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Captains
From left: Gabe Sacconi, Joel Martinez, and Lachie Quate.
Naming team captains can be a tricky endeavor for coaches.
The best players aren’t always the best leaders, and the best leaders aren’t always the best players. Finding that balance can be, well, a balancing act.
But Ryan Dunnigan, coach of Putnam Science Academy’s Prep soccer team, believes he found the right mix of guys to lead this year’s squad.
Newcomer Joel Martinez of Spain was named as the captain, while fellow first-year Mustang Lachie Quate of Scotland and program veteran Gabe Sacconi of Brazil will assist him as vice captains.
“I think being a captain is on and off the field,” said Sacconi, a goalkeeper who came to PSA as an eighth grader in 2019 and currently serves as a dorm proctor. “You need to take care of the boys both places, and you need to help them out and have that spirit of helping. It’s not just yelling at someone. You have to do it more on the side. No one wants to be called out in front of a group.
“I’m honored coach Ryan trusts me in this position and I won’t let him down.”
Martinez blends the characteristics of leader and quality player as well as anyone on the roster and impressed Dunnigan right from the start.
“We were aware of Joel coming into camp, but when you have 47 guys all show up at the same time, guys can get lost in the mix, so it was really up to him,” Dunnigan said. “There were days when he wasn’t playing with the stronger team, but he was still standing out, and he just kept progressing and progressing. And then when we played our preseason games, he was one of the strongest players and you could see that there is a lot of quality in him.
“That was part of the consideration with him as the main captain. As long as he’s healthy, he will be one of the first names on the team sheet, so it was kind of an easy choice from that regard. Obviously, you want your best players to be leaders, and when they both align it works out perfectly.”
Martinez, a midfielder, has assimilated well with the group and was honored when Dunnigan called his name at a recent team meeting.
“It’s a pleasure to me,” he said. “For this to be my first year here and to be named the captain…just a pleasure. But really, I don’t want to be focused on that. I think we need to be focused on us and doing our best as a team, and to try to win as many matches as we can.”
Similarly, Quate is looking forward to getting a good result in as many games as possible, saying that his main interest and priority is the team’s development and winning games. And that team-first approach gives him credibility as a captain.
“I think coach Ryan has trust in me that I’m able to communicate with the team,” Quate, a center back, said. “It’s not just being the friendly one, but also being able to tell the boys when the standards aren’t good enough and things do need to be better.
“You can’t be the friendly guy all the time. There are times when some things need to be said, whether it’s preparation or execution or whatever it might be. I’m definitely comfortable with that role. I enjoy taking on responsibilities.”
Said Dunnigan: “It’s been a while since we’ve had someone who has been as vocal and commanding as Lachie. You can tell he has a good head on his shoulders. He does the right things. He’s very respectful and polite off the field. He was the fittest player that came into camp, so it attests to his work ethic. And he’s obviously a good player as well.”
As for Sacconi, Dunnigan said he considered naming him a captain last year but was hesitant because of concerns Sacconi might take it too much to heart and inadvertently abuse the position in the process.
“You know, Gabe is the only player who has been here longer than I have, said Dunnigan, who is in his fourth year. “He knows his way around the school. He has had leadership positions on campus in the past.
“I think it would have been a year too early last year. He was younger, he was hurt, and there probably wouldn’t have been the respect for him because of some of the dynamics of that team. But this year, I have seen much better balance from him. This year, he’s been really good. He’s done everything I’ve asked of him.”
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
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Michael Roland Toutant, 65, died on Aug. 30, 2023 at Hartford Hospital, Hartford.
Michael was born on Oct. 6, 1957, to Roland and Helene Robert Toutant. From an early age he worked alongside his father and other family members at Numa Tool Company eventually earning the position of vice president.
After the sale of Numa Tool Company in 1985 he followed in his father’s footsteps by taking charge of the Connecticut A & W Well Drilling Company.
He opened his own well drilling company, Dalmik Well Drilling, in 1986 and operated this company until his death.
Michael loved to travel, fly helicopters, ride his motorcycle and drive his Cadillac Eldorado.
Michael enjoyed life to the fullest.
He leaves his life partner Linda South; parents Roland and Helene Toutant; his sister Lorraine Smith (Ricky); his brother Tom Toutant (Laura) and their sons and Michael’s nephews Tom Toutant ( with son Bentley Toutant) and John Toutant, and his brother Alan Toutant.
The Mass of Christian Burial was Sept. 9 in St. Joseph Church, N. Grosvenordale with burial in St. Joseph Cemetery.
