Football

The Warriors’ football team improved to 2-0 by defeating Pequot Conference Sassacus South Division rival Old Saybrook-Westbrook (OS-W) 26-15 at Old Lyme High School on Sept. 17.

It was a scoreless game through one quarter, but Valley Regional-Old Lyme (VR-OL) broke through in the second when Daniel Stecher took in a 3-yard touchdown rush. Garrett Burdick kicked the extra point and the Warriors had a 7-0 lead that held up at halftime.

In the third quarter, quarterback Matt Sapere threw a 17-yard TD strike to Burdick, who then booted another extra point to give VR-OL a 14-0 advantage. The Rams made it 14-6 by converting a short touchdown run, but Stecher’s 4-yard TD rush extended the damage to 20-6 at the end of three quarters.

OS-W cut it to 20-13 on a short scoring rush early in the fourth quarter. On the next series, Valley had a bad snap and the Rams recovered at the Warriors’ 30-yard line. OS-W eventually had 4th-and-goal and threw a pass in the flat to try to get in, but Stecher forced a fumble that was recovered by Jud O’Brien and now the Warriors had the ball inside their own 1.

The craziness continued as another bad snap resulted in Sapere getting tackled in the end zone for a safety that brought the Rams within 20-15 with seven minutes left. As a result of the safety, VR-OL had to kick off from its own 20. Burdick’s kick sailed over the heads of the Rams’ returners and rolled to the 4-yard line, where Cole Ensinger pounced on it for the Warriors. On the next play, Stecher scored from four yards out for a 26-15 command that stood up as the final tally.

“Special teams had a had a huge part in it…[The kickoff after the safety] was the turning point of the game that sealed it,” said Warriors’ Head Coach Tim King. “[OS-W] had momentum and would have had seven minutes left and, with their offense eating up clock like crazy, that could have been the difference in the game.”

Stecher had a monster game by rushing 20 times for 179 yards and three TDs. Sapere completed eight passes for 118 yards and the touchdown to Burdick, who caught three passes for 38 yards. Ian Humphreys reeled in three receptions for 43 yards, while Jason O’Brien caught a 35-yard pass.

Additionally on defense, Jake Kruszewski had an interception, Stecher made 17 tackles that included three for a loss, Cody Stall had 13 tackles, Roan Sullivan made 10 tackles with three for a loss, and Mitch Conrad added eight tackles.

Valley’s next game is against another division foe in Morgan (2-0, 1-0) at the Peters Complex in Clinton at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 23. Last year, Morgan defeated the Warriors 40-0.

Volleyball

Valley was victorious in all three of last week’s matches and now stands at 3-1. The Warriors beat East Hampton 3-1 at home on Sept. 13, recorded a 3-0 win at Creed the following afternoon, and then edged Hale-Ray 3-2 in Deep River on Sept. 16.

Against East Hampton, Head Coach Kathy Scott’s squad prevailed 25-20, 21-25, 25-23, 25-20. Emily McLaughlin had 10 kills with two blocks and 13 digs; Jessica Paholski notched 13 kills, nine digs, and two aces; Hannah Clark dished out 22 assists and also had five aces; Alex Figuenick recorded 22 digs with two aces; Electra Cassells had seven kills; and Rhyan Nedobity added one kill with two aces.

“Overall, this was a good win for us. East Hampton is extremely competitive and has a history of being a top contender in our league for years. Hannah stepped up to setting position and the service line and served some aces, which definitely changed our momentum in the match,” Coach Scott said. “Our service could have been much better and more consistent and we’ll work on that because we have strong servers. Jessica Paholski has a great jump serve and she served several runs at Creed later in the week. Rhyan Nedobity has a tough jump float that’s difficult to pass. We did some things well, but are not playing as aggressively as we’d like and making errors that are due to inexperience. We are still forming as a team to fill in those positions left by last year’s seniors.”

In the Creed victory, Valley swept 25-6, 25-4, 25-5. Paholski recorded 14 aces, while Heidi Clark and Maddie Just both had eight aces.

The Hale-Ray match saw Valley rally down two sets to one on its way to a 15-25, 25-23, 22-25, 25-14, 15-11 victory. Paholski totaled 41 receptions to complement her 12 kills, 13 digs, and two aces. Figuenick, the team’s libero, had 44 receptions, plus 28 digs, three aces, and a pair of kills. Additionally, Cassells tallied eight kills with five digs and two blocks; Maddie Millard had 23 assists, four digs, and one aces; Nedobity had four aces and three digs; Just posted five digs and had a pair of aces; Clark had eight digs and an ace; McLaughlin recorded seven digs with eight kills; and Emily Hutchinson contributed one kill and two blocks.

“Hale-Ray was almost undefeated last year going into the state finals. They have an aggressive attack, an experienced setter, and a solid team all around. Graduating just one starter, they are the team to beat in the Shoreline, so we were especially pleased that we did well against them. This was definitely a match that the players dug deep for and came up with a great team effort. So many solid performances by everyone,” Coach Scott said. “Overall, we stuck to our game-plan against Hale-Ray, the players believed in it, and executed well to make it a successful, exciting, and memorable evening. We certainly have a lot to work on, but it was a good win for us.”

Coach Scott continued by discussing the performances of the athletes who led her team to the five-set triumph.

“Our serving was better—both more aggressive and accurate—and we had several important service runs by Rhyan Nedobity, Maddy Just, Jessica Paholski, and Alex Figuenick. Electra Cassells is a game changer for us, though the stats don’t reflect all that she is doing on the court. Her leadership, strong attacks, and blocks definitely impacted the match in our favor,” said Scott. “Maddie Just did a fantastic job stepping into a serving/defensive role and added great energy to the team. Heidi Clark reads things really well on defense, is quick and aggressive, and she also really sparked the team throughout the evening. Emily Hutchinson is picking things up quickly as a sophomore middle and did some good things, too. Maddie Millard, overall, ran the court well, mixing up the attack, and Alex Figuenick had some amazing digs covering the deep and short court.”

Boys’ Soccer

Valley Regional got 2016 going on the right foot by netting a pair of home victories. First, the Warriors defeated Haddam-Killingworth 4-2 on Sept. 13. Then on Sept. 15, the Warriors beat Hale-Ray 4-1. Both games followed similar scripts as Valley fell behind 1-0, but then scored two goals to hold a 2-1 halftime lead en route to the victory.

In the Haddam-Killingworth game, Ryan Davis scored two goals, while Charlie Ferrucci and Jake Patterson each tallied one. Davis scored both of Valley’s goals in the second half to turn a 2-1 lead into a 4-1 advantage. Luke DeFrino had the assist on Davis’s first score and Adrian Sperzel assisted Ferrucci’s goal in the opening half. Buddy Haydu made eight saves in net.

Against Hale-Ray, Victor Cartagena scored a pair of goals with DeFrino handing out the helper on one of them. Zak Tisdale scored a goal on Mike Dilger’s assist, plus Sperzel scored a goal on an assist from Jack Liggett. Haydu made two saves and Charlie Haughton also saw time in the net.

Mick Fearon begins his 15th season as Valley’s head coach on the heels of a 2015 campaign that saw his team win 11 games, including one in the Class M State Tournament.

Girls’ Soccer

The Warriors moved to 2-1 after posting a pair of shutouts on the road last week. On Sept. 12, Valley prevailed at Haddam-Killingworth 4-0. Three days after that, the Warriors routed Hale-Ray to tune of an 11-0 victory.