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| IN THE NEWS - Winter '09-'10 |
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When we happen to come across digital postings about NHS sporting events, we like to post them here to share with visitors to our web site. If you happen to see an article that we missed, please send a link along to our webmaster and we will add it as soon as possible. Just send the link to webmaster@norwalkhighsports.org.
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| WINTER |
Posted on 03/01/2010
NORWALK
By GEORGE ALBANO
Hour Staff Writer
When Willy Arbieto moved to the United States from Peru nearly six years ago, he dreamed of someday playing soccer at a college in his new country. He also wanted to stay close to his family.
After a stellar four-year career at Norwalk High School, Arbieto is close to realizing the best of both worlds.
The All-FCIAC midfielder officially announced on Monday that he will be attending Sacred Heart University this fall where he is given a good chance to make the Pioneers' Division I men's soccer team as a walk-on.
"I talked to the soccer coach there and he told me he expects to have a spot on the team for me," Arbieto said after making his intentions official in the NHS library following school on Monday. "But he said I have to prove myself. I have to get ready and be prepared for when I get there."
If the work ethic Arbieto displayed the last four years is any indication, Norwalk head soccer coach Chris Laughton has no doubt his former player will make the team.
"I know the coach up there, Joe Barroso, pretty good. We stay in touch and he asked me about Willy," Laughton said. "He had heard about him, and when Willy and I went up there on a recruiting trip he talked to the coach and took a tour of the campus. He really liked the soccer program."
"I really liked the campus, too," Arbieto said. "It's small and compact so everyone knows everyone. And the people are nice.
"The soccer team is also more established than some other schools that were looking at me like Bryant and Dominican."
Bryant College, a Division I school that SHU plays, is in Rhode Island, while Dominican College, a Division II program, is located just outside of New York City.
"I pretty much wanted to stay close to home," Arbieto said. "I have always lived with my family since we moved here in 2004. We're a very close family."
"He's really close to his family and wants to stay close to home," Laughton agreed. "So this has really worked out well for him."
The closeness of Arbieto's family was pretty evident Monday by the proud smiles being flashed by his parents, Wilfredo and Lina Arbieto, and older sister Lizbeth. Another older sister, Lina, already attends Sacred Heart and lives at home.
Add it all up and choosing SHU made a lot of sense for the younger Arbieto. But making the roster on a Division I team that went 8-7-2 last fall will be a tall task.
It won't be the first time Arbieto has met a big challenge head on, however. When he first moved to the USA and was a seventh grader at West Rocks Middle School, he landed a spot on Eastern FC, a highly regarded premier soccer team in Greenwich.
"I got a try out and made the team," he said. "Then I got a scholarship from them so I didn't have to pay a lot of money."
Arbieto eventually went on to play for JBS, a premier team in New York, during the offseason. When he got to Norwalk High, he not only made the varsity soccer team as a freshman, but started.
"I remember seeing him play that first year," said Laughton, who didn't take over as head coach until the following season. "I thought he was a skilled player even then, but I thought he was tentative and somewhat hesitant, which is to be expected as a freshman.
"But I had him as a sophomore, junior and senior and where he made the most progress was in his maturity. In four years, he became more mature as a player and as a person."
And as his confidence grew, so did his soccer skills.
"He put in a lot of work in the off season and you could see the improvement every year," Laughton said. "He would be at practice every Sunday before me and I always got there an hour before practice began.
"Willy would recruit the backup goalie to come early, and he would take shots at him and work on different aspects of his game. He was a very dedicated player."
That dedication really began paying off his junior season in the fall of 2008 when he was named second-team All-FCIAC and to The Hour's All-Area team.
"I thought he made a huge improvement from his sophomore into his junior year," Laughton said. "He played at outside midfield and created a lot of scoring opportunities for us.
"Then as a senior this year we moved him to center midfield and he was a big part of our offense."
Indeed, Arbieto drilled home four goals and assisted on another seven as he helped the Bears go 7-4-5 while being named to the All-FCIAC first team.
Not surprisingly, several college coaches had him on their radar screen.
"He started getting some interest in the offseason from Division I and Division II schools who saw him play with his club team," Laughton said. "Then I got a few calls from other coaches who saw him play during the high school season."
But all the while Arbieto had one school in mind: Sacred Heart.
And while he doesn't have to report for preseason practice until mid-August, he's already getting ready.
"I go to the gym every day and I'm getting in shape," Arbieto said. "Coach Laughton told me one of my weaknesses is I get pushed off the ball because I'm not big or very strong."
Arbieto stands 5-foot-8 and currently weighs 155 pounds.
"But I used to be 135 two months ago," he said through his own infectious smile. "My work in the gym has been paying off."
Like in high school, Arbieto expects to play the midfield position in college as well.
"In high school I played center defensive midfield," he pointed out. "But I think in college I'll go back to playing left or right midfield, or up top maybe. I played on the wings for my premier team so I'm pretty much used to that."
Being close to home will also afford Arbieto the opportunity to come watch his former high school team play.
"I'm sure he'll come to a lot of games," Laughton said.
"I really want to see the Staples game when we play them," said Arbieto, recalling the past couple of battles between the Bears and Wreckers. "I told coach if I have time I'd like to come down and help out at practice, too."
Of course, between his new soccer team and his school load, Arbieto, who plans to major in accounting, will have a pretty full plate this fall.
"My family has always told me that education comes first. That's what's important in life," he said. "I always thought about going to college and playing soccer. I think I found the right school."
Posted on 02/15/2010
The Norwalk High girls basketball team saw its state-tournament hopes officially come to an end Monday night when the Bears lost to Trumbull 47-36 at the Tom Scarso Gymnasium.
NHS, now 6-11 in the FCIAC and 6-13 overall, needed to win its final two games to qualify for postseason play.
"We set that as one of our goals at the beginning of the season," head coach Ricky Fuller said. "We needed to win our last two and we fell short."
The Bears close their season against city rival McMahon Thursday at 6 p.m. at home.
Posted on 02/12/2010
Staff reports
Seven area wrestlers, including four from Brien McMahon and one from Norwalk High, will be vying for a spot in the finals when the 2010 Joe Sikorski FCIAC Wrestling Championships continue today at New Canaan High School.
Action resumes at 9 a.m. with semifinal matches in each of the 14 weight classes, followed by a pair of wrestleback rounds, and then the third and fifth place consolation matches. The championship finals are set for 4 p.m.
The top six finishers in each class receive medals.
Terron Edwards (152 pounds), Brent Nelson (160), Wendell Christian (171) and Jeff Starr (285) all advanced to the semifinals for McMahon.
Starr, the defending FCIAC champion at 285 and unbeaten this season in conference matches, is the top seed in his weight class. Edwards and Nelson are both seeded third, while Christian is a seventh seed and beat No. 2 seed Terrence Reedy of Wilton 2-1 in the quarterfinals.
Reedy is now 27-5 with two of his losses coming against Christian, who also won their regular-season match by one point.
Starr, who drew a first-round bye to advance to the quarterfinals, won his only match of the night by a pin in 43 seconds. He will wrestle Xavier Contraras, the No. 4 seed from Harding, in today's semifinals.
Edwards will go against No. 2 seed Thomas Anania of Fairfield Warde, while Nelson will wrestle Mike Sullivan, another second seed from Fairfield Warde. Christian meets No. 3 seed Duncan Cozens of Ridgefield.
The Senators have two other wrestlers still alive and in the wrestleback round with Joe Nocco at 125 and Christos Kehagias at 140. Both won their opening match before losing in the quarterfinals.
Fred Riesch is Norwalk High's lone semifinal wrestler as the No. 3 seed at 125 pounds posted a quarterfinal win. He faces No. 2 seed Evan Fraser of Fairfield Warde in this morning's semis.
The Bears have three more wrestlers in the wrestleback round with Tom Palumbo at 145, Raul Aldarondo at 152, and Tony Lato at 160. They, too, won their opening matches before falling in the semis.
Staples advanced two wrestlers to the semifinals as Chris Giunta beat Cole Duncan of New Canaan in overtime in the 189-pound quarterfinals, and Said Sarfaraz at 285 won his quarterfinal match with a 39-second pin. Both Staples wrestlers are No. 3 seeds.
The Wreckers will also have Mike Giunta (171) and Brad Menchaca (119) in the wretleback rounds.
In addition to Reedy, Wilton will have Craig Helms at 160 pounds and Sean DeJager at 215 in today's wrestlbacks.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Harding 60, McMahon 54
The Senators gave the Central Division leaders all they could handle, trailing by only a point, 42-41, entering the fourth quarter and taking a two-point lead with a little more than two minutes to go after Joey Tomberlin sank his second 3-pointer of the game.
But two costly turnovers down the stretch enabled the Presidents to pull out the win and improve to 12-3 in the FCIAC and 13-3 overall.
Tomberlin finsihed with 18 points for McMahon, now 8-8 overall and 7-7 in the conference.
HARDING (60)
Romel Hendricks 2 6-10 10, Willie Gray 2 4-6 9, Jermaine Campbell 6 3-10 15, Kintwan Miles 5 0-0 10, Rashad Craddock 0 2-6 2, Rasheed Setal 1 0-0 2, Marnell Lomax 2 0-0 4, Kayron Chattell 2 0-0 4, Stephen Walker 2 0-0 4. Totals: 22 15-34 60
McMAHON(54)
Joey Tomberlin 8 0-0 18, Brian Wade 1 3-8 5, Andre McCrae 1 1-4 3, Lamar Tate 3 1-4 7, C.J. Langley 1 0-0 2, Tyler Shular 2 0-0 4, Chris Daniel 3 3-4 9, Shakhah Moore 2 0-0 4, Brandon Davis 1 0-0 2. Totals: 22 8-20 54.
Harding 10 16 16 18 -- 60
McMahon 15 1016 13 -- 54
3-point FG: H-Gray; BM-Tomberlin 2. Fouled out: BM-Tate.
Trinity 61, Wilton 46
The Crusaders (9-8 overall, 8-7 FCIAC) took a 36-16 lead at the half and never looked back.
Leading the way for the Warriors (4-12) were Ian Ross, who scored 21 points, and Jackson Wilbur, who chipped in with 12 points. Jackson Wilbur added six rebounds and six blocks.
WILTON (46)
Kurt Marut 3 6-8 12, Jackson Wilbur 1 0-0 2, Ryan Crane 2 0-0 5, Ian Ross 7 6-7 21, Mike DiPilato 0 0-0 0, Weston Wilbur 0 0-0 0, Sean Carroll 2 2-2 4, Chris Nugent 0 0-0 0, Max Maudsley 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 14-17 46.
TRINITY CATHOLIC (61)
Remy Pinson 8 8-8 22, Kevin Epp 1 0-0 2, Tyler Walston 4 4-6 12, Mike Scaturchio 1 4-6 7, Ryan Walsh 3 0-0 6, Aaron Spence 2 1-1 5, R.J. Calo 1 0-0 2, Phil Thompson 1 0-0 2, Cedric Casimir 1 1-2 3. Totals: 20 18-23 61.
Wilton 7 9 7 23 -- 46
Trinity 14 22 10 15 -- 61
3-pointers: W-Ross, Crane; T-Pinson 2, Scaturchio. Fouled out: W-J. Wilbur.
St. Luke's 70, GFA 36
Kevin Mahoney scored 14 points to lead St. Luke's (12-5) over GFA (8-13) in FAA action Friday in Westport. C.J. Smith scored nine points to lead GFA, playing without top scorers Dan Chase and Laurent Firlotte due to illness.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
McMahon 73,
Harding 41
The Lady Senators, who had their six-game winning streak snapped by New Canaan on Tuesday, got back on the winning track as they jumped out to a 30-4 lead after one quarter and coasted from there.
All 11 players scored for McMahon, led by Khea Gibbs and Angie Cruz with 14 points apiece. Kiara Goodwin added nine points for the Senators, who improved to 9-7 in the FCIAC and 11-7 overall.
McMAHON (73)
Khea Gibbs 6 0-0 14, Karley Barreno 1 0-0 2, Kaitlin Whittington 2 2-2 6, Kiara Goodwin 4 1-2 9, Natalie Leslie 0 1-3 1, Emily Sawyer 2 0-0 4, Kaylin English 3 0-0 6, Britt Brim 2 3-4 7, Rachel Sawyer 4 0-0 8, Kim McElveen 1 0-1 2, Angie Criz 6 2-7 14. Totals: 31 9-20 73.
HARDING (41)
Cherish Hampton 2 2-2 6, Neisha Franco 6 2-2 16, Alexandria Chisolm 2 1-2 5, Jhanelle Martin 1 3-3 5, Catherine Pezzella 1 0-0 2, Shantelle Mack 1 0-0 3, Jordyn White 1 2-2 4. Totals: 14 10-11 41.
McMahon 30 18 14 9 -- 73
Harding 4 9 13 15 -- 41
3-point FG: BM-Gibbs 2; H-Franco 2, Mack. Fouled out: Brim.
Staples 48,
Greenwich 39
The Wreckers (14-5 overall, 13-4 FCIAC) broke open a close in the fourth quarter with Suvi Puritpatarrapan going 9-of-10 from the free-throw line in the quarter and Remy Nolan hitting a key 3-pointer.
Puritpatarrapan finished with a career-high 25 points and also added three assists and two steals. Nolan tallied nine points and nine steals and Nicole Brill had 13 rebounds, five assists and four steals.
Jessica Fiscella had 17 points for the Cardinals (3-16, 3-14) and Tori Dobson grabbed 10 rebounds.
STAPLES (48)
Nicole Brill 1 1-2 3, Remy Nolan 3 1-2 9, Chelsea Salamone 1 2-2 4, Suvi Puritpatarrapan 6 11-12 25, Jackie Katz 3 0-0 6, Caroline Accardi 0 0-0 0, Julia Strickland 0 1-2 1, Jess Ambrose 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 16-20 48.
GREENWICH (39)
Angie Jamarillo 1 0-0 2, Amand Onoforio 1 0-0 2, Jennifer Biagiotti 2 0-0 4, Jessica Fiscella 5 3-4 17, Tori Dobson 4 0-0 8, Erin Laney 3 0-0 6. Totals: 16 3-4 39.
Staples 11 12 8 17 -- 48
Greenwich 6 16 3 14 -- 39
3-pointers: S-Puritpatarrapan 2, Nolan 2; G-Fiscella 4.
Weston 56,
New Milford 48
Senior Brittany Swanson scored 22 points and pulled down nine rebounds to lead Weston to its road victory, drawing the Trojans closer to a berth to the SWC playoffs.
Weston is now 13-5 overall and 9-4 in the SWC. New Milford fell to 1-16 overall and 1-11 in the SWC.
Sophomore Ellie Martin had another strong all-around game with 11 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Christina Welsh added six points, five steals and three assists. Senior Jessica Welsh was out with a leg injury.
WESTON (56)
Brittany Swanson 7 7-8 22, Christina Welsh 1 4-6 6, Ellie Martin 4 3-6 11, Taylor Swanson 1 0-0 2, Natalie Odierna 2 0-1 4, Hannah Hutchins 3 0-0 7, Dakota Sloop 2 0-0 4, Sarah Schwartz 0 0-0 0, Morgan Moubayed 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20 14-21 56.
NEW MILFORD (48)
Kelsey Heaton 4 0-2 10, Kaitlin Kisling 1 2-6 4, Cara Larkin 1 0-0 2, Niki Durosko 0 0-0 0, Kaitlin Flynn 3 1-1 9, Erin Kirsten 0 0-0 0, Carolyn Habjan 2 2-2 6, Jane Thompson 6 0-0 13, Melissa Judson 2 0-0 4 Totals: 19 5-11 48.
Weston 13 21 13 9 -- 56
New Milford 15 9 10 14--48
3-pointers: W-Hutchins, B. Swanson; NM-Heaton 2, Flynn 2, Thompson.
