Ludlowe/Warde Football - Thanksgiving 2024

Thanksgiving was once again the annual Ludlowe vs Warde football game. 

The weather forecast was calling for rain so there was much discussion in the days prior about moving the game to Wednesday. 

This was done in 2018 due to freezing temperatures predicted for Thanksgiving, but the game is normally on Thanksgiving Day. 

Normally, I am totally against moving it. I'm a traditionalist and like Thanksgiving football. 

However, this year, I would have been okay with-it being Wednesday. With no disrespect intended to the teams', Thanksgiving football is as much about the game as it is a community event. 

That said, I have no say. 

The game stayed on Thanksgiving Day, and it did in fact rain. In fact, all the games in the FCIAC that were scheduled for Thanksgiving Day stayed on that day. The weather definitely kept the crowd down, which is unfortunate. I am okay with the game staying on Thanksgiving though. 

Okay, I've buried the lede. 

Ludlowe came out with a 38-16 victory. The win clinches Ludlowe a spot in the Class L playoffs, where they will face Darien on Tuesday. Time to be determined. 

It's the first playoff appearance for Ludlowe football in school history in the post Fairfield High School era. 

The Falcons also finish the regular season, with an 8-2 record, the best in program history. 

Liam Bond, who had four rushing touchdowns, was named the Ludlowe MVP. Quinn Russo was the Warde MVP of the game. 

The MVPs are presented with a trophy and receive a scholarship from the Fairfield Rotary Club. Thanks to Bill Llewllyn and Bruce Carter from the Fairfield Rotary Club for recognizing our student-athletes. 

I also have to say, personally, I am a fan of formal post-game ceremonies, which I don't feel like always get done. This year, however, it was done well. 

First, the MVPs were brought together with Carter and a cheerleading from each team. It was Gabby DiGiacomo from Warde and Susana Charron from Ludlowe. The cheerleaders then handed the MVP's their trophy with Carter nearby. Both teams were also surrounding all of them at mid-field.

Then, with both teams still near mid-field, Ludlowe Athletic Director Todd Parness presented the Gallagher-Baynas Trophy to the Ludlowe captains, Cooper Seek, Ryan Menozzi, Ryan Tompkins and Ramzee Atta. 

Now it's on to Tuesday for Ludlowe football and then winter sports will be here soon. 

Warde/Ludlowe Soccer: Mustangs Edge Falcons in Girls Game; Boys Play to Scoreless Tie

Tuesday night was the annual Ludlowe/Warde boys and girls soccer doubleheader. 

The games are doubleheaders each year, but the location rotates between the two schools each year and the team who plays first and second rotates in some fashion as well. 

This year, the boys played the first game and the girls the second game. 

The boys game ended in a scoreless draw. Both teams had chances but couldn't convert anything. Solid goaltending from Ludlowe's Chase McCormack and Warde's Gabriel Tiene. 

Warde retains the Swedish Cup, having won in 2023. 

In the girls' game, Warde won 1-0 to retain the FUSA Cup. The two teams tied in 2023 and Warde won the regular season matchup in 2022 (they also faced off in the postseason that year, with Ludlowe coming out victorious). 

The Mustangs goal came early on in the game, as Paige Shaughnessy found the back of the net. Ludlowe had their chances but couldn't push anything across. 

It was another solid night for the town and the two schools. It's always special for the entire town to see what great athletes and people are across town. It's also a community event with the youth players and just casual fans coming out to support. 

Fairfield Baseball Showdown 2024 (One Town Classic)

This is rivalry week in the FCIAC for a lot of sports, including baseball. 

Well, Warde and Ludlowe faced off on Wednesday afternoon at Warde in their annual rivalry game. 

This rivalry has seen some great games the last couple of years and both teams came into the game in the midst of strong seasons. 

Warde came in with a record of 11-2, 6-2 in the FCIAC. Ludlowe was at 10-3, 5-3 in the league. 

Warde came away with a 4-0 victory in a game that was closer than that. 

Solid pitching from Austin Howard (6 1/3 shoutout innings with 10 strikeouts) and Grady Schopps (2/3 of an inning) for the Mustangs. The Ludlowe pitching was strong as well with Luke Stasko allowing four runs, but only two earned, over 5.1 and Joe Calabro coming in for the final 2/3 of the sixth. 

Offensively for Warde, Schopps and Carson Swaim had RBI singles while Carson Dodder and Kyle Justo had RBI doubles. 

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I have a love/hate relationship with this game. I can't wait for it, but when it's here, I can't wait for it to be over. Every Ludlowe/Warde game is tough working at both schools. Baseball is different than any other sport for me (including boys' basketball) since I'm part of the Ludlowe coaching staff and I always consider baseball my number one sport. Lots of great kids on both sides and that's the most important thing. 

