First-year coach Leo Redgate has his work cut out for him at
Fairfield Prep, which plays in the always tough SCC Quinnipiac Division in boys basketball.
With defending champion
Notre Dame (West Haven),
Xavier (Middletown),
Hamden and
West Haven, the Quinnipiac proves highly competitive.
Redgate just may have the right mix of experience and work ethic that will help the Jesuits improve on a 9-13 record from last season.
Prep showed both of those qualities in a season opening 65-43 victory over Cheshire. The Jesuits have height inside with 6-foot-7 senior center
Matt Dailey and 6-5 forward
Alex Heiman, outside shooting from senior guard
Robbie Bier and one of the state's best all-around players in 6-4 junior guard-forward
Terry Tarpey.
The Jesuits, who also won their second game over Branford, 69-45, looked in great shape in the opener and were relentless with a physical brand of defense in the full- and half-courts.
"I was particularly pleased defensively," Redgate said. "We like to get up and down the floor. The kids worked very hard in the offseason to get in really good tip-top shape.
"We like that," Redgate added about playing a physical brand of defense with a lot of hand-checking. "And it's a new rule. You're not allowed to do that this year, but the refs are kind of letting it go a little bit. Both teams were struggling with the new rules. We really want to take it to them. If we're going to get beat, we want to get beat playing as aggressive as possible."
When Dailey got in early foul trouble in the first half, Heiman and Tarpey took over to give the Jesuits scoring inside, including several good-looking, back-door plays and crisp passing.
Then when Cheshire started to rally early in the third quarter, Prep showed an outside game as Bier (25 points) hit four of his six 3-pointers during a 15-2 run.
"He's been working really hard on his shot and staying after practice and doing that and I always tell the guys, it's the little things that win the games," Redgate said. "It's staying the extra 10, 15 minutes after practice. He was cold last week and then he literally stayed until he got it down and tonight he was on fire."
Redgate calls the Quinnipiac an impossible division, but he hopes his team can make a statement.
"We have talent, but more than talent there's a mindset that we can play with anyone," Redgate said. "They really believe that. That's a result of their preseason conditioning. They feel strong. Guys didn't want to come out of the game and that's a good sign for us."
TOP BASKETBALL PERFORMERS* Gerald McClease, Wilbur Cross (New Haven): Scored 27 points and had 11 rebounds in a 63-53 victory over Lyman Hall (Wallingford).
* Kevin Hoff, Career (New Haven): Scored 21 points and had 17 rebounds in a 63-58 upset of preseason No. 1 Hillhouse (New Haven).
* Mike Vallone, Sheehan (Wallingford): Had 16 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists in a 48-36 victory over Hand (Madison).
* Marvin Hampton, Crosby (Waterbury): Scored 27 points in a 72-58 victory over Woodland (Beacon Falls).
* Corey Baldwin, Harding (Bridgeport): Scored 31 points in a 54-52 victory over Trumbull.
* Kris Dunn, New London: Scored 26 points and had 15 rebounds in a 67-61 victory over Stratford in a rematch of last season's Class L title game. The loss also ended the Red Devils' 27-game winning streak.
* Erik Krumin, Fairfield Ludlowe: Scored 26 points and had nine rebounds in a 54-52 upset of Bridgeport Central.
* Erik Carlson, Haddam-Killingworth: Scored 26 points in a 50-48 victory over Old Lyme.
* Maria Weselyi, Amber Bepko and Jordyn Nappi, Mercy (Middletown): Each scored in double figures — Weselyj (16), Bepko (15) and Nappi (13) — as No. 5 Mercy defeated No. 2 Career (New Haven) 64-52.
* Felicia Ferraro, Lyman Hall (Wallingford): Scored 22 points and made six assists in a 49-41 victory over Guilford.
* Julia Strobel, Cheshire: Scored 22 points and had 10 rebounds in a 55-42 victory over Hand (Madison).
BRIEFLY *
Glastonbury football coach Pete Pfeffer has stepped down after seven seasons and one Class LL championship.The Tomahawks advanced to the semifinals this season in which they lost to eventual-LL champion Xavier (Middletown) 24-13. Glastonbury reached the semis last season and won LL in 2008. Pfeffer finished with a 51-25 record.
* The
Amity boys hockey team, which was promoted to Division 1 this season after winning the 2009-10 CIAC Division 2 title, is off to a 2-0 start, having outscored opponents by 13-6 in the process. Coach Gary Lindgren's Spartans get their first major test of the 2010-11 season on Wednesday night, when they face two-time defending Division 1 champ
Hamden on the road.
Paul Rosano, the former assistant sport editor of The Hartford Courant and sports editor of The New Haven Register, covers Connecticut for MaxPreps.com. He may be reached at pjrosano@cox.net.