Valade Funeral Home & Crematory, 23 Main St., N. Grosvenordale.
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Wed. Sept. 13
Art Exhibit
PUTNAM --- “A Cacophony of Greys” Exhibit and Reception by Steve Veilleux will be on display in The Corridor Gallery at the Putnam Municipal Complex through Sept. 30. Features a series of black and white and monotone photographs. All welcome. Free. PutnamCtArtsCouncil.com for gallery hours and info.
Art Exhibit
THOMPSON --- For the month of September The Friends of the Thompson Public Library will present, as part of its Art @ the Library, “Falling Water: Photography by Steve and Danny Veilleux.” In the display case will be: “Our U.S. Constitution by Ida Ransom.” 860-923-9779.
Thur. Sept. 21
Peace Celebration
PUTNAM --- The Greater Putnam Interfaith Council invites local residents to a Peace Day Celebration at 6 p.m. at the Daughters of the Holy Spirit offices, 508B Pomfret St. The event will feature music, readings, prayers and information.
Sat. Sept. 23
Celebrating Agriculture
BROOKLYN --- 2023 Celebrating Agriculture will begin at 9 a.m. at the Brooklyn Fairgrounds.
Harvest Fest
HAMPTON --- Fletcher Memorial Library hosts The Hampton Harvest Festival from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the town hall grounds on Main Street. The festival features local products and crafts, plus entertainment, refreshments, music, and displays. Free admission and parking. 860-455-1086.
Book Sale
THOMPSON --- The Friends of Thompson Public Library will hold their annual book sale from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Donations welcome during library hours starting Sept. 5, in Community Room 3.
Sun. Sept. 24
Concert
WOODSTOCK --- A free bonus concert! The St. Luke’s Steel Band will play from 2 to 3 p.m. at Roseland Cottage. Bring a blanket, buy some ice cream. Cosponsored with Performing Arts of Northeast Connecticut, The Three C's, and Historic New England.
Wed. Sept. 27
Fall Seminar
PUTNAM --- A free Fall Prevention in our Quiet Corner program will be held from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. in the Municipal Complex. Spots are still available, and there is a simple form required. 860-963-6800 ext 140.
Sat. Sept. 30
BBQ
WOODSTOCK --- The Bungay Fire Brigade will host its fall 2023 Chicken BBQ from 4 to 6 p.m. www.bungay.com.
Community Day
THOMPSON --- The Town of Thompson’s 19th Annual Thompson Community Day will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Riverside Park. Oct. 1 is the rain date.
Empty Bowls
THOMPSON --- The Empty Bowls fund-raiser will have two seatings, at 5 and 6:30 p.m., at TEEG.
Camp Day
WOODSTOCK --- The Windham-Tolland 4-H Camp Day fund-raiser at Bucks will be from 2 to 6 p.m. at Buck’s Soft Serve, 88 Kenyonville Road. Bake sale, ice cream eating contests, dunk the director and Buck’s famous soft serve ice cream treats. Portion of sales goes to support the Windham Tolland 4-H Camp Dam Restoration Fund.
Sat. Nov. 11
Dueling Pianos
THOMPSON --- The DKH Dueling Pianos fund-raiser will be held at 6 p.m. at the Raceway Restaurant and Banquet Hall. Benefits Day Kimball Healthcare At Home services of HomeCare, HomeMakers, and Hospice & Palliative Care of Northeastern Connecticut. Food, drawings and more. Tickets $45, must be purchased in advance. daykimball.org/pianos.
Yuletide Festival
PUTNAM --- The Daughters of Isabella will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at St. Mary Church Hall. Vendors sought. 413-612-8358.
Meet the Author
PUTNAM --- The Putnam Public Library will present “Meet the Author: Nathaniel Philbrick” at 1 p.m. in Community Room 112/113 at the Municipal Complex.
Sun. Dec. 3
Tree of Life
The DKH 34th Annual Hospice Tree of Life Ceremonies will be held at 5 p.m. in 11 towns throughout northeastern Connecticut. The purchase of memorial lights on each community's Tree of Life benefits Hospice & Palliative Care of Northeastern Connecticut. For info: daykimball.org/treeoflife.
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Sophomore Olivia Tracy, front, and senior Julia Coyle
At the end of last season, Woodstock Academy coach Joe Banas was just worried about fielding a program.
He had eight runners out for the girls’ cross-country team, five of them were seniors.
