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Turkey Bowl Tickets Sold Out; NCHS Issues Parking, Attendance Instructions

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Tickets for Thursday’s “Turkey Bowl”—the annual rival football game between New Canaan and Darien High Schools—are sold out, officials say. Those attending the game at Dunning Field should expect traffic delays, according to a press release issued by NCHS Athletic Director Jay Egan. “The recommended entrance and parking area for New Canaan fans is through the main entrance of the high school,” the press release said. “Overflow parking is available at South Elementary School.”

It added: “Spectators are reminded that the consumption or possession of alcoholic beverages on any New Canaan school property is prohibited. This will be strictly enforced.

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Superintendent: Winter Sports Guidance Says Vaccinated Student-Athletes Aren’t Required To Wear Masks In-Game After Dec. 23

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Fully vaccinated students playing some winter sports that since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic have had to wear masks in-game—including basketball, hockey, indoor track and cheerleading—will not need to wear masks while competing after Dec. 23, according to new guidance cited Monday night by Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi. Saying he’d just received the guidance from the CIAC and state Department of Public Health en route to the Board of Education’s meeting, Luizzi said the state agencies are “making some changes.”

“It says ‘partially or unvaccinated participants have to wear their masks the whole time,’ ” Luizzi said during the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School and via videoconference. “They go on to say wrestling does not need to wear masks, swimming and diving does not need to wear masks, again if fully vaccinated, and the same goes with cheerleading, dance and gymnastics. Wrestling was never required because of a fear about the mask itself and choking and what have you.

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11 NCHS Seniors Sign Letters of Intent To Play Sports in College

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Eleven New Canaan High School seniors on Wednesday signed early Letters of Intent to play sports in college starting next year. The photos below are from a signing ceremony overseen by NCHS Athletic Director Jay Egan, held early afternoon at Waveny House. 

Egan thanked the All Sports Booster Club for its organization of the annual ceremony, saying it’s “the culmination of a lot of hard work and a lot of effort on the part of these athletes.”

“And not only these athletes but their families, their coaches and all their support people,” Egan said. “So it’s really a day for us all to celebrate what these young people have achieved. And it’s also the beginning of something else for you guys.”

We asked the student-athletes why they chose their future schools. 

Grace Gilman

Lehigh
Field Hockey
“As soon as I started talking to the coaches, it automatically felt like where I needed to be. I think the team culture is incredible and the regrowth that my coach, Caitlin Dallmeyer, is trying to make is, I think, an incredible decision.

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New Canaan Old Timers Association To Induct Six Athletes, Honor Wilky Gilmore

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After missing a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the spotlight will once again shine on local sports figures from the past as the New Canaan Old Timers Association hosts its annual honoree ceremony on Sunday, September 19th at Waveny. 2021 inductees will be Bobby Festo, Paul Gallo, Tom McInerney, Lew Socci and Katey Twombly. Also being recognized at this year’s affair as the Loren J. Keyes Memorial Honoree is all-time New Canaan basketball great, the late Wilky Gilmore. 

Bobby Festo is listed in the Who’s Who of American High School Athletes as an All-American in track and field, an honorable mention on the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletics Conference county soccer team as a goalkeeper his senior year in New Canaan. He holds many track and field records as a sprinter for New Canaan, and won many medals at state and invitational track and field competitions as a sprinter in both individual events and as a member of a relay team. He went to college at Southern Connecticut State College where he joined the men’s track team for a year and a half while also participating on the men’s soccer team.

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‘A Great Feeling’: Paladino Construction Wins New Canaan Rec Softball Title 

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Joe Paladino hadn’t played softball in 10 years when he attended a friend’s party in 1999 and heard about New Canaan’s Rec Department summer league. He signed up, and five years later launched his own Paladino Construction team, working through some difficult and even winless early seasons before finally getting to .500 mark and consistently making the finals. “We considered ourselves the Buffalo Bills of New Canaan softball,” Paladino recalled. “We always got to dance but could never make the magic happen.”

Until recently. Last week, Paladino Construction bested a team called “The Firm” by a combined three-game score of 34-11 to capture its second straight league championship.