Trinity 50, Wilton 40
The Warriors (7-11 overall, 6-10 FCIAC) had an 18-17 halftime lead before the Crusaders rallied in the second half on their way to the victory. Trinity, which went to the free-throw line 45 times, improved to 13-4, 13-3.
Casey Pearsall had a solid all-around game for Wilton with 12 points, five assists and four steals. Stacy Pokora aided the cause with nine points, four assists and three steals.
TRINITY (50)
Erin Sottosanti 0 2-6 2, Eileen Ornousky 2 4-7 8, Clare O'Leary 1 3-5 5, Cayleigh Griffin 6 6-8 18, Mackenzie Griffin 3 7-17 13, Ali Palma 1 2-2 4, Lelia Barden 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 24-45 50.
WILTON (40)
Steph Boyles 0 1-2 1, Stacy Pokora 3 2-2 9, Steph Fricke 1 2-4 4, Margaret Smith 3 1-3 7, Christina Durels 1 0-0 3, Laura Johnson 0 0-0 0, Haley Tafuro 0 0-0 0, Maddy Fulton 1 2-6 4, Casey Pearsall 3 5-8 12. Totals: 12 13-24 40.
Trinity 10 7 17 16 -- 50
Wilton 9 9 7 15 -- 40
3-pointers: W-Pokora, Durels, Pearsall. Fouled out: W-Boyles, Johnson, Fricke. Technicals: W-Bench.
BOYS SWIMMING
Norwalk-McMahon ties Fairfield co-op
The Norwalk-McMahon co-op swim team rallied to tie Fairfield Warde-Ludlowe co-op 93-39 Friday at Fairfield University.
Down by 12 points with three events remaining, Norwalk-McMahon stormed back for the tie and round out the regular season with a 2-8-1 record. Warde-Ludlowe is 2-7-1.
It's the first tie in coach Doug Marchetti's eight seasons with Norwalk-McMahon.
Oscar Castillo and John Ospina were double winners for Norwalk-McMahon. Castillo captured the 200 IM (2:20.94) and the 100 backstroke (1:08.87) while Ospina took the 50 freestyle (26.47) and the 100 free (59.47).
Other individual event winners were Dan Faugno-Fusci in the 200 free (2:12.02), Andy Rumore in the diving (211.35) and Tom DiGuglielmo in the 100 breaststroke (1:15.03).
The 400 free relay team of Faugno-Fusci, Ospina, Castillo and DiGuglielmo also placed first (3:59.16).
Norwalk students get into Coach Trimboli’s face
T-shirts sporting the face of Norwalk boys basketball coach Bobby Trimboli have become staples of the team's fans at games this season. (Photo by John Nash/The Hour)
Some people carry their heart on their sleeves. Others carry the world upon their shoulders.
A group of Norwalk High School super fans, however, are carrying the face of boys basketball coach Bobby Trimboli on their chests.
The Bear Pack is a group of mainly seniors who attend each basketball game to show their support for Norwalk and for Trimboli. They even get dressed up for the occasion, wearing white t-shirts adorned with Coach Trimboli’s mug.
Norwalk senior Michael Lepoutre said the idea is based on a t-shirt that has the face of University of Connecticut men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun on it.
A total of 50 of the t-shirts were made up and they’re selling like hot cakes, according to Lepoutre, who added that his friend and classmate Jake Passero was a key figure in getting the t-shirts made.
Trimboli said Passero showed up one day wanting to take his picture and the coach asked him why he wanted it.
“He took a picture and I asked him what it was for because you never know. I can’t put myself out there,” said Trimboli. “He goes, ‘We’re making up t-shirts.’ I said, ‘Great, just make sure I get one.’”
The fans and Trimboli definitely have a love-love relationship this season.
“I love the fans. That little crew, that pack, they come to all our away games,” said Trimboli. “They travel. And that’s great fan support. That’s something we have to recognize as a team, to build that support and knowing we can push ourselves a little harder on the court for them.”
In the closing seconds of Friday night’s loss to St. Joseph, the Bear Pack showed Trimboli how much they care about him, too.
After the coach was ejected from the game for receiving back-to-back technical fouls, pretty much the entire student section walked out of the gym in protest, as well.
Face it. The fans love their coac
Posted on 02/09/2010
Staff reports
Senior Evan Kelley scored a team-high 21 points and sophomore Drew Sawyer added 15 to lead the Norwalk High boys basketball team to a 72-62 victory over Ridgefield Tuesday night in Ridgefield.
Jimmy Blount scored 15 and Shakeem Rice added 10 points for the Bears, who improved to 7-8 overall and 7-6 in the FCIAC. Ridgefield fell to 10-5 overall and 8-5 in the FCIAC.
Norwalk was playing without head coach Bobby Trimboli, serving a mandatory one-game suspension after getting slapped with two technical fouls during last Friday's 98-64 loss to St. Joseph.
NORWALK (72)
Shakeem Rice 3 4-4 10, Evan Kelley 8 3-6 21, Jimmy Blount 6 1-3 14, Drew Sawyer 7 0-1 15, Mike Newton 0 4-4 4, Kwazee Rice 0 1-2 1, Chris Maraglino 2 0-0 5. Totals: 26 13-20 72.
RIDGEFIELD (62)
Doug DelBene 13 0-0 26, John Tagliaferri 1 2-6 4, Brian Galvin 4 2-3 11, Chris Esemplare 1 0-0 2, Seth VonKuhn 3 0-0 6, Ryan Curnel 3 0-0 6, Jeff Racy 2 0-0 5. Totals: 27 4-9 62.
Norwalk 18 17 20 17 -- 72
Ridegfield 12 24 20 18 -- 62
3-pointers: N-Kelley 2, Blount, Sawyer, Maraglino; R-Galvin, Racy.
McDonald’s loves Kelley
Evan Kelley is a pretty quiet kid off the basketball court. On it, his actions speak louder than words.
Kelley, a senior swingman with the Norwalk High School basketball team, is averaging 26.1 points per game and recently passed the 1,000-point plateau for his career.
Kelley is a great talent, and it looks like people are starting to take notice.
Kelley was one of six players from Fairfield County to be selected as nominees to participate in the 33rd annual McDonald’s All American game.
Kelley, who had 1,008 career points going into Tuesday’s game at Ridgefield, was joined on the nominee list by Kamika Cummings of Masuk, Mark Ellis of Stamford, Greg Langston of St. Joseph, Brittany Martelle of Brookfield and Brandon Sherrod of Stratford.
This year’s game will take place on March 31 at the Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The 2,000 finalists will be announced later this month. Each team, boys and girls, will be comprised of 24 players
Posted on 02/08/2010
Tonight, Bobby Trimboli should be sitting on the Norwalk High School boys basketball bench, coaching his Bears through a very difficult road trip to Ridgefield.
Unfortunately, he won't be.
Maybe he'll go to Bridgeport and check out the mighty Hilltoppers of Central High. After all, they'll be next on the schedule for Norwalk, which will make the trip as a team on Friday.
Or, I suppose, if he doesn't want to depress himself even more, maybe he'll go to Trumbull to scout the Eagles in preparation for Monday's road game.
Of course, he could always take a cold winter's night off and hang out with the family, something he hasn't done too much since he first picked up a basketball all those years ago.
No matter what he decides to do tonight, though, I just think it's a shame that Trimboli isn't where he's supposed to be -- coaching his Bears.
Trimboli is under a one-game, CIAC-mandated suspension because he picked up two technical fouls during last Friday's 98-64 loss to St. Joseph.
He deserved the technicals, that's for sure. No doubt about that.
He was hot. He was angry. He charged up to halfcourt to give the officials a piece of his mind and had to be restrained by his athletic director, Wayne Mones, as he got banged with back-to-back Ts and shown the door.
But before all that happened, I was witness to something that I had never seen on a basketball court, something so blatant and bad and utterly ridiculous that I don't blame Trimboli for exploding the way he did.
I can't imagine any coach, worth his salt, who wouldn't have done the same thing considering what transpired with just over a minute to go in the game.
Here's what happened:
Norwalk was in possession of the ball and in its frontcourt when Trimboli asked for a time-out to the official standing closest to him. On the court, Norwalk player Jimmy Blount turned to the same official and, standing right in front of him, also asked for a time-out.
The referee stood motionless, ignoring both player and coach, and a pass intended for Blount was picked up by a St. Joe's player who raced the other way for an uncontested lay-up.
Adding fuel to the fire was the fact that a similar scenario happened earlier in the week during a tight loss to Trinity Catholic.
In the Trinity game, Trimboli asked for the time-out right after a made Norwalk basket. With all the continuing action that goes on immediately after a made hoop, I can understand how an official might have missed a coach's request.
It was a big miss and, perhaps, it dealt Norwalk a blow when it came to pulling out a victory, but the basketball purist in me could understand how it might have happened.
The incident against St. Joseph, however, shocked me. It was inexcusable.
"I don't want to say too much," Trimboli said immediately after the game. "I called a time-out. My player called a time-out. We still had possession and it wasn't awarded and then it ends up being a turnover and they score and that was the end of that."
Trimboli might not want to say too much on the record and I understand and respect that.
Thankfully, I can say too much.
I have no idea what the official was thinking or doing in that moment, when he had two different people -- one standing right in front of him, one standing next to him -- requesting a time-out.
Maybe he was thinking about where he was going get take-out food for the drive home. Maybe he was thinking about a call he might have blown or missed two quarters earlier. Maybe his eyes were diverted up to the scoreboard and he was wondering, "My God, when is this game going to end?"
All I know is Bobby Trimboli isn't where he's supposed to be tonight because somebody else blew it.
And that's just not right.
Posted on 02/08/2010
NORWALK
By MATTHEW DORAN
Hour Staff Writer
Soccer has always been the first love of Tyler Collins. And rightly so. Collins has been playing the game since he was 4 years old, and has always made it look painfully easy with his great athleticism and natural ability.
However, there was a time when the Norwalk High School senior thought about switching gears. With a father that played football on a full athletic scholarship at the University of Indianapolis, it certainly made sense to at least give it a try.
"I was really close my freshman year coming to high school," Collins said. "I had my football cleats and everything. I was ready to play football."
But Collins eventually went back where he belonged. Back to the soccer field.
"That ended up being a good decision," said Chris Laughton, the head coach of the Norwalk High boys soccer team.
Collins ended up starting at sweeper for four years, a 6-foot-180-pound stalwart who served as the team's co-captain this past fall. With power, speed and great instincts for the game, Collins was named First-Team All-FCIAC for the second straight season while leading the Bears to a 7-7-5 overall record.
On Monday, Collins parlayed his high school success into a partial athletic scholarship to play Division I soccer at American University of Washington, D.C.
Collins signed his national letter of intent during a press conference at Norwalk High School with his mother, Kathy, father, Tom, and Laughton at his side.
"I've always wanted to play soccer in college since the time I was little," Collins said. "It's nice to get a scholarship and have a chance to get a good education at the same time."
Collins was also considering Bryant and Lafayette, but went with the more established program at American, which went 9-7-3 overall with an appearance in the Patriot League championship game last fall. American, ranked 48th in the nation, won the conference title two years ago.
"It's a great school academically and it's a great soccer program, so I think it's a perfect fit for him," Laughton said. "He's gotten a great education here and he's been challenged in the FCIAC, and that's all led to his decision to attend American."
Collins, who made his official visit last March, also chose American because of its location in the nation's capital. The stature of the soccer team on campus also played a major role.
"It's pretty cool. There's a lot going on down there," Collins said. "They don't have a football team, so soccer is the big thing in the fall."
Collins is a member of the JBS premier team out of South Salem, N.Y., the ninth-ranked U-18 team in the country. The exposure he got with JBS helped land him a scholarship. American first saw Collins play during a college showcase in Richmond, Va., in the spring of his junior year.
American head coach Todd West contacted Collins after watching him that summer during an Adidas Blue Chip camp in Cincinnati. Collins liked everything West said and made a verbal commitment last July.
West told Collins he'd give him every chance to win a spot in the starting lineup this fall.
"He just wants to win, so he's going to put the best players out there," said Collins, who still had scholarship offers coming in after his commitment to American. "He said there's a good chance I could start as a freshman. I went to one of the games and he showed me the kid I would be replacing."
Collins has played sweeper at Norwalk for four years, but his role during the spring and summer premier seasons has been as a midfielder. That versatility made Collins an attractive recruit.
"He's an athlete, so he's got a lot of options," Laughton said. "He's not going to be pigeon-holed into playing one position. He's got a lot of versatility. I could have used him anywhere this year and he would have done well. In college, who knows where he'll play."
Collins has tried everything from baseball to basketball to football. His father played both football and basketball in college, so it was only natural for Tyler to try his hand at a few different sports. He even played lacrosse as a freshman at Norwalk High.
But Collins always took to soccer like a fish to water. That's where he always stood out from the crowd.
Tyler's sister, Karolyn, was an All-FCIAC sweeper as a sophomore with Norwalk's girls soccer team. Soccer is simply in the family genes.
"You can't teach a lot of the things he has," Laughton said. "He has great instincts and great technical skills as well."
According to Laughton, the sky's the limit with Collins.
"From the time I first saw him as a freshman to his senior year, he's made tremendous strides," Laughton said. "I really believe he's only scratching the surface with his ability. If he continues to work hard and stay focused and improve year after year, I know he can be successful on the college level."
American also plays the same brand of soccer as Norwalk, so Collins should be comfortable right away.
"We play a possession style of game and he knows that type of system," Laughton said. "It's not going to be a big shock for him."
Collins is one of eight new recruits by American and the first Division I signee for Laughton in his four years as head coach. Five others have gone on the play on lower-level college programs. Laughton believes Collins is only the first in what should be a string of Norwalk players going to the next level in the years to come.
"I think this shows that the program his going in the right direction," Laughton said. "I think Tyler is going to be the beginning of some great things to come."
Posted on 02/05/2010
NORWALK
By JOHN NASH
Hour Staff Writer
It was supposed to be Evan Kelley's special night.
Five points away from the 1,000-career-point milestone, the Norwalk High School senior guard was in the spotlight throughout the first quarter of Friday night's game against visiting St. Joseph.
Then, right before the final buzzer sounded to end the first quarter, Kelley finished a baseline layup for his fifth and sixth points of the night, setting off a frenzy in the Norwalk crowd.
An annoucement followed, signifying the moment, and Kelley walked across the Scarso Gym-nasium court alone to hug his family. As he walked back, the Cadets stood and applauded, too.
Then, the dark clouds rolled in.
By the time the night was over, Kelley was on the bench with only 13 points and five fouls, his head coach was down in the locker room having been ejected in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter and the Cadets were heading back to Trumbull with a 98-64 FCIAC boys basketball victory.
For Kelley, it was a nice moment, but he also knew it was time to move on.
"It was nice to get it out of the way," he said. "I was nervous coming into the game, but we tried not to focus on it too much because this was a big game against a good team. I figured I'd just get the points in the flow of the game."
Kelley said the moment was possible because he's had great teammates surrounding him -- "They've fed me the ball at the right times, so I'm thankful for that," he said -- and he's worked hard for each and every point.
With 1,008 points behind him, though, all that matters now is the rest of the season.
"These last couple of games are really important for us and could make or break our season," said Kelley, whose team slipped to 6-8 overall and 6-6 in the FC IAC. "We'll just stick together as a team and make sure we get these wins."
As for the game, it was a tale of two halves.
The first half was a bonafide tweet-a-thon with 20 fouls called and St. Joe's going 16-for-20 from the foul line while taking a 41-30 lead.
"In the first half, I thought we did a pretty good job, but a few balls didn't go our way and they got some second chance points," said Trimboli. "Turnovers were our biggest problem in the first half. We came out and turned the ball over like four times in a row and we were down and had to dig ourselves out of a whole, which is tough against a team like that."
When Kelley canned a 3-pointer to open the second half, the Bears seemed ripe to make a game of it.
An 11-0 Cadets run, capped off with a Sam Wilson 3-pointer from the top key, put St. Joe's ahead 52-33.
