The Hawks will lean on senior forward Ryan Angeloszek, right, the only starter returning from last year’s team. Angeloszek averaged 10.7 points per game last season. FILE PHOTO

BEACON FALLS — The Woodland boys basketball team lost its two leading scorers from one of its best teams ever. So it seems perfectly irrational for Tom Hunt to be more excited about this season than ever.

But Hunt, entering his fifth season with the Hawks, can’t remember a team he has enjoyed coaching this much so early in the year.

“I knew going into this season that this was going to be the most fun season I’ve had,” said Hunt, who is assisted by JV coach Mike Kingsley and freshman coach Shane Kingsley, a former two-year starting point guard at Woodland. “I might be relatively inexperienced, but this is the most coachable group I’ve had. There’s a togetherness that they bring and it shows on the court. I can’t be more excited than I am this year.”

With the graduations of Yahmad Rountree (18.0 ppg), Ian Bures (3.5 ppg), Sean Deegan (3.3 ppg), and the transfer of Rahmi Rountree (11.9 ppg), Woodland has plenty of holes to fill.

Senior forward Ryan Angeloszek (10.7 ppg), the only returning starter, is expected to be one of the stronger inside presences in the league. Only he and sophomore guard Tanner Kingsley (6.5 ppg) played in all 23 of Woodland’s games last season.

But the relative lack of experience and star power in the Hawks’ lineup is actually proving to be somewhat of a good thing in Hunt’s eyes.

“We have been playing some real team-oriented basketball in the preseason,” Hunt said. “We are making the extra pass and playing some really unselfish basketball. I feel like everybody on this team has a role and knows their role.”

Angeloszek and Kingsley will be joined in the starting lineup by senior guard Billy Alfiere and senior forward Dan Giacomazzi. Junior guards Dave Uhl and Steve Baeder will also likely share starts and contribute to the backcourt scoring.

With a smaller, guard-heavy squad, Hunt said this year’s team will play a different style than the slower, more physical teams of the past.

“You have to adapt to your personnel each year,” Hunt said. “With no real inside presence, we have become a little more perimeter-oriented. We’re getting up and down the floor a little bit better than we have in the past.”

Alfiere think this year’s Hawks are a unique bunch that hasn’t been seen before in the Woods.

“We have a whole new identity as a basketball team and a very different style of play than Woodland basketball is used to,” Alfiere said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun playing with this group because of the unselfishness we have. We are going to play team basketball this year.”

Teamwork and sharing the basketball could lead to a balanced and explosive offense.

Woodland guard Tanner Kingsley (23) is one of just two Hawks returning this year who played in all 23 games last season. Kingsley averaged 6.5 points per game last year as a freshman. FILE PHOTO

“I think that on any given night, any one of five guys—Angeloszek, Alfiere, Kingsley, Uhl, or Baeder—can be a high scorer,” Hunt said. “The brand of basketball that we’re putting out is going to be much more exciting than it has been in the past. As opposed to winning at the finish line, we want to be waiting at the finish line.”

Adding depth to the frontcourt will be senior forwards Dave Alves and Jamie Marticello and junior forward Kirk Chamenko. They will be key when the Hawks try to revert to a slower pace against city schools.

“We’re going to be smart and heady when we play those city schools about when we push and when we pull it out,” Hunt said. “We’ll take what they give us and hold our own on the defensive end.”

Woodland starts its season on Dec. 14 at St. Paul before its home opener against Watertown on Dec. 16. From what he’s seen so far, Hunt thinks his team has potential.

“I think we’re going to surprise some teams,” Hunt said. “If people don’t come out to see the Hawks this season, they’ll be cheating themselves.”

City Hill Middle School student Raina Ceryak, right, in action during the U.S. Junior Nationals held the weekend of June 25-28 in Hershey, Pa. Ceryak plays for the AAU Connecticut Heat, who won the state championship to move onto the nationals. CONTRIBUTED

Playing center on a basketball team puts you right in the middle of the action. For Naugatuck middle school student Raina Ceryak that is exactly where she wants to be.

The soon to be eighth grader at City Hill Middle School has excelled on the basketball court over the past few years.

She credits much of her success to her coaches, and to her association with the AAU basketball team the Connecticut Heat. The Heat won the state championship and recently played at the U.S. Junior Nationals in Hershey, Pa.

