LOOKING BACK | GEORGE ALBANO
10 years ago
Emma Oyombo gave local fans one more impressive performance to remember her by as the senior standout closed out her basketball career at Norwalk High with 19 points, 20 rebounds, nine steals and four blocked shots in the Lady Bears’ 45-30 win over Harding on Senior Day at NHS.
Fresh off winning the Class LL indoor track state championship in the 55-meter hurdles, Sara Boyd of Brien McMahon finished runner-up in the same event at the State Open, setting a new school record with her time of 8.58 seconds.
Former McMahon baseball player Bryan Daniello hit his first collegiate home run for UConn in its 13-8 win over Troy State at the Wawa’s Weekend Classic in Orlando, Fla. The freshman DH finished 2-for-3 with four RBIs, including a two-out, two-run single in a five-run fifth inning when the Huskies broke the game op. The twotime FCIAC Player of the Year and 2012 Connecticut Gatorade player of the year then added a tworun homer in the seventh. The Huskies improved to 2-3 on their 12-game season-opening southern trip.
25 years ago
Brien McMahon sophomore Ali Joseph won the Class M indoor track state championship in the 55-meter dash by onehundredth of a second. Joseph also teamed up with Dwayne Bowen, Carl Jackson and Jean Louis to finish fourth in the 4x200 relay. The Senators finished 12th in the team standings ... At the Class L meet, Norwalk High collected two second-place finishes, both in the shot put as Nicole Hansboro of the NHS girls team and Brian Hartley from the boys team came in second.
The Norwalk High girls basketball team, seeded fifth in the FCIAC playoffs, knocked off No. 4 Trumbull 52-48 in the quarterfinals, avenging a four-point regular-season loss to the Eagles last week. Ayanna Brown led the way as the 6-3 sophomore recorded a team-high 14 points, 16 rebounds, including 10 offensive, and six blocked shots. Kelli Miklovich added 10 points and freshman Cathy Dash scored eight. The Bears led by nine at halftime and 11 after three quarters before Trumbull cut the deficit to 42-37 with 5:25 to go, but got no closer ... Norwalk faced No. 1 seed and defending champion Fairfield in the FCIAC semifinals and lost 65-39. Brown, who scored 12 points, came out of the game with 3:49 left in the first half after taking an elbow to the head. She did not return as Fairfield pulled away. Dash had 15 points to lead the Bears, who take a 17-5 record into the state tournament.
Meanwhile, the boys basketball regular season came to an end and McMahon qualified for the state tournament in its second to last game by beating Trumbull 60-39 for its eighth win as Joe Howell rang up 21 points and 17 rebounds ... But the 6-foot-3 Howell saved his best for last as he set a new school record with 32 rebounds in the Senators’ 72-52 win at Darien in the regular-season finale. Howell, who also scored 20 points, broke the record of 29 rebounds set by Gary Lawrence in the 1970-71 season that stood for 27 years. McMahon takes a 9-11 mark into the state tourney.
50 years ago
The Brien McMahon wrestling team clinched a second straight FCIAC West Division championship as the Senators nipped Danbury 24-19 in their final regular-season match. With the score 1919 and one match left, Lyle Griffth scored a pin in the heavyweight class to secure the victory, and the division title. McMahon, under coach Jack Casagrande, finished 100-1 in the FCIAC and 10-1-1 overall, its only loss coming in a season-opening non-league match against Milford.
The McMahon and Norwalk High boys basketball teams will comprise half the participants in this year’s FCIAC tournament. The Senators, the West Division champs, beat Stamford 79-44 to finish 15-0 in the conference and become only the second team in FCIAC history to go undefeated in the regular season, joining Rippowam in 1967. They also improved to 19-1 overall with their 19th straight win. Five players scored in double figures, led by
with 19 points.
The top two teams in each division make the playoffs and Norwalk High, the defending FCIAC champion, clinched the runner-up spot in the West with a 79-71 victory
Jerome Maultsby
over Westhill. It was the Bears’ 10th win in their last 11 games, the only loss coming in a nonleague contest against Hartford Public, the state’s No. 1 ranked team. Tony Trimboli led the way with 21 points while sophomore Harry Bridgeforth had 18, Rich Sculley 12, and Ellis Spaulding had 10 points and 15 rebounds.
The Norwalk-based Home Oilers semipro hockey team put forth one of the best offensive displays in its storied history as four players recorded hat tricks in a 17-2 blowout of the Montreal Fuelers. Russ McClenaghan, Ken Parrot, Dick Toomey and John Sherban each scored three goals while McClenaghan also had six assists. In two previous games against Montreal this season, the Oilers tied and lost to the Fuelers. With the win, the defending Canada-American Hockey League champions took over sole possession of first place.