Vikings vaulted
Ridgefield wins third straight FCIAC championship
RIDGEFIELD 64 WESTHILL 37
Ridgefield — The Ridgefield boys’ basketball has proved to be the most dominant force in the FCIAC, claiming its third consecutive conference title and fourth in the last five years Friday night with a 64-37 win over Westhill.
Though eight seniors graduated from last year’s championship team, there was little doubt Ridgefield was a tier above the rest of the FCIAC this season.
“This year was a different year for a million different reasons,” Ridgefield coach Andrew McClellan said. “We lost all those seniors, so we didn’t quite know what we had. We had a weird offseason so there were a lot of unknowns, but as soon as we got into practice the senior leadership was great and we got better every week.”
The fresh Ridgefield faces picked up right where the program had left off, putting together a 10-1 regular-season record and claiming the No. 1 seed in the FCIAC tournament.
The Tigers’ final hurdle came against No. 6 Westhill in a championship matchup Friday night, another game that Ridgefield controlled throughout.
Junior point guard Matthew Knachel was named the tournament MVP following a 19-point performance in the semifinal round and a 10-point night in the final.
“We are so pumped, we worked all year for this moment,” Knachel said. “It is a great honor to get the MVP, but we all work hard and we came together. We knew we were losing our whole starting lineup so we were determined so show we can play too.”
Junior Justin DiFiabio led all scorers with 16 points for Ridgefield while freshman Dylan Veillette scored 12 in the win.
“This is my third championship in a row, I came in at the right time and am so proud to have helped bring it forward,” senior captain Amos Grey said. “Sophomore year I would come in for five minutes a game, junior year a starter/fringe rotation and then this year a leader and captain of the team. I am so proud of this team.”
Ridgefield won each of its four tournament games by over double-digit margins, with the closest game being a 64-49 semifinal win over New Canaan, the only team that beat Ridgefield in the regular season.
Westhill hung with Ridgefield in the first quarter, but the second began with a 9-1 run, and ended with healthy 33-16 halftime lead.
“We have had nine or 10 guys play all year long,” McClellan said. “We talked about the pressure to win, and I think some guys were pressing a little bit but we got settled in and put together some good offensive possessions.”
The third quarter began with another 9-1 lead as Ridgefield continued to roll, deflating Westhill’s hopes of an upset.
This season marked Westhill’s first finals appearance since the team won the tournament in 2016.
Westhill’s leading scorer was senior guard Ben Pennella with 10 points.
Westhill finished the regular season with a solid 7-5 record and advanced to the FCIAC final with wins over Trumbull, Bassick and Fairfield Warde. Each of the Vikings’ opponents leading to the final were higher seeds than the Vikings.
Having completed the FCIAC three-peat, Ridgefield is the first team to have done so since Trinity Catholic in 2003-05 and looks primed to do more damage in the future.
With the Ridgefield girls playing in the FCIAC championship Saturday, Ridgefield could become the first school to win both the boys and girls titles in consecutive seasons.