Football

North Branford hosted Valley Regional-Old Lyme in a fierce Pequot Conference South Division showdown at Colfati Field on Oct. 1 and, despite holding a 14-point advantage in the second quarter, took a 27-21 defeat in double overtime. The Thunderbirds are now 2-2 both overall and in divisional play.

Mark Basil’s squad struck first in the opening quarter when Paul Pastet fired an 11-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Reilly. Antonio Sarmento kicked the extra point and North Branford led 7-0 after one quarter of play. The T-Birds extended their lead to two scores in the second quarter on Pastet’s 8-yard TD toss to Dylan Blake. Sarmento booted another through and it was 14-0 in favor of North Branford. The Warriors (2-2, 1-2) got on the board on Matt Sapere’s 15-yard scoring pass to Gus Cummins. Jared Roche kicked the point after touchdown and North Branford’s lead was sliced to 14-7 at halftime. In the third quarter, Sapere rushed in from two years out, Roche kicked another PAT, and it was 14-all heading to the final frame. Nobody scored in the fourth quarter and so the contest went to overtime. In the first OT, Pastet found Matt Chamberlain for a 10-yard touchdown reception and it was 21-14 following Sarmento’s third extra point. Valley needed to score to keep the game going and did so when Sapere threw a 2-yard TD to Ernest Jean-Pierre, which coupled with Roche’s extra point, sent the game to a second OT knotted at 21. In the second extra session, Roche’s 2-yard TD rush gave the Warriors a 27-21 advantage. The extra point was no good, but Pastet was intercepted on North Branford’s subsequent drive and the T-Birds took the six-point defeat.

Pastet completed 14 of his 25 passes for 98 yards to go along with three touchdowns and one interception, while rushing for 85 yards on nine carries. Reilly ran six times and gained 47 yards on the ground for North Branford. He also caught five passes for 33 yards and Chamberlain recorded five receptions for 42 yards.

On defense, Chamberlain and Reilly each made nine tackles and George Poleschuk added seven. John Branfuhr and Nick Mancini both recorded a quarterback sack. Chamberlain recovered a fumble and Jack Meyers blocked a field goal and also had two pass deflections.

North Branford will next play at a non-division Pequot Conference opponent in The Sport & Medical Sciences Academy/University (1-2) in Hartford at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 10.

Field Hockey

The Thunderbirds improved to 6-1 by beating Morgan 5-0 and Old Saybrook 4-1 last week.

Sydney Hogan scored four goals and Emmy Norton chipped in with the fifth in the Morgan win. Norton and Hogan both had an assist, as did Emma Hansen, with Sabrina LeMere dishing out two. North Branford had 17 shots on goal and Mackenzie Kaiser made two saves for the shutout.

At Old Saybrook, Kaiser made two saves in the cage for another victory. Haley Basil scored twice, while Norton and LeMere each added a goal. Hansen had two assists and Hogan and Stephanie Seymour both had one.

Cross Country

North Branford hosted the Shoreline Conference Large School Meet at Augur Farm on Sept. 29. The T-Birds’ boys placed third out of six squads, while the girls finished fifth.

For the boys, top finishers were Michael Madoule in 13th place (19:41), Keane Regan in 17th (19:49), Isaac Cammarata in 21st (20:11), Richard Hernandez in 22nd (20:14), Parker Nadeau in 29th (20:52), Zach Jamieson in 32nd (21:14), and Pat Fisher in 41st (22:35).

Finishing for the girls were Winnie Chan in 17th place (24:36), Victoria Pawlak in 21st (25:25), Olivia Hemstock in 23rd (25:42), Marie Zampano in 26th (27:09), Theresa Gaudagnino in 33rd (30:03), and Grace Little in 38th (32:34).

Volleyball

The Thunderbirds dropped to 0-9 on the season by losing three matches at home last week. North Branford took a 3-0 defeat to Morgan, a 3-1 loss against Haddam-Killingworth, and a 3-0 loss to Hale-Ray.

Against Morgan, the set scores read 25-12, 25-17, 25-17 in the Huskies’ favor. North Branford was led by 11 kills and two aces from Patience Wilson, plus 14 digs with a pair of aces by Nicole Messore.

In the match against H-K, North Branford was defeated by a score of 25-17, 25-10, 25-22, 25-13. Taylor O’Neill distributed 20 assists to complement her eight aces and Messore added 16 digs with nine service points.

Facing Hale-Ray, the T-Birds lost 25-17, 25-13, 25-16. Messore had another solid effort with her 16 digs and Wilson throw down seven kills to go with an ace.