LOOKING BACK

10 YEARS AGO

The Norwalk High boys soccer team bounced back from its first loss of the season in exciting fashion as the Bears rallied from a 2-0 second-half deficit to pull out a 3-2 win over Westhill. After goals by Nick Zuniga and Kevin Joslyn knotted the score, Ignacci Navarro capped the comeback by booting the game-winning goal with 14 minutes left as the Bears improved to 3-1.

Meanwhile, the NHS football team remained perfect with a 42-13 win over visiting Westhill, the Bears’ third straight win without a loss. Quarterback Delshawn Wilson completed 13 of 15 passes for 192 yards and three touchdowns while Tomar Joseph ran for 128 yards on 12 carries and two TDs as Norwalk rolled up 408 yards of total offense. John Anzalone also rushed 12 times for another 96 yards, including the game’s first touchdown on a 2-yard run. Kicker Jon Wilkins was 6-for-6 on extra points.

Several other local teams notched their first victories of the season. The Brien McMahon field hockey team broke into the win column by beating Trumbull 2-1 as Cara Rambusch scored both goals unassisted ... Derby Thoby recorded a hat trick to lead the Senators’ boys soccer team past Harding 6-2 ... The NHS girls swim team outpointed Stamford 103-80 as Sarah Dobbs, Kelly Devine and Lauren DeLong all won two individual events and were part of two winning relay teams.

25 YEARS AGO

Brien McMahon’s Dwayne Coles had another big day as the junior running back caught three touchdowns passes, ran for another, and returned a kickoff 81 yards for a fifth TD in the Senators’ 48-6 rout of Bridgeport Central at Kennedy Stadium. It came a week after Coles scored two touchdowns and picked off two interceptions in a win over Trumbull. The two-time defending FCIAC champs are now 3-0.

Former Norwalk High baseball standout Pete Tucci Jr. completed his first professional season with the St. Catherines Stompers, the Toronto Blue Jays’ single-A minor league team in the NY-Penn League. The 20-year-old first-round draft pick batted .267 with nine homers, nine triples, eight doubles and 43 RBIs in 59 games. Then in the playoffs Tucci batted .400 (8-for-20) with a HR, one triple and seven RBIs to help the Stompers to a two-game sweep in the semifinals before falling two games to one to the Vermont Expos in the championship series.

The Inter-City Touch Football League opened its 35th season as the Norwalk Hurricanes blew out perennial power Darien Sportsmen 46-7. Tom Taliercio fired seven touchdown passes, including three to Chris Hyzy and two apiece to Mike Bouton and Imtiaz Vohra. The Sportsmen’s TD came on a pass from Norwalker Bob Barate to Rich Drucker.

Elissa O’Hara of Norwalk won the annual Queen Bee golf tournament at Shorehaven.

50 YEARS AGO

The Norwalk Ramblers Pop Warner Football team posted a thrilling 7-6 victory over the Newington Knights before a large crowd at the old Norwalk High School. Trailing 6-0 with less than four minutes left, quarterback Mike Nestor fired a 25-yard touchdown pass to Manny Allende to tie it, and then hit Fred Coppola with a pass for the winning extra point.

Central Catholic was the only one of the three local high school football teams to taste victory as the Cavaliers rallied to beat defending WCC champion Newtown 20-16. Larry Anastasia, who scored two touchdowns in the final two minutes of last week’s 21-12 comeback win over Masuk, again provided the winning points with a 17-yard TD run with 3:50 remaining. Quarterback Tim Eagen ran for one touchdown, passed 9 yards to Jim Sutton for another, and kicked two PATs, while Wayne LeBlanc rushed for 177 yards on 24 carries. The CCHS defense also shined, particularly Mike Morgan, who recovered a fumble on the Newtown 2 to set up Eagen’s 1-yard plunge, and intercepted a pass in the fourth quarter that led to the winning touchdown. Newtown drove to the Cavaliers’ 32 in the final minute, but Tim McGurn recovered a fumble to seal the win.

Norwalk’s Jerry Courville Sr., one of the top amateur golfers in the tristate area, achieved another milestone when he set a new course record at Oak Hills with a 63. It broke the record of 65 set just two weeks ago by Oak Hills golf pro Vinny Grillo. Courville, who also holds the course mark at Shorehaven, sank six straight birdies on holes 6 through 11, and added two more on 14 and 15 while parring the other 10 holes.

After opening the season with a tie and a 1-0 loss, the Brien McMahon soccer team garnered its first win, 7-0 over Ridgefield. Six different players scored, led by Armando Pantalone with two goals, while junior goalkeeper Pat Ferrandino recorded his first varsity shutout.

Just a few weeks after he was named the new Norwalk High head basketball coach, Don Quinn threw six touchdown passes to lead defending Inter-City Touch Football League champion Darien Sportsmen to a 39-0 win over South Norwalk. Three of Quinn’s scoring strikes were caught by Norwalk’s Bob Barate.

Donna Terriberry won the Roton Point Tennis Association Ladies Singles championship.