“It was great exposure for her,” Raina’s mother Regina Ceryak said. “She got involved with the Heat last year through former Naugatuck High School 1,000-point scorer Jessica Webber.”

Over the past year of playing with the Heat, Regina has witnessed her daughter’s growth on the court.

“Her coach Taylor Nkomis plays for Western Connecticut State University. Raina has learned so much and has improved quite a bit this past year. Of course I always tell her that her school grades are the most important part and she works hard at it,” Regina said.

Ceryak was the starting center for the City Hill Cyclones last year and her experience with the Heat at the Nutmeg Games really showed her potential. She also gained a lot of knowledge playing on the Little Pal champion Hornets, hitting crucial foul shots down the stretch to help lead the Hornets to back-to-back titles.

“During tryouts, I noticed that Raina was very comfortable on the court,” City Hill head coach Fred Scheithe said. “It was obvious she had been playing basketball for a while. She had a better understanding of how the game was played.”

All that know-how will be tested next year as Scheithe has high hopes for Raina on the court.

“We have some strong teams in the league and she will be playing against some very big girls this season,” Scheithe said. “I have high expectations for Raina this coming season, and I’m sure she will do what ever is necessary to achieve them. One thing for sure, I will challenge her.”

The U.S. Junior Nationals is known as one of the premier competitions, bringing in teams from all over the country. The organization is the longest running girls basketball program since the 1980s.

“Playing at the Junior Nationals was a real eye-opener,” Raina said. “Playing against teams from other states exposed me to some very good competition. I feel the experience has helped me to become a better player. I had my moments at the competition.”

The Heat wound up with a 1-4 record at the Junior Nationals but the experience has shown Raina how far she has progressed and how far she needs to go.

“It was pretty exciting playing at that level,” Raina said. “I thought I did well with my foul shooting. In fact I feel I improved in all aspects of my game. I’m looking forward to this coming school year and I plan to work just as hard to become a better player.”

The Firefighters swept NVSL to capture their first-ever Little Pal basketball championship and cap off a perfect 13-0 season. PHOTO BY KEN MORSE

The Firefighters, who ended the regular season at 13-0, escaped with a 51-48 victory in Game 1 over the third-seeded Bankers (9-4), last Wednesday at Hillside School. Jason Bradley led the way for the firefighters scoring a game-high 22 points.

Maleek Brooks led NVSL with 19 points. Dan Jones added 11 and Vashon Carridice threw down 10. The Bankers were trying to become just the fourth team in the last 20 years to win back-to-back titles under head coach Dave Mariano and assistant coaches Peter Mariano and Joe Campos.

NVSL got to the championship round by getting past the second-seeded Elks (12-1) in a 53-52 semifinal barnburner, as Brooks scored 18 and Jones added 15.

The Elks were led by Sean Kennedy with a team-high 11 points. The scoring was spread around as Matt Festa scored nine, Aaron Manouse added seven, and Mike Popesou and Maurycio DaSilva knocking down six each.

On Saturday at City Hill Middle School, the Firefighters were looking to conclude the perfect season as NVSL had one last shot to extend the series to a decisive Game 3.

The Firefighters came out and dominated the boards and that led to a 16-10 advantage on the scoreboard at the close of the first period. Evan Pelliccia knocked down eight of his team-high 14 points in the opening period for the Firefighters.

Jose Guardiano (13 rebounds, six points) led the Firefighters in the paint as they out rebounded NVSL by a healthy 47-31 advantage as indicated by the final, 53-36 score.

Brooks was a workhorse for the Bankers, registering a double-double with 15 points and 15 rebounds. The key to the first period spread came by the way of the Firefighters’ defense that created six turnovers in the quarter and 18 for the game.

Six players had two steals each in the game as the fundamentally sound Firefighters kept the pressure on when the ‘B’ squads came out for the second period. Five different players found their way into the scorebook and the unselfish Firefighters showed a total team effort, recording 16 assists for the game.

“We have one of the best ‘B’ squads in the league,” said Firefighters head coach Rick Plasky, who along with assistant coach Rick Pelliccia led the team to an undefeated season. “They play fundamental basketball and they can all pass and hit the layup. Our ‘A’ squad is a very talented group that has learned to play as a team.”

