until the 3:06 mark of the third period before the Wildcats went on to close out a 75-64 win over the Greyhounds Tuesday.
Matt Zahornasky and Kyle Krupa were saddled with four fouls each, and Wilby began to exploit the lane, a move that led to the turnaround. Lemar Larson led the Wildcats with 20 points, and he had a lot of help from Terron Robinson and Landen Manning, who scored 15 points apiece, as Wilby racked up 22 points in the third period and 23 points in the final stanza to pull away the win.
Local track teams dominate NVL meet
NEW HAVEN — The Naugatuck and Woodland girls went 1-2, and the boys did the same, in reverse order, as the local track and field teams ruled the Naugatuck Valley League indoor championships Tuesday at Hillhouse High School.
The Garnet and Grey ladies racked up 132.5 points to secure their fourth consecutive league title, while the Hawks gents’ 114.5 earned them the first in school history.
Early spurt paces Cross over Naugy
NAUGATUCK — After staking a modest, 8-3 lead midway through the first quarter, Holy Cross exploded on a 20-2 run to provide itself all the cushion it would need in a 57-35 win over Naugatuck Friday.
Devon Diliberto led all scorers with 15 points, nine of which came from behind the arc. The Crusaders (14-2) hit eight three-pointers as a team while holding the Greyhounds (7-9) to only two. Naugy’s Jessica Webber, the Naugatuck Valley League’s third-leading scorer, managed just 13 points and rarely found room to operate, especially near the basket. She was limited to three field goals for the evening, collecting seven of her baker’s dozen at the free throw line.
Naugy bests Hearts in heated swim meet
WATERBURY — The Naugatuck swim team pulled off a real seat-grabber Friday at the Kennedy High’s John Reardon Pool, defeating Sacred Heart by the slimmest of margins, 95-91.
Both the Greyhounds and Hearts came into the meet undefeated in the Naugatuck Valley League, sporting 4-0 ledgers. There was excitement in the air, as fans poured into the stands; by the start of the first race, there was standing room only.
On several occasions, the roar from the crowd almost blew the roof off the place, and you could sense that this one was going to come down to the last event. It did, as Naugatuck won the final race of the meet. The 400 freestyle relay team of Will Wright, Chris Branco, Trevor Heller and Kyle Conrad raced to victory in a controversial finish that had both sides displaying heated emotions afterward.