Norwalk got to within eight just one more time -- when Chris Maraglino swished a 3-pointer with 3:10 left in the third.
"They kept coming back so I give them credit," said St. Joseph's longtime head coach Vito Montelli. "They're a well-schooled team and they can shoot, but they couldn't match us on the boards and we got a couple of them in foul trouble and that helped, too."
The Cadets closed out the quarter with a 10-1 spurt to make it 63-46 entering the final eight minutes of play.
Oscar Assie led St. Joe's with 22 points while Greg Langston added 17 and Wilson finished with 13.
Kelley and Drew Sawyer both had 13 points for the Bears while Maraglino finished with 12, Blount nine and Shakeem Rice with eight.
The final minute of the game proved to be a fiasco as Trimboli received back-to-back technicals to get tossed out of the game with just more than a minute remaining.
Norwalk was in possession of the ball and in its frontcourt when Trimboli signaled for a time-out. On the court, Blount also turned to the official and, standing right in front of him, also asked for a time-out.
The time-out was not awarded, however, and a pass intended for Blount was picked up by a St. Joe's player who raced the other way for an uncontested lay-up.
Having had the exact same thing happen in a tight loss to Trinity Catholic earlier in the week, Trimboli exploded, giving the officials a piece of his mind as he was being held back by athletic director Wayne Mones.
"I don't want to say too much," said Trimboli, who under CIAC rules will have to sit out Norwalk's game at Ridgefield on Tuesday. "I called a time-out. My player called a time-out. We still had possession and it wasn't awarded and then it ends up being a turnover and they score and that was the end of that."
After Trimboli exited the gymnasium, the entire student section of the Norwalk crowd exited the building, as well, in a well-timed protest.
The Bears also stalled out the final 58 seconds of the game to make sure the Cadets wouldn't reach the century mark against them.
ST. JOSEPH (98)
Brandon Jones 2 4-4 8, Oscar Assie 8 6-10 22, Sam Wilson 4 4-5 13, Timajh Parker 2 5-6 9, James Jennings 1 0-1 2, Greg Langston 6 5-5 17, Brendon Nugent 2 0-0 4, Jake Fulton 3 0-0 7, Pat Hopkins 1 1-2 3, Chris Watts 1 0-0 3, Kyle Huben 2 4-4 9, Totals 32 29-37 98
NORWALK (64)
Shakeem Rice 4 0-1 8, Mike Newton 2 2-4 7, Evan Kelley 6 0-1 13, Drew Sawyer 5 3-4 13, Chris Maraglino 5 0-0 12, Jimmy Blount 3 1-2 9, Jeremy Gedion 0 2-2 2, Quaz Rice 0 0-0 0, Totals 25 8-14 64
St. Joseph 25 16 22 25 -- 98
Norwalk 15 15 16 14 -- 64
3-pointers: SJ-Wilson, Fulton, Watts, Huben; N-Maraglino 2, Blount 2, Newton, Kelly; Fouled Out: N-Kelley, Rice; Technical Fouls: Norwalk Coach Bobby Trimboli (2).
Posted on 01/31/2010
Norwalk High School basketball player Drew Sawyer, pictured at right, has high expectations for his future. And why wouldn't he? His father is none other than Stacey Sawyer, who scored 1,136 points with the Bears from 1981-83. Drew Sawyer is just a sophomore, but is already into his second year as a starting guard, showing the potential to be just as prolific as his dad -- who now serves as an assistant coach with the Bears. Just before Norwalk's afternoon game against Staples on Friday, Sawyer took time out to go "On the Record" with The Hour.
* * *
The Sawyer File
Parents/Siblings: Selena and Stacey; Brothers, Stacey (24) and Kendall (22); Sisters, Shaina (23), Meagan (19) and Ashia (17).
Sports/Activities: Basketball
Future goals: To earn a college scholarship and play pro basketball overseas.
* * *
The Hour: What's it like playing for your dad?
Drew Sawyer: I work out with my dad a lot, so I already know what he expects of me. So I can tell by his facial expressions or his eyes what he wants me to do.
TH: Is there any pressure playing and being his son?
DS: Not really. If anyone says anything about my dad during a game, which doesn't happen that often, but if anything I take it as a challenge.
TH: If you played your dad in a game of 1-on-1, who would win?
DS: Oh, me. I'm much faster than him.
TH: What are your goals in basketball?
DS: I would love to go to a high Division I college and play television basketball. I would also like to play overseas so I could learn a different language and pick up things from another culture.
TH: What's the best thing about Norwalk High School?
DS: The people. It's very diverse, and you can make friends with anyone no matter what they look like.
TH: What would you change about Norwalk High if you could?
DS: The food.
TH: What's one thing no one knows about you?
DS: That I play the piano. I've been playing since I was 6 years old. I play mostly jazz and classical.
TH: What's your favorite movie?
DS: House Party 3
TH: What's your favorite midnight snack?
DS: Cookies and milk.
TH: Do you have any superstitions?
DS: I always wear a new pair of socks for every game.
TH: What scares you?
DS: The open water. I don't like being out in the middle of the ocean or anything like that.
TH: What's you greatest athletic memory?
DS: The New Canaan game this year when I hit eight 3-pointers. That was pretty fun.
TH: If you could go back in time and witness something from the past, what would it be?
DS: The "I Have a Dream" speech by Martin Luther King.
TH: Who's your hero or your idol?
DS: My parents.
TH: What one word best describes you?
DS: Humble.
TH: Where do you hope to be in five years?
DS: I hope to be one of the top freshmen basketball players in the country.
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I don't know you personally Drew, but not only did Rev. Yordon and I officiate at your dad's wedding held @ Shady Beach,(Hi, Stacy!) but I'm also one of your many aunts. Time really flies! If my husband were still alive, I know he would be extremely proud, as I am, of what you are doing, and with the help of God, what you plan to do. Our prayers are with you.
Posted by: anonymous | 23 hours, 23 minutes ago
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Help lead the Rockets to a JBA championship as an 8th grader is one of Drew's greatest accomplishments. What a season that was.
Posted on 01/29/2010
WESTPORT
By MATTHEW DORAN
Hour Staff Writer
There was a time when Evan Kelley had a reputation for being one-dimensional. If Kelley wasn't shooting a 3-pointer or firing away from the outside, then he wasn't doing much of anything.
But that was a long time ago. So long, it was almost as if it was another player in another lifetime.
These days, the kid wearing No. 2 for the Norwalk High School basketball team is one of the most well-rounded players in the FCIAC, someone who makes everyone around him better, simply by being on the court.
Kelley proved just how good he has become during Friday's game against Staples, lifting the Bears to a 67-53 victory with a tremendous all-around effort in a rare afternoon game at the Staples High School gym.
Kelley, who leads the FCIAC in scoring with 27 points per game, did what he always does, pouring in a game-high 22 points. That included two 3-pointers, a couple of clutch foul shots and one huge basket with 50 seconds left to halt a late Staples run.
But if Kelley proved anything, it's that he's more than just a scorer, finishing just shy of his second career triple-double with 10 rebounds, six steals and five assists.
Kelley did everything it took for his team to win. He was tenacious on the boards, especially on the defensive end, and unselfish offensively. When Staples denied Kelley scoring opportunities, he remained patient, helped spread things out and created scoring chances for his teammates instead.
"That's what we need him to do," said Norwalk head coach Bobby Trimboli, whose team evened its overall record at 6-6 while improving to 6-4 in the FCIAC. "He is one of the better players in the league, and he showed it tonight."
Kelley's effort enabled Norwalk to put together one of its better performances of the season, getting 14 points from junior guard Jimmy Blount and 11 from sophomore Drew Sawyer.
"All our other players played with a lot more confidence than they have in other games," Trimboli said. "We're talented, and we have other players who are going to give us quality minutes, and tonight it showed. The kids played hard, they worked hard, got a lot of steals and they finished. Everyone played well tonight, so you have to give the kids credit."
Kelley, who was an efficient 8-for-16 from the floor, acquitted himself well with two college coaches in attendance, including an assistant from Division I Rider of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
"I like to show that I can pass and be unselfish," said Kelley, who is now just 37 points shy of 1,000 for his career. "Instead of me scoring 30 points, I'd rather cut it in half and get 10 rebounds and 10 assists and get my teammates involved."
The Wreckers received another solid effort from junior swingman Gabe Seidman, who scored a team-high 19 points to go with five steals and four assists. Junior forward Grant Fenton, who has come alive in the past five games, posted a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Junior Frank Bergonzi added 11 for the Wreckers, now 5-8 overall and 4-7 in the FCIAC.
But other than those three players, Staples didn't muster much offense. The Wreckers kept things close early, going into the second quarter tied 13-13 while trailing just 30-25 at halftime. But Norwalk outscored Staples 14-8 in the third to take a 44-33 lead and had a 16-point lead in the fourth before the Wreckers finally turned up the intensity on defense.
By then, it was too late.
"We were missing some shots, but that's when the defense has to pick it up even more," Staples head coach Colin Devine said. "We have to play a full 32 minutes, and we haven't done that in some of the losses we've had."
Staples did a nice job containing Kelley in the first half with senior Brendan Rankowitz doing most of the defensive work. Kelley had just five points in the first quarter and eight in the first half with both of his field goals coming on 3-pointers.
But Kelley was simply taking what the Wreckers were giving him. He only attempted six shots in the first half, concentrating instead on feeding his teammates for easy inside baskets.
"The last couple of games, I've been way more aggressive in the first half," Kelley said. "Tonight I wanted to be a little more patient. When I saw my teammates were knocking down shots, I tried to keep that pace going by creating open looks."
While most of the Staples points came on Fenton put-backs and fast-break layups, the Bears were scoring all the tough points down low, displaying great passing in the paint from Blount, Sawyer and Mike Newton (eight points, five rebounds, five assists).
"That's something we've been working on and it's a new drill we put in during warmups," Trimboli said. "We're learning how to swing the ball and move the ball quicker and hit the open man. We're working on making the extra pass, taking a good shot and making it a better one."
Norwalk led just 32-29 when Kelley scored four straight points to make it 36-29. The Bears used a 8-0 run to make it 44-31, including a nice putback by Kwazee Rice off a missed 3-pointer by Kelley with 1:30 left in the third.
Newton's second 3-pointer and a layup by Kelly off a great spin move at the top of the key put Norwalk ahead 53-39.
The Bears led by 13 with 2:03 left in the fourth when Staples came to life, using a 7-0 run to make things interesting. A jumper by Fenton, a layup by Luke Yeager off a steal by Seidman and a 3-pointer by Rankowitz pulled Staples to within 57-51 with 1:05 left.
Newton missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 1:02 left and Rankowitz pulled down the rebound, opening the door even wider for the Wreckers. But Kelley jumped in front of his outlet pass underneath the basket and converted the steal into a quick two points for a 59-51 Norwalk lead.
"I just read it all the way," Kelley said. "I knew it was coming. I'm usually pretty good at making those kinds of plays."
The Bears then sealed the game at the foul line, going 8-for-10 in the final 42 seconds.
"Basketball is a game of swings, and they had a little swing at the end," Trimboli said. "But all in all, we held our composure, made the good passes and made our free throws."
NORWALK (67)
Evan Kelley 8 4-6 22, Kwazee Rice 1 1-2 3, Mike Newton 2 2-3 8, Jimmy Blount 6 2-2 14, Shakeem Rice 2 0-0 4, Drew Sawyer 4 3-5 11, Chris Maraglino 2 0-0 4, Jermy Gedeon 0 0-0 0, Rasheen Thompson 0 1-2 1. Totals: 25 13-20 67.
STAPLES (53)
Gabe Seidman 6 6-7 19, Luke Yeager 1 0-0 2, Frank Bergonzi 5 0-0 11, Grant Fenton 9 0-0 18, Brendan Rankowitz 1 0-0 3, Jake Felman 0 0-0 0, Andreas Bub 0 0-0 0, Iask Hrvacic 0 0-0 0, Mike Argosh 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 6-7 53.
Norwalk 13 17 14 23 - 67
Staples 13 12 8 20 - 53
3-pointers: N-Kelley 2, Newton 2; S-Seidman, Bergonzi, Rankowitz. Fouled out: S-Fenton.
Posted on 01/27/2010
Bobby Trimboli spent most of Tuesday night on his feet, pacing the sideline, exhorting his players, and working the officials.
In any other season, at any other time in his life, it would have been just another game for the energetic Trimboli.
But this was no typical night on the basketball court. Not for the Bears, and certainly not for Trimboli.
Norwalk needed triple overtime and a clutch 3-pointer by Jimmy Blount to pull out a thrilling 59-56 victory over area rival Wilton, the type of action-packed and eventful game gym rats like Trimboli are usually thankful to be a part of.
In this case, all the third-year head coach of the Norwalk High boys basketball team could think about was how drained he was, and how sore he was going to be on Wednesday.
After what the 26-year-old Norwalk native has been through in the past few weeks, it's a wonder he was on the sideline at all.
Trimboli spent three days in Norwalk Hospital over New Year's break, suffering from a rare affliction known as transverse myelitis, a neurological disorder caused by inflammation of the spinal cord.
Trimboli was hit quickly and without warning by the uncommon malady, which caused pain, weakness and severe cramping in his legs. Trimboli's condition was so bad at one point, the former standout point guard could barely walk. The pain was so great, it even hurt lying down.
"There was tons of cramping, a lot of pins and needles and constant burning," said Trimboli, who acquired the disorder when a stubborn stomach virus found its way into the fluid in his spinal cord. "It felt like being rubbed with sandpaper. My joints were all achy. There was no way to lie down to feel better. From the waist up, I was 100 percent."
Below the waist, not so good.
In fact, during one nerve-wracking 24-hour period when no one was sure of what he had, Trimboli was being tested for brain tumors, multiple sclerosis and blood clots. Doctors were also telling him there was a chance he could end up with permanent paralysis. For an active person like Trimboli, whose legs have always been his strength, that was the scariest thing.
"The day I woke up and couldn't walk, I was very scared about my future," said Trimboli, a former standout at Norwalk High, Trinity Catholic and Southern Connecticut State University. "There was just complete weakness in my body, and when you're an athlete, you always think the worst about how things might turn out. I was scared. I mean, you don't ever mention being paralyzed in the same sentence with my name."
Thankfully, doctors discovered the root of the illness in time to stop its progress. Had they not, Trimboli could have been much worse off.
"If they didn't find out in time the virus would have stayed in my spinal cord," Trimboli said. "When that happens, a person with this condition can be paralyzed and will never fully recover 100 percent."
Trimboli is still in the recovery phase. He said it'll take at least three or four months before he's even close to being himself again. The more he exerts himself physically, the longer it'll take to heal.
So for the rest of the season, Trimboli has to be something he's not used to being: Motionless. Trimboli must coach from the seat of his pants. At least, that's what the doctors recommended.
But not even a serious illness like this couldn't stop a dedicated coach from doing what he loves. In fact, Trimboli never missed a game throughout the entire ordeal. He literally went from a hospital bed to the basketball court, coaching in a game against Darien the same night he was released.
"I needed to get back on my feet," Trimboli said. "I told them, 'I need to be healed.' I knew my place was on the court. That made me feel good."
The best medicine ended up being basketball.
"For me, yes, it was," Trimboli said. "The kids rely on me and I never want to let them down."
Trimboli's trouble started with a stomach virus he caught a few days after Thanksgiving. It was a typical, run-of-the-mill bug. Trimboli thought nothing of it, and being the stubborn athlete he is, never sought help from a doctor.
"I just thought it would go away on its own," Trimboli said.
But it didn't, and this simple illness turned into something much more ominous.
Trimboli felt the first symptoms during the consolation game of the Masuk Holiday Tournament against Bunnell on Dec. 29.
"I started feeling pins and needles in my legs. At first I thought it was static through my khakis," Trimboli said. "I never sit down when I'm coaching, but something in my body was telling me to sit down. So I sat the whole game."
