Top 5 Southington sports stories of 2010

With 2010 quickly coming to an end and 2011 ready to pop its head through, it's time to look back at what's happened in the Southington sports world the past 12 months. Focusing not solely on the high school, but on everything in Southington sports, this list of five, plus a few honorable mentions, chronicles a variety of events, both significant, important or in some way noteworthy. Without further ado, I digress (because people love lists)...

1. Wristband Gate
The Blue Knights' football program quickly found itself in the national headlines following allegations that first-year head coach D.J. Hernandez used a Manchester player's play-encoded wristband against them on Oct. 22 to gain a competitive advantage - a game the Blue Knights won. If you didn't remember, look through the Knight Time archives in November and you'll find everything you need to know about it. Eventually Hernandez admitted to it, punishments were given by both the school and the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) and that was that. The whole thing got blown massively out of proportion for a variety of reasons, but no need to delve back into it. Read this blog's other articles for that information. Fact of the matter is anytime your high school/town makes national sporting news, good or bad, it's unquestionably the No. 1 sports news story of the year.

2. Fourth Time's a Charm 
In its previous three trips to the Class L boys volleyball finals, Southington lost. And every time, it was to Staples-Westport. But in 2010, they met for the fourth time and the Blue Knights didn't miss. They won their first ever boys volleyball state title in the program's 8th year (it started in 2003). What had become an annual event, and one Staples always had the last laugh in, became a night of pure bliss for Souingtoners. In a classic championship match, Southington won in five games by scores of 10-25, 28-26, 25-23, 19-25, 15-11. If it was on television, it would have been an ESPN Instant Classic. It was one of the best sporting matches at the high school level, with a rambunctious atmosphere and some passionate and talented kids. The bar has now been set: no more second-best, the only goal from here on out is first.

3. Coaching Carousel 
In 2010, within the span of six months, three coaches, well-known, well-respected and in prominent positions, all left Southington High School. It started with Bill Mella in late May/early June, who stepped down as football coach and moved on to be an assistant at Wesleyan University. A few weeks later, Mella was replaced by the aforementioned Hernandez. Towards the beginning of the school year, Jim DiNello stepped down as Lady Knights' girls basketball coach, after 10 seasons, also to move on to the college ranks. In his spot stepped current coach, Mike Forgione. Then, just a few weeks ago, baseball coach Steve Matyczyk stepped down, becoming an assistant at Simsbury because he wanted to be closer to family and spend more time with them. The search for his replacement is ongoing. Needless to say though, football is the highest profile position at the school; baseball is the most popular spring sport and a top 3 program history-wise at Southington; and girls basketball was slowly becoming No. 2 or 3 in terms of girls sports. Not often do you see this much movement all in one year. That's all without mentioning some more minor switches like Girls Swimming: Jay Dubinsky took over this past fall; Boys Swimming: Evan Tuttle took over this winter; and Indoor Track: Matt Shea took over last winter and Scott Ottochian took over this one.

4. Wayton Open Grows
In its third year, what may soon be Southington's premier tennis tournament continued to grow. It had its most competitors yet and it continues to expand. While this may not be as well-known as other things, it certainly deserves top attention and is a unique story for the year, hereby coming in at No. 4. Created by Matt Wayton, a former Blue Knight tennis player, as a tournament to be competitive yet fun and help reconnect former tennis players, this tournament has transformed into a real fun event for young tennis players in and around Southington. Wayton continues to work on getting sponsors and expanding the field to build the tournament into much more than it already is. For example, next year he will have a separate bracket for girls, drawing in more people and making things more competitive. This is a quickly growing venture that Wayton has fun with, but also puts a lot of work into.

