A terrific night to be a Crusader

Cunningham, Occhialini eclipse 100 yards rushing in win for Thames River

Middletown — Seth Cunningham rushed for a touchdown, caught another and finished with 105 yards rushing to help Thames River beat Vinal Tech/Goodwin Tech/Wilcox Tech 26-12 on Friday night.

Cole Occhialini led Thames River (4-1, 4-1 Connecticut Technical Conference) with 120 yards rushing. Alexander Zair scored a touchdown on offense, and also had 11 tackles, including four for a loss, and one sack. Roark Ryan (sack, six tackles) and Luis Aguilar (five tackles) also contributed on defense.

"We started the game very flat with mental mistakes," coach Darin Jones said. "We threw a challenge to our guys for the second half to find themselves and play like we know they can. This team showed its true character and responded with a great second half on both sides of the ball.

"(I am) very proud of this team and how they took the challenge and finished the game." In other games: • Sam Inthasit scored midway through the fourth quarter, but Stonington could not get any closer in a 13-8 loss to Windham at Ferrigno Field.

Windham (1-4) took a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter on Felix Martinez's 41-yard run, and then took a 130 lead with 2 minutes left in the first half on Jovan Almodovar's eight-yard run.

Inthasit's score and two-point conversion brought the Bears (0-5) to within five with 6 minutes, 54 seconds remaining.

Josh Curtin led Stonington with 82 yards on 10 carries, while quarterback Drew Champagne was 4-for-12 for 31 yards.

Enrique Lopez Garcia had two of the Whippets' three interceptions, and Martinez finished with 206 yards on 21 carries.

H.S. swimming

• Anna Lu (500 free), Katie Keating (100 fly) and Grace Vlaun (100 free) each won an individual event and, along with Nikki Hahn, combined to win the 200 medley relay as East Lyme defeated Lyman Memorial-Windham-Parish Hill 69-46.

• Elyse Gathy captured the 100 free (1:09.49) and 100 back (1:14.76), and also contributed on the winning 200 medley relay with Lily Watson, Amaija Anton and Jenna Morin to pace Waterford to a 103-76 win over NFA. Watson also won the 100 fly (1:10.71) for the Lancers (4-5, 4-3 ECC). Gloria Ng won the 200 IM (2:36.92) and 100 breast (1:17.98) for the Wildcats (2-8, 2-5).

H.S. volleyball

• Fitch dropped the first game to Glastonbury 25-23 before winning the next three (25-18, 25-19, 25-17) in a nonconference match. Karly Morales paced the Falcons (9-5) with 42 assists and 10 digs, and Nora Ryan (36 kills) and Marlo Sim (16 digs) also contributed to the victory.

• Hannah Avila recorded eight aces, 17 assists and seven digs to help Ledyard to a 3-0 win over Wheeler. Kira Kassim added 10 kills as the Colonels (9-7) won 25-16, 25-12 and 25-11. Marissa Bergel and Amanda Regina had three and two aces, respectively, for the Lions (2-13).

• Isabel Dean-Frazier had 13 assists and teammate Olivia Tetreault added 11 digs in Old Lyme's 3-0 loss to Haddam-Killingworth. Game scores were 25-12, 25-20 and 27-25.

• New London swept Norwich Tech 3-0 behind Caylee Parker's 15 service points, two aces, seven kills and two blocks. The Whalers, who are 7-6, won 25-18, 25-21 and 25-13. Chaylet Cintron added 15 service points and seven digs, and Jayden Burns contributed 12 service points, four kills and seven digs. Ashley Williams had eight digs and two assists for the Warriors.

• Samarie Delgado paced Grasso Tech with eight digs, two kills, two blocks and three service points in the Eagles' 3-0 loss to Prince Tech. Game scores were 25-12, 25-9 and 25-8. Grasso is 0-14.

College volleyball

• Anelou Dunton registered her 1,000th career kill as Coast Guard held off host Conn College 3-2 in a nonconference matchup. Dunton became the 12th player in program history to eclipse the 1,000-kill mark and finished with 12 for the match. Amanda Dake had a match-high 15 kills for the Bears (15-7), as game scores were 17-25, 25-23, 22-25, 27-25 and 15-13. Noelle Tursky had a career-high seven aces and team-high 29 assists, and Heather Miller had a career- and team-best 19 digs in the win. The Camels are 6-12.

College field hockey

• No. 3 UConn recorded its third straight shutout in a 7-0 pasting of Villanova. Seven players scored for the Huskies (13-2, 5-0 Big East) including Antonia Tiedtke, who had three assists. Tiedtke, Kourney Kennedy and Lindsay Dickinson all scored within a two-minute span late in the first quarter. Five of UConn's seven goals were scored by backs.