For anyone who knows Trimboli, whose boundless energy sometimes borders on hyperactivity, it was like watching a fish out of water.
Trimboli went home that night still refusing to believe anything was wrong. Three days later, he could no longer ignore it. The first thing he did was visit a walk-in medical center.
"They did some tests," he said. "They told me to stand on my tip-toes and I couldn't do it."
Trimboli was then sent to the emergency room, but the attending doctors were initially stumped.
"They thought it was a post-viral condition," Trimboli said. "But they ruled that out because this thing started in my waist and was working its way downward. A post-viral condition starts at your feet and goes up. So the symptoms didn't add up."
That's when doctors started doing what they do, covering all the bases. And those bases are often scary ones. Once things like brain tumors, paralysis and MS started being discussed, Trimboli forgot about basketball and started thinking about his own mortality.
"It's times like that when you realize these things can happen to anyone at any time," he said.
Finally, the diagnosis came back. Somehow, the stomach bug he was attling had crossed the barrier of the spinal cord, causing the debilitating weakness in his lower extremities.
According to Trimboli, to have that happen is very rare.
"They told me only one in one million get it," he said.
The good news was the illness he had was treatable. So over the next day or so, Trimboli was pumped full of IV and steroids to wipe out the disorder.
Trimboli was ready to go home at that point, but he was forced to stay a few extra days while precautionary MRIs were performed. He missed four practices, but made sure to keep in contact with assistant coaches Stacey Sawyer, San Segers and Anthony Pagano. He also kept a pipeline going with senior Evan Kelley, who relayed Trimboli's health reports back to the team.
"I kept talking to Evan so he could let all the kids know about my condition. We're a family, so everyone needed to know how I was doing," Trimboli said. "I also have great assistants, and they were able to keep the practices running smoothly."
Trimboli is thankful to have his health back, but it did come with a price. Since he's still young and fit, Trimboli likes to get on the court during practice. Trimboli doesn't just tell his kids what he wants them to do. He shows them. But because of the illness, Trimboli won't be able to do that the rest of the season.
"If I go a little too hard, I could have a relapse," he said. "It's tough because I really love being out there with the kids during practice. Sometimes when you tell kids something, it really doesn't register. But if you can show them yourself, that's when the light bulb goes on and it all clicks."
Trimboli will also have to give up playing on two different Rec League teams, and will also have to work himself back after losing 20 pounds off his 160-pound frame.
"I'm glad I was able to get back on my feet," said Trimboli, who works at the Westport Recreation Department. "I'm still not as healthy as I want to be. I still get some cramping in my legs, and my muscles are deteriorating because I'm not using them like I usually do. I like to stand up, but if I do, my muscles ache. It's just something I have to fight through and just wait it out until I can get my feet back on the court again."
Knowing Trimboli, that won't be very long at all.
Posted on 01/26/2010
By JOHN NASH
Villager Sports Editor
WILTON -- In the closing minutes of the third overtime, Norwalk High School boys basketball coach Bobby Trimboli pulled aside Jimmy Blount for a quick word of encouragement.
Minutes earlier, Blount had missed an important front end of a one-an-one with his team trailing and Trimboli was looking to pick up his senior guard.
"You could tell he was really upset and frustrated," Trimboli said. "I just brought him over and said, 'Jimmy, I love you, don't worry about that one. You'll make the next one.' That calmed him down a bit."
Blount never got back to the foul line, however.
Instead, he drained a 3-point shot from the baseline at the buzzer of the third extra frame, giving the Bears a stunning 59-56 victory over Wilton at the Zeoli Field House on Tuesday night.
"It feels good," said Blount, who finished with 14 points. "My team needed me and we got the W. We never thought we were out of it until the last bell rings."
In reality, when Wilton's Jackson Wilbur sank one of two foul shots to give the Warriors a 56-51 lead with 1:25 left in the third overtime, it looked like the game was over.
On Norwalk's ensuing possession, though an improbable five-point play by Evan Kelley set the Bears up for victory.
With 1:06 to play, Kelley -- who had scored only two points over the previous 19 minutes of play, ranging from late in the third quarter into the third overtime -- sank a 3-pointer from the baseline.
From the far side of the court, the lead official also called a foul on the play, sending Kelley to the foul line, as well.
During the dead ball situation, Wilbur was sent off the court by the other official because he had blood on the t-shirt he wore under his uniform.
Wilbur ran to the bench, took off his uniform top and the t-shirt, but was promptly assessed a technical foul for not leaving the playing area to change.
"I didn't know what was going on," Wilton head coach Tim Tallcouch said. "That's the problem I have with it. Nobody told me he was being sent out of the game for blood."
With Kelley at the line for three foul shots -- two technicals and his and-one -- the Bears had a shot to steal the lead. But the senior guard made two of three to tie the game and snatch away all of Wilton's momentum.
"Of course we were all fired up and then all that happened and it came out of left field," said Wilton captain Kurt Marut, who finished with 24 points. "It caught us all by surprise. It was a five- point swing."
From there, Norwalk milked the clock until a kicking violation against Wilton stopped the clock with 5.5 seconds left.
Following a Warriors time-out, Blount found himself open on the baseline to drain his game-winner, pushing the Bears record to 5-6 on the season.
"Unbelievable," said Trimboli. "We got lucky with that technical, but that's how the game goes. Stuff happens."
Plenty of stuff happened over the previous 40 minutes of action, as well.
Norwalk got seven points from Blount and six more from Kelley in building up a 15-7 lead after the first quarter, but Wilton responded with 17-point second quarter to take a 25-22 lead at the break.
Marut, Wilbur and Ross closed out the half with an 11-4 run.
Kelley then scored 10 of his 24 points in the third quarter with a single foul shot with 2:22 left giving the Bears a 37-28 lead.
But again Wilton responded.
Ross (12 points) hit back-to-back buckets to end the third. By the time he hit a baseline runner with 4:50 to go in regulation, Wilton used 12-2 spurt to take a 40-39 lead.
There were two lead changes and two ties down the stretch before Norwalk had chances to win the game in at the end of regulation, but Blount missed an open three pointer from the wing.
In the first overtime, Blount scored on a steal and layup for Norwalk while Ryan Crane (14 points) scored an offensive rebound as the game remained tied at 46.
Again, the Bears had a chance to win it, but Kelley's 24-foot 3-point attempt rimmed out.
In the second overtime, after Ross sank one of two foul shots, Norwalk's Drew Sawyer sank a 3-point shot to give the Bears a 49-47 lead.
Again, Crane was there for the Warriors, nailing a runner in the lane to tie it.
Marut had a chance to win it for Wilton, but his off-balance shot missed the mark and the game headed to a third overtime.
"I've never been prouder of a team from Wilton High School," said Tallcouch. "They showed some guts, they showed fight and they didn't. It was a great basketball, but you what? You have to give the kid credit. He hit the three."
On Thursday, Norwalk will travel to Staples while Wilton, now 3-9, hosts Fairfield Ludlowe.
NORWALK (59)
Evan Kelley 8 6-9 24, Drew Sawyer 2 0-0 5, Shakeem Rice Shakeem Rice 2 3-3 7, Jermy Gideon 1 0-0 2, Jimmy Blount 6 0-1 14, Mike Newton 1 1-2 3, Qwazee Rice 0 0-0 0, Chris Maraglino 1 0-0 3. Totals: 21 10-13 59
WILTON (56)
Kurt Marut 8 7-9 24, Jackson Wilbur 2 2-4 6, Ryan Crane 6 0-0 14 Ian Ross 5 2-3 12, Mike DiPilato 0 0-0 0, Sean Carroll 0 0-0 0, Chris Nugent 0 0-0 0, Issaka Mohammed 0 0-0 0, Joon Jeung 0 0-0 0, Max Maudsley 0 0-0 0, Weston Wilbur 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 11-16 56
Norwalk 59, Wilton 56 (3 OT): Jimmy Blount made a 3-pointer at the buzzer of the third overtime as Norwalk outlasted Wilton. Evan Kelley paced Norwalk with 27 points. The score was tied 44-44 after regulation, 46-46 after the first overtime and 49-49 after the second overtime. For Wilton (3-9), Kurt Marut scored 24 points, while Ryan Crane added 14 and Ian Ross 12. Jackson Wilbur grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked seven shots.
Posted on 01/26/2010
WILTON
By JOHN NASH
Hour Staff Writer
In the closing minutes of the third overtime, Norwalk High School boys basketball coach Bobby Trimboli pulled aside Jimmy Blount for a quick word of encouragement.
Minutes earlier, Blount had missed an important front end of a one-an-one with his team trailing and Trimboli was looking to pick up his senior guard.
"You could tell he was really upset and frustrated," Trimboli said. "I just brought him over and said, 'Jimmy, I love you, don't worry about that one. You'll make the next one.' That calmed him down a bit."
Blount never got back to the foul line, however.
Instead, he drained a 3-point shot from the baseline at the buzzer of the third extra frame, giving the Bears a stunning 59-56 victory over Wilton at the Zeoli Field House on Tuesday night.
"It feels good," said Blount, who finished with 14 points. "My team needed me and we got the W. We never thought we were out of it until the last bell rings."
In reality, when Wilton's Jackson Wilbur sank one of two foul shots to give the Warriors a 56-51 lead with 1:25 left in the third overtime, it looked like the game was over.
On Norwalk's ensuing possession, though an improbable five-point play by Evan Kelley set the Bears up for victory.
With 1:06 to play, Kelley -- who had scored only two points over the previous 19 minutes of play, ranging from late in the third quarter into the third overtime -- sank a 3-pointer from the baseline.
From the far side of the court, the lead official also called a foul on the play, sending Kelley to the foul line, as well.
During the dead ball situation, Wilbur was sent off the court by the other official because he had blood on the T-shirt he wore under his uniform.
Wilbur ran to the bench, took off his uniform top and the T-shirt, but was promptly assessed a technical foul for not leaving the playing area to change.
"I didn't know what was going on," Wilton head coach Tim Tallcouch said. "That's the problem I have with it. Nobody told me he was being sent out of the game for blood."
With Kelley at the line for three foul shots -- two technicals and his and-one -- the Bears had a shot to steal the lead. But the senior guard made two of three to tie the game and snatch away all of Wilton's momentum.
"Of course we were all fired up and then all that happened and it came out of left field," said Wilton captain Kurt Marut, who finished with 24 points. "It caught us all by surprise. It was a five- point swing."
From there, Norwalk milked the clock until a kicking violation against Wilton stopped the clock with 5.5 seconds left.
Following a Warriors time-out, Blount found himself open on the baseline to drain his game-winner, pushing the Bears record to 5-6 on the season.
"Unbelievable," said Trimboli. "We got lucky with that technical, but that's how the game goes. Stuff happens."
Plenty of stuff happened over the previous 40 minutes of action, as well.
Norwalk got seven points from Blount and six more from Kelley in building up a 15-7 lead after the first quarter, but Wilton responded with 17-point second quarter to take a 25-22 lead at the break.
Marut, Wilbur and Ross closed out the half with an 11-4 run.
Kelley then scored 10 of his 24 points in the third quarter with a single foul shot with 2:22 left giving the Bears a 37-28 lead.
Again Wilton responded.
Ross (12 points) hit back-to-back buckets to end the third. By the time he hit a baseline runner with 4:50 to go in regulation, Wilton used 12-2 spurt to take a 40-39 lead.
There were two lead changes and two ties down the stretch before Norwalk had chances to win the game in at the end of regulation, but Blount missed an open three pointer from the wing.
In the first overtime, Blount scored on a steal and layup for Norwalk while Ryan Crane (14 points) scored an offensive rebound as the game remained tied at 46.
Again, the Bears had a chance to win it, but Kelley's 24-foot 3-point attempt rimmed out.
In the second overtime, after Ross sank one of two foul shots, Norwalk's Drew Sawyer sank a 3-point shot to give the Bears a 49-47 lead.
Again, Crane was there for the Warriors, nailing a runner in the lane to tie it.
Marut had a chance to win it for Wilton, but his off-balance shot missed the mark and the game headed to a third overtime.
"I've never been prouder of a team from Wilton High School," said Tallcouch. "They showed some guts, they showed fight and they didn't. It was a great basketball, but you what? You have to give the kid credit. He hit the three."
On Thursday, Norwalk will travel to Staples while Wilton, now 3-9, hosts Fairfield Ludlowe.
NORWALK (59)
Evan Kelley 8 6-9 24, Drew Sawyer 2 0-0 5, Shakeem Rice Shakeem Rice 2 3-3 7, Jermy Gideon 1 0-0 2, Jimmy Blount 6 0-1 14, Mike Newton 1 1-2 3, Qwazee Rice 0 0-0 0, Chris Maraglino 1 0-0 3. Totals: 21 10-13 59
WILTON (56)
Kurt Marut 8 7-9 24, Jackson Wilbur 2 2-4 6, Ryan Crane 6 0-0 14 Ian Ross 5 2-3 12, Mike DiPilato 0 0-0 0, Sean Carroll 0 0-0 0, Chris Nugent 0 0-0 0, Issaka Mohammed 0 0-0 0, Joon Jeung 0 0-0 0, Max Maudsley 0 0-0 0, Weston Wilbur 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 11-16 56
Posted on 01/25/2010
By GEORGE ALBANO
Hour Staff Writer
A successful wrestling season in the city of Norwalk is about to get even better.
The Brien McMahon and Norwalk High wrestling teams, both boasting winning records, will meet in their annual intracity clash at 6 p.m. Wednesday in McMahon's Mary Kehoe-Ralph King Gymnasium.
A much-anticipated match every season, this year's clash will have the added excitement of being televised by MSG Varsity, Cablevision's new 24-hour a day high school sports channel, which has partnered with the FCIAC.
Located on channel 14 in this area, Wednesday's Norwalk-McMahon wrestling match will premiere on Monday, Feb. 1 at 8 p.m. in the Connecticut/Westchester/Hudson Valley region.
It will re-air at 11 o'clock that night and 10:30 the next morning, and again at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 4, and on Sunday, Feb. 7 at 3 a.m.
The Feb. 2, 4 and 7 re-broadcasts will be carried in all four of Cablevision's local regions in the tri-state area, including Long Island, Bronx/Brooklyn, and New Jersey.
All told, Cablevision's iO TV and Optimum Online high-speed Internet reach 3 million households throughout the New York market.
That's a lot of exposure for two high school wrestling teams in Norwalk.
"I feel any opportunity to put kids on TV is something positive," McMahon Athletic Director Joe Madaffari said. "It's outstanding coverage for them. For instance, you have someone like (McMahon heavyweight) Jeff Starr, who is probably one of the best wrestlers in the tri-state area. This gives him an opportunity to be seen outside of Fairfield County.
"But not just him. It also gives exposure to all the kids wrestling that night," he added. " People who can't make it in person will have the opportunity to see the whole wrestling match on TV a few nights later. Aunts and uncles who can't come because they live too far away can turn on channel 14 and watch the match.
"And it doesn't get any better than McMahon against Norwalk."
But bragging rights aside, Wayne Mones, the athletic director at Norwalk High, says the biggest winner is the sport of high school wrestling.
"The fact that this match will be on TV should generate some visibility for the sport," he said. "I can remember back to the days before most of these kids were even born when wrestling in Norwalk was such a great event. But now wrestling gets very little visibility so this is great for the sport.
"I also hope we get some young kids who don't know anything about wrestling, but when they see it on TV think they'll want to come out and try it."
This will be Brien McMahon's debut on MSG Varsity, while Norwalk will be making its second appearance. In fact, NHS was involved in one of the first telecasts when the Bears' home girls volleyball match against Trinity Catholic on Sept. 21 aired several times the following week.
Cablevision Systems Corp. launched MSG Varsity on Sept. 24, a first-of-its-kind initiative dedicated entirely to high school activities, mostly sports.