5. Southington Shock Repeat
For a league that started only a year ago, the Southington Shock have been the definition of dominant. The Connecticut Collegiate Baseball League was started in Hartford County in 2009 to give college baseball players a chance to play at a high level in the summer, but not be forced to try to play in the Cape Cod League or the New England Collegiate Baseball League. It's adding teams bit-by-bit and looks to have a steady base to build on. The Southington Shock are one of the founding team's in the league and they won the championship in 2010 for the second straight year. Again, maybe a less well-known team, but an equally impressive accomplishment, all things considered. Similar to Wayton, this is a league that is up and coming and Southington has had a big part in it and succeeded with flying colors, thanks in large part to head coach Charlie Lembo. While it might not get the notoriety of many other things going on at Southington High or in the town, it is of equal importance and for that, it rounds out the Top 5.

HONORABLE MENTION: Lady Knight girls lacrosse win conference for first time ever; Southington gymnastics wins Class L...again.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Knight Time and everyone at The Southington Citizen!

Thanks for your continued interest and support in Knight Time.
--Mike

Southington's Vasil named lax pre-season AA

Eastern Connecticut State University senior faceoff specialist Eric Vasil, of Southington, has been named to the 2011 Face-Off Yearbook pre-season Division III All-America honorable mention men’s lacrosse team for the second straight year.

The 5-foot-11 inch, 190-pounder was one of nine faceoff specialists named to the 80-man pre-season All-America team. He was one of four faceoff specialists from New England institutions and one of only two pre-season All-America selections at any position from a Little East Conference institution.

At faceoff, Stevenson University senior Ray Witte was named first-team pre-season All-America, Colby College senior Craig Bunker second team and Cabrini College senior Mike Gurenilan third team. Stevenson is ranked second nationally in the Face-Off Yearbook’s pre-season Top 20, Cabrini 13th. Behind Vasil in last year’s national faceoff statistics, Witte was rated 19th (.629), Bunker third (.724) and Gurenilan sixth (.679) Vasil was second nationally in faceoffs won to Witte (300), who led Stevenson to last year’s national semifinals.

Last year, Vasil repeated as the nation’s statistical leader in faceoff percentage and ground balls per game en route to earning honorable mention USILA Division III All-America honors and being named first-team All-ECAC and second-team All-New England.

For UConn women, it's not about breaking streak, it's about respecting perfection

I've worked courtside for the UConn women the last two years and am currently in my third season. I've sat on the press table working the games for the UConn Radio Network, home and away, near and far. From Cancun to Hartford, I've been there. I haven't seen a loss since I started working for the Radio Network and I just want to give my two-sense on "The Streak."

photo courtesy of espn.com

I'm not even going to talk about the streak in regards to the the UCLA men because honestly, I don't care. I'm a fan of women's basketball and men's basketball alike and it doesn't matter to me that the women have won 88 games (and counting...) and the men also happen to have won that number before losing. Are the UCLA men mortal now because the women have tied the streak? Of course not and you'd be absolutely silly to believe that to be true.

Again, it's been said by numerous parties, it's comparing apples to oranges, because it honestly is.

What I don't understand is how threatened people are by the women winning 88 games in the row? They haven't tied the streak, if they win 89 they won't have beaten the streak, they have simply won 88 games in a row, which happens to be the same number the UCLA men won to set its record.

All the pompous people saying the women don't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath or that UConn women will never be "immortalized" like the UCLA men are being completely ignorant and naive to what is exactly happening.

It's not that the UConn women are better than the UCLA men; I read an article that said the women need to play a men's team then we'll see how they do. Honestly, are you serious? Obviously this person has missed the point and is oozing sexism within those written words.

The real point and accomplishment to be acknowledged is that this program has won and won and won and won. If you were asked to do something 88 times in a row, would you be able to do it successfully 88 times? Probably not. How many times do you come home from work after you sat around all day, scanned the Internet and didn't get much accomplished. Well, that would be a failed day. The UConn women have never done that in their last 88 tries.

So why the UConn women should be congratulated is not because they've tied a record or because they could possibly break a record, it's because what they've done is so difficult to do in any walk of life, no matter the competition, the people involved or the objective. Whether it's working for an insurance company, a newspaper, a radio station, a television station, a construction company, no matter what, it's hard to perform at a top level every day. Have I written stories where I've said, "That wasn't my best." I have and that would break my streak of good story writing.

