caption, page 12:
Checking it Out
Jeff Koehl, chairman, SPIROL International, stopped by to join Heather Logee, Camp Director, 3 year old “camper in training” Emmett Knowlton, builder Christian Fongemie, and longtime camper “RJ” Smith, to remove the last pieces of old siding on the cabin. Koehl is planning to return with a team from SPIROL to stain the cabin when the residing is complete. In the next two years, adjoining cabins Linden and White Pine will be renewed by pledges from SPIROL. Courtesy photo.
POMFRET — Paper Birch cabin by the lake in the boys’ area at the Windham-Tolland 4-H Camp was built 65 years ago. Re-stained numerous times, in the 1990s, it received a new “top coat” of siding on top of the original. Although it looked better for a while, it was the next cabin chosen to be renewed with completely new siding, shutters, screens, vents and stairs by the Camp Director.
This cabin renewal initiative was undertaken in 2018 with funds raised specifically for each cabin by the Windham County 4-H Foundation. To date four cabins have been completed, stripping them down to the support beams. Earlier this year, SPIROL responded to the Foundation’s fund-raising request by pledging $36,000 over three years to renew one cabin a year, starting this fall.
When Paper Birch’s outside shell was uncovered by builder Christian Fongemie , it was discovered that carpenter ants had enjoyed a cozy little hiding place between the two layers of siding, so some structural repairs needed to be completed before the residing work could begin.
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caption, page 12:
Dribbles
Woodstock Academy’s Noah Page dribbles the ball against East Lyme’s Jon Northcutt (14) in a 3-2 loss to the Vikings last week. Photo by Marc Allard.
Possible tie slips
away from boys'
soccer team
Woodstock Academy boys’ soccer coach Paul Rearden wanted to put a little fire in striker Eric Phongsa’s belly.
Rearden took his leading scorer out late in the first half after seeing him looking a little tired on the field against East Lyme last week.
He kept him there until midway through the second half.
“I just left him sitting there, thinking about what I said, and maybe it would get his blood boiling a little bit more,” Rearden said. It worked.
The junior scored two second half goals to bring the Centaurs even in the second half.
Unfortunately as their luck would have it this season, it wasn’t enough and a late goal lifted East Lyme to a 3-2 victory.
The loss dropped the Centaurs to 1-8 on the season, 0-4 in ECC Division I.
East Lyme struck twice in the first half.
Ethan Stewart scored the first goal for the Vikings halfway through the first half off an assist from Kurt Mahlke.
With just under 10 minutes to play in the half, East Lyme made it 2-0 when Jon Northcutt put home a ball off a corner from Evan Kluge.
“It was a strange start,” Rearden said. “The last few games, we have been good at anticipating things and getting to the ball first. It seemed like we were questioning ourselves. As the half went on, it got a little better. By the end of the half, I thought we were nearly there.”
But finishing at the net, as it has been all season, was a problem.
The Centaurs have 15 goals this season, but eight came in a win against New London. Put that together and they average less than a goal a match.
What followed in the second half made Rearden much happier.
His Centaurs played perhaps their best half of soccer of the season thus far.
Phongsa kicked it into gear when Rearden put him back in.
“I told him to go out there and give it everything you got,” Rearden said. “And in fairness to him, he worked as hard as I’ve ever seen him and got rewarded.”
Phongsa scored two second half goals to tie the game.
He took a through ball from Logan Talbot and went around the East Lyme keeper to get Woodstock Academy on the board.
The second was more individual effort as he stole a ball with six minutes to play and again beat the keeper to tie the match.
But with 46 seconds left, Woodstock Academy was awarded a free kick following an East Lyme foul.
The free kick didn’t reach midfield. It didn’t reach the half and came back in faster than it left. Stewart got a through ball from a teammate and scored his second goal of the game.
“It was one of those times especially when it’s that late in the game where you get the second goal and tie it up that late and coming off the field, with a 2-2 tie, would taste and feel like a victory. You can carry that into the next match. So to have happen what happened, it’s cruel,” Rearden said.
Fortunately for the Centaurs, Rearden said they could glean some positives from it as they felt like just playing East Lyme close was an improvement.
Rearden was hoping to wash the taste from his team’s mouths with a good effort against Coginchaug later in the week.
The match was postponed by weather.
The postponement of the game (it had not been rescheduled at yet at press time) meant the Centaurs have nine days off without a match before playing Auburn at 4 p.m. Oct. 18.
“We just have to keep the spirits up in practice,” Rearden said. “Keep the pace of the practices up because with the break in games, we don’t want them to lose the sharpness. We have a decent JV team so maybe we can scrimmage them to keep (the varsity’s) legs going.”
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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POMFRET — The Pomfret School cross country team inaugurated a new racecourse for its only dual meet of the season last week.
Despite Jeffrey Gibbs’ stellar effort and his second outright win, the Pomfret Griffins were unable to best Kingswood Oxford (KO).
The Griffins knew it was going to be a close race, and that it would likely be the middle of the lineup that would be the deciding factor. In the first mile, Gibbs sized up KO’s #1 runner, content to shadow and let the lead Wyvern expend the energy required to sit out front. Blake Zahansky, as was his plan, worked to keep Gibbs in his line of sight. KO ran aggressively, putting a good half dozen runners between Pomfret’s three-man, Cam Adams and the next several runners.
At the 1-mile mark the course disappears into the woods section for the next 1.8 miles. When the runners emerged Gibbs was cruising to an easy 40-foot victory in what is now, by definition of the first race on the course, a course record 18:21. The finishing hill is notorious and times often are 90 seconds longer than an average 5K XC course. KO’s #1 was second and Blake was third. 4th and 5th went to KO, and Adams was the 6th finisher. The next three runners to crest the hill would likely be the deciders. Unfortunately, a trio of Wyverns arrived ahead of our 4th and 5th runners, Cole Hecker and Kellen Horst. The result amounted to roughly 20 seconds difference between their 4/5 and ours. Cooper Ames and Ian Wolanin rounded out our top 7 varsity finishers.
For the JVs Jack Terwilliger placed first, followed by fellow senior Kevin Li, who seems to be rounding into shape. Alex Chen and Jacob Marasco (who is still hobbled) were next. After a couple of KO runners, the next 5 slots went to Pomfret: Danny Wang, Terry Kim, David Wu, Ben Gordon, and Bill Tian. Jay Kim showed much grit and was the final Pomfret runner on the day.
By David Ring
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'Mustang Mile' kicks
off PSA season
The Putnam Science Academy basketball team officially started its season Oct. 14 with its Seventh Annual Mustang Mile, its traditional kickoff event.
All members of the Mustangs boys’ prep team hit the track for the early-morning run, which coach Tom Espinosa calls a great way to off the season.
“It’s always been a good bonding experience for them actually,” he said. “They’re competing against each other, but they’re competing against a time, too. Guys want to turn in a good time.”
Mekhi Gray, a 6-foot, 4-inch guard, was this year’s winner, completing the run in 5:51. Two more guards rounded out the top 3 — Marty Silvera was second in 6:05, followed by Hassan Diarra, who clocked in at 6:10. Melvyn Ebonkoli, a 6-8 forward, was the fastest big man at 6:11, which was also good for fourth overall.
For players 6-7 and shorter, the time to beat is 6:15; anyone taller must finish in 7 minutes flat. Players must run each day until the time is met.
Aaron Robinson holds the Mustang Mile record of 5:19 set in 2014.
PSA is coming off a 38-2 record and a third-place finish in the national prep tournament last year. The Mustangs won the national title two seasons ago.
By Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
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