"We want to try to do roughly 100 events during the school year," said Michael Lardner, MSG Varsity's executive producer and senior vice president of programming and production. "We try to spread it around so all sports are covered like wrestling."
Wednesday's match, however, will not be the first wrestling action on MSG Varsity.
"Actually we did the Stamford-Fairfield Ludlowe match on Dec. 16, which Stamford won," Lardner pointed out. "We love wrestling. We find the community is very supportive of wrestling."
Which is one of the reasons they picked the Norwalk-McMahon match to televise.
"We know they're city rivals and we were told they get a nice crowd and that there's a lot of energy," Lardner said. "So we decided to do that match."
Lardner says MSG Varsity is also planning to televise the finals of the 2010 FCIAC Wrestling Championships on Feb. 13 at New Canaan High School, and that the sport will also be featured on its "High School Sports Desk" show, which plans to highlight a different sport each night.
"Our Sports Desk show will really concentrate on wrestling on Thursday nights," Lardner said. "We'll try to break down the wrestling in different conferences."
Keith Irizarry will be the play-by-play announcer for Wednesday intracity match, while Steve Levy, a former wrestler at Don Bosco High School in New Jersey, will be the analyst.
"With everyone of the games we televise, our play-by-play announcer will get in contact with the coaches a couple of days before and talk to them about statistics and who the top players are on their team are," Lardner explained. "And the analyst will talk to the coaches and gather information on each player that they can use during the telecast.
"Our trucks will be set to roll in about six hours before the match. We'll have five cameras and three tape machines set up. It's a pretty big production."
MSG Varsity doesn't restrict itself to just sports. "The Challenge" is a highly acclaimed academic quiz show for top high school students in the tri-state area. It also produces specials such as "The Marching Bands," which captures halftime performances of the regions' top high school bands.
Its sports lineup also includes weekly programming such as "A Quick 60," a live call-in show on high school sports hosted by Norwalk native and former Central Catholic High School athlete Mike Quick, who's been with the MSG Network since 1987 and hosts his popular High School Weekly show.
Four months into the network's latest venture, MSG Varsity looks like a home run.
"Everybody who's involved with us is tremendously pleased," Lardner said.
"They're a class act," Madaffari agreed. "I think it's outstanding what they're doing."
Especially on Wednesday night.
Posted on 01/13/2010 - The Hour
Staff reports
The Brien McMahon and Norwalk High wrestling teams each posted one-side victories Wednesday night as the Senators defeated Fairfield Ludlowe 51-21 while the Bears outpointed Harding 56-23.
McMahon, which improved to 5-1 on the season, won 10 of the 14 matches, including eight pins by Joe Nocco (125 pounds), EJ Thomas (130), Christos Kehagias (140), Ryan Eaton (145), Brent Nelson (160), Steven Avilla (189), Ryan Silverman (215) and Tyler Carlo (285). Nelson had the fastest pin of the match in 32 seconds, while Avilla's fall came in 40 seconds. Thomas, Kehagias, Eaton and Silverman also recorded first-period pins.
In addition, Chris Tanguay posted a 14-10 decision at 119 pounds, while DJ Morgan scored a 12-6 win at 152 pounds.
Norwalk High also won 10 of 14 matches in its victory over Harding as the Bears upped their season record to 7-4. Three of the wins were by pins, including first-round falls by Cliff Magloire at 119 pounds and John Rose at 215. Miguel Gourdet added a second-period pin at 185 pounds, while Tommy Palumbo won by a 17-2 technical fall at 152 pounds, and Evan Reisch won by decision at 135 pounds.
The Bears' remaining five wins were by forfeit.
Keep your head up and your feet skating forward is not just a life lesson for coach Dan Fieghan, but it's his motto for the 2009-2010 Norwalk High School/Brien McMahon High School's co-op hockey team.
A first-time head coach for Norwalk, Feighan served as the team's top assistant for four seasons and has coached for 17 years total. "I've seen a lot in those four years, though, as far as high school level-competition goes and I look forward to a fresh start with the team," Fieghan said.
Feighan takes the helm with the hopes of giving the Norwalk hockey program a "new outlook, a whole new face."
He explained, "We're trying to throw any skeletons out, clean everything out and move forward with the program to make it a lot better, to re-support the school system, and make Brien McMahon and Norwalk High School proud."
Not only does the coach want to improve players on the ice, he also looks to lead them off the ice to be better players, and better men.
"I hope to bring a positive attitude to all these players that they can take away even when they're not playing," he said. "As far as the team goes, though, I want to help the boys grow competitive as athletes as well as good sportsmen who have respect for the game, their teammates and their opponents. It's a lot more than just hockey."
The teams biggest goal this season, Feighan said, is to "definitely win some games this season, especially against Division 3 teams, such as Housatonic. That should be a real big game," said Feighan for his team, who will be coming off an 0-19-1 season. "But we're looking to be competitive with teams in higher divisions as well this season."
A strength for the team this year is that despite losing senior, all-state goalie Mike Diaz, he is back as the goalie coach this season and will serve as one of the assistant coaches. More specifically, he will be overseeing his brother, junior Danny Diaz, who will be taking over goalie responsibilities.
"Danny has some big shoes to fill with his older brother being all-state, but he'll definitely handle the task and rise to the occasion, after all, it's in the blood line," Feighan said.
Other seniors to graduate were Kevin Poruban, Taylor Petridis and Marc Coppola, but the team will also look forward to the return of juniors Lucas Aubrey and Dylan Byrne. Alex Lengyl will be the sole returning senior.
"We have a core of sophomores and juniors," Feighan said. "We're looking forward to some new talented sophomores who haven't been on the team yet, such as Patrick Oridiano, Nick Holbert. They played elsewhere as freshmen, which makes them more competitive as sophomores."
"This is a building process and we're looking forward to bringing back to Norwalk the competitive team from the `70's and `80's, the team that won state championships," Feighan said. "They were powerhouses and we will be again."
He continued, "The most important thing in hockey is keeping your head up, and you're constantly told that in life as well. That's the one rule that makes sense for us in the game and in life."
Posted on 01/13/2010
Staff reports
Junior Rottisha Lewis recorded double-double with a game-high 18 points and 10 rebounds to go along with six assists and three steals as she sparked the Norwalk High girls basketball team to a 69-36 win over Harding Tuesday in Bridgeport.
Freshman Emma Oyomba added 12 points while Vanessa Harris scored nine for NHS, which improved to 3-4 in the FCIAC and 3-6 overall. Harding fell to 0-7 in the league and 1-7 overall.
NORWALK (69)
Zayna Fulton 2 0-0 4; Rottisha Lewis 9 0-0 18; Mary Sciglimpaglia 0 0-0 0; Emma Oyomba 6 0-4 12; Rachel Simpson 2 0-1 4; Jessica Schmidt 3 0-0 6; Vanessa Harris 4 1-1 9; Katie Schmidt 3 0-1 6; Patty Sciglimpaglia 0 0-0 0; Shayna Marko 3 0-0 6; Alexis Noonan 2 0-0 4; Alyssa Harris 0 0-0 0; Erynn Simmons 0 0-0 0; Brianna Ruffin 0 0-0 0; TOTALS: 34 1-6 69.
HARDING (36)
Kharisma Barrett 4 0-0 11; Cherish Hampton 1 0-0 2; Neish Franco 3 1-3 8; Alexandra Chisolm 1 1-2 4; Jhannelle Martin 1 0-5 2; Catherine Pezzella 0 1-2 1; Shanteele Mack 2 0-0 6; Zondrea Bruce 1 0-0 2; TOTALS: 13 3-12 36.
Norwalk 16 24 14 15 -- 69
Harding 3 9 14 10 -- 36
3-pointers: H-Barrett 3, Mack 2, Franco, Chisolm. Technicals: Norwalk bench.
Posted on 01/11/2010
By MATTHEW DORAN
Hour Staff Writer
The Brien McMahon-Norwalk High School co-op boys swimming team has made great strides over the past few seasons.
Monday afternoon's meet against area rival Wilton was a prime example of just how far the team has come.
Norwalk didn't win, dropping a 102-83 decision at Norwalk High School's Pat Spinola pool. But Norwalk did the next best thing, giving a strong Wilton team a run for its money.
Behind a strong effort by senior captains Oscar Castillo and Thomas DiGuglielmo, Norwalk (0-2) put itself in position to post its first win of the season, trailing just 72-53 going into the 200 freestyle relay.
But Wilton (2-1) captured that critical event to take a 91-64 lead and cruised to victory.
Still, it was the type of effort Norwalk head coach Doug Marchetti took as a sign of his team's improvement.
"Going into this season we talked about competing," Marchetti said. "Some teams in the league like New Canaan and Greenwich, beating them is still a pipe dream. But teams like Wilton, Trumbull and Fairfield, they're built like we are. You never like to lose, but we said if we're going to lose to teams like that, we at least want to compete. We wanted to make them earn it."
Norwalk did just that, finishing second by a fingertip in three races.
"In the past, many of our meets were over before the start of the 200 freestyle relay," Marchetti said. "The fact that we were still hanging in there going into the 200 freestyle relay today says a lot. I'm really happy about the way the kids swam."
Wilton's John Craig won the 50 freestyle (23.35) and the 100 freestyle (53.49) and placed second in the 200 medley relay (1:47.41). Craig was also a part of Wilton's 200 freestyle relay team that placed first in 1:57.88 to give the Warriors an insurmountable lead. Also on that team was Dan Morgan, Tim Lattimer and Kyle Hartner.
Hartner won the 500 freestyle in 5:19, edging DiGuglielmo (5:20.22) by a fraction of a second.
"It was two kids going at it for 20 lengths of the pool and one kid just touched the wall before the other," Marchetti said. "Thomas was a little disappointed. He thought he could have finished better, but it was two great swimmers in a great race."
Hartner then swam the anchor leg in Wilton's winning 200 freestyle relay in the next event. That's the type of effort it took for the Warriors to ward off Norwalk.
According to Marchetti, this is one of the deepest teams Wilton has had in a number of years.
"I was talking to (Wilton head coach) Todd Stevens before the meet and he said it's the strongest team he's had since he's been at Wilton," Marchetti said. "They have a ton of decent swimmers. They really swam great."
Castillo won two events for Norwalk, placing first in the 200 medley in 2:06.19 and the 100 backstroke in 57.09 seconds. Castillo also swam the third leg on Norwalk's winning 400 freestyle relay team (3:38.96) along with Dan Faugno-Fusci, John Ospina and DiGuglielmo.
Wilton opened the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay (1:47.41) behind the efforts of Jack Winslow, Lattimer, Dan Mangan and Craig.
Faugno-Fusci outlasted Mason Molina in the 200 freestyle, touching the wall in 1:56.22. Molina was a hair behind in 1:56.96.
"It was just a great finish," Marchetti said. "Dan had a great final lap after an even race and was able to touch ahead of Molina at the end."
Norwalk senior Andy Rumore continued his strong diving, winning with a total of 226.65 points. Rumore, who placed fifth in the FCIAC last season, improved on his season-opening point total of 199 against Westhill last week.
Mangan won the 100 butterfly in 57.57 and Craig edged Ospina in the 100 freestyle in another amazingly close race. Ospina (53.93) was just .44 second off Craig's winning time.
Lattimer won the 100 breastroke in 1:09, handing DiGuglielmo (1:11.72) his second close second-place finish of the race.
"If we can compete like this all season, I think we'll be okay," Marchetti said.
By Tim Parry, Correspondent - Published: 10:40 p.m., Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - Stamford Advocate
NORWALK -- When the Norwalk High boys basketball team needed someone to carry it to victory in the fourth quarter against Ludlowe Tuesday night, it turned to star guard Evan Kelley, who scored 14 of his game-high 29 points in the final eight minutes of the game.
However, it was Bears forward Shakeem Rice who was the one who let the Bears hold on for a 53-50 win over the Falcons.
With Norwalk leading 51-50 and 30 seconds left in the game, Ludlowe called a time out to set up the potential go-ahead shot.
Ludlowe point guard Kevin Bentivegna got the ball inside to center Andrew Kimberly under the basket, but Rice forced Kimberly into an awkward hook shot with :21 seconds left.
Rice also got the rebound and was fouled with :19 seconds to go. Rice, who was 0-for-4 from the line in Friday's loss at Stamford, hit both ends of a 1-and-1 to seal the win.
"What it all boiled down to was us making that play at the end of the game," Norwalk head coach Bobby Trimboli said. "Shakeem did a great job getting his hands up on their big man. He boxed him out, got the ball in his lap and made the clutch foul shots."
Ludlowe did have time to set up a buzzer beater, but 3-pointers by Bentivegna and Jack Vacheron in the closing seconds missed the hoop.
"We came off two tough losses, so it feels good to come home and get a victory," said Kelley, whose Bears improved to 4-5 on the season. "I'm hoping this can get the team back on track."
Norwalk went on a 13-0 run in the second quarter to take a 28-22 lead at halftime, paced by 12 Kelley points, including two 3-pointers.
"Kelley is a fantastic player, and the game plan was to stop him," Ludlowe head coach Josh Marko said. "I actually think we did a good job, he could have had 45 points in the game. We tried to get up on him and he was frustrated early, but he got comfortable in the second quarter."
But Ludlowe marched right back after Norwalk scored the first five points of the third quarter. Bentivegna had three 3-pointers and Billy Malone added a pair of baskets inside during a 14-0 run that appeared to put Ludlowe in the driver's seat.
"They were playing aggressive defense, a little chippy at times, but they were able to slow our offense down and pick up their game," Kelley said.
Though the momentum shifted in Ludlowe's favor, Trimboli said he didn't think his team had come out of the locker room too relaxed or overconfident.
"(Bentivegna) hit a few 3s and that put them right back in the game," Trimboli said. "Whenever anyone hits those shots it builds up the confidence of the entire team. They came in and played one hell of a game, but overall we made the little plays down to the wire that really helped us."
Kelley began to come back to life and Norwalk ended the third quarter with a 37-36 lead. Then Kelley was lights out in the fourth quarter.
With the exception of Rice's two free throws, Kelley did all Norwalk's fourth-quarter scoring.
"One thing we talked about was don't make it close at the end," Marko said. "When a great player like that gets the ball at the end of the game, there's a good chance he's going to win it."
Though Kelley was in foul trouble in the fourth quarter, it was Krumins who fouled out with 4:21 left in the game and Ludlowe trailing 46-44. Krumins fouled Kelley, who went on to hit a pair of free throws and widen the gap.
"When Krumins picked up his fourth with about seven minutes to go, we contemplated taking him out," Marko said. "But he was what we had going for us at the time, so we rolled the dice."
Scorekeeper’s error costly for NHS
Games are not often decided at the scorer’s table. Usually, they’re decided on the court. But Friday night, the Norwalk High girls basketball team might have been robbed of what would have been their best win of the season, all because of a scorekeeping mistake.
I was there covering the game, so I speak from first-hand experience when I say the Bears definitely got a raw deal. Videotape of the game also proved it, but more on that later.
First allow me to attempt to describe the way things went: Norwalk trailed 18-4 when junior Rottisha Lewis hit her team’s first field goal of the night. She also had Norwalk’s other two points on two foul shots. When I looked up at the scoreboard, it read 18-6.
My first thought was, maybe I missed a basket. But that’s pretty rare. I’ve been covering basketball games for 18 years, and I’ve gotten pretty good at tracking the scoring. At the end of the quarter, I went down to check with Norwalk’s scorekeeper, asking who hit the other field goal for Norwalk. Turns out, points had been given to Alyssa Harris, who never got off the bench.
Apparently, the scoreboard operator gave Norwalk two points that should have gone to Stamford. When he noticed his mistake, he gave Stamford the points, but didn’t take away the two from Norwalk. At that point, the scorekeeper looked at the board, noticed he was short two points, and instead of alerting the scoreboard operator of the discrepancy, decided instead to give two points to a random Norwalk player to make things even out.