So you see, it's all about perspective. Those people talking down to the streak are simply looking at it through jaded eyes and not going into things with an open mind.

If Bill Walton, who was on that UCLA team that won 88 in a row, supports the women, is there really any reason other people shouldn't? Interestingly, in the NFL, players from the Miami Dolphins perfect team never really supported the Patriots a few years ago. They tentatively said they didn't care if the Patriots were perfect, when they really were saying that through clenched teeth.

What this also shows is that our country still has a ways to go because people refuse to give women the support they give men. It's not about comparing the two, it's about celebrating the magnificent accomplishments of both. So anyone writing negatively about the streak really need to look themselves in the mirror and re-evaluate some greater issues that have nothing to do with basketball. But that's for another day.

For now, celebrate the women for what they've done, not a streak they've broken. If you don't like women's basketball, fine, but do not feel the need to treat them negatively because it's flat out wrong. Marvel at what they're doing because soon enough, it's going to be over.

Southington boys hoops starts well, hockey and wrestling get blitzed

The Blue Knights' boys basketball team started its year successfully squeaking out a 56-55 win at home over East Catholic Wednesday (Dec. 15). The Blue Knights struggled trying to shutdown the Eagles' Rohan Brown, who scored 25 points for EC, including all 12 of the team's second quarter points, but the Blue Knights had a big scorer of their own as Tyler Dube poured in 30 points in the victory. The other big scorer for Catholic was Tyler Verretto, 16 points, but head coach of the Blue Knights Bob Lasbury said Southington did a better job in the second half of shutting down the lethal Brown.

Dube made some big free throws down the stretch (4-for-7 FT) and also added a couple threes and four steals. However, the big shot was made by Sal Romano, who got a big offensive rebound off a Dube miss with one second left in the fourth and the game knotted at 55; he then proceeded to make 1-of-2 free throws to earn the victory.

"That's his maturation, a little bit stronger, a little bit tougher. He went after that rebound and was going to get it," Lasbury said of Romano's 15th and final rebound of the night.

Jordan Chapman was the only other Southington scorer in double-figures with 10; he also had five steals and two 3's. Romano just missed a double-double, getting nine points.

Matyczyk resigns as Knights' baseball coach, Lasbury next?

After compiling a record of 104-60 over eight seasons as the Southington High School baseball head coach, Steve Matyczyk decided to step down from his post as the Southington Athletic Department made an official announcement Tuesday (Dec. 14) morning.

Mayczyk, who has young children, cited the decision was based heavily on his desire to be closer to his family. The release also mentioned that his decision was in order to pursue other coaching opportunities, but didn't mention any specific ones.

Matyczyk had obvious success, judging by his record, and certainly was a knowledgeable head coach. He was always easy to work with and had an innate passion for the game of baseball.

As for replacements, it's too soon in the process to have any real information, but let's throw one name out there that would not surprise me at the least as the next coach. That name is Bob Lasbury.

He's the current head coach for the boys basketball team at Southington and is the Mathematics Department Chair. He's well-liked by students and athletes alike and has a deep background in baseball. He was a standout in high school at Holy Cross before going on to play baseball at Manhattanville College. He was drafted in the 14th round (408th overall) by the Colorado Rockies in the 1993 Amateur Draft. So that background is there as far as baseball and the roots are there as far as Southington.

You can almost be certain he'll get a long look from Athletic Director Eric Swallow and company.

An interesting note: Matyczyk followed historic baseball coach John Fontana, who left lofty expectations. Even though he finished 44 games above .500, some may still view Matyczyk's tenure with skewed perspective. The next coach will now be one coach removed from the Fontana-era, making things slightly less easier, expectations-wise, at least.

