LOOKING BACK | BY GEORGE ALBANO
10 YEARS AGO
The Norwalk High-Brien McMahon co-op boys swim team posted its first win of the season 92-86 over Danbury. Leo Sweeney (200 freestyle, 100 butterfly),
John Ospina (50 and 100 freestyles), and Patrick MacDonald (500 free, 100 backstroke) were double winners for the Norwalkers, who captured first and second in six of the 12 events.
The city’s co-op hockey team also enjoyed a successful week, defeating Housatonic 7-1 for its fourth win. Patrick Odierno had two goals and an assist while Mike McRoy added a goal and a pair of assists.
Nick Hurlbut, Dylan Byrne, Andrew Avitabile and Jake Lopez-Balboa also scored goals while
Rocco Bocchetta recorded three assists for the locals, who broke the game open with four goals in the final period. Goalies Dan Diaz and Anthony Chiarmonte combined for 24 saves with
Chiarmonte stopping all 17 shots he faced.
Norwalk High’s boys basketball team posted its most exciting win of the season as the Bears nipped Trumbull 74-71 in overtime.
Delshawn Wilson scored 17 points, including four in OT, and grabbed 14 rebounds, while Jabari Dear led NHS with 22 points and
Rasheen Thompson added 16 points and seven assists.
25 YEARS AGO
For the first time ever, Norwalk High School was voted No. 1 in the state boys basketball poll after the Bears beat Staples 87-56 to run their record to 17-0. The Bears, ranked No. 2 the last several weeks, moved up after top-ranked Holy Cross was upset by Seymour. Keith Sellers scored 28 points and TJ Trimboli had 22 for Norwalk.
Another high-ranking NHS team continued its winning ways as the Bears overpowered Staples in wrestling 67-9 in the final regular-season match. Norwalk, No. 6 in the state, finished 19-2-1 under fifthyear head coach Charlie Anderson, tying the school record for wins set by Anderson’s 1993 team which went 19-3.
The Bears rode that momentum into the FCIAC Championships where they won four individual titles and finished runner-up to perennial champion Danbury. The Hatters, who won the crown for the 10th straight season, had 287.5 points while Norwalk scored 239, second-most in program history behind the 300 points by the 1989 team. It was also the first time they had four FCIAC champs as Warren Pena
(112 pounds), George Apazidis (135), Robert Samuel
(140) and Gary Koenig
(215) captured top honors in their respective weight classes. The Bears had five finalists in all as Chris Armstrong finished runner-up at 119 pounds ... The city of Norwalk did have a fifth FCIAC champion as Brien McMahon’s Dan Walsh won the 189-pound weight class. Teammate Tyron Bullock was runner-up at 130 pounds.
Norwalk High was also the FCIAC runner-up at the boys indoor track championships. The Bears, bidding for a second straight conference title, finished behind Danbury 116-80. NHS had two individual champions, including Hayden Callendar, the meet’s high scorer, who won the 45meter high hurdles and was second in the 45-meter dash and long jump for a total of 26 points. Lavar Francois, the Bears’ other champ, won the 300 meters, finished second in the 500 and was part of the runner-up 2x225 relay team.
50 YEARS AGO
The red-hot Brien McMahon hockey team moved into a first-place tie in the FCIAC after a 9-0 victory over Norwalk High, the
Senators’ second win this season over their city rivals. It was also the third straight shutout for sophomore goalie Tom Connolly, who recorded 17 saves. Meanwhile, Jay Walker led the offense with three goals while Steve Dunne added a pair and Jeff Miller, Bart Bradford, Greg Pfeiffer and Jerry DiPietro all scored once.
In basketball, Central Catholic became the third city high school to qualify for the state tournament after an 81-62 win over Joel Barlow. The Cavaliers, who needed 10 wins to qualify, beat St. Mary’s of Greenwich 64-56 as Bill Blankemeir scored 16 points, Don Gustafson added 15 and Bob Kramer grabbed 15 rebounds. The win gave the Cavaliers an 11-6 record, but two of their victories came against St. Mary’s, a nonCIAC school, and didn’t count on Central’s state record. They officially clinched a state tourney berth, however, with the win over Barlow as Gustafson
scored 22 points and Kramer had 18 points and 13 rebounds.
Norwalk High, which clinched a spot in the state tournament last week, ran its winning streak to six with two more victories. The Bears beat Andrew Warde 90-48 as Sammy Miller scored 27 points in less than three quarters ... Doug People then netted 21 points in a 68-57 victory over Wilton. The win gave NHS an 11-5 conference record, one game behind New Canaan in the East I Division. The two teams meet in the regular-season finale and a win would give the Bears the division title since they would own the tie breaker.
McMahon saw its bid for the West I Division title end with a 66-61 loss to firstplace Rippowam. Gary Lawrence had 21 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks for the Senators, who led 59-57 with three minutes left before the Warriors closed the game with a 9-2 spurt.