Credit to Warde on the win. Proud of how our guys battled. Lots of great baseball in the town. 

Maybe we see each other again (possibly more than once) in the playoffs. 

I'll always bleed Ludlowe and everyone knows where my heart is, but I work at Warde too and have tons of respect for that program and what they have done these past few years. 

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Nice job by Warde baseball honoring the 10-year anniversary of 2014 FCIAC Championship team prior to the game. Having those players and coaches come back and be recognized is very cool. I love it when teams honor their past and I wish more did. 

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Ludlowe and Warde also faced each other in softball this afternoon. Ludlowe came away with the 4-3 victory at Dougiello Field.

The two schools play in lacrosse on Saturday at Ludlowe. The girls' game is set for 3:30pm and the boys' game for 5:30pm 

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It was also the spring pep rally at Ludlowe today. Nice work by all the teams and a great job by the Nest leaders running/organizing another event. Their final big event as Nest leaders with the school year winding down. Still many games to go, but the last big non-game event for The Nest. 

They have done a very good job this year with different events. 

Ludlowe/Warde Basketball 2024 Edition

The crowd at one point in the night. It would get bigger than this. 

Friday night was the annual Ludlowe vs Warde girls' and boys' basketball doubleheader. 

This year, the games took place at Ludlowe as they rotate ever year. 

This was a big discussion, as Ludlowe is a lot smaller than Warde and with online tickets, the game was a sellout. Now, it's often been a sellout when at Ludlowe, but it sold out earlier in the week due to the pre-sale of tickets. 

It made for a crazy packed gymnasium but overall, I thought everything went very smooth. 

As for the games, it was a split decision. 

Ludlowe won the girls game, coming away with a close, hard fought 29-26 victory. 

In the boys' game, Warde came out on top, 50-36. 

The crowd was terrific for both games. From the Nest (Ludlowe student section) to the Stampede (Warde Student Section), to the youth basketball players, parents and other Fairfield community basketball fans.

The games are also Coaches vs Cancer fundraiser games as money is raised in a variety of ways including but not limited to the players raising money in advance, the concession stand at the game and a 50/50 raffle. I've heard a lot of money was raised for cancer research, which is phenomenal. 

Great job by everyone. From Athletic Director's Todd Parness and Gina DiGiacomo to the rest of the staff, parents who were involved, players, coaches, fans and all of the other support staff. It was a crazy day and week, but happy to get it over with and move on with the rest of the season. 

A great night of basketball and a great night for the Town of Fairfield. 

Fairfield Champions

Note: I started writing this post on Saturday afternoon with plans to finish it Saturday night. Got back too late, so I'm finishing Sunday morning. 

This weekend is spring sports state championship weekend around Connecticut. 

Warde baseball and Ludlowe softball were both playing in championship games on Saturday. 

Warde was playing Staples at Palmer Field in Middletown, while Ludlowe played Southington at UConn. 

I went to the softball game, but not baseball. I should have gone to both, but for numerous reasons, did not. 

I did however, follow intently on Twitter. Thanks to Scott Ericson of GameTimeCT and Dave Ruden of The Ruden Report for the updates. 

Warde defeated Staples 2-1 in 10 innings in a classic game. The game-winning hit came from senior starting pitcher Griffin Polley, who threw a terrific game to finish off a great season. Polley was named Championship game MVP. 

The Mustangs are now back-to-back Class LL State Champions to go along with three FCIAC Championships in a row. 

On the softball side, Ludlowe defeated Southington 5-2 to capture the school's first softball title. 

The last out and the celebration as Ludlowe softball won the Class LL State Championship #ctsb pic.twitter.com/UgbVw1pldS

— Shawn Sailer (@ShawnSailer) June 11, 2023

The loss for Southington snapped a 40-game win streak. 

Chelsea Villar was named Championship game MVP for the Falcons, who got the job done with small ball, defense and great pitching. 

Of Ludlowe's five runs, four came off squeeze bunts. 

On the mound for the Falcons Alex Lewey was dealing, allowing just one hit through the first four innings. 

In the fifth, she ran into some trouble. Southington homered to get on the board and then loaded the bases with nobody out. Anna Gedact came in in relief and got out of the inning, allowing just one more run to score and preserving a 4-2 Ludlowe lead. 

Gedacht would shut Southington down the rest of the way. 

Ludlowe got an insurance run in the top of the seventh. Villar doubled to lead off the inning, Later in the inning, with Villar now at third, Katie Tournas laid down a squeeze bunt to push Villar across the plate. 

This was the third time Ludlowe and Southington had met in the last three years late in the postseason and the second time in the championship. The third time was indeed the charm for the Falcons. 

It was a great day for Fairfield public school sports, with both Warde and Ludlowe picking up the championships. 

This concludes not only the spring sports season, but the 2022-2023 sports year for high school sports. 

