State Tournament Begins Monday, 4 pm; Wreckers Draw East Hartford
Staples’ quest for a 13th state championship begins Monday.
The Wreckers — ranked 19th in the “LL” (extra large schools) division with a 9-5-2 regular season record — travel to East Hartford (#14, 10-4-2). Game time is set for 4 p.m.
This will be only the 2nd meeting between the 2 schools. Staples won the previous encounter, 2-0 in 1991.
Both sides got their seedings on a random-number-generated tie-breaker. The Wreckers were tied with Fairfield Prep. The 2 schools did not meet in the regular season. The Jesuits are #20 and face #13 Conard-West Hartford. East Hartford and Glastonbury were also tied. The played each other twice this year, and split their games, necessitating that tie-breaker. Glastonbury ended up 15th, and hosts Newtown.
“We always say we’ll play anyone, any time, anywhere,” said Staples head coach Dan Woog. “We’ll try to figure out East Hartford, and be ready for them. We welcome the opportunity to play a new opponent. And of course in the state tournament, we approach it one match at a time.”
Eleven FCIAC schools are in the LL tournament. Ludlowe — the league champion, after a 1-0 victory over Greenwich — is #2 overall with a 13-0-3 mark, earning a 1st-round bye.
Three opening-round matches pit 2 FCIAC teams against each other: #9 Danbury home to #24 Fairfield Warde; #10 Norwalk hosting #23 Trumbull; #11 Darien home versus #22 Stamford.
Staples is 1 of 4 FCIAC teams to play a non-league opponent. #12 Greenwich hosts #23 Crosby-Waterbury, #17 Westhill travels to #16 Norwich Free Academy, and #26 Brien McMahon is at #7 Simsbury.
Suffield — winner of 3 straight Class M (medium schools) championships — was mandated to move up to LL. They’re seeded 1st, at 15-0-1.
Meanwhile, 2 FCIAC sides contest for the Class L (large schools) title. #19 Wilton is at #14 Guilford, while #30 New Canaan heads to #3 Platt Tech.
There is 1 FCIAC team in Class M: #29 St. Joseph plays at #4 Nonnewaug.
