Weekly Recap: McKeever Takes Runner-Up at State Open

Wrestling — State Open Championship:

Bobcat junior Jack McKeever worked his way through the state's best in the 140 pound weight class at the State Open held at the New Haven Athletic Center Friday and Saturday, making it all the way to the championship round. McKeever was unable to take home the trophy however, as he lost to South Windsor's Mitchell Casey by a 5-0 decision.

The team as a whole placed 27th out of 88 teams with a score of 21 points. Bacon Academy was crowned the new champion, scoring 98 points while ending Danbury's 10 year run as the state's best. The Hatters finished well out of contention in 14th place with 32 points.

New Milford, the SWC's dominant team, came in 3rd with a score of 88 points. Other SWC teams to compete and place were Bethel (22nd — 26 points), New Fairfield (44th — 11 points), Masuk (46th — 10 points), Immaculate (51st — 7 points), Weston (69th — 2 points), and Oxford (73rd — 1 point).  Newtown and Pomperaug failed to score in the competition.

Brookfield had five wrestlers compete. Along with McKeever, 135 pound senior Mike Delvalle, 171 pound senior Shea McGorty, 189 pound junior Joel Wamser and 215 pound senior Alex Van Hoof hit the mat.

Boys Basketball — SWC Quarterfinal:

The Bobcats finished the regular season riding a seven-game winning streak. On Monday they honored their seniors, captains Nick Paez and Austin Yusko by defeating Oxford 75-59.  Then they went to Masuk and came up with an impressive 76-62 win, propelling them into the No. 5 seed of the SWC Playoffs.

Brookfield drew No. 4 Kolbe Cathedral in the first round quarterfinal matchup played at Pomperaug and were defeated by the eight-time conference champion Cougars.

Paez led the team with a game-high 23 points and Yusko added 12 points in the tough loss.  Junior Ralph Schatz overcame foul-trouble to score nine points while grabbing 15 rebounds.

Brookfield (13-8, 9-6) will now wait to see when and where they will play in the Class M State Championships.  They are currently ranked 15th in the state poll.

BROOKFIELD: Austin Yusko 7 0-0 16; Ryan Korb 2 0-0 4; Joey Acquinita 1 0-0 3; Danny Burkhart 7 8-8 25; Ralph Schatz 5 2-2 12; Nick Paez 4 5-9 14; Boeing Brown 1 0-0 2. Totals: 27 15-19 76.

MASUK: Jamie Johnson 0 2-4 2; Steven Buckley 2 0-0 4; Nick Davies 1 1-4 4; Mark Delmonte 0 0-0 0; Matt Gerak 2 4-6 9; Jalen Graham 8 5-8 23; Christian Tirrell 3 0-0 8; Nate Nicotera 1 2-2 4; Adam Rainey 0 0-0 0; Matt Pils 2 2-5 6; Dominic Migliaro 1 0-0 2. Totals: 20 16-29 62.

BROOKFIELD 18 24 15 19 — 76

MASUK              14 14 20 14 — 62

3-pointers: B — Burkhart 3, Yusko 2, Acquinita, Paez; M — Graham 2, Tirrell 2, Davies, Gerak.

BROOKFIELD                15 9 14 18 — 56

KOLBE CATHEDRAL 10 17 18 15 — 60

BROOKFIELD: Austin Yusko 4 2-2 12; Ryan Korb 0 3-4 3; Nick Paez 7 6-8 23; Danny Burkhart 4 0-2 9; Ralph Schatz 4 1-2 9; Joe Acquanita 0 0-0 0; Boeing Brown 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 19 12-18 56

KOLBE CATHEDRAL: Cosrick McDonald 2 1-2 5; Calvin Wade 6 0-1 13; Troy Owens 4 3-5 12; Ian Gardner 2 0-0 4; DJ Perry 8 1-3 17; Rob Pinnock 2 2-2 6; Shaquille Thomas 0 3-4 3. TOTALS: 24 10-17 60

3-pointer: B — Paez 3, Burkhart, Yusko; KC — Owens, Wade

Girls Basketball — SWC Semi-Final:

The No. 6 Lady Bobcats were riding high following their overtime win over arch nemesis Kolbe Cathedral on Saturday entering their semi-final matchup with No. 2 Newtown. Unfortunately they couldn't slow down a Lady Nighthawk team that would wind up winning the SWC championship, losing to Newtown 57-40 in the game played at Bunnell.

Brookfield fell behind early and were never able to get into the game following a 17-4 first quarter run by Newtown.

Brookfield was led by sophomore Julia DePoi, who scored a game-high 23 points in the loss. DePoi was the only Lady Bobcat to crack double figures in the game.

No. 15 Brookfield (14-8, 11-6) will now set its sights on the Class L State Championships. The team was moved up from Class M, where they went to the the finals last season. They will host a first round game on Monday night, facing No. 18 Northwest Catholic (11-9). A second round matchup with No. 2 E.O. Smith on Thursday awaits them if they win their first round game.

Hockey (15-4, 6-0):

The IceCats split their two games this week, dropping their second straight game, a 6-3 decision against Milford Coop before bouncing back with a 5-1 win over Sheehan.

The shocking loss to 5-11-1 Milford saw Steven Segiet, Andrew Creaturo and Justin Sullivan score goals while the team was outshot 31-30.

Segiet scored two goals to raise his team leading season total to 23 in the win over Sheehan (5-13). C.J. Litwin, D.J. Scott and Trevor Kurjiaka also added goals in the win. Goaltender Luiz Dibble made 20 saves in the game.

BBD will finally play a home game against Masuk that has been re-scheduled more times than anyone can count on Monday afternoon to close out the regular season. The team has already wrapped up a No. 1 seed in the SWC Playoffs. They maintian a slim one-point lead in the the Division III state rankings over Staples-Weston-Shelton.