WOODSTOCK — The Woodstock Academy football team has to overcome some growing pains.

Centaurs’ coach Sean Saucier realizes that and, for that reason, wasn’t overly disappointed by a 49-6 loss to Montville Sept. 16.

“They’re not 49-6 better than us, they are a good football team, but the bottom line is that we have 15-16 year-old kids – we play a lot of sophomores – and some of the tackling is 15 versus 18 years-old. It is what it is. I’m not down on them. I asked them to compete. I asked them to play four quarters and they did. I had kids who didn’t want to come out of the game,” Saucier said.

The numbers point to that.

The Indians may have put up 43 more points, but did so on a host of big plays including a pair of pick-6 touchdowns in the second quarter and had 313 yards of offense compared to 254 for Woodstock.

Down 14-0, the Centaurs were driving and were at the Montville 20 when quarterback Derek Thompson was flushed from the pocket. Thompson (9-for-26, 99 yards) threw on the run and the ball tipped off the hands of a receiver and into the arms of Montville corner Chris Connors who raced 85 yards for the score.

“We were charging back. I felt like it was going to be 14-7 and then the pick-6 and we’re down 21. It’s tough to recover from those types of plays. I have a lot of young guys out there working their tail off. Last week, the ball bounced a couple of times our way, this week it bounced a couple of times their way,” Saucier said.

The Indians (2-0) finished with four interceptions including another pick-6 late in the first half by Gennaro Davis who went 58 yards for the score.

The highlight for Woodstock (1-1) came midway through the third quarter when Kameron Janice (14 carries, 161 yards) raced 60 yards for a touchdown.

The Centaurs get a week off before hosting Ludlow, Mass., at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 29 on South Campus. It will be the Homecoming game for the Centaurs and the first-ever home game under the lights.

“We came out of this healthy which is always a great thing,” Saucier said. “We’re going into our bye week so we have some different things planned, some activities that will break things up and get us ready for an exciting Homecoming game under the lights.”

 

Boys’ Soccer

Woodstock Academy coach Paul Rearden agreed – the first five minutes of the Centaurs boys’ soccer match against Killingly was great.

“And then?,” Rearden said. Not a lot.

The Centaurs scored all three of their goals in the first five minutes and coasted to a 3-0 win over the Redmen Sept. 15 at the Bentley Athletic Complex.

“I tried to explain to them at halftime that good teams, once they get a couple of goals, don’t forget what got them that couple of goals,” Rearden said. “We got excited and played too smart, too clever, rather than keeping it simple which is what got us those three goals. After that, especially in the first half, (I was) disappointed.”

Disappointed with the way things went, but not with the outcome which saw the Centaurs raise their record to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in Division II of the Eastern Connecticut Conference.

“Oh yeah, we’re happy with 3-0,” Rearden said. “Great performance the other night down in Montville (a 2-1 overtime win) against a good Montville team.”

But for Rearden, it was also a little déjà vu.

Last season, the Centaurs downed the Indians, just got past Killingly and then lost in overtime to Waterford.

“Hopefully, we have learned from the experience,” Rearden said.

Aaron Johnson scored off a rebound from a shot by Nicholas Smith just 1 minute, 43 seconds in.

Just 58 seconds later, Jacopo Ambrosetti tallied on a pass from Ian Sohan and 33 seconds later, William Hamill headed home an Ethan Holcomb corner.

“We really came alive at the start, but then we slowed down, which was kind of a bummer. It would have been nice to build off of it,” Holcomb said.

Woodstock was never threatened as the Centaurs allowed just two shots by the Redmen thanks to the stabilizing influence of Holcomb in the back.

“Tremendous, just tremendous,” Rearden said of Holcomb. “He’s a rock. He settles everything down and if we all played as smart as him, it would be an easy game.”

The Redmen (1-2, 0-2) were outshot 20-2. Killingly keeper Connor Chahanovich made six saves.

 

Woodstock 2

Montville 1

MONTVILLE – In his first two games as a member of the boys’ soccer team, Jacopo Ambrosetti has proven himself.

Ambrosetti scored both goals for the Centaurs in a 2-1 overtime win over Montville Sept. 11.

The Centaurs raised their record to 2-0 and 1-0 in Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II.

It was a good win for the Centaurs as the Indians have been receiving votes in the state coaches’ poll.

Ambrosetti took a through ball from Eli Child 15 minutes into the match to put the Centaurs on the board.

Montville tied the game just 10 minutes before the half and regulation ended in a 1-1 tie.

With just two minutes left in the extra period, Jack Gelhaus found Ambrosetti open in the corner of the box for the game-winning goal.

Centaurs’ coach Paul Rearden had only praise for keeper Jose Zuniga of Montville (1-1, 0-1) who finished with eight saves.

 

--- Marc Allard

Sports Information Director

 

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