Girls’ Cross Country

The Old Saybrook girls’ cross country team finished in first place at the Shoreline Conference Championship meet that was held at Hale-Ray High School on Oct. 19. The Rams scored a low total of 36 points to defeat three-time defending champion Haddam-Killingworth, which finished with 42 points in the meet.

Old Saybrook was bolstered by a first-place performance from junior Grace Hanratty at the championship. Hanratty turned in a time of 19 minutes and 50 seconds to outpace runner-up Emily Sienna (19:57) of Hale-Ray by seven seconds in the 5K.

The Rams saw three other runners finish in the top 10 at the Shoreline Conference meet. Junior Aliana Castro finished in fourth place with a time of 20:33, freshman Caitlin Wiley claimed fifth place in 20:41, and senior Tehra Givehand earned seventh place by timing in at 20:57 for Old Saybrook. All three of these athletes earned All-Shoreline Conference First Team honors by virtue of their top-10 finishes.

Freshman Lilly Sigersmith made the All-Shoreline Second Team by taking 19th place with a time of 22:53. Junior Autumn Szucs came in 30th place by running a time of 23:37, while junior Julia Sultini finished 36th with a mark of 24:10 for Old Saybrook.

This weekend, the Rams will be competing at the Class S State Championship, which will take place at Wickham Park in Manchester at 11:55 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 27.

Boys’ Cross Country

Senior Shane Henderson raced his way to a first-place finish to help the Rams place third as a squad at last week’s Shoreline Conference Championship.

Henderson earned first place with a time of 16 minutes and 41 seconds at Shorelines. The senior finished 13 seconds ahead of second-place Matt Jennings of Haddam-Killingworth (16:54) for the 5K race.

In addition to Henderson, sophomore Jacob Schneider also garnered All-Shoreline Conference First Team recognition by taking seventh place in a time of 17:36. Sophomore Jack Wiley and senior Lance Sigersmith each finished with a time of 18:36, good for 21st and 22nd place, respectively. Junior Ian Mason finished in 30th place with a time of 19:17 for the Rams. Also competing for Old Saybrook at the meet were junior Noah D’Ambrosie (34th, 19:38) and sophomore Nate Taylor (45th, 20:21).

Football

The Old Saybrook-Westbrook (OS-W) football team picked up its second win of the season and handed Pequot Conference Sassacus rival Cromwell-Portland its first defeat of the year by earning a 35-20 home victory versus the Panthers on Oct. 20. The win improved the Rams’ overall record to 2-3 on the campaign, and they now have a mark of 2-1 in their division.

OS-W featured a balanced attack on offense by mixing up the run and the pass to keep the Panthers (5-1, 4-1) guessing. Junior quarterback Jack McDowell played a strong game by throwing for two touchdowns to go along with a rushing touchdown. McDowell connected with senior Max Thomas on his two TD passes. Senior Landis Twomey scored a pair of touchdowns for the Rams, who saw junior kicker Cooper Pavlovich convert all five of his extra-point attempts.

The Rams opened the scoring with a 40-yard touchdown pass from McDowell to Thomas for a 7-0 lead. Cromwell-Portland scored a pair of passing touchdowns in the second quarter to go up 14-7 before the end of the first half.

After halftime, OS-W turned in dominant third quarter by scoring a trio of touchdowns. First, McDowell punched it into the end zone with a 6-yard touchdown run to tie the score at 14. Then, Twomey scored on a 10-yard scamper to give the Rams a 21-14 advantage. After that, Twomey put it into the end zone again with a 4-yard rush to increase the lead to 28-14.

In the fourth quarter, the Panthers made it a one-score game with rushing touchdown, but the Rams blocked Cromwell-Portland’s extra-point attempt and led 28-20. OS-W put the game away with a 20-yard touchdown pass from McDowell to Thomas for the 35-20 final.

Up next for the Rams is a road matchup against Coginchaug/Hale-Ray/East Hampton (3-3, 1-3) at Coginchaug High School. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 27.

Field Hockey

Fresh off qualifying for the Class S State Tournament, the Rams played two games last week and won both of them to improve their record to 9-4-1 on the season. Old Saybrook started with a 6-1 victory against Haddam-Killingworth and followed that up with a 2-1 win over Morgan. The Rams have now won their last seven games.

On Oct. 16, Old Saybrook had a road game at Haddam-Killingworth and prevailed 6-1 against the Cougars. Senior captain midfielder Mandy Beck turned in a four-goal performance to go along with an assist in the victory. Sophomores Taylor Stone and Kayla Holt both scored a goal for the Rams. Stone also helped out with an assist, while Izzy Sigersmith had an assist and fellow junior McKenna Gibson contributed two assists. Junior Wendy Bowden made four saves in the contest.

Two days later, the Rams posted a 2-1 win versus Morgan at home. Holt scored a goal that was assisted by Beck, while Stone netted a goal on an assist from Holt. Bowden had another four-save performance in net.

Boys’ Soccer

The Rams picked up a pair of victories to go with a tie while facing a trio of Shoreline Conference opponents in last week’s action. Old Saybrook improved to 10-2-3 on the year as the team gears up for the final week of the regular season.

On Oct. 16, the Rams hosted Coginchaug and the two squads played to a 1-1 tie. The next day, Old Saybrook faced off with Hale-Ray and earned a 2-0 road victory over the Noises. Then on Oct. 19, the Rams claimed a 1-0 win against Cromwell at home.

Girls’ Soccer

Old Saybrook lost a pair of contests last week to move to 2-10-2 on the season.

On Oct. 15, the Rams were in Durham to take on Coginchaug and lost a 3-2 battle against the Blue Devils. Two days later, Old Saybrook hosted Morgan and dropped a 2-0 decision versus the Huskies.