Jones had a stellar game for the Bankers (eight points, nine rebounds, six steals) but it did little to slow down the consistent teamwork displayed by the Firefighters. Alijah Gurris hit a pull-up jumper and Matt Bourassa scored down on the baseline with Ethan Vance (four points, four assists) dishing off both buckets to open up a double-digit lead at 22-12 for the Firefighters.

Dave Riddick scored down low after Jacob Bourdeau pulled down a rebound but the Bankers could only pull to within 26-18 of the lead at the half.

Carridice hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 26-21 after halftime, but Marc Guardiano connected on back-to-back shots to push the Firefighters ahead, 32-23, when the ‘B’ squads came on at the four-minute mark of the third period.

Mike Plasky (four points, four rebounds) showed great court awareness as he dove to the floor for steals and battled down low for rebounds as the Firefighters started to pull away. Mason Lopes, Kyle Torok and Joe Colangolo made their presences felt in the paint as the Firefighters lead grew to 38-27 entering the final period.

NVSL showed some hustle under the basket as Jones had four consecutive rebounds in a one-possession sequence but nothing would drop through for the Bankers. Joe Pruchnicki had a block and Jake Gingold (six rebounds) started to become a force in the paint for NVSL. Kevin Pimpinelli and Tyler Kusmit lent a hand defensively but it was too big a hole to climb out of as the Firefighters’ lead grew.

E.J. Gunnison (eight points, six rebounds) hit a shot on the wing to build a 47-31 advantage with under three minutes to play.
Mike Campos’ free throws and Noah Williams’ blocked shot tried to get NVSL back into it but the deficit was too much to overcome.

“It was a great run,” said Plasky. “We had a couple of tough ones with the Elks and NVSL, but these guys stepped up and were ready for the challenge. These kids did a great job this season and showed what you can accomplish with teamwork.”

Naugatuck’s Lauren Piroscafo drives the lane for two of her ten points Sunday during the Naugatuck Valley all-star game at Sacred Heart High School. PHOTO BY KEN MORSE

Players from every NVL school were invited to participate along with those from Kaynor Tech and Chase Collegiate.

The girls and boys doubleheader was a fundraiser for the B.A.G.S. Foundation, which stands for Boys and Girls Succeeding. Sacred Heart football coach Chris Ortiz organized the game for B.A.G.S. founder Nakia Reddick, who started the organization in Chicago in 1991. Waterbury began its own chapter last year.

The B.A.G.S. Foundation provides a student development program, an after-school program, SAT classes and sports clinics for kids in the Family Life Center on Thomaston Avenue in Waterbury.

The extravaganza matched up the City All-Stars against the Suburban All-Stars that included a show between games with the Sacred Heart cheerleading team, disc jockey KG of HOT 93.7 and the Berkley Knights Drill team.

Naugatuck’s Jodie Ruccio coached the girls City All-Stars while Sacred Heart’s Ryan Sullivan coached the girls Suburban All-Stars. The boys coaches were Ed Sakl of Watertown with the City All-Stars and Armand LeVesseur of Kennedy with the Suburban All-Stars.

Woodland’s Lindsay Feducia, left, and Naugatuck’s Lauren Piroscafo displayed their skills on Sunday during the first Naugatuck Valley basketball all-star game in 18 years. Piroscafo averaged 15.9 points per game for the Greyhounds this season, while Feducia put up 12.2 points per game for the Hawks. PHOTO BY KEN MORSE

Representing the Suburban All-Stars were Naugatuck’s Lauren Piroscafo and Woodland’s Lindsay Feducia. Woodland’s Heather Framski was also named an all-star but had a previous commitment and couldn’t attend.

Piroscafo scored 317 points this year for Naugatuck and averaged 15.9 points per game. Framski became the all-time leading scorer at Woodland this year, knocking down 487 points for a 20.3 average to lead the Hawks to an 18-6 record. Feducia averaged 12.2 points per game and was also named to the Connecticut High School Coaches All-Star game along with Framski, who will represent the West squad in the Class S and M game.

“It was a lot of fun competing at that level,” said Piroscafo, who scored 10 points in a game won by the City All-Stars, 64-58. “Playing with teammates with that kind of skill level really takes the pressure off and you can go out and have some fun. It certainly was an honor to be named to the team and I think I did okay. I probably could have done better but the defense was so intense.”