“That’s huge,” Banas said of the numbers that left the program. “It left us with three runners and not only were we losing talent, we lost leadership. It was a major concern.”
Current senior Julia Coyle agreed.
“It was tough to say good-bye and we miss them very much,” Coyle said. “But we have a great team this season. We are so lucky to have so many awesome girls come out and do cross-country and the season is off to a great start.”
Things are better.
“I’m pleasantly happy now. We have new runners without much experience but we have eight runners again,” Banas said.
The Centaurs do have three runners who will have to play key roles if the team wants to reach some of its accomplishments of last year when it finished third in the ECC championship and fourth in the Class MM state championship meet.
Coyle is one of those. She finished 16th in the ECC championship meet and 21st in the Class MM state championship.
“We have to keep a positive attitude and just keep putting in the hard work. That’s all it takes. Keep the eye on the prize,” Coyle said.
Sophomore Olivia Tracy also returns; she placed 16th in the Class MM meet last year.
Junior Kira Greene also returns for her third season of cross-country. “I was not the best my freshman year but I have seen improvement and it’s motivated me to keep going,” Greene said.
Add to that, sophomore Greysen Dery and freshmen Brooke Roireau, McKenzie Saline, Avery Schaefer and Julia Tellier.
“A lot of them are new to the sport but I’ve already been seeing a lot of improvement in them," Greene said. Banas is hopeful, but realistic. “It’s not a total rebuild but it’s a partial one. With Coyle and Tracy, I have two All-Stars. I’m hoping that Kira can get over her lower leg injuries that she has battled in the past couple of years,” Banas said. “After that, we just have to hope and see what happens.”
He has had to change his approach a bit.
“I’ve had to pump the brakes. If I can have the younger kids buy in, I can have them for a couple of extra years and I won’t be wondering in the summer if I will even have a team.” he said.
Every year that Banas has coached, the Centaurs have finished in the top three in the ECC championship meet.
The lack of experience may affect that.
“That may be in jeopardy but that’s OK. I’m just looking for them to do the best that they can,” Banas said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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Left: The girls’ soccer team attended a UConn women’s soccer team match. Photo by Dennis Snelling/Woodstock Academy. Below: Senior quarterback Teddy Richardson looks to hand off to running back David Bunning. Photo by Abby Ditzel/Woodstock Academy.
It didn’t look so good at the beginning of the season-opening football game for the Woodstock Academy Centaurs Sept. 9.
The Quinebaug Valley Pride held on to the football for the first 10 minutes of the game.
“You start to get frustrated,” said head coach and athletic director Sean Saucier. “I’m looking at the clock tick..tick..and there was literally two minutes left in the first quarter. I was starting to get a little impatient.”
In this case, patience was a virtue.
His defense stopped the Pride on the Woodstock 7-yard line.
It turned out to be a key play in the game which ended in a 42-0 win for the Centaurs Saturday.
When the Woodstock offense finally stepped on to the field, it was evident that Quinebaug Valley’s best defense was going to be its offense.
Quarterback Teddy Richardson ran for 30 yards, passed twice to Lucas Theriaque (3 catches, 47 yards) for 29 more.
Richardson ran for nine more yards, an encroachment penalty moved it to the 20-yard line of the Pride and then Richardson found tight end Sam Clark open over the middle for a touchdown.
Quinebaug Valley then coughed up the ball on their own 19.
Two plays later, Richardson (6-for-7 passing, 131 yards) found Theriaque for a 19-yard score.
“Game over,” Saucier said. “Lesson learned there, stay patient, stay composed even for the coaches. Trust your team that it can do that.”
A big key was Richardson.
The results showed as he also threw touchdown passes of 36-yards to Henry Wotton and a 27-yard strike to Clark.
In addition to the passing, the senior carried the ball eight times for 107 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Saucier also credited the play of the offensive line which opened the holes for Richardson and also gave him time to throw to players like Clark who shined at tight end.
The defense did pick up the pace.
It allowed 95 yards to the Pride in their opening series.
Quinebaug Valley only got 32 yards in the last 38 minutes.
One problem for the Pride was that junior running back Deven LaMothe, who finished with 63 yards in 12 carries, was injured in the second quarter and did not return.
For the Centaurs, it was a good confidence builder going into an ECC Div. I game against East Lyme Sept. 15
Prep Soccer
The boys’ prep soccer teams opened their season Sept. 10.
The Centaurs Prep 1 team took on Milton Academy, the No. 2 ranked team in the New England Prep School Athletic Council according to the New England Soccer Journal, and prevailed 1-0.