When I brought this to the attention of the scorekeeper, his response was, “It was a mistake, so we have to move on.”
I disagreed with that, saying the mistake should be pointed out to the officials and the correct score should be posted in the best interest of competitive fairness.
But the game went on, and I kept quiet. The score was getting out of hand and I had my doubts about whether Norwalk could come back or not. If they did, I knew I was going to be in an awkward situation knowing a mistake had been made. What if Norwalk wins by one point? What then? And how would I report that?
Of course, Norwalk did come back and took a 35-34 lead at the end of the third quarter, accoring to my calculations. The scoreboard read 37-34 in favor of Norwalk.
At this point, one respected Norwalk head coach — working crowd control — and one of Norwalk’s administrators, knowing about the error on the scoreboard, decided to intervene.
What happened next still has me scratching my head. The officials came to the table in an attempt to sort out the mess and took 20 minutes to come to a resolution.
Norwalk head coach Ricky Fuller called it the most bizarre thing he’s ever seen at a high school basketball game. But the crazy thing is, things only got worse.
After coming to the conclusion that the Norwalk player had not actually scored, the head official decided to take those points away from the Bears, which would have correctly made the score 35-34.
Problem solved, right? Not really.
The mess got even messier when the official asked both scorekeepers to add up their books. Norwalk’s book didn’t match Stamford’s. Norwalk had Stamford with 36 points, not 34. Stamford’s book had 34 points. I had 34 points. But because Norwalk had the official book as the home team, the official had no other choice but to give the Black Knights two points they never scored. The scoreboard now read 36-35 in favor of Stamford.
At that point, Fuller protested. But the damage had already been done. Norwalk is a very young team, and didn’t handle the delay very well. Stamford outscored the Bears 12-5 in the fourth quarter to post the victory.
The scoreboard read 48-40, but it was actually 46-40. You could say Stamford would have won anyway based on the fourth quarter, but Fuller believes things might have been different if his team had not been stripped of the momentum.
Fuller was hoping to have the game re-started from the beginning of the fourth quarter once the truth came out.
On Tuesday, it did. Stamford’s AD called Mones and told him they reviewed the tape and everything happened the way I just described it. Norwalk never scored in the first quarter. Stamford never scored those two extra points. The final score was indeed 46-40.
Unfortunately, the game wasn’t protestable because human error was involved. I’m not sure what that means, but the game will go down as a Stamford victory. Case closed.
Sadly, this was something that could have been avoided. When the mistake was brought to light in the first quarter, it should have been handled right then and there. Instead, Norwalk’s scorekeepers were lazy. They swept it under the rug, hoping their own mistake wouldn’t get caught.
Well, it did. And now Norwalk is one win shorter than it could have been. And that’s the sad part of this entire story. The kids ultimately suffered for a mistake that was easily correctable. If the Bears end up one win short of a state tournament berth, this one is really going to sting. Norwalk is 3-7 while Stamford is 7-2.
Next time, let’s put our own pride aside and get it right.
Posted on 01/19/2010
By MATTHEW DORAN
Hour Staff Writer
A protest filed by the Norwalk High School girls basketball team during Friday night's game against Stamford has been denied, even though the claims made by head coach Ricky Fuller ended up being true, Norwalk Athletic Director Wayne Mones confirmed on Tuesday.
Fuller filed the protest on the court during the break between the third and fourth quarter of Stamford's victory. The official score was reported as 48-40, but has since been changed to 46-40.
Norwalk led 37-34 on the scoreboard after three quarters, but an error by the Norwalk scorekeeper earlier in the game had not been detected. When the scoring error came to light at the end of the third quarter, the officials stopped the game for 20 minutes to correct the mistakes.
As it turned out, Norwalk had been given two extra points it never scored during the first half. The points were posted in the scorebook under the name of a player that had never entered the game, and were correctly taken off the board.
However, a second error by the Norwalk scorekeeper credited a Stamford player with two points she never scored. The score was changed to 36-35 in favor of Stamford when it should have been 35-34 in favor of Norwalk.
According to Mones, Stamford reviewed videotape of the game and Stamford Athletic Director Pete Sampieri confirmed that the score should have been 35-34 in favor of Norwalk, as reported in The Hour on Saturday.
After consulting with John Kuczo and Ralph King of the FCIAC as well as Pete Carroll, the head of basketball officials in the FCIAC, and Lou Filippetti, the Board 9 rules interpreter, Mones was told the game was actually not protestably because human error was involved.
Norwalk came back from a 18-4 deficit in the first quarter to take a one-point lead going into the fourth. The Bears (3-7), a young team with just three seniors on the roster, had a potentially season-changing victory in their grasp against one of the better teams in the FCIAC. Stamford is now 7-2 overall.
But Norwalk lost its momentum during the 20-minute delay. Stamford outscored the Bears 12-5 in the fourth quarter and pulled out a 46-40 win.
"I wasn't there so I can't say for myself, but everyone who was there said Norwalk had all the momentum," Mones said. "Sitting there for 25 minutes knowing you lost two points you thought you had and then seeing Stamford given two points they never scored affected then in an adverse way. It's unfortunate, but it is what it is."
Mones placed blame on no one, saying it was just an unfortunate event.
"People make mistakes," he said. "Our scorekeeper and timekeeper have been around for a long time. Sometimes things like this just happen."
Posted on 01/14/2010
Don Foust, the former Norwalk High School girls basketball coach, says Margaret Diaz, perhaps the best player he ever coached, had one special gift that no other player had.
It wasn't her amazing jumping ability for someone 5-foot-8, or the lightning-quick speed she possessed. It wasn't the tremendous court sense she had which allowed her to post up opponents down low or drive right around them to the basket.
And it wasn't even her tenaciousness on defense or explosiveness on offense which separated her from the rest of the field.
No, Margaret Diaz had something else going for her.
"She had one special gift," Foust recalled. "Her father was a custodian at Norwalk and he could open the gym for her anytime she wanted to play, which was all the time. She couldn't get enough of the game."
Make no mistake. The city of Norwalk has always been home to an array of fantastic female basketball players, even before Title IX. The list reads like a who's who in local hardcourt royalty.
But long before there was a Lisa Etienne and a Shannon Singletary-Bates, before there was a Cathy Dash and an Ayanna Brown, and even before there was a Rita Williams, there was Margaret Diaz.
Diaz, who played at Norwalk High School in the late 1970s, was the first girls basketball player in city history to score 1,000 career points. A dozen players have reached that milestone since Diaz accomplished the feat in 1979, but she will always be remembered as the first.
And 30 years later, Diaz was still involved with the game she loved, coaching children in her native Trinidad and loving it.
Which only made it harder to comprehend last week when the shocking news of her passing at age 47 reached the States. According to newspaper reports from the island of St. Kitts, Diaz's body was discovered in her home in Penal, where investigators believed she had been "dead for about five days."
An initial autopsy was deemed inconclusive and further testing will be done to determine the cause of death. Her brother reported she looked to be in good health just a couple of weeks earlier, and he and another brother believe their sister was murdered, which would make this sad story even sadder.
Whatever the cause, the basketball fraternity in Norwalk and Trinidad is mourning the loss of a wonderful player and friend who everyone loved and admired.
"I couldn't believe it when I heard the news," Foust said with a sadness in his voice. "Debbie Ross Williams, another one of my former players, let me know and she had heard from Cherise (Mickle, another former player). A lot of the players on those teams back then are still all connected and the word traveled fast.
"But I guess I still can't believe it."
Foust always felt a special closeness to Diaz. He took over as head coach of the NHS girls basketball team in the 1976-77 season, the same time Diaz joined the program. With Foust in charge and Diaz taking charge on the court, they transformed the Bears into a perennial FCIAC and state power.
Even more amazing was that Diaz, who moved to the U.S. when she was 10, started playing basketball later than most girls.
"I think she started playing in high school if I remember correctly," Foust said. "When I took over as coach she was a sophomore and I think maybe she had played a year before then.
"But once she started played she couldn't get enough of the game. She was always looking for more competition and ended up playing against boys. In those days that was something that was not done."
"She beat most of them in pickup games, too," Janine Delise Deering, one of her former NHS teammates, pointed out.
Diaz averaged a modest 11 points a game her sophomore year, finishing second on the team as she helped the Bears, a 5-10 team the previous season, go 12-7 and return to the state tournament in Foust's rookie season.
The following season, 1977-78, was a breakout year for Diaz as the junior center averaged a city-leading 19.3 points and was named first-team All-FCIAC and all-state while leading Norwalk to a school-record 18 wins. In fact, the 18-4 Lady Bears lost in the state semifinals 34-33 to eventual state champion Lee High School, which then beat Naugatuck by 16 for the state title.
Diaz followed that up with another big season her senior year, averaging 17.2 points and being named All-FCIAC and all-state for the second year in a row. She also led her team to a perfect 20-0 regular-season record, including a 15-0 mark in the FCIAC as the Bears captured the Western Division championship.
They won it in the second to last game when they edged defending champion Stamford 49-48, handing the Black Knights their first league loss in three years. Both teams came into that contest with identical 14-0 league records and the outcome wasn't decided until Diaz, her team down by one, sank a pair of clutch free throws with only seconds remaining.
"That was an unbelievable game," Foust said. "Both teams were undefeated and the place was packed. It was probably the highest attended high school girls game ever at that time."
And there was no doubt whose hands the ball would be in at the end.
"We always got her the ball in crunch situations," Deering, a freshman that season, noted. "She could have scored 40 point a game if we didn't have such a great group of players surrounding her."
Diaz was not only unselfish with the ball, constantly finding open teammates, but Norwalk was so good there were numerous games she barely played half the game because Foust would graciously pull his starters.
But the bigger the game and the tougher the opponent, the better Diaz played. She finished with 27 points in the huge win over Stamford, who would come back and beat Norwalk in a rematch in the FCIAC finals.
The Bears bounced back from that tough loss, however, to beat defending state champion Lee 53-49 in overtime in the first round of the state tournament as Diaz erupted for a career-high 34 points.
Then there was the night of Feb. 28, 1979, when Norwalk routed Torrington 81-33 in the state quarterfinals at Brookfield High School and Diaz threw in 18 points, none more memorable than the layup she converted with 1:31 left in the third quarter to become the first player in city history to score 1,000 career points.
I was privileged enough to cover that game almost 31 years ago and still remember it well.
"I'm really honored about getting the 1,000 points," she said afterward. "I was nervous coming into the game, but I was just trying not to think about it that much and play my regular game. Winning was the most important thing ... I'm just glad it's over."
A few nights later Diaz would score 24 points and grab 23 rebounds as the Bears beat Westhill 56-41 in the state semifinals to advance to their first state championship game. And although they would lose a 63-55 heartbreaker to No. 1 and unbeaten Conard, Diaz would score 19 points in her final high school game to finish with 1,046 career points.
But her basketball career was just getting started. Diaz would go on to play collegiately at Division II Mount St. Mary's in Maryland. It was former Norwalk High School boys basketball coach Don Quinn, a Mount St. Mary's alum, who introduced her to fellow alum Fred Carter, the former NBA all-star and the women's basketball coach at the school at the time.
"I drove Margaret to Philadelphia, to the Spectrum, to meet Fred Carter for the first time," Quinn recounted Thursday morning. "Of course, you couldn't do that today under the NCAA restrictions. But I knew Fred from when he played at Mount St. Mary's and I introduced him to Margaret in the parking lot at the Spectrum."
From that first meeting, Carter eventually offered Diaz a basketball scholarship and she played for him as a freshman and sophomore, helping the team go 18-9 and 23-11. Carter took another coaching job the following season, but Diaz returned and led the team in scoring for a second straight year while sparking Mount St, Mary's to a 24-5 record and a berth in the 1982 Division II Final Four in Springfield, where they finished third in the nation.
Diaz played only three seasons at Mount St. Mary's, but is still the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,952 points. Her 22.2 career average is also first all-time, while her 288 steals rank third. She also has five of the top 10 single-game point totals in school history, including a 41-point effort that ranks fourth.
After her junior year, Diaz transferred to Cheyney State where she played for Hall of Fame coach Vivian Stringer, now the head coach at Rutgers.
Diaz would eventually get into coaching herself and it was Foust who gave his former player her first job when he was the head coach of the University of Bridgeport women's basketball team and brought her on as an assistant. Under Foust's mentoring, Diaz became the head women's basketball coach at Sacred Heart University a year later.
"I'll never forget that because she beat me," Foust said with a laugh. "I guess that's not so bad, the student coming back to beat the teacher.
"But I still think of her as that little high school girl who played basketball for me, not as my assistant at UB."
That's how most local basketball fans probably remember her, although playing basketball was only part of her athletic resume. At Norwalk High she was also an FCIAC and state champion quarter-miler, setting a state record in the 440-yard run her junior year."
"The amazing thing is she never even practiced," Foust said. "She was just a natural athlete who could go out there and beat everyone."
"She also ran cross country in the fall and won the FCIAC in that one year," Quinn added.
Diaz lived in the U.S. for more than 30 years before returning to Trinidad, and even in her 40s she was still playing basketball as recently as a few years ago. She last played for the Unit Trust Maloney Pistols, helping them win the national women's club championship in 2003.
"She was great. Her personality was one with a difference," Unit Trust Maloney coach Jackson Charles told The Sun newspaper of St. Kitt. "She was a very instrumental player, and she has set standards for other female players to follow."
More recently, Diaz was coaching children on the island and her last club, the Mirak Stars, played in the 2008-09 Stag Super Ten Basketball tournament.
"When she moved back to the islands, we used to write back and forth," Quinn said. "I was working with Mount St. Mary's trying to get her in the school's hall of fame."
"The Connecticut Basketball Hall of Fame was trying to get a hold of her, too," Foust added. "She was certainly someone who loved the game."
Margaret Diaz always had a special gift when it came to basketball, and it wasn't just her father opening up the gym for her.
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She was also an incredibly nice person. She was kind to everyone. I still can see that smile.
Posted by: Angela Tosti Flynn | Jan 15, 2010
She was pure class, and she made Norwalk proud, and also gave us some of the greatest basketball games played for the city.
Posted by: Bobby Beres | Jan 15, 2010
She was a true competitor, did not like to lose but if she did, she handled it with class. I remeber many pick up games played with and against her. As well as running track. what an athlete and a person!!!! God rest her soul.
Posted by: Kurt Jacob | Jan 15, 2010
Margaret was my cousin and will be missed dearly. She has joined her mother Violet Diaz and her dad Francis Diaz in heaven. R.I.P. Diaz family.
Posted by: I.Baker | 21 hours, 59 minutes ago
Posted on 01/17/2010
Rottisha Lewis, pictured at right, is a junior forward on the Norwalk High School girls basketball team, a three-year starter and the undisputed leader of a very young team. The Bears are still trying to find their rhythm, starting the season with a 3-6 overall record. But Lewis has had no such trouble herself, leading the team with 13 points per game while averaging a double-double. Lewis took time out of her busy schedule to go On the Record with The Hour.
The Lewis File
Parents/Siblings: Kimberly and Ottis Jr; Brothers, Ottis III (a former All-State football player and All-FCIAC basketball player at McMahon), Levaughn (9) and Trey (6).
Sports/Activities: Basketball, volleyball and outdoor track.
Future goals: To go to college and play Division I basketball.
The Hour: How much did it help having an athletic older brother like Ottis?
Rottisha Lewis: Watching him play all the sports he played made me want to play something, too. He always did really well in everything he did.
Hour: Most of your friends and family know you by your nickname, Buji. How did you get it?
RL: My aunt Pam gave it to me when I was little because she said I cried all the time. When I meet people, I tell them my name is Rottisha. Someone will always say, 'No, her name is Buji.'
Hour: What's the best thing about Norwalk High School?
RL: All the teachers are nice, sometimes, when they're not going crazy with homework.
Hour: What would you change about Norwalk High School if you could?
RL: The temperature. Sometimes it's hot and sometimes it's cold. I also wish they would let us go outside to eat our lunch. There's tables outside and no one uses them.