Ruccio said Piroscafo making the team was rewarding enough, but the coach had a blast herself.

“Having one of your own, Lauren Piroscafo, on the Suburban team really will get the younger girls in our program to take notice,” Ruccio said. “Outside of winning the state championship in my senior year of high school and beating Torrington two years ago, this is the most fun I’ve had related to hoops, coaching this team.”

Representing the boys Suburban All-Stars were Naugatuck’s Brandon Kuczenski and Woodland’s Yahmad Rountree. Kuczenski scored 331 points this year with an average of 16.6 per game for the Greyhounds. Rountree scored 415 points for the 13-10 Hawks at an 18.0 clip.

“I worked real hard this year and it certainly paid off,” Kuczenski said. “This is a great honor to be named to this all-star team.”
Kuczenski said the team didn’t practice much but he felt chemistry with the group. The Suburban All-Stars pulled the upset and won, 79-70.

“We only had one practice last week at Kennedy and we showed a lot of chemistry working well together,” Kuczenski said. “We had a few scrimmages towards the end of that practice and things really started to come together.”

Kuczenski knocked down 13 points in the game and was a force inside along with Rountree.

“We didn’t have a lot of big guys on our side so it was pretty much me and Yahmad pulling down the rebounds,” Kuczenski said. “We played as a unit and passed three and four times each possession and got good shot selection.”

Like the other all-stars, Kuczenski said he enjoyed the opportunity and is already looking forward to next year.

“It certainly was a good experience for me to play with that level of competition,” Kuczenski said. “I will play for Connecticut Select in the off season and try to get to a few camps to get ready for next season.”

Junior Sam Donahue led the offensive attack with 22 points and freshman brother Jackson added 16 as No. 6 Stonington (20-6) knocked off No. 22 Woodland (13-10), 63-51, in front of a packed house at Stonington High on Thursday night.

Woodland’s Rahmi Rountree opened the scoring to give the Hawks a 2-0 lead. After a bit of a back-and-forth, Stonington jumped ahead for good on a pair of Sam Donahue 3-pointers, with a conventional three-point play in between. The Bears ended the first quarter leading, 18-12.

Yahmad Rountree recorded Woodland’s first four points of the second quarter on a pair of off-balance jumpers, the second after Jackson Donahue hit one of his four long 3s on the night. The elder Rountree’s basket cut the Stonington lead to 21-16 and prompted Bears coach Mike Reyes to make a change defensively, going from the traditional man defense Stonington runs with their guard-heavy lineup to a matchup zone.

The adjustment paid off as the Bears went on a 10-0 run that put them ahead, 31-16, and gave them a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game. The run was capped off by another deep 3 from Jackson Donahue, this one from the top of the arc that resulted in a Woodland timeout and a chant of “He’s a freshman!” from over 100 Stonington students standing on the bleachers across from the Hawks’ bench.

Yahmad Rountree scored all eight of the Woodland points in the second quarter as the Hawks headed to the locker room trailing, 33-20. The Donahue brothers combined for 23 of Stonington’s 33 points in the first half, including a combined six 3-pointers.

Stonington opened up its largest lead of the night after a 10-3 run to start the half, as Cody Candelet was knocked down on a layup, made the shot and the free throw, giving the Bears a 43-23 lead with 5:23 to play in the third quarter.

Yahmad Rountree scored another seven points in the third as Woodland headed to the final stanza trailing, 48-33.

Also helping to keep the Hawks in the game was offensive rebounding. Rountree, Ryan Angeloszek, Ian Bures, and the other Hawks combined for 20 offensive rebounds on the night. However, as Hunt pointed out, “20 offensive rebounds means there was a lot of missed shots.”

Woodland was able to cut into the deficit in the fourth quarter when Angeloszek was fouled on an elbow jumper by the Bears’ Will Defanti, who argued the call and received a technical foul. Rahmi Rountree sank the two technical free throws, cutting the deficit to 51-39 with 4:50 to play.

The Hawks later pulled to within 10 but would get no closer, and Stonington advanced to the Class M quarterfinals to face No. 3 Notre Dame-Fairfield, which is scheduled for Friday.