Hendrix Mota scored what proved to be the game-winning goal midway through the second half off an assist from David Lee.
The Centaurs were denied on several other opportunities but the goal was all the Centaurs needed.
The defense led by keeper Alvaro Medrano Jr. and his defensive buddies, Max Maneke, Alessandro Zannoni, Lucas de Pedro Sanchez, and Harrison Vail combined to ensure the shutout.
The Prep 2 soccer team also played at Milton Academy as it took on Phillips Exeter Academy.
The Prep 2 team followed in their Prep 1 teammates’ footsteps with a 2-1 season-opening victory.
Phillips-Exeter was physical but the Centaurs were able to retain possession for long stretches and that helped them find the back of the net twice.
Jaiden Banton got Woodstock on the board early on a goal off an effective counter attack that was assisted by Charlie Bragg and Nico Ochoa.
Phillips Exeter rallied to tie the contest but the Centaurs won it when Matias Solano headed home a Jorge Castellanos corner kick.
Girls’ Soccer
The youngsters shined early for the girls’ soccer team in its opener.
The Centaurs had several freshmen contribute in a 1-0 win over Rockville Thursday on the road, according to coach Dennis Snelling.
That’s good considering the Centaurs lost eight players to graduation.
It was freshman Rita Rawcliffe who got the only goal of the contest with 25 minutes left in regulation, scoring her first career high school goal.
It was fitting for the Centaurs who did have the advantage in possession and shots.
Keeper Rebecca Nazer only touched the ball once in the second half for the Centaurs.
The domination of possession was also good to see as the Centaurs did lose their two center-midfielders to graduation, Lennon Favreau and Grace Gelhaus.
In fact, it’s the first time the Centaurs haven’t had a Gelhaus on the team in nine years.
Considering the losses to graduation, Snelling thought it was important to get off to a good start.
“We don’t call it rebuilding, it’s just a re-load. The players who graduated are replaced by players that are very good also,” Snelling said.
The team also persevered through the recent heat and humidity wave.
That meant late practices and a late opening game.
The match at Rockville was pushed back to 7 p.m. to let that heat subside a bit.
The Centaurs have three tough home matches scheduled for this week as they will host Ledyard, Wethersfield and Stonington,
“I think we still have to work on connecting the midfield with the forwards a bit more so the forwards don’t have to do their own attack. We had a lot of individual attacks, it should be a little more connected, not so spread out, and more support for the strikers when they have the ball,” Snelling said.
Volleyball
The Centaurs knew the season opener would not be an easy proposition in Newtown.
That was the case as the Nighthawks posted a 3-0 victory Thursday.
“They were a good club last year (15-4) and we knew they were going to be again this year,” said coach Adam Bottone said. “They are very well coached and have a lot of girls with a lot of experience. They have some solid outside hitters and their defense was good.”
Still, the Centaurs hung tough. Especially in the first set. Woodstock held a 23-19 advantage late but a couple of crucial service errors led to a Nighthawk rally and a 25-23 win.
Newtown won the second set, 25-18 and the third, 25-13, to record the shutout. Gronski did finish with 12 assists while Cassidy Ladd had 13 assists and Liliana Bottone delivered six kills. “We have to work on our receive a little more,” Adam Bottone said.
Boys’ soccer
Coach Paul Rearden liked his team’s ability to attack coming into the season.
That was proven to be true in the opener Sept. 9 when the Centaurs put three goals up on the board.
Woodstock only scored three goals in a match once last season. The unfortunate part of the equation was that it wasn’t enough as the Granby Bears had some firepower too and outscored the Centaurs, 7-3.
Granby scored early in the first half but Woodstock knotted it up with a goal from Austin Byer off an assist from Zach Armbruster.
The Bears would go back up just before the half with a tally and then scored four unanswered goals to open the second half and bolt to the 6-1 lead.
Goals by Matt Johndrow, his first career high school tally, and Trevor Gold made it closer but Granby added another to account for the final score.
Byer and Nate Faucher added assists for the Centaurs.
Field Hockey
The Centaurs hung tough in their opener on the road in Somers.
But the Somers/Rockville co-op put five goals on the board in the second half and posted a 6-1 victory.
The Spartans opened the scoring in the first half despite some nice work in the cage by goalie Madison LaVallee who turned aside four shots.
LaVallee finished with 11 saves in the game.
Somers/Rockville added five second half goals to put the game away.
The Centaurs did get on the board when Mikayla Bessette tallied off an assist from Grace Pokorny.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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