Weekly Recap: Lady Bobcats Upset Kolbe in SWC Quarterfinals; Wrestling, Track & Field, Hockey

Girls Basketball — SWC Quarterfinals:

The Lady Bobcats finally got their revenge against perennial powerhouse and defending Class M State Champion Kolbe Cathedral (15-6, 13-3) and they got it in dramatic fashion.  After suffering two losses to No. 3 seed Kolbe in the regular season, No. 6 seed Brookfield (14-7, 11-5) had to go to overtime in the first round of the SWC Playoffs to get a thrilling 58-56 win, avenging a loss in last year's state championship game.

After beginning the season 1-3, the Lady Cougars went on a 14-2 run that began with a 52-46 win in Brookfield.  Led by one of the top players in the state, Hartford University bound Cherelle Moore, Kolbe then handed the Lady Bobcats one of their worst defeats of the year, a start-to-finish 66-49 beat down in Bridgeport in the middle of the season.

On Saturday night, in the quarterfinal game played at Newtown, the two teams locked up in a game that was neck-and-neck throughout.  And on this night, it was Brookfield senior Jamie Bickelhaupt who out-played Moore. Bickelhaupt scored a game high 23 points while pulling down 16 rebounds.  Moore scored 21 points, but it wasn't enough to hold off the Brookfield squad. 

The Lady Bobcats as a team out-rebounded the Lady Cougars 50-30, getting 13 rebounds from sophomore Julia DePoi.  DePoi, who has been struggling of late, broke out of her scoring slump by pouring in 16 points in her first post-season game.  Senior Krista Melchione also scored 10 points as the Lady Bobcats were able to work the ball inside all night.

Brookfield, who had lost their final game of the year to No. 1 seed Lauralton Hall, was disappointed and downright angry at themselves for their performance, but instead of letting those feelings pull each other apart, they used those emotions to fuel their fire.  Now they get a shot to redeem themselves against No. 2 seeded cross-town rival Newtown (17-3, 13-2) in the semi-final game to be played at Bunnell on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

The Lady Nighthawks, who have been the surprise team of the year, barely got by the upstart No. 7 seed Joel Barlow (15-6, 10-6), winning 39-37 in the game that followed Brookfield's win.  Newtown is riding an 11-game winning streak, including a 55-43 win over Brookfield.

In other quarterfinal action: No. 4 Pomperaug pounded No. 5 Masuk 47-19 and No. 1 Lauralton Hall cruised by No. 8 Weston 69-30. 

BROOKFIELD                11 13 7 15 12—58

KOLBE CATHEDRAL 10 15 7 14 10—56

BROOKFIELD (58): Julia Depoi 5 6-12 16; Moe Vetter 0 2-2 2; Tara Schang 1 0-0 2; Krista Melchione 5 0-10 10; Courtney Morlock 1 2-4 5; Jaimie Bickelhaupt 9 5-9 23; Katie Layman 0 0-2 0. TOTALS: 21 15-39 58.

KOLBE CATHEDRAL (56): Jasmine Folch 0 1-2 1; Jasmine Fogle 5 4-8 14; Erica Cohens 4 1-7 9; Alyse Tillman 5 1-2 11; Cherelle Moore 5 2 5-6 21; Kiara Epps 0 0-2 0. TOTALS: 21 12-27 56.

3-POINT GOALS: B—Morlock; KC—Moore 2.

Fouled out: B—Depoi; KC—Fogle, Cohens.

Wrestling — Class M State Championship:

The Bobcat wrestlers worked hard over two days to earn an eighth place finish by scoring 95 points in the State Tournament held at Windham High School on Friday and Saturday.  Brookfield was the top SWC team in Class M, beating out 9th place finisher New Fairfield (87 points) and 11th place finisher Bethel (76.5 points).  Bacon Academy won the championship by scoring 229 points, while Ledyard was runner-up with 216.5 points.

The Bobcats had two grapplers make it into the championship meets: 135 pound senior Mike Delvalle and 140 pound junior Jack McKeever. Both were unable to come up with wins as Delvalle was outscored 7-0 by No. 1 seed Forest Dolby of Cheney Tech and McKeever was edged out 5-4  by No. 1 seed Jake Alderman of Lyman Memorial/Windham Tech.

Delvalle was the No. 2 seed in his weight class and had a first round bye.  He scored a pin at 0:47 in his first match over No. 15 seed Jared Corey of Ellis Tech before scoring two decisions to make the final.  He defeated No. 7 seed Brandon Finney of Ledyard 6-4 and No. 3 seed Dayvon Winn of Montville 8-3.

McKeever was also the No. 2 seed in his class and enjoyed a first round bye.  He scored a pin at 1:54 over No. 15 seed Mike Strollo of Waterford before earning two shutout decisions in his next two matches to get him into the final.  He blanked No. 10 seed Philip Serventez of Cheney Tech 6-0 and No. 3 seed Will Matuszak of Berlin 7-0 to set-up the classic final.

The Bobcats also had three wrestlers score fifth place finishes.  

No. 3 seeded 171 pound junior Shea McGorty had a first round bye before winning two matches.  He scored a pin at 2:30 over No. 14 seeded Alex Polaski of Bethel, then dominated No. 6 seeded Julian Melendez in a 15-1 decision before being pinned by No. 2 seeded Mike Fiorillo of Berlin at 0:59.  In the consolation round McGorty was defeated 8-2 by Matt Tulba of Waterford and won by default over No. 1 seeded Stephon Davis of Jonathan Law.

