Our Xavier sports teams this fall included football, soccer, cross country, and sailing. There is always excitement for fall sports as they are the first after summer break. All of this enthusiasm to be back at sporting events falls on these four, and they never fail to deliver a good time. But then the fun filled brisk afternoon games slowly fade into cold and dark ones. Before we are forced to let go and move on to the winter let us take a look back at how their seasons went.
Football
This year’s Varsity football team ended the season with a record of seven wins and three losses. Sadly, they just missed the playoffs, coming down to how other school’s regular season finished out. They did finish their season as strong as possible with a fifty-six to zero win over Wilber Cross high school. In that game, senior tight end Bobby Zdrojeski got into the endzone twice and senior wide receiver Stylz Mitchell once as well. Overall, the team averaged 31.4 points per game, which is pretty impressive for the high school level, with a final score above forty in four of their ten games. By the end of the season sophomore Ean Pringle averaged almost 100 yards per game and senior Sam Andrea threw for over 450 total passing yards.
Soccer
This year’s soccer team finished the season having won fourteen games, lost only six, and a singular tie. After their outstanding regular season, they made their way through the Southern Connecticut Conference playoffs and defeated Daniel Hand high school three goals to zero. Two which came from senior Mario Milardo and third goal to seal the game and the Championship came off the foot of junior Diago Canellas. Also, this is the third consecutive year that they have won the SCC Championship. Sadly, in the quarterfinals of the State tournament, they met their match in Ludlowe high school, losing two to one. Although their run at the State Championship was cut short, our Soccer team still had an amazing season.
Cross Country
Xavier’s Cross Country team has historically been very good, and this year was no exception. The team placed first at the CIAC Division L Boys Championship, third at the New England Interscholastic XC Championship, and third at the Connecticut State Open. These are not small feats, but we have grown to expect these results from our runners. To cap it all off, they also won the SCC Championship for the eighth consecutive time! Greatly due to the effort of junior Jack Ouellette finishing first, junior Owen Martin fourth, and senior Cameron Nephew fifth, our school gets to add another patch to that banner in the gym.
Sailing
Xavier’s sailing team grew to twenty-one members this year with seniors Holden Riley and Devin Wojciki leading the way as co-captains. Throughout the season they competed against opponents from all over that Northeast in regattas in Newport, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. Head coach Kondracky says Newport was, “wild with numerous capsizes,” but “the team improved during the season with windy conditions for the weekend events.” In addition, they went three and two at home regattas hosted by Xavier. Coach Kondracky also said that the team is excited for the spring season when some changes to the regattas could make for some interesting races.
We can only hope the coming sports seasons will bring just as much success and as many achievements as the fall.
Works Cited
Morelli, Joe. “Xavier Tops Hand, Captures Another SCC Boys Soccer Championship.” CTInsider, 2 Nov. 2023, www.ctinsider.com/gametimect/boys-soccer/article/boys-soccer-scc-hand-xavier-18464683.php.
Nowak, Dan. “SCC Cross Country: Cheshire Girls, Xavier Boys Win Team Titles – Ct Insider.” CT Insider, 18 Oct. 2023, www.ctinsider.com/gametimect/crosscountry/article/scc-cross-country-cheshire-girls-xavier-boys-18434215.php.
“Track & Field and Cross Country Statistics.” Athletic.Net, www.athletic.net/team/14796/cross-country/2023. Accessed 5 Dec. 2023.
“Xavier Football Latest Updates.” Xavier High School (Middletown, CT) Varsity Football, www.maxpreps.com/ct/middletown/xavier-falcons/football/. Accessed 5 Dec. 2023.
“Xavier Soccer Latest Updates.” Xavier High School (Middletown, CT) Varsity Soccer, www.maxpreps.com/ct/middletown/xavier-falcons/soccer/. Accessed 5 Dec. 2023.