Printer Friendly Version - H-K Football Improves to 5-3 With Big Victory; Four Cougars’ Teams Take Losses in State Tourney

Senior Tate Callender scored 4 touchdowns to lead the H-K football team to a 35-7 victory over the Coventery co-op squad last week, boosting the Cougars’ record to 5-3 for the season. Photo by Wesley Bunnell/The Source

Senior Kaleigh Bodak and the H-K girls’ volleyball squad notched a win versus Wright Tech in their first game of the state tourney and then took a defeat to East Hampton in a second-round matchup last week. Photo by Wesley Bunnell/The Source

Junior Emmy Kehlenbach and the Cougars finished their year with a record of 9-6-2 after advancing to the second round of the Class M State Tournament. Photo by Kenneth Marangell/The Source

The Haddam-Killingworth football team scored its fifth win of the season by claiming a convincing victory against the Coventry-Windham Tech-Bolton-Lyman (C-WT-B-L) co-op squad last week. On Nov. 10, the Cougars hosted the Patriots at H-K High School and won the matchup by the score of 35-7 to improve to 5-3 on the year.

Senior Tate Callender scored 2 rushing touchdowns, caught a TD pass, and returned a kickoff for a score to lead H-K to last week’s win over the Coventry co-op. Junior Wyatt Solosky recovered a blocked punt in the end zone to help the Cougars prevail.

H-K was up 14-0 after the first quarter and held a 28-0 halftime advantage en route to its victory versus the Patriots. Solosky recorded the first points of the night when he recovered a blocked punt for a touchdown in the opening quarter, putting the Cougars up 6-0. Later in the period, Callender scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to make it 12-0. Sophomore Gunnar Howes ran in the 2-point conversion to give H-K a 14-0 lead after one.

In the second quarter, senior quarterback Alex Phipps connected with Callender for a 61-yard touchdown pass for the Cougars. Solosky kicked the extra point to make it 21-0. Callender rushed for a 7-yard TD run later in the frame and, following Solosky’s extra point, H-K was staked to a 28-0 lead at intermission.

Callender returned the opening kickoff of the second half for a 91-yard touchdown for his fourth score of the night. Solosky hit the PAT to increase the Cougars’ lead to 35-0. C-WT-B-L scored its lone touchdown of the game on a 34-yard run later in the third quarter. The two teams played scoreless football in the fourth quarter as the Cougars came away with the 35-7 victory.

H-K is hosting divisional opponent Capital-Achievement for its next game on Thursday, Nov. 17 at 6:30 p.m. The Trailblazers come into the game with an overall record of 3-6 and are 3-3 in the Pequot Conference Sassacus Division this year. The Cougars have a divisional record of 3-2. Following that game, H-K is hosting Valley Regional-Old Lyme in the annual battle for the Principal’s Cup on Tuesday, Nov. 22 at 6:30 p.m. at H-K High School.

H-K is in the No. 8 spot for the Class S State Playoff rankings in which the top eight teams qualify.

The Haddam-Killingworth girls’ volleyball team defeated Wright Tech in its Class M State Tournament opener before losing to East Hampton in the second round of draw last week. The Cougars posted an overall record of 14-9 on the season.

On Nov. 9, the 13th-seeded Cougars hosted No. 20 seed Wright Tech for a first-round states game and swept the Lightning by the final score of 3-0 (25-9, 25-9, 25-17). Two days later, H-K was on the road to face No. 4 seed East Hampton in the second round and took a 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-19) defeat to the Bellringers.

The Haddam-Killingworth girls’ soccer team won its opening game of the Class M State Tournament and then took a defeat in a second-round contest last week. H-K finished their year with an overall mark of 9-6-2.

The 15th-seeded Cougars kicked off the Class M tourney by earning a 5-0 home victory against No. 18 Norwich Tech-Holy Family on Nov. 8. Then on Nov. 10, H-K hosted No. 31 Lewis Mills for a second-round states games and lost to the Spartans by the final score of 2-1.

The Haddam-Killingworth boys’ soccer team was eliminated from the Class S State Tournament with a first-round loss versus Bolton last week. No. 21 seed H-K hit the road to face No. 12 Bolton for a first-round states game and lost to the Bulldogs by the final score of 5-2. The Cougars concluded the 2022 season with an overall record of 7-8-1.

The Haddam-Killingworth field hockey team took an overtime loss against Westbrook-Old Lyme in the qualifying round of the Class S State Tournament last week. On Nov. 7, the 20th-seeded Cougars played the 13th-seeded Knights in a Class S qualifying game and lost the contest by a 1-0 score in OT. H-K finished its season with an overall record of 6-9-1-1.