Junior Joel Wamser was the No. 4 seed in the 189 pound weight class and also had a first round bye.  Wamser pinned No. 13 seeded Jorge Meralla of Branford at 1:07 before being pinned at 2:56 by No. 5 seeded Aren Norman of Bacon Academy.  Warmser then had to win three matches in the consolation round to earn fifth place.  He scored a 7-0 decision, a 7-1 decision and a 6-4 decision to do so.

No. 8 seeded senior Alex Van Hoof also had a first round bye, then scored a 7-3 decision over No. 9 seeded Mike Cupo of New Fairfield before being knocked into the consolation round by No. 1 seeded Mason Powers, who pinned him at 1:06.  Van Hoof also had to win three matches to earn fifth place, scoring a 7-1 decision, a 7-5 decision and a 6-3 decision to do so.

Delvalle, McKeever, McGorty, Wamser and Van Hoof will all compete in the State Open Championship on Friday and Saturday in the New Haven Athletic Center at Hillhouse High School.

Team scores:

1. Bacon Academy 229 - 2. Ledyard 216.5 - 3. Windham 180.5 - 4. Berlin 157.5 - 5. Plainville 140.5 - 6. Waterford 115 - 7. Law 98 - 8. Brookfield 95 - 9. (tie) New Fairfield and Montville 87 - 11. Bethel 76.5 - 12. Branford 76 - 13. Weaver 70.5 - 14. Stratford 63 - 15. (tie) Platt and Foran 50 - 17. Cheney Tech 49 - 18. Ellis Tech 44.5 - 19. Rockville 40 - 20. Lyman Memorial/Windham Tech 36.5 - 21. Plainfield 34 - 22. Vinal Tech 31 - 23. (tie) Wolcott Tech and Suffield 29 - 25. Enfield 24 - 26. East Haven 18 - 27. New London 14.

Indoor Track & Field State Open Championship:

Coming off their Class M State Championship, the boys team entered 10 athletes in the State Open.  The Bobcats maintained their level best but could not raise their level to the states best, as they finished in a five-way tie for 34th place with four points.

Danbury took first place with a point total of 39.  The Hatters completed the trifecta, as they had previously won the FCIAC championship and the Class LL championship.  The win was the fourth State Open championship for Danbury in the past five years.

Other SWC teams to compete in the State Open were Masuk (eighth place — 16 points), Newtown (tied 14th place — 12 points) and Weston (eight-way tie for 21st place — 8 points).

For Brookfield, senior captain Christopher Ackell earned the team all four of their points as he finished in fourth place with a throw of 50-08.00 in the Shot Put.

Junior captain Colin Burke, the SWC champion the in 300 Meter Dash, finished in 12th place at the open with a time of 37.12.

Senior Kirk Gardner placed ninth in the 55 Meter Hurdles preliminaries with a time of 8.25, which did not qualify him for the finals.

The Class M winning 4x400 Relay Team of senior Ryan Murphy, senior Kevin Peterson, junior Noah Adams and Burke finished in 14th place at the open with a time of 3:43.72.

The senior jumping trio of Jack Gernert, Sam Grainger and Tyler Appleby who placed second, third and fourth at the Class M championship, finished in ninth place (Gernert), tied for 10th place (Appleby) and tied for 12th place (Grainger) at the open.

Boys Team Scores:

1) Danbury 39 - 2) Bloomfield 30 - 2) Staples 30 - 4) Cheshire 22 - 5) Morgan  20 - 5) Darien 20 - 7) Sheehan 19 - 8) Masuk 16 - 9) Naugatuck 15.50 - 10) East Lyme 14 - 11) Northwest Catholic 13 - 11) Hillhouse 13 - 13) Hand 12.50 - 14) Fairfield Warde 12 - 14) Newtown 12 - 16) Windsor 11 - 17) Fairfield Prep 10 - 17) Wilton 10 - 17) Hamden 10 - 20) Bulkeley 9 - 21) Norwich Free Academy 8 - 21) Weaver 8 -21) Haddam-Killingworth  8 - 21) Plainfield 8 - 21) Lewis Mills 8 - 21) Weston 8 - 21) Amity 8 - 21) Windham 8 - 29) Fairfield Ludlowe 7 - 29) Glastonbury 7 - 31) Berlin 6 - 31) Bristol Central 6 - 31) Norwalk 6 - 34) Rocky Hill 4 - 34) Simsbury 4 - 34) New Canaan 4 - 34) Coginchaug 4 - 34) Brookfield  4 - 39) Eeast Hampton 2.50 - 40) Platt 2 - 40) Shepaug Valley 2 - 40) Crosby 2 - 43) Tolland 1 - 43) Cromwell 1 - 45) Branford 0.50.

Boys Basketball (11-7, 7-5):

The Bobcats continued their hot stretch by defeating Rocky Hill (2-16) in a non-conference game 81-61 at home Saturday night.  The win was the fifth straight for the suddenly red-hot Brookfield team.

The Bobcats have two conference games remaining as they continue to position themselves for SWC post-season play.  On Monday night they host Oxford (0-17) before heading to Monroe to play against Masuk (12-5, 8-4) on Wednesday.  The SWC quarterfinals begin on Saturday.

Ice Hockey (14-3, 7-0):

The IceCats had their seven-game winning streak ended on Friday night as they fell to St. Bernard-Bacon-NFA 5-4 in Norwich.

Steven Segiet, Stephan Hallock, C.J. Liwin and Nick Melvin all scored goals for BBD while Trevor Kurjiaka added two assists in the loss.

With two games remaining in the regular season the IceCats remain the number one ranked team in Divison III.