Hour: What's it like playing for coach Ricky Fuller?
RL: It's fun, but he's hard on me because he knows I want to go to a D-I college. He really pushes me to make double-doubles and really lift the rest of the team.
Hour: How do you like being in a leadership role?
RL: I've been told I lead by example. I'm not really a vocal leader, but I try to help them as much as I can. If the younger players do well then we'll all do well.
Hour: What's your goal for the rest of the season?
RL: We have a lot of talent and athletic ability, but sometimes in practice the girls will be talking about everything except basketball. So I think we need to be more focused.
Hour: What one word best describes you?
RL: Happy.
Hour: What's your favorite movie of all-time?
RL: The Lion King.
Hour: What's the best book you've read lately?
RL: I like Lovely Bones.
Hour: What's your favorite midnight snack?
RL: I always go for the ice cream.
Hour: What scares you?
RL: When I get a bad grade and I have to take it home and show my mother.
Hour: Do you have any superstitions?
RL: Before every game I always have to lay on my back so that I'm facing God and my back is facing the world. I think about it that way. Coach Fuller is always like, 'Stop sleeping!'
Hour: When was the last time you cried?
RL: It was after a game this year when I didn't think I played as well as I could have.
Hour: Who's your idol.
RL: I always liked Lisa Leslie.
Hour: Where do you hope to be in five years.
RL: In college.
Three's company for Bears
By Andy Hutchison
Posted: 12/28/2009 12:06:19 PM EST
Evan Kelly and Drew Sawyer combined to hit 13 of the Norwalk High School boys basketball team's 15 3-pointers in a wild 95-81 overtime victory over visiting New Canaan High last Friday night.
The final score wasn't indicative of how close this game really was. The Rams were just seconds away from pulling off a hard-fought win at a loud Norwalk High gymnasium but Kelly tied the game on - what else - a shot from behind the arc with just four seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime. The Bears overcame a six-point deficit in the final 1:33 to shock the Rams.
Kelly scored 19 of his team-high 39 points in OT, putting the game away with a 10-for-12 foul shooting performance in the final minutes of OT. He hit shots from downtown from the same area to the left of the top of the arc, to both tie the game in the waning seconds and put his team ahead by three only six seconds into OT. Norwalk never looked back and improved to 1-1, dropping the Rams to 1-1.
"I like the sweet spot. That's my favorite spot on the court," Kelly said.
Drew Sawyer dropped in 28, sinking eight of his shots from 3-point land.
"I love playing in close games like that. It was really fun to come back," Sawyer said. "I knew we were going to come back because we're a family and we play for each other."
Sawyer was quick to credit the many Norwalk players who contributed to the win.
Down 71-65, Norwalk's Chris Maraglino sank a 3-pointer to make it a one-possession game with 49 seconds left. The Bears used a full court press to deny the Rams an opportunity to inbound the ball and they were whistled for a five second violation. On its ensuing possession, the Bears thought they had tied the game but Maraglino's shot from the top of the arc was called a two-pointer to cut the lead to 71-70 with 35 seconds left despite pleas from the crowd and Norwalk bench to the officials.
New Canaan's Conor House, who led all scorers with 40 points, gave the Rams a three point edge before Kelly tied the game, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
Trailing in the final minute, Norwalk Coach Bobby Trimboli called a timeout and reminded his players to not give up.
"What I told the kids in the last timeout was 'never give up - anything's possible' and you know what? Big time players hit bigtime shots," Trimboli said.
"We tried everything," said New Canaan Coach Jeff Bussey, adding that he went back and forth from different zone to man-to-man defenses in an effort to thwart Norwalk's shooters. "I changed everything. One kid after the other just kept hitting threes."
Trimboli said the players' confidence and sharp shooting rubbed off on each other as the game unfolded. "Our kids feed off each other," he said.
Jimmy Blount had nine points, Shakeem Rice dropped in eight and Maraglino had seven for the Bears.
The Bears stand to take more than just a win from this outcome. After all, the comeback effort gives the team plenty of confidence that it can pull out tough victories in a playoff-type atmosphere.
"Coming back in a close ballgame, and winning a close ballgame can only benefit us down the road," Trimboli said.
Posted on 01/05/2010
DARIEN
By ALEX WISER
Hour Correspondent
Thanks to a swarming defensive effort and an offensive onslaught by senior Evan Kelley, the Norwalk High boys basketball blew open a once-close contest to notch a 80-50 win over Darien Tuesday night.
Kelley scored 32 points to lead the Bears, who improved to 3-3 overall and 3-1 in the FCIAC. Darien fell to 1-7 overall.
Norwalk outscored Darien 48-21 in the second half.
Darien jumped out to an early lead behind the interior play of big men Phillip Stueber (team-high 15 points) and Anthony Donato (13 points), claiming leads as late as the final three minutes of the first half.
With Norwalk missing from long distance -- 0-for-8 on 3-pointers through 15 minutes of action, something had to give. So just before intermission, the Bears turned defensive in order to manufacture quick baskets.
"We were struggling early on with our shooting," said guard Mike Newton, who notched three steals in the win. "I pride myself on playing good defense, and I think we all took it upon ourselves to use our team defense to spark our offense."
While Skakeem Rice (eight points) manning the paint defensively for two big blocks, Newton, Jeremy Gideon (nine points) and company launched into a fullcourt press that left Darien looking like deer caught in headlights.
The sudden defensive onslaught put forth by the Bears translated into a pair of steals and six fast-break points by Drew Sawyer to put the visitors in front 32-29 at the half.
According to Kelley -- who would erupt following the break to the tune of 14 third-quarter points -- the late defensive surge to close out the first half would prove paramount from that point on.
"We got momentum to close out the half and it definitely carried over to the second half," said Kelley. "We've been working a lot in practice on our fullcourt press, and we were really stepping it up at the defensive end. I was determined to set the tone offensively. I wanted to give our guys a lift."
Darien took to the court in the second half on their heels, as Norwalk continued to throw fullcourt press looks their way.
Meanwhile, Kelley feasted on Blue Wave defenders, at one point draining a runner in the paint, throwing down an emphatic dunk off a steal, and draining a three from long-range in a 60-second span.
With Kelley dropping daggers throughout the third quarter, Newton joined the mix at that end and beat his defender in the lane. With teammate Quazee Rice working down low to gain positioning on his man, Newton found Rice with a deft no-look pass. Rice finished hard down low to stretch the Norwalk lead to 52-24 late in the third quarter.
In the final possession of the quarter, Kelley snapped a few more opposing ankles en route to a driving finish in the lane to make it 56-40 after three quarters.
The relentless defensive effort for the visitors continued in the final stanza, as Norwalk outscored host Darien 24-10 down the stretch.
In light of two recent losses at the Masuk Holiday Tournament by a combined total of just four points, Tuesday night's effort was crucial in restoring Norwalk's promising outlook going forward.
"I think this was the type of defensive effort that can really change our season," Kelley said. "Now we need to continue to play this type of defense all year."
NORWALK (80)
Evan Kelley 12 6-8 32, Drew Sawyer 4 0-0 8, Jimmy Blount 3 0-0 6, Shakeem Rice 4 0-0 8, Jeremy Gideon 4 1-1 9, Mike Newton 1 0-0 2, Chris Maraglino 1 2-2 5, Quazee Rice. 2 0-0 4, Bobby Stringfellow 1 0-0 2, Jabari Dear 1 2-2 4. Totals: 33 11-13 80.
DARIEN (50)
Ian Sullivan 3 0-0 6, Phillip Stueber 6 3-4 13, Matt Forelli 2 0-0 4, Mike Lee 2 0-0 4, Anthony Donato 6 1-1 13, Grant Scott 0 0-1 0, Charlie Kunze 4 0-0 8. Totals: 23 4-6 50.
Norwalk 17 15 24 24 -- 80
Darien 19 10 11 10 -- 50
3 pointers: N-Kelley 2, Maraglino 1.
Posted on 12/29/2009
MONROE
By ALEX WISER
Hour Correspondent
It may have been a different game, but for the second time in four days, on the very same floor, the Norwalk High boys basketball team was left with that same bitter taste of defeat at the Masuk Holiday Tournament.
After failing to execute a last-second inbounds pass in a stinging 66-65 loss on Saturday night, Norwalk simply couldn't get enough stops on the defensive end in another close one, dropping Tuesday night's consolation game with Bunnell, 64-61, at Masuk High School.
"We need to talk a lot more, we need to rotate faster, and we have to work together as a unit and play better help-defense than what we are doing lately," Bears senior Chris Maraglino said. "We're not getting the stops that we need to win close games."
For Norwalk (2-3), it was a matter of stopping one Bunnell sharpshooter, only to watch another opposing player promptly catch fire.
Yashua Dunmore took to the court bombing for the Bulldogs (3-2) without hesitation, canning a pair of long-range 3-pointers to help fuel an instant 9-2 lead for Bunnell.
Norwalk settled for shots beyond the arc as well, but went 0-5 from downtown to begin the evening. The Bears found success of their own once they got their big man going, as center Shakeem Rice took command in the block to notch nine points and five rebounds in the first quarter. Thanks to the interior work of Rice, Norwalk reeled off a 14-2 run and finished the first quarter with a 20-11 lead.
"I wanted to come out aggressive and wanted to assert myself from the get-go" said Rice, who finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds. "We were aggressive out there but we just couldn't sustain it for four quarters."
Normally a team that relies mostly on skilled perimeter play to generate points, the sight of Rice making his presence felt inside was a big plus to Norwalk head coach Bobby Trimboli.
"He (Rice) was working hard and he was finishing his chances tonight," Trimboli said. "With his skill and his size he's got to be a presence for us, and he was."
With Rice working hard down low, teammates Evan Kelley (18 points) and Drew Sawyer (15 points) helped balance out the offense by picking up the scoring slack in the second and third quarters. Each connected on 3-pointers to start the second half, but the long-range savvy of Dunmore continued to take center stage for the Bulldogs.
After nailing his first two long-range shots in the early going, Dunmore sank another deep 3-pointer from the corner before halftime. Following the break, Dunmore answered a Kelley three with one of his own, only to add two more daggers from deep on consecutive possessions to push Bunnell in front by a score of 46-40. In total, Dunmore would finish with seven 3-pointers and 24 points.
Clinging to a 48-47 lead in the final quarter, Bunnell changed gears offensively. As Norwalk worked to limit the damage done by Dunmore, the Bulldogs began to pound the ball inside to big man DeVaughn Murphy. As the newest offensive threat to emerge, Murphy would be pivotal late in the contest.
Earning several trips to the line and sinking buckets off of four inside moves, Murphy (16 advantages) took advantage of a Norwalk defense that seemed a step slow, just as Dunmore had done earlier on the perimeter. For every bucket that Norwalk would notch, Bunnell would quickly answer.
After Rice finished on a putback off a Kelley miss, Murphy responded with an inside move to the rack to make it a 58-58 game. Dunmore tallied his one and only two-point field goal on a putback from eight feet out to give Bunnell the 60-58 lead.
For a Bears squad that was surrendering too many easy baskets through much of the contest, Jimmy Blount did come up big on defense with 30 seconds to go. Blount forced a backcourt violation on the Bulldogs to give the Bears possession trailing by two.
But with Norwalk unable to muster a shot due to a turnover, a pair of Murphy free throws made it a four-point Bunnell lead.
A 3-pointer at the top of the key by Sawyer cut the Bulldogs lead to 62-61, but Murphy made the Bears pay one final time from the line, nailing both free throws in the final seconds to push the lead back up to three points at 64-61.
A last-second 3-pointer by Kelley in the corner just in front of the Norwalk bench caromed off the back of the rim, sending the Bears to their second tough loss in a row.
On a night in which steals, blocks, and smooth defensive rotations favored Bunnell, there weren't enough big stops for Norwalk to seize victory.
"We played well in spurts defensively, but that's not going to cut it," Trimboli said. "We got a few steals, made a few good plays, and then a few minutes later we're not doing our jobs again. We've got to continue to work hard at shoring up our defense and playing with a lot more consistency."
BUNNELL (64)
DeVaughn Murphy 5 6-8 16, Kedane Murphy 0 4-4 4, Tyhron Coward 3 3-4 10, Greg White 2 0-0 4, Yashua Dunmore 8 1-4 24, John Riordon 1 0-0 2, Matt Nolting 1 2-2 5. Totals: 20 16-22 64.
NORWALK (61)
Evan Kelley 6 7-9 18, Drew Sawyer 5 2-2 15, Shakeem Rice 8 3-5 19, Jimmy Blount 0 0-2 0, Jermy Gideon 1 0-0 2, Chris Maraglino 1 0-0 3, Mike Newtown 0 1-2 1, Qwazee Rice 0 1-2 1. Totals: 21 14-22 61.
Bunnell 11 18 18 17 -- 64
Norwalk 20 10 18 13 -- 61
3-pointers: N- Sawyer 3, Kelley, Maraglino; B-Yoshua Dunmore 7, Coward.
December 28, 2009 – 11:06 pm
Vanessa Harris never appeared in a game for the Brien McMahon girls basketball team this season.
But she was on the roster when preseason practice began last month.
Since then, Harris has changed her address and she’s changed teams. The only thing she hasn’t changed is towns.
After moving from one side of Norwalk to the other, the senior guard is now a member of the Norwalk High girls basketball team, joining the growing list of players who have suited up for both the Senators and the Bears.
Harris, who played in 15 games for McMahon last season, including a 12-point effort in the season-opener against Greenwich, joined Norwalk on Dec. 17 and has now played in three games for the Bears.
Harris isn’t going to turn the young Bears (1-5) into a winner overnight. But she will add speed, and will also provide Norwalk with something it desperately needs: Senior know-how.
Before the arrival of Harris, the Bears had just two seniors — Rachel Simpson and Jessica Schmidt — on the roster.
“She’s a good addition for us,” Norwalk head coach Ricky Fuller said. “She’s only been with our program for eight days, but she’s going to get her share of playing time.”
Written by Dave Stewart
Tuesday, 22 December 2009 17:18
New Canaan's Chris Rama (31) battles Norwalk's Shakeem Rice (50) during last Friday's overtime battle at NHS. The Rams led most of the game, but Norwalk won in overtime, 95-81. (Dave Stewart Photo)
Scanning the numbers put up by the New Canaan Rams in their boys’ basketball game at Norwalk High School last Friday, it almost surely indicates a victory.
The Rams scored 81 points, shot 64 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Bears by a decent margin. Conor House had his first career double-double with 40 points and 10 rebounds, while co-captain Ian Knechtle and Chris Rama also hit double figures — Knechtle with 14 points and Rama with 10.
Unfortunately for New Canaan, those numbers were overshadowed by the incredible long-range shooting of Norwalk.
The Bears racked up 15 3-pointers, including eight from sophomore Drew Sawyer and a game-tying bomb from Evan Kelly with four seconds remaining in regulation, as Norwalk defeated the Rams, 95-81 in overtime.
New Canaan Head Coach Jeff Bussey said his scouting of Norwalk didn’t show that type of accuracy.
“They didn’t hit anything,” Bussey said. “We practiced all week about sagging and sagging knowing (Kelly) could shoot. The sophomore (Sawyer) never hit a shot and then tonight he couldn’t miss. Against Bassick, they had two kids with double figures. I don’t know what we could have done defensively. I thought we did what we wanted to do, they just hit their shots.”
“We knew Kelly was a shooter, but we didn’t know the point guard could shoot like that,” senior co-captain Michael Freyre said. “You try and take away what you can, but they just made their shots.”
The loss was a frustrating one for New Canaan, which was looking to begin the season with a pair of wins after beating Darien, 79-55, on opening night last Wednesday.
New Canaan held the lead for most of regulation and was up by six at 71-65 when House hit two free throws with 1:33 remaining.
Chris Maraglino, who had just one basket at that point, came off the bench and hit a three to cut the deficit to 71-68 with 49 seconds on the clock.
