Gilbert/Northwestern Yellowjackets hope to have memorable season


By Pete Paguaga, Register Citizen   

WINSTED --- After a disappointing 7-3 season which saw the Gilbert/Northwestern Yellowjackets finish fifth in the Pequot Conference and on the outside looking in for the State playoffs, the Yellowjackets have high hopes for this season.

“I want that damn banner, we want to hang something up,” said Yellowjackets head coach Scott Salius speaking of the Yellowjackets goals this season. “Twenty years from now, I want them (players) to see the banner in the gym and say I did this.”

The Yellowjackets will have a tough road ahead if they want to win their first conference championship since the 1970’s. Though they made the Class M semifinals in 2010 they didn’t win the conference.

“We got to win the hard ones, we have to be able to beat the top teams,” said Salius. “We always get close.”
One game that stands out to Salius was their 20-17 loss to Ellington/Somers.

“We were beating Ellington 17-7 in the fourth quarter and we lost,” he said. “We have to finish against the quality teams.”

Leading the way for the Yellowjackets this season are senior quarterback John Lippincott and senior running back Tony Ortiz, who are two of the Yellowjackets four captains.

“I’m blessed to have had great backs, Tony is just an overall athlete,” he said. “Johnny is the best overall leader I’ve had in my tenure; he’s been a leader since he was a freshman.”

The combination of Lippincott and Ortiz leading the Yellowjackets’ run heavy offense was very successful last season with Ortiz rushing for 1280 yards and 13 rushing touchdowns while Lippincott threw for 20 touchdowns and 14 interceptions to go along with seven rushing touchdowns, according to MaxPreps.

“We have to keep the momentum up,” said Ortiz.

FOOTBALL: Gilbert/Northwestern hoping to be one point better

By KEVIN D. ROBERTS
Special to the Register Citizen

WINSTED — One point.

That is what kept the Gilbert/Northwestern football team out of a second straight Class M state playoff berth in 2011. The Yellowjackets were in the hunt until the final minute of a road game against Stafford/East Windsor on a cold November night in Stafford Springs. GN watched a 14-0 halftime lead, and a win, evaporate, 22-21 on a two-point conversion. The Yellowjackets ended the year at 7-3 and finished five points out of the eighth and final playoff spot, which was taken by Bethel.

The mentality of this year’s Gilbert/Northwestern crop is simple. Jump on the opponent, and don’t let up.

“We want to get up early,” Yellowjacket head coach Scott Salius said after a Sept. 1 scrimmage against Lewis Mills and St. Paul Catholic at Van Why Memorial Field. “We want to come out of the box early, so we can get our No. 1’s rest.”

GN typically has small numbers, which means most players go both ways. As Salius put it after the Simsbury Jamboree on Aug. 29: “We don’t have 1’s and 2’s and 3’s and 4’s. We got us.”

Senior captain John Ambrozaitis doesn’t seem to mind.

“I think it’s better,” Ambrozaitis said. “You never come off, so you have a short memory.”

A short memory is a good thing, but Salius pointed out that going two ways for a whole game isn’t always good.

“We can’t go even with a big team,” Salius said.

From the Torrington Register Citizen:

WOLCOTT TECH ADJUSTS TO LIFE AWAY FROM HOME FIELD

TORRINGTON — The Wolcott Tech football team is used to adversity.

The team didn’t play a true home game in its first varsity season, 2008. The Wildcats played at Torrington’s Pop Warner field for its home games, with one final game on Thanksgiving against Lewis Mills’ junior varsity team.

In 2009, the home games were played at Oliver Wolcott Technical High School. There have been points since then where Wolcott Tech has had to move its home games to the road because of poor field conditions. Wildcat athletic director Ray Tanguay is hoping that the new softball field and drainage systems being installed on the athletic complex remedy that issue. The project comes from the State of Connecticut, as can be seen by the giant sign with Gov. Dannel Malloy’s name on it that sits just inside the property fence on Winthrop Street.

“It’s just a waiting game,” Tanguay said in an interview on Wednesday night.

 GILBERT/NORTHWESTERN EYES PLAYOFF BERTH

Gilbert/Northwestern, another team that started Wednesday, has around 45 players, according to head coach Scott Salius. The Yellowjackets went inside The Gilbert School’s gymnasium until the lightning cleared in the evening, then went back out to the practice field behind the school to work.

“There always seems to be something,” Salius said. “Fight against the weather, fight against time, everything else, but first day, we’re just trying to hit them with the very, very, very, very basics, either brand new for the new guys or just a review for the old guys.”

Gilbert/Northwestern doesn’t have time to waste, given it will be facing the same five games that it had to open the 2011 season. The Yellowjackets went 3-2 against Coventry/Windham Tech (loss), Enfield (win), Ellington/Somers (loss), SMSA/University (win) and Avon (win). GN finished 7-3 and was a mere two-point conversion away against Stafford/East Windsor (a 22-21 loss) from a second straight Class M playoff berth. The Yellowjackets went 8-2 in the regular season in 2010 before going 1-1 in the ‘M’ playoffs.

“This year’s kind of pivotal for us,” Salius said. “The future’s looking really good for us.”

Read more here.