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Canton finished with a 7-3-6 record in the regular season, good enough for fourth place in the league. The six ties set a new single-season record for CHS.
Over a 10-day span in October, Canton had four straight ties against East Windsor, Somers, Stafford and Avon.
Canton beat East Hampton, 2-1 in its opening Class S tournament game, but faltered to N.W. Catholic in the quarterfinals, 2-1. "We played not to lose and you have to play to win," he said. "I thought we would do that against East Hampton, but we played one of our best games of the year."
Two senior starters were named to the All-NCCC team. Brian Phelps and David Spatcher were voted onto the all-conference team and received invitations to participate in the Senior Bowl.
Phelps scored five goals this season including the game-winning scores in victories over Suffield on opening day and East Granby. Spatcher had three goals including game-winning goals against Suffield in late October and against East Hampton in the tournament. Phelps, Spatcher, Toby Hearn, Heath Cotton and Blake Eckert played in the NCCC Senior Bowl for the West squad against All-Stars from the East.
Eight starters will return for next year so the cupboard won't be bare for the Warriors in 2005.
CROSS COUNTRY: The Canton boys cross country team finished 20th out of 21 teams in the CIAC State Open. Junior Chris Bussiere led the way for the Warriors with a time of 17:11 over a snowy Wickham Park course, good enough for 40th place, which is believed to be the best finish ever for a Canton boy at the Open. Robert Patterson had finished 77th in 1995.
Canton finished ahead of Shepaug, which beat them at the Class S championships. Sophomore Chris Bradley (17:53, 111th), junior Phil Prosser (18:22, 141), sophomore Greg Carpenter (18:24, 143) and seniors Andrew Kenyon (19:04, 165), Ted Powell (19:19, 170) and Sean Romano (19:27, 174) rounded out the squad.
In the State Open girls race, Canton's lone representative, freshman Melissa Hambley finished in 69th spot at the State Open with a time of 17:19.
GIRLS SOCCER: The Warriors missed the tournament with a 5-9-2 record but they had some memorable moments under second-year coach Kevin McKenna. Junior Olivia Kravitz's goal from 30 yards out with 54 seconds left in the first half gave Canton a stunning 1-0 victory over Avon in September. Not only did it snap a 61-match unbeaten streak (58-0-3) for Avon dating back to 2001, but it was Canton's first win ever over the Falcons.
Kravitz also had three goals in a 5-4 win over Somers in the annual night game in October. A spectacular save from Stafford goalie Rachel Richards with 14 seconds left in regulation on a Kravitz shot preserved a 1-0 victory for the Bulldogs, who were 9-1 at the time in late October. She finished with a team-high six goals this year.
