Tournament Scheduling Update—

South-West Conference Championships Held; State Brackets Announced

By Andy Hutchison

South-West Conference officials announced on November 3 that, because the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) pushed back the start of state tournament play, the SWC would have championship games for all sports. The announcement came after the November 4 edition of The Bee, featuring the article Mother Nature Strikes Again: Tournament Games Were On Hold, containing details that girls’ soccer co-champions would be named, went to press.

Among the Newtown High teams heavily impacted by the October 29 snowstorm that took out power throughout town, and the state for that matter — postponing school for a full week in here in Newtown — were the girls’ soccer and volleyball teams.

It appeared that, because of a time crunch before the originally scheduled start of state tourney play of November 7, there was not sufficient time for semifinals and a championship to be held in SWC tourney girls’ soccer because of postponements to scheduled SWC playoff games in the week following the storm. And it had been decided following a November 2 meeting between SWC officials and conference athletic directors, that co-champs would result from semifinal round winners. The CIAC, however, decided to move the state tourney start dates of soccer, field hockey, volleyball, and swimming from November 7 to November 9, 10 and 11, depending on the sport.

“Maintaining [the original state tourney schedule] would require that many student-athletes would enter tournament competition after numerous days without practice or game play,” was part of an announcement from the CIAC on November 3.

The result of this change is that the SWC’s soccer teams were able to battle through a traditional playoff setup with a championship game after all. Newtown High lost to New Milford in the pinnacle game (see related story).

The SWC volleyball teams to advance with semifinal wins were expecting to embark on a marathon afternoon/evening of semifinal and championship games back-to-back on Saturday, November 5, in order to get the title game in on time. The SWC, because of the CIAC changes, was able to spread out the matches, culminating with championship, following an off day, on Monday, November 7. Newtown went on to win its second straight title (see related story).

State Brackets

The CIAC has announced the state tournament brackets for volleyball, soccer, field hockey, and girls’ swimming.

Newtown’s volleyball team earned the No. 3 seed in Class LL, and a first-round bye. The Nighthawks will host the winners of No. 14 Simsbury and No. 19 Norwich Free Academy on Saturday, November 12, at 7 pm in the second round. With a win, the Nighthawks will host a quarterfinal round match on Tuesday, November 15, at 7 pm. The semifinal tournament games will be held at neutral sites on November 17, with the championship scheduled for November 19 at Wilby High in Waterbury.

In Class LL soccer, the NHS boys’ team has been preparing for a rematch of last year’s state tourney clash with FCIAC foe Ridgefield. The Tigers came up with a slight on-paper upset of the Nighthawks in the first round, last year, when the teams were 18 and 15 seeds, respectively. This time around, Ridgefield visits as heavy underdogs. The Tigers are seeded 25th and Newtown drew the No. 8 seeding. The teams will meet on Friday, November 11, at 4 pm, here in town. The winner advances to second round. If the Nighthawks advance, they will host the winner of No. 9 Fairfield Prep and No. 24 Crosby on Monday, November 14.

On the girls’ LL pitch, the Nighthawks, seeded sixth, were slated to host No. 27 Conard in the first round on Thursday (after The Bee went to press). The winner advances to the Saturday, November 12, second round. With a win, Newtown would host No. 11 hall or No. 22 Simsbury at 2 pm.

In the Class L field hockey tourney, No. 13 Newtown was slated to host No. 20 Greenwich in a qualifying round game on Thursday. The winner travels to West Hartford to play No. 4 Conard for a first round clash on Friday, November 11.

The NHS girls’ swimming and diving team will participate in the Class LL championships this week. The diving competition was scheduled for Thursday in Hamden; the swimming trials will be held November 12 in East Hartford; and the swim finals will take place at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven on November 17.

Newtown’s cross country teams competed in the state championships on October 29 and battled in the State Open on November 8 (see related story). The football seedings will be announced on November 25. Visit www.casciac.org for complete information and updates.