“We came out for 32 minutes, we played hard, and we had a lot of shots that didn’t go down that normally do for us,” Hunt said. “To get out of here with a 12-point loss, shooting the way we shot, means we got after it in other aspects of the game.”

Yahmad Rountree led all scorers with 23 points, 15 of them in the second half.

“Yahmad’s been a fabulous leader all year,” Hunt said. “He’s tried to carry the team at times, and this was just another case where he was going to refuse to lose, and do whatever it took to pick his teammates up.”

The 10th-ranked Hawks (18-6) found themselves down, 38-33, at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Sacred Heart’s Jen Massicotte opened the period with a pair of baskets to extend the No. 7 Hearts’ lead to 42-35, but it wasn’t enough to keep Woodland at bay.

With 3:40 left to play, Shannon Meany tied the game at 43, followed only seconds later by Carli Mariotti’s successful foul shot, giving the Hawks a lead that they would maintain for the rest of the game.

Framski’s three-point play capped a 12-1 run giving Woodland a 47-43 lead with 3:26 left. Sacred Heart (16-7) cut the lead to 48-45 with 1:54 remaining, but the Hawks answered with an 8-0 run, mostly on free throws, to seal the game.

Staying consistent with their foul shots was crucial to Woodland’s victory, and perhaps it was the Hearts’ inability to follow suit that lost them the game.

“If they had made all their foul shots they probably would have beaten us by 15,” Cheney said. “I have to give Sacred Heart credit.

Sacred Heart is an excellent team. We played them once before and we knew coming in that obviously it was anybody’s game, especially when you’re playing them at home.”

In all, Woodland outscored Sacred Heart, 23-7, in the fourth quarter to pull away with the win. The charge was led by Piccolo, who scored six of her team-high 20 points in the period.

“My freshman, Andrea Piccolo, you know I couldn’t ask for more from a freshman,” said Cheney. “She had 22 in another game. She’s definitely come a long way.”

“I think we really pulled it together,” Piccolo said. “We showed a lot of heart and we pulled through.”

Lindsay Feducia was 8-for-8 from the line and finished with 10 points while Framski had nine points and 10 rebounds.

The game began in a less than spectacular fashion, as both teams found it difficult to get the ball inside, relying instead on outside shots that rarely hit their mark. Woodland led, 8-3, after the first quarter.

The offenses awoke in the second quarter and Sacred Heart took over, outscoring Woodland, 23-12. Sacred Heart’s Jenna LoRusso made several intense drives down court for points before Massicotte tied the game at 20 with 55 seconds left in the period. LoRusso followed with a quick basket and Elena Colaci hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give Sacred Heart a 25-20 halftime lead.

Besides a particularly scary moment in which Feducia went down hard after a Sacred Heart drive (she returned later in the period), the third quarter was relatively slow going until Massicotte hit her second 3-pointer of the quarter with a little more than 3 minutes to play. The Hearts took a five-point lead into the fourth.

Massicotte led Sacred Heart with 23 points, followed by LoRusso with 14.

Cheney credited the will of her team for helping to pull out the win.

“A lot of people on this team … they did not want to lose,” Cheney said. “They want to go as far as they can. They knew deep down inside that if they brought their A-game that they would win. For these kids it’s great. I couldn’t ask for more from my seniors.”

The win advanced Woodland to the Class M quarterfinals for the first time in program history. The Hawks beat No. 23 Waterford in the first round last Tuesday and were set to visit No. 2 Windham in the quarters.

Cheney acknowledged the team has work to do to beat the Whippets (19-3), who beat No. 31 Watertown, 51-28, and No. 18 Morgan, 67-44, in their first two games.

“It comes down to just working on the things that we know we can do to win,” Cheney said. “Obviously we have to work on our man-to-man offense—we saw that tonight—and just work hard on the little things that we know how to do.”

The No. 22 Hawks hung around in a back-and-forth Class M battle with No. 11 Bacon Academy Monday night in Colchester and came away with a 46-43 win thanks to a late 3-pointer by Ryan Angeloszek.

Woodland (13-9) held a 42-41 lead with under 2 minutes to play until the Bobcats made a steal and converted a layup to take a one-point lead.