Young Southington wrestlers getting poll votes

Here's a look at the Norwich Bulletin's pre-season wrestling coaches' poll.

The Norwich Bulletin Top 10 state coaches' preseason wrestling poll. First-place votes in parentheses next to team name, followed by points and last season’s final ranking. Votes tabulated on a 20-18-16-14-12-11-10-9-8-7 basis:
Team (First-place Votes) Points Pv.
1. New Milford (3) 270 3
2. Danbury (9) 261 1
3. Xavier (2) 236 7
4. Bacon Acad. (1) 204 5
5. Fairfield Warde 179 2
6. Daniel Hand 178 6
7. South Windsor 136 4
8. Bristol Eastern 113 —
9. Windham 108 —
10. Shelton 48 9
Other receiving votes: Ledyard 47; RHAM 39; Trumbull 25; Southington 17; Thomaston 10; Greenwich 7.

The following coaches voted: Charlie Anderson (Trumbull); Brian Archibald (Bristol Central); Rich Bowen (Killingly); Mike Cunningham (Xavier); Derek Dion (Southington); Mark Fong (Middletown); Eric Misko (Farmington); Pat Risley (Windham); Matt Schoonmaker (Jonathan Law); Jason Shaughnessy (Fairfield Warde); Ricky Shook (Danbury); Joe Vano (Darien); Peter Veleas (Terryville); Roy Wentworth (Norwich Free Academy); Gary Wilcox (Montville).

Not going to lie, Lady Knights surprised me

In its opening day game this past Wednesday, the Southington Blue Knights girls hoops team had a strong showing, beating RHAM 43-40, getting double-digit points from senior co-captains Mariah Berry and Tori Munson. I'm not going to lie, I was slightly surprised by that result. It's not that I'm a total pessimist, but more a realist and when doing the team's preview there were a few obvious things. Scoring might be a problem with the loss of last year's leading scorer, freshman Jordyn Nappi (who transferred to Mercy for her sophomore year). The 43 points was about 10 more than last season's points per game average.

Also, new coach Mike Forgione was stepping in and while he is more than capable, it sometimes takes a little time to gel in a new position and get everybody going in the same direction. But from the looks of that first game, it seems like everyone is singing the same tune. The reason I thought it was a touch match-up is because RHAM, while only posting an 11-9 record last year, made it to the Class M semifinals. They're a strong team with a lot of athletic players, according to a source that covers the team. So it seemed like a tough opening day match-up, especially on the road.

But the girls got a win and now my expectations are immediately skewed as they open the CCC West slate with their home opener tonight against Hall.

There might be more to this team than initially surmised. We'll see.

UConn student from Plainville arrested on child porn charges, comes in wake of McKee arrest

Hours after former UConn football player and current student at the University of Connecticut, Greg McKee, a big offensive lineman, turned himself in on child pornography charges, the Connecticut U.S. Attorney's office released a statement that another arrest has been made to a UConn student from Plainville, also on child pornography charges. The statement begins thusly,

"David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Kimberly K. Mertz, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that Steven Donald Lewis, 21, of Plainville, was arrested today by members of the Connecticut Computer Crimes Task Force on a federal criminal complaint charging Lewis with possession of child pornography and receipt and distribution of child pornography."

The statement goes on to say that a criminal complaint alleges that on Nov. 9, 2010, a detective out of the Bristol Police Department, assigned to the FBI's Computer Crime Task Force in New Haven logged into a publicly available Internet file sharing program and downloaded 34 images of child pornography from a shared director maintained by Lewis.

It continues laying out possible charges, but the pertinent connection is that when McKee turned himself in earlier today there was other possible arrests, but state police said no other UConn football players were believed to be involved.

While no connection has yet to be made between Lewis' arrest and McKee's arrest, it could shed a tad more light on the entire situation.

SHS hoops previews

Here are the capsules that will be in The Southington Citizen this Friday. For more in-depth story, check out this week's issue.