A foul by the Rams turned the ball over and Maraglino then hit another jumper, this time for two points, to make it a one-point game. But New Canaan broke Norwalk’s press and Freyre fired a pass to House underneath the basket and House laid it in for a 73-70 lead.
On the ensuing possession, Kelly drove to the hoop and Freyre appeared to have stolen the ball, but the officials called it a jump ball and Norwalk retained the ball with 12 seconds remaining.
Kelly then hit a 3-pointer from the left side to tie the game and force overtime.
“The big turning point was the jump ball when the refs told us it was our ball and then it switched over and Kelly hit the three,” Freyre said. “It was a good play, Rama’s hand and my hand were in his face and he still made the shot. There’s nothing you can really do about that.”
In overtime, Kelly hit another trey to start the scoring, and after a House free throw, Kelly scored again, drew a foul and sank the free throw for 79-74 lead.
House sandwiched two lay-ups around yet another 3-pointer by Kelly, but the Bears soon built a six-point lead to take over.
Kelly scored 19 of his team-high 39 points in overtime, including an 11-of-13 showing from the free throw line.
After the game, Bussey admitted there wasn’t too much to say about the effort.
“We didn’t turn the ball over that much and we got lay-up after lay-up,” the coach said. “We played hard and we’re going to do that all the time. It’s frustrating. I really thought we had that game in the last two minutes.”
On the boards, Rama collected a team-high 13 rebounds, while House had 10 and Knechtle had eight. Freyre scored six points and had six assists, while Nick Larson came off the bench to score six points. Scott O’Brien had five points and five assists.
For Norwalk, Sawyer finished with 28 points — 24 on 3-pointers — while Jimmy Blount had nine and Quazee Rice had eight.
New Canaan took a 7-2 lead early on and trailed just once in the first half when Kelly scored on a lay-up for a 33-32 Norwalk edge.
But House came back with a quick two to start at five-point run as New Canaan closed the half ahead 37-33.
House also hit the opening bucket of the second half to give New Canaan a 39-33 lead.
Again, Sawyer hit for a 3-pointer, one of four he had in the third quarter, as Norwalk rallied to within one at 39-38. The lead seesawed from there, but the quarter ended with the Rams clinging to a 55-54 lead.
Norwalk came out with a 6-2 run and a 60-57 lead to open the fourth, but the Rams fought back with baskets from O’Brien and Knechtle.
After a 3-pointer by Sawyer made it 63-61 in favor of the Bears, House scored six straight points to but the Rams up 67-63. That lead moved to six points at 71-65 before Norwalk began its decisive comeback.
“There was definitely a fire in everyone to go out and win tonight,” Freyre said. “It got a little chippy in the middle, but everybody just wants to win and that’s what it’s all about.”
New Canaan had little difficulty dispatching with Darien in the opener last Wednesday, as the Rams took a 36-25 lead in the first half and rolled to a 79-55 decision.
House scored 26 points to lead the offense, and also had four rebounds and three steals. The senior is averaging 33 points in his first two games.
“He’s an enigma,” Bussey said. “He never played a minute of varsity basketball before. He beats everybody to the glass, he finishes everything and he runs like a gazelle. It’s just amazing how well he’s done.”
Rama had 12 points and eight rebounds against Darien, while Knechtle had 10 points, three rebounds and two steals. Larson had eight points and four rebounds; O’Brien had seven points and six assists; Freyre had four rebounds, three steals and six assists; Jack Atchue had six points; and James McGurdy had three rebounds.
The Rams will face Harding (2-0) in their home opener Tuesday night, and while they would have preferred to have carried a 1-1 record into the game, the team was happy with the fight it showed in the loss to Norwalk.
“We have a lot of chemistry,” Freyre said. “It’s a close group so everybody plays for each other. We showed that tonight and everybody played hard.
“The fire was there which was good.”
Posted on 12/18/2009
Staff reports
Evan Kelley scored a career-high 39 points, including 19 in overtime, to lead the Norwalk High boys basketball team to a 95-81 victory over New Canaan Friday night in Norwalk.
Kelley, a senior guard, drained a 3-pointer with four seconds left to send the game into overtime. Norwalk then outscored the Rams 22-8 in the extra session with Kelley hitting two more 3-pointers while going 11-for-13 from the foul line.
Kelley finished with a triple-double, pulling down 15 rebounds while dishing out 10 assists.
"He's our best player and one of the top players in the FCIAC," Norwalk head coach Bobby Trimboli said. "We need him to step at big times and he did that. He did what we needed him to do to win."
Sophomore Drew Sawyer also posted career highs with 28 points and eight 3-pointers and senior Chris Maraglino nailed a key 3-pointer with 45 seconds left to cut New Canaan's lead to three.
Both teams are now 1-1 overall. Conor House led New Canaan with 40 points, most of which came in the paint on layups.
"This was a very good win," Trimboli said. "It was a must-win for us."
NEW CANAAN (81)
Mike Freyre 1 4-4 6, Conor House 17 6-8 40, Ian Kneche 4 5-8 14, Nick Larson 2 1-1 6, Chris Rama 2 6-10 10, Scott O'Brien 2 1-2 5. Totals: 28 23-33 81.
NORWALK (95)
Evan Kelley 11 12-17 39, Drew Sawyer 9 2-5 28, Shakeem Rice 3 2-2 8, Jermy Gideon 1 0-0 2, Jimmy Blount 3 2-4 9, Mike Newton 1 0-0 2, Qwazee Rice 0 0-0 0, Chris Maraglino 3 0-0 7, Rasheen Thompson 0 0-0 0. Totals: 29 18-28 95.
N.Canaan 20 17 18 18 8 -- 81
Norwalk 19 14 2119 22 -- 95
3-pointers: NC-Kneche, Larson; N-Sawyer 8, Kelley 5, Blount, Maraglino. Fouled out: NC-House; N-S. Rice, Gideon. Technical fouls: New Canaan.
Posted on 12/13/2009
NORWALK
By MATTHEW DORAN
Hour Staff Writer
The Norwalk High boys basketball team was getting ready to begin one of its preseason practices last week when head coach Bobby Trimboli walked into the gym with a confident smile on his face and a bounce in his step.
It was a familiar sight for anyone who knows Trimboli, a basketball junkie from a basketball-crazy family. But on this day, Trimboli seemed even more excited than usual. You could see it in his face, hear it in his voice.
Two years after accepting the task of rebuilding a program that was emotionally and numerically bankrupt, Trimboli was able to look out onto the court and feel good about his team.
The return of senior swingman Evan Kelly, the team's leading scorer, and sophomore Drew Sawyer, a promising young player who will take over as the team's starting point guard, has definitely helped put a smile on Trimboli's face as the Bears get set to tip off the 2009-10 season Wednesday at home against Bassick.
"They've been playing together for two years straight now, from last year into this year leading into the summertime and in fall ball," Trimboli said. "So they're going to bring great chemistry to the court."
Trimboli is even more excited about the current state of the program. Trimboli arrived one season after the Bears went 1-19 and put Norwalk back on the path to respectability with seven wins in 2007-08. Last season, Norwalk put itself back on the basketball map with a 10-10 regular season, a bounce-back campaign that produced a berth to the Class LL state tournament.
Finally, Trimboli believes the program is approaching the level he envisioned when he took over as head coach.
"These kids have played for me for three years and I think it's finally starting to show," said Trimboli, a former standout point guard at Norwalk and Trinity Catholic who went on to enjoy a solid college career at Division II Southern Connecticut State University.
"Now the kids are working hard on their own," he said. "They're not coming to practice just to play and do their work there. The players are going home and working out and that's what I'm trying to get these kids to understand. This is varsity basketball. It's not Biddy Basketball anymore. You have to do a lot to make yourself really skilled. The talent level across the FCIAC is really good, so we have to be that much better if we want to be successful."
Norwalk will miss the size and power of forwards Shawnelle Philo and Jeremy Dickens, each of whom were lost to graduation. Also gone is fiery point guard Che McCoy, whose brash style of play gave the Bears an edge it was missing in years past. McCoy went back to New York City after just one season in Norwalk.
However, with a few secret weapons in the backcourt, an aggressive and speedy set of guards and some solid players down low, Trimboli sees no reason why season No. 3 can't end with another step up the ladder.
"All of our players have the ability to attack the basket effectively," Trimboli said. "We have very powerful guard play, and that's going to carry us throughout the season. And I'm not going to fall asleep on our big men because they've been very effective in practice. Across the board, I think we're going to be very successful."
The one-two scoring punch of Kelley and Sawyer should help.
Kelley led the team in scoring (19 ppg.) and 3-pointers (48) as a junior while Sawyer burst onto the scene as a freshman, averaging 11.2 points over his first five games as a starter.
Both hope to feed off each other's talents, which they know well.
"We've been playing together since we were little, so I feel comfortable with him at my side," said Sawyer, the son of former Norwalk standout Stacey Sawyer, who scored 1,136 points from 1981-84 and is now an assistant under Trimboli. "I think this is going to be a big season for both of us."
But will there be enough shots to go around with two players who love to shoot the ball?
"I think so," Kelley said. "There's going to be enough shots because we like to spread our offense out to get everyone involved."
Sawyer is still learning, but this is it for Kelley. This is his season to take control of the team and help defray the loss of five key players from last year's team, including guards Daryl Dasent and Chris Hines.
"This is a big year for our team and it's a big year for him," Trimboli said. "He's going to carry us. He has to carry us. But I think we have the surrounding pieces to go pretty deep in the tournaments we enter."
Sawyer's play tailed off toward the end of last season and he finished with an average of six points per game and 15 three-pointers. But Sawyer says he learned some valuable lessons and is coming back with a new focus, ready to take his game to the next level.
"I feel more comfortable this year," Sawyer said. "I know my place on the team this year and I think I can be a better asset and a better help to the team."
Sawyer was mainly just an outside shooter last season. This year, his main task will be getting the ball into Kelley's hands.
"He's the senior, so he's going to get a lot more shots," Sawyer said. "He should go out with a strong year and I respect that."
Kelley, who needs 357 points to reach 1,000 for his career, is excited about his role as the undisputed team leader. But he knows he'll have a good supporting cast to lean on.
"We're pretty good from top to bottom," Kelley said. "We might not have as much talent as we did last year, but we all play together and we have great role players. We might not have the workhorses or the power we had last year, but we definitely have better basketball players."
Norwalk will switch to a guard-oriented offense with no one over 6-foot-3 in the lineup. It won't have the same toughness in the paint without Philo, a devastating defensive player who averaged 15 rebounds and four blocks per game, and Dickens, who averaged 10 points and 10 rebounds.
But Trimboli believes his team will make up for it with better speed and more athleticism, boosted by players like 6-3 senior forwards Shakeem Rice and Jeremy Gideon.
"I think we have the pieces this year to put it together," Trimboli said. "The kids are on the same page working hard every day in practice. They're eager because they see it in front of them. Our talent is there. Our skill level is there. We're not the biggest teams in the league, but our talent level is right up there with anyone."
For those who think the Bears will be nothing more than a two-man team, Norwalk says, think again.
"We have other players that no one knows about that can really take over a game," Trimboli said. "We're going to have a solid ball club this year."
Posted on 12/15/2009
By MATTHEW DORAN
Hour Staff Writer
The Brien McMahon/ Norwalk High School co-op ice hockey team hasn't had much cause for optimism over the past few years.
It's tough to think big when your numbers are down and the losses are piling up.
However, if Norwalk takes on the attributes of its new head coach -- confident, detail-oriented and driven to succeed -- then good times might finally lie ahead.
"We're trying to bring hockey in Norwalk back to the way it was when both schools in town had teams. There was a time when Norwalk was a force in the FCIAC, and we want to get back to that," said first-year head coach Dan Feighan, a former assistant who took over the program this fall.
"The kids from Norwalk should want to play for their hometown team," Feighan said. "They should want to have pride in their team. That's the first step to getting back to where we belong."
Things are already looking up in that department as Norwalk prepares to open the season against Trumbull at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Rinks at Shelton.
The team pulled off a major coup during the offseason when defenseman Patrick Odierno and forward Nick Hulbert, both sophomores who played at the highest level of youth hockey, signed up to play for Norwalk.
Feighan, who works at Blue Line Sports at the Darien Ice Rink, hopes this starts to stem the tide of talented players from Norwalk defecting to private schools.
"This shows that the kids are looking to play for their own high school," Feighan said. "It shows that they trust the Board of Education. It shows they believe in what we're doing."
Feighan has already made some major changes he hopes will alter the mindset of the team. Feighan has instituted a practice regimen and coaching style he believes will better prepare Norwalk for the rigors of the FCIAC schedule. He hired a new set of assistants. He has the players training off the ice, something Norwalk hockey players have rarely done in the past.
The team is practicing more, and practicing at more amenable times of the day. There are no set positions during preseason. No captains were named. Everything has to be earned.
It all a part of the team's goal for improvement.
"We want to win more hockey games against Division III opponents and be much more competitive against Division II and I teams," Feighan said. "We also want to develop our kids into better hockey players and even better young men."
Norwalk will have 18 players on the roster, all of whom have youth hockey experience. The defense is the team's strong point, led by juniors Lucas Aubrey and Dylan Byrne. Alex Lengyel is the team's top forward and its only senior, so things certainly look bright for the future.
Posted on 12/14/2009
By STEVE GEOGHEGAN
Hour Staff Writer
There's something old and something new with regard to wrestling in the City of Norwalk.
The 'new' is Job Fernandez, as in the new head coach of the Norwalk High wrestling team. He's been an assistant at the school for the past three seasons so his presence in the wrestling room may seem 'old' hat to his grapplers.
The 'old' is also in the amount of experienced wrestlers at Brien McMahon. This year, more than in recent years, the Senators will field a lineup that is filled out with a majority of wrestlers who have experience, giving veteran head coach Joe SantaLucia a 'new' sense of promise for the season.
Staples and Wilton suffered key losses to graduation but should remain fairly competitive while Weston, which was in danger of perhaps forming a co-op with another school due to dwindling numbers, has 22 wrestlers on this year's roster.
Norwalk, McMahon, Staples and Wilton will receive strong challenges in the FCIAC by the likes of 23-time defending champion Danbury, Fairfield Warde, Trumbull, Greenwich, Stamford and Ridgefield.
In SWC action, Weston will have its hands full against six-time defending conference champion New Milford, Masuk, Pomperaug and Bethel.
The season opens Wednesday. Here's a look at how the area team stack up in 2009-2010:
Norwalk
When Fernandez stepped into the wrestling room for the first practice, he saw some faces he's never seen before. That's because there are 20 new wrestlers on this year's squad.
"We are very inexperienced," he said. "This year should be all about building experience."
Jon Siretanu (145) and Chris Mulford (285) were the losses to graduation. Senior Joe Heffelfinger (140) didn't come out for this year's team.
The Bears do have junior captain Cliff Magloire (112-119) back in the fold. Magloire went 34-6 last season, placing third in the FCIACs, while earning All-Area honors for the second straight season.
"He's looking forward to a good season," Fernandez said.
Senior Fred Reisch (125) will also serve as a captain. Fernandez said Reisch put in a lot of work in the offseason and could surprise this season.
Senior Tommy Palumbo (152-160) has made great strides, according to the coach, and senior Raul Aldorondo (152-160) returns with experience.
Senior Mike Pinto (103) has been in the program for four years but he doesn't have a great deal of mat experience because he was always underweight. This year, Pinto will be at 103 so he'll have an edge going up against younger opponents, Fernandez said.
Norwalk, which was 8-19 overall in 2008-2009 and placed 13th in the FCIAC, will be a work in progress as the season goes along, Fernandez said.
"I'm hoping for at least four All-FCIAC wrestlers," he said. "It's something they definitely can accomplish. What I really want every one of them to have is a never-say-die attitude and to work hard from whistle to whistle."
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5 February 2010