On the ensuing possession, the Hawks worked the ball around the wing and swung it to Angeloszek (13 points, 10 rebounds), who hit the shot from behind the arc to put the Hawks up, 45-43, with about a minute and a half remaining.

Woodland got a stop on the next trip down the floor but was unable to slam the door by hitting just 1-of-5 from the free throw line in the closing minute.

“We kept them in it by not being able to convert at the line down the stretch,” Woodland coach Tom Hunt said. “But we rebounded well off the misses. The kids showed a lot of composure.”

Composure was paramount in a game that Hunt described as close the whole way.

“The game was tight throughout,” Hunt said. “I don’t think we were up more than four or down more than two. It was one of those back-and-forth games.”

Woodland led, 22-19, at the half after trailing, 12-11, following the first quarter. The teams played a dead-even second half, scoring 24 points each.

No Hawk scored more than 13 points, but four scored at least seven and the rest were key on defense and in the paint.

Yahmad Rountree finished with 11 points and seven rebounds while Tanner Kingsley added nine points and Rahmi Rountree had seven.

“That’s the one thing we’ve worked on all year, getting everyone involved,” Yahmad said. “It makes us a lot more of a threat. We never gave up, no matter how rough things got for us. We did it as a team.”

Though Yahmad’s point totals have declined in recent weeks due to the increased pressure he sees, Hunt says he’s still just as important to the Hawks’ winning.

“The farther along we get, teams are going to be a little more focused on Yahmad,” Hunt said. “He’s just going to have to do what he does best.

When he wasn’t scoring, he was rebounding and playing defense. With them concentrating so much on Yahmad, it opened up Ryan on the outside. We were able to take advantage of that.”

Hunt also praised the performance of Kingsley, who continues to make steady contributions as a freshman.

“Tanner is fearless as a freshman,” Hunt said. “It showed that he’s not going to back down from anybody. He’s just going to play his game.”

Hunt said the crucial play of other players, including Sean Deegan, went well beyond the box score.

“Going into that game we weren’t able to scout them but we were aware of their best player, Ryan McLaughlin,” Hunt said. “As a coaching staff, we decided to go with our diamond-in-one defense and put our best defender, Sean Deegan, on him.”

Deegan held the Class M all-star to 15 points.

Woodland was set to travel to No. 6 Stonington (16-5) on Wednesday night, after press time. Should the Hawks pull another upset, they’ll face either No. 3 Notre Dame-Fairfield (18-3) or No. 14 Kaynor Tech (15-6) on Friday night.

Little Pal league director and head coach of K of C Scott Robinson, right, will be leaving the league after leading young athletes for 34 years. PHOTO BY KEN MORSE

How can someone stay committed to a cause for over three decades volunteering countless hours to the youth of Naugatuck? It can only be explained as a labor of love. That love culminated in 2007 when the YMCA honored Robinson with the Volunteer of the Year Award.

“That was a very humbling experience,” Robinson said. “I never got into it to receive any awards. I actually got into it out of a labor of love.”

When Scott and his brother Dale were knee high to a grasshopper his mother, Joan, entered the boys into the YMCA Little Pal program.

Being a single parent, his mother believed that the boys would benefit from a structured environment and learn to get along with their teammates.

What grew out of it was a commitment to a youth organization that has lasted over three decades.

“My mother got me going in this league and it just kind of stuck,” Robinson said. “I began coaching after I passed the age restriction at the age of 13 years old. I was an assistant coach to John Geletka and also helped out coaching in the Friday night league.”

From there it grew to the Christopher Columbo team in the morning league and Scott still found the time to dedicate his services to the afternoon league under Bob Sullivan and Brad Erickson.

By the time his senior year rolled around, Robinson took over the head coaching position of K of C in 1982 and has been there ever since.

Along the way his duties and commitment grew from the director of the morning program, to afternoon director, to the director of the Little Pal organization.

“I’ve coached in the Friday Night league for the Naugatuck Police,” Robinson said. “I did the books and I took on the duties of the Little Pal league.”

Robinson’s stay in the Little Pal league has brought him plenty of long days.

“There were times when your Saturday would start at 7:30 in the morning and you would be going until 6:30 at night,” Robinson said.

Despite the long days and extensive duties, Robinson has missed just one of his scheduled games in 34 years—and it wasn’t even his fault.