Boys Basketball

HEAD COACH: Bob Lasbury – 11th year (103-109)

RECORD LAST YEAR: 14-8, 9-5 CCC West (3rd), Class LL 1st RD.

Sal Romano

KEY LOSSES: Nick DeFeo (12.9 points, 2.5 assists per game in 2009-10, all-conference), Mike Shaugnessy, Jordan Lamson, Mike Rhodd (7 points, 7.2 rebounds per game in 09-10).

KEY RETURNEES: Sr. G Tyler Dube (13 points, 3 assists, 2 steals, 4 rebounds per game in 09-10, all-conference), Sr. G Jordan Chapman (7 points, 3 rebounds per game in 09-10), Sr. C Sal Romano (8.4 points, 9.8 rebounds per game in 09-10), Jr. F Billy Queen, Sr. G Drew Aylett.

NEWCOMERS: So. F Alex Borofsky.

KEY GAMES: 12/17 @ Masuk, 1/10 @ Northwest Catholic, 1/21 vs. New Britain, 1/25 @ Bulkeley, 2/8 vs. Northwest Catholic, 2/22 @ New Britain.

OUTLOOK: The loss of two starters in DeFeo and Rhodd, as well as capable role players Shaugnessy and Lamson leaves the Blue Knights lacking depth in both the frontcourt and backcourt, but talented wings Dube and Chapman, as well as big man Romano provides the core necessary to be competitive in the CCC and possibly on the state level.

Girls Basketball

HEAD COACH: Mike Forgione – 1st year
RECORD LAST YEAR: 10-12, 5-9 CCC West (6th), Class LL 2nd RD.

Tori Munson

KEY LOSSES: Jordyn Nappi (13 points per game in 2009-10, all-conference, transferred to Mercy), Ellen Donohue, Steph Johnson, Val Mazrek, Krysta Valero.

KEY RETURNEES: Sr. F Tori Munson, Sr. F Mariah Berry, Sr. PG Mirela Sawicka, Jr. G Megan McLaughlin.
NEWCOMERS: So. G Stephanie O’Keefe, So. F Danielle Charamut, So. G Maeghan Chapman, Jr. F Emily Durocher, Sr. F Katelyn Kujawski.
KEY GAMES: 12/10 vs. Hall, 12/14 @ Weaver, 1/13 vs. Farmington, 1/18 @ Hall, 1/21 @ New Britain, 2/11 @ Farmington, 2/14 vs. New Britain.

OUTLOOK: Long-time head coach Jim DiNello left for the college ranks and last year’s top scorer Jordyn Nappi bolted to Mercy, so consider it a rebuilding year on the court. There is solid leaders up front, which will help the Lady Knights establish themselves for the future, but the present is going to see some serious growing pains.

Cheerleaders get in spirit of season

Photo by Matt Leidemer

The Southington High cheerleaders helped spread some seasonal joy as part of Downtown Southington's Hospitality Night, Dec. 3. The team began its singing Christmas Carols at The Orchards assisted living community, then proceeded to sing at the gazebo on the Town Green and along Center Street before finishing their evening at Southington Cares. Pictured above from left is Jenna Luponio, Alyssa Blanchette and Michaela Sadlowski.

Lady Knights earn honors on pitch

Photo by Matt Leidemer

Sophomore forward Erica Kosienski (right) was named to the CGSCA (Connecticut Girls Soccer Coaches Association) Class LL All-State team. The young striker led Southington this season in goals scored, putting up a double-digit mark, more than twice as many as anyone on her team. She helped lead the team back to the state playoffs after a one year hiatus. With two more years to go, expect steady production and scoring from this super-talented finisher.

Also, Kristy Solomon was invited and played in the CGSCA Senior Bowl (Senior All-Star Game) this past Saturday. Solomon was the captain of the Lady Knights this past season and was the "heart and soul" of the team according to head coach Sal Penta. She showcased her speed in the Southington Powder Puff game, scoring the Knights' only touchdown on a run of over 90 yards.