As with every season, lots of great moments and many tough moments as well, But there's no better way to end a year than with championships, and Warde and Ludlowe did that. 

DeJa Vu

It was a good couple day for sports in Fairfield. On Wednesday, Ludlowe softball won the FCIAC softball championship. On Thursday, Warde baseball won the FCIAC baseball championship.

If those sentences sound familiar, it's because they are. Both Ludlowe softball and Warde baseball are now repeat league champs, having also won in 2021. 

Ludlowe softball defeated Danbury on Wednesday 2-0 behind an Ellie Gallagi two-run single in the sixth inning as well as strong pitching from Alex Lewey (5.1 innings) and Anna Gedacht (1.1 innings). Gallagi was named the game's MVP..

On Thursday, Warde baseball took an early lead against Westhill and never looked back, picking up a 4-1 victory. John Heitzman and Zach Broderick each delivered RBI singles. A bases loaded walk gave Warde another run and the Mustangs led 3-0 after one inning. 

That was all Broderick would need on the mound as he allowed one (unearned) run while throwing a complete game. Broderick would be named MVP for the second consecutive FCIAC Championship. 

Warde tacked on a fourth run on a Broderick sacrifice fly in the second inning. Westhill's run came in the sixth as a steal with runners at the corners led to the run. 

Congrats to both team on their championships. Great players who are also great kids. One Town. 

On a related note, Local Live is the official broadcaster of the FCIAC. They are supposed to be exclusive. Disappointing not to see them at softball at all and there only be a video stream and no broadcaster at baseball. 

Final: Ludlowe 2 Danbury 0. Falcons are FCIAC Champions. #ctsb pic.twitter.com/0VYEwyzPrw

— Shawn Sailer (@ShawnSailer) May 25, 2022

Final: Warde 4 Westhill 1. Mustangs are FCIAC Champions! #ctbase pic.twitter.com/5TsrDSpkva

— Shawn Sailer (@ShawnSailer) May 27, 2022

 

The 'One Town Classic'

The final score graphic from the Ludlowe Baseball social because I didn't take any photos

I probably should have written this on Monday night but it didn't happen so I am writing it now.   

Monday afternoon was the annual Ludlowe vs Warde baseball game.*

*Softball played as well with Ludlowe coming away with the 5-0 win, but I was at the baseball game as a coach for Ludlowe, so that is the one I will discuss. 

The game took place at Fairfield University's Alumni Diamond as both teams decided to play the game there. Thank you to Fairfield University for opening your field for us. Hopefully this is something we can continue in the future. 

Warde came into the game with a record of 13-1, 8-1 in the FCIAC. The Mustangs were ranked number two in the GameTime CT state poll. Ludlowe held a record of 9-4, 5-4 in the league. 

The game was a terrific one, with Ludlowe coming out on top 3-1. 

Warde took a 1-0 lead in the the third as John Heitzman scored from third on a wild pitch. The game would remain that way until the sixth as Warde's Zach Broderick and Ludlowe's Kyle Carozza were dealing. Carozza gave way to Harry Tavella in the fifth and Tavella kept up the strong pitching. 

In the sixth, Ludlowe loaded the bases with two outs. Leo Randazzo reached on an error to lead off the inning and Sean McAdams reached on a bunt single. Later in the inning, with the bases loaded and two outs, Matt Vivona drove a ball over the glove of the outstretched Warde outfielder to clear the bases and give Ludlowe a 3-1 lead. Tavella shut the door and Ludlowe came away with the victory. 

It was a great atmosphere as their were people from both schools and just the town in general. I know there were other people who wanted to be there but it's tough with so many other sports going on and the fact that the game was at 4pm on a Monday. 

The town needed this game, as it was a couple week stretch of some tough times for many people in the town/associated with sports in the town. 

So many people who were instrumental in making the game happen and making it special for the players, and at the end of the day, that's who it's about. The athletes. 

Thank you to Art Cockerham for your work on the music, PA and scoreboard. Thank you to Rob Adams for broadcasting the game so that those who could not make the game could follow along. It's also a memory for many people to have that call and go back and listen to it, days, weeks and years later (present company included!). 

Rob jokingly was calling the game the "One Town Classic" because of my role at both schools. Love it! 

You can hear Rob's broadcast here. 

It's one game on the schedule on 20 regular season games, and that's all it counts for in the standings. That's how I feel as a coach. 

As someone who loves this town, sports and baseball in this town, it means so much more. We have great baseball in this town, from Little League on up, and it's awesome for everyone to come together and put on a display for the town. #OneTown 

Best of luck to both teams as the regular season winds down. Maybe the teams meet again in the FCIAC tournament. That would be.....something. 

I love this game and I hate this game, for personal reasons. But it's great for the town. And great for the student-athletes. And that's what it's about. The athletes