By Mike Madera
Special to the Voice
After a gut-wrenching loss to start the season, the West Haven football team got into the win column with a 20-14 road victory over Norwalk.
Cordell Barrow caught a pair of touchdown passes from Landon Gartner, and the West Haven defense held Norwalk scoreless in the second half for the win.
West Haven took a 6-0 first quarter lead when Haven N’sumbu scored on a 4-yard run. Trailing 7-6 in the second quarter, Gartner connected with Barrow for a 36-yard score and a 14-7 lead after Jakari Harris scored on the conversion.
Norwalk evened the game at he half, but West Haven scored the only points of the second half in the third quarter. Gartner’s 26-yard scoring strike to Barrow gave West Haven a 20-14 lead it never relinquished.
N’sumbu ran for 124 yards, and he also had two tackles for a loss on the defensive side. Barrow had four receptions for 95 yards in the win.
Turnovers then proved costly for West Haven. Led by a strong defensive effort, including two fumble recoveries and two interceptions, Law defeated West Haven 14-7 in a Southern Connecticut Conference contest at Jonathan Law.
A diving interception by Eason Dong 3 minutes, 18 seconds into the second half set Law up at the West Haven 38 with the game even at seven. Eight plays later, quarterback Matthew Witteman found Reid Moulton in stride for a 22-yard touchdown and a 14-7 lead with 5:16 remaining in the third quarter.
From there, it was up to the Law defense. West Haven had a fourth down at the Law 27, and Law stuffed N’Sumbu for a five-yard loss.
After Law was forced to punt after three plays on its next possession, West Haven converted on fourth down when quarterback Kahlil Tomlinson hit Jakari Harris with an 8-yard pass to the Law 28. The Blue Devils never got any further and were stopped on downs with three minutes to go.
West Haven got the ball back with less than 30 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, but a Nick Vancho interception sealed Law’s first win over West Haven in close to five decades.
West Haven looked as if it would dominate the contest, running 22 of the game’s first 25 offensive plays. The Blue Devils saw their first drive end with a fumble on the Law 26, and their second drive ended with a fumble on the Law 25.
“We are shooting ourselves in the foot,” West Haven coach Tom Unger said after his team fell to 1-2. “In the two losses, the number of mistakes we are making, we have to clean them up. We knew we were young in some spots, and they were going to have to keep getting better every week. We have to work on our execution. We are pretty close to being a really good team, but we can’t make self-inflicted mistakes against really good teams.”
Law took a 7-0 lead with 3:09 remaining in the first half as a 9-play, 65-yard drive ended with a 6-yard touchdown run by Daniel Rascoll.
The lead was short-lived as Jakari Harris took the ensuing kickoff up the middle, cut right, and scored on an 87-yard return to even the game at seven just 13 seconds later.
The volleyball team improved to 3-1 with a 3-2 home victory over Sheehan. The Westies won by scores of 25-21, 12-25, 19-25, 25-21, and 15-10.
Liz Aquino led the way with 29 assists and seven digs, Giulianna Ruggiero was strong all game with 21 digs and 15 kills, Isabella VanBrederode added 10 kills and six digs, while Gabrielle Hines had seven kills in the win.
West Haven fell to 3-2 with a 3-0 home loss against Cheshire. The Westies lost by scores of 25-19, 25-12, and 25-17.
Aquino ran the offense with 13 assists, Nathaly Siguencia Tenesaca had 12 digs, and Ruggiero added eight kills and eight digs in the loss. Stacy Anton also had four kills for West Haven.
The Westies got back on the winning track with a 3-0 win at Career. The 25-10, 25-10, 25-9 win helped West Haven improve to 4-2 on the year. Aquino had 12 assists and three aces, Perez Rosario had seven kills, VanBrederode had five kills, and Ruggiero added four aces and four kills in the win.
After topping East Haven 3-2 on the road, the Westies returned home and defeated Lauralton Hall 3-1. The victory was West Haven’s third in a row and improved the team to 6-2 on the year.
Aquino led the way with 38 assists and two kills on offense, while recording 15 digs on the defensive side. Ruggiero also had a big night with 24 kills and 20 digs, Hines added 12 kills and six aces, while Siguencia Tenesaca had nine digs.
Estefanni Sotoj Ortiz added seven digs, Anton had six aces, three kills, and two digs, and Katheryne Macz had five digs.
West Haven fell at home to Sacred Heart Academy. The 25-5, 25-11, 25-20 loss dropped rhe Westies to 6-3.
Ruggiero led the way with 10 digs and six kills, Macz had eight digs, Sotoj Ortiz had five digs, and Hines had five kills.
The boys soccer team moved to 1-0-1 with a 1-1 tie at Xavier. Freshman Benjamin Barragan gave West Haven a 1-0 lead, but Xavier rallied to tie the game in the second half for the draw.
Junior Sabri Abdelmageed made seven saves in the tie for the Westies.
“We are very happy with our players and how they face adversity during the game,” West Haven assistant coach Ronaldo Arroyo said. “We believe we showed a top SCC school what we are about.”
West Haven improved to 2-0-2 with a 2-1 victory at Career/Hillhouse. Barragan and Amar Sanounou scored for the Westies.
The Westies won their second straight contest with a 3-2 home victory over previously undefeated Guilford. Sanounou scored twice, Youssouf Keira scored once, and Santiago Morales added an assist in the win as West Haven improved to 3-0-2 on the year.
After West Haven’s Joel Goodlow and Bricatson Laurent had opportunities denied in front, Guilford took a 1-0 lead 18:45 into the contest. Sanounou evened the game with 7:24 remaining in the half.
Keira scored off an assist from Morales 13:55 into the second half, before Guilford evened the game off a penalty kick with 20:53 remaining. Sanounou made sure the Westies came out victorious as his goal 4:59 later gave the Westies a 3-2 lead.
West Haven suffered its first loss and fell to 3-1-2 with a 3-0 loss at Notre Dame-West Haven. The Westies had their chances, but were unable to find the back of the net in heir first loss of the season.
The West Haven girls soccer team fell to 0-3 with a 4-0 loss at North Haven. The Westies then got in the win column with a 3-0 road victory over Wilbur Cross.
Senior Amiyah Jones scored twice and sophomore Stella Porto also added a goal in the team’s first win of the year.
West Haven won its second straight game and improved to 2-3 on the year with a 6-1 home victory over Career/Hillhouse. Jones led the way with three goals, Laurelyn Chesson, Kylie Gibbons, and Gillian Wynus also scored one goal apiece in the win.
West Haven won its third straight contest with a 6-0 home victory over Sheehan. The Westies have outscored their opponents 15-1 during the streak and are now 3-3 on the year.
Jones led the way with four goals, while Porto added three assists in the win. Luciana Cappetta and Wynus also scored for the Westies.
The girls swim team fell to 0-2 with a 98-81 loss at Foran. Emily Falanga won the 50 freestyle in 27.97 seconds, and Sophia DeLauri won the 100 breaststroke in 1:19.28.
The team on Arianna Rose, Margarita Buren, DeLauri, and Falanga won the 400 free relay in 4:32.47.
The West Haven boys cross country team ran the 5,000 meters at Cheshire, with East Haven, Foran and Notre Dame – West Haven.
Junior Ayman Elaziz was West Haven’s top runner in 19 minutes, 3.1 seconds. Senior Benjamin Proano was next in 19:48.4, while junior Ellis Cortes finished in 21:00.3, and senior Dylan Arias Llerena finished in 23:27.8.
Junior Angel Lopez-Martinez (26:24.1) and senior Gabriel Greengas (27:02.4) rounded out West Haven’s top six.
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