Blue Knights Roundup & Preview (November 10)
- Dan Fappiano
- 22 hours ago
- 4 min read
As the fall season nears its end, only Southington football and girls swimming have matchups still to play. Here are the latest results and upcoming games for the Blue Knights.
Boys Cross Country
Southington boys cross country ended their season by competing at the State Open on November 3. The Blue Knights placed 11th out of 20 teams with a score of 247.
Senior Ethan Hoffman led the way in 63rd with a time of 17:11. Junior Michael Blankenship followed in 71st at 17:14 while sophomore Logan Perrella placed 74th, clocking in at 17:19. Senior Samuel Cheek finished 88th with a time of 17:24 as junior Stephen Rahenkamp rounded out the top five in 102nd at 17:34.
Girls Cross Country
Senior Katie Cavanaugh represented the Blue Knights at the State Open. She finished the 5k with a new personal best of 19:48, placing 21st out of 191 runners. It marked the second-highest finish in Southington history.
Cavanaugh would go on to compete in the New England Cross Country Championships on November 8. She ended her run with the Blue Knights placing 104th out of 250 runners with a time of 21:16.
Football
The Blue Knights had a daunting task in the form of undefeated Windsor. But Southington didn’t flinch and knocked off the Warriors with a 28-7 victory.
After a back-and-forth first quarter, Windsor got on the board first via a 49-yard touchdown pass. The Blue Knights would then throw an interception and be stopped on their side of the field to end the half. However, gutsy defense and multiple fourth down stops kept the score 7-0 heading into the break.
With senior Lonnie Green suffering a food injury, sophomore Benjamin Beaulieu’s number was called. He got the Blue Knights on the board with a six-yard rushing touchdown. He would break off another long 59-yard run, before sophomore quarterback Jacoby Roman found the back of the end zone on a two-yard scamper. His two-point conversion pass to senior Rosco Cook was successful, giving Southington a 14-7 lead.
Beaulieu’s legs just kept churning, as he scored his second rushing touchdown from nine yards out. After Southington came up with another fourth down stop, Beaulieu put the nail in the coffin with a 55-yard touchdown run.
Offensively, Beaulieu ended the game with 247 yards on 22 carries to go with his three scores. Defensively, Southington held a Windsor team averaging 46 points per game entering Friday to just seven.
The Blue Knights are now 5-3 on the year and will next face Maloney at home on 11/14.
Girls Soccer
With their 9-5-2 record, Southington girls soccer entered the Class LL Tournament as the No. 17 seed. They would fall to No. 16 Enfield in the first round, 3-2.
Senior Gianna Mathews scored both of the goals in the loss with sophomore Lucia Muro recording an assist. Freshman goalie Shayla Cassidy made 16 saves.
Girls Swimming
The Blue Knights competed in the Class LL State Trials on November 8, seeing numerous swimmers qualify for the finals. That meet will take place on November 12.
All three of Southington’s relay teams qualified for finals. The 200-yard freestyle team of senior Alexandra Szczepanik, junior Rachel Alejandro, sophomore Kylie Samson and freshman Emma Niro came in sixth, clocking a 1:45.27. Southington’s 400-yard freestyle team of Szczepanik, Niro, Alejandro and junior Niya Villanueva also came in sixth with a 3:53.75. The 200-yard medley team of juniors Villanueva and Raegan Burdeshaw and sophomores Samson and Norah Muccino placed 11th with a time of 2:01.
Szczepanik also qualified in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle races with 14th (26.11) and 10th place (56.70) finishes respectively. Niro will be joining her in both events after finishing 18th (26.31) in the 50 and 16th in the 100 (58.04). Alejandro will make it a Southington trio in the 100-yard freestyle after a 24th place (1:01.66) finish. Villanueva will compete in the 100-yard butterfly after a 17th place finish (1:07.92) while senior Madelyn Pugliese qualified for the 200-yard freestyle by finishing 24th (2:13.70).
Burdeshaw will compete in the 100-yard breaststroke after finishing 15th (1:13.95) and in the 200-yard individual medley with a 19th place finish (2:29.31). Samson has qualified for the 100-yard backstroke, finishing 13th (1:04.70) and the 500 freestyle, placing 21st (5:40.29). Muccino will also be racing in the 500 freestyle after finishing 23rd (5:45.19). She’ll also compete in the 200-yard freestyle following a 15th place finish (2:08.88).
The top 24 swimmers from Class LL will then advance to compete in the State Open on 11/16.
Girls Volleyball
After reaching the quarterfinals of the Central Connecticut Conference Tournament, Southington volleyball entered the Class LL Tournament as the No. 12 seed. They dispatched Darien in the first round, earning a 3-0 (26-24, 25-19, 25-23) victory.
Junior Lily Eidukaityte had 11 kills, 10 digs and three aces while freshman Emme Stiendl put up 28 assists and six digs. Senior Paige Raines had 16 digs as fellow senior Laura Esguerra made five assists, four digs and two aces. Senior Camilla Garcia recorded six kills and three aces while senior Cameron Wallace made six digs. Senior Alexandra Wagner and junior Lauren Warych each had five kills.
The Blue Knights would then face No. 5 Amity, falling 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-17) to end their tournament run. Esguerra had 12 assists while Steindl made 10. Eidukaityte put up seven kills and six digs with junior Grace Zehnder recording 15 digs. Juniors Warych and Meredith Barry each had five kills while senior Sehere Coma had two aces.