“I didn’t go anywhere or do anything else from October to March for 34 years,” Robinson said. “I did miss just one game when a scheduling conflict due to the weather had me attending a Georgetown-UConn game. I already had the tickets and planned the vacation. I couldn’t cancel because it was too late.”

All anyone in town has to do is attend one of the end-of-the-year sports banquets put on by the Little Pal league to realize the magnitude of Scott’s undertaking.

Over the years Robinson saw many prominent players come through the league. Naugatuck High School all-time leading scorers Mike Wilson and Jessica Mudry along with Naugatuck Mayor Bob Mezzo have all made their way through the Little Pal league while Scott served as coach and league director.

“There were so many good athletes that came through the system,” Robinson said. “I coached all the Terry boys, the Mastropietros, and the list is just endless.”

Even with the extraordinary athletes that he’s watched, Robinson said developing skill has always played second fiddle to molding good young people.

“There are no MVP awards,” Robinson said. “We focus mainly on sportsmanship, being a good teammate and hustle—the same kind of values that will help these kids grow into prominent members of the town.”

Robinson has brought home three Little Pal titles in his 34 years pacing the sidelines and his team is one of only three in the past 20 years to win titles in back-to-back seasons.

K of C won titles in 1990-1991 and 1993. Dale Robinson was in his first year at the helm for Rotary when he faced off against his brother Scott in 1990.

“It was truly an honor to have all those parents entrust me with their kids,” Robinson said. “But I would have to say the most satisfying moment came when I beat my brother Dale in the league championship. We went undefeated for the first time. They had Josh Ruccio but we won the title and that was so satisfying.”

In 1991 Scott’s team defeated a Bob Burns and Gene Massa team. For the last title in 1993, Scott faced off against longtime friend Dave Yachtis, who is currently the boys head coach at Pomperaug.

Robinson says he hopes the YMCA pegs Bryan Cottrell, who assisted Robinson for 12 years, to take the reins of the league. As for Robinson, he says it’s time for him to find other things to do. But, he’ll always cherish his time with the Little Pal league.

“I certainly will miss all the kids and the friends I’ve made through the years. You don’t put 34 years into something without getting anything out of it. And I can truly say I got more out of it than I put into it. It was a very rewarding time in my life,” Robinson said.

Coming into Tuesday night’s game against Kennedy, the Greyhounds were looking to snap their eight-game losing streak dating back to 2010 when they last beat the Eagles.

However, the Hounds couldn’t pull off the sweep as the Eagles raced out to a 13-3 lead by the end of the first quarter, providing them with the cushion they would need to cruise to a 49-23 victory in what proved to be a very physical game.

Naugy’s Lauren Piroscafo, the Naugatuck Valley League’s fifth-leading scorer, managed just nine points and rarely found room to get to the basket as Kennedy’s (3-14) defense packed it in the paint.

She was limited to two field goals for the evening, scoring five of her nine points at the free throw line. Aside from Piroscafo’s two baskets, Naugatuck (3-15) only registered six additional field goals on the night.

Naugatuck managed just another three points by halftime, walking into the locker room looking demoralized with Kennedy leading, 16-6.

Naugatuck coach Jodie Ruccio was displeased with her team and after a quick halftime pep talk she came back out on the court alone, leaving the team in the locker room to discuss amongst themselves what they thought had to change in the last 16 minutes of play.

Unfortunately for the Hounds, the second half proved to be no different as Kennedy’s offense came out on fire, putting up 34 points in the final two quarters.

Ruccio was at a loss for words at the end of the night.

“I honestly cannot describe what happened tonight other than us turning the ball over,” Ruccio said. “When you commit 32 turnovers, you are not going to win any basketball games.”

Ruccio wasn’t the only one disappointed with the team’s performance.

“Our season’s winding down and the outcome of tonight’s game was disappointing,” Piroscafo said. “We know we have to take more care of the ball if we are going to be successful in our final two games.”

For seniors Renee Augustine and Michele Troschler, they will have one home game left, scheduled for Monday at 7 p.m. against Seymour.

“It’s very frustrating to know how hard we work everyday in practice to prepare for the games,” Augustine said.

Augustine said she feels her team will continue the hard work and find the winning touch in the team’s final two games of the season starting Friday night when the Greyhounds travel to Wolcott.