WOODBURY — To succeed, sometimes you have to get outside your comfort zone or go outside the box. For Nonnewaug sports teams, that means playing non-league games. Going against more challenging opponents during the regular season can set up teams for postseason success.
Last year, the Chiefs baseball team won the Class M state championship. Part of the reason was the gauntlet of non-league games they played in preparation for their goals.
“The baseball team played challenging opponents such as Southington and Brookfield,” Nonnewaug athletic director Declan Curtin. “I think it was important for them to play teams like that in order to win that state championship.”
Out-of-league games have been preparing some Nonnewaug teams for postseason play. Most teams play in the Berkshire League, which has eight other schools, so when teams are looking for other foes to fill the openings in their schedules, Curtin arranges them.
“I build relationships with other schools, such as Brookfield, Watertown, and Bethel, among others,” Curtin said. “We try to get good competition especially for our high-level teams so it can prepare them for postseason games.”
The Northwest United Workhorses were one of the Connecticut Technical Conference teams that joined the Connecticut Football Alliance, which is a group that schedules non-conference games for football. This was NWU’s first season playing in the Alliance, and the Workhorses had success, beating East Lyme and Stratford.
Northwest United head coach Jennifer Garzone was excited to join the Alliance.
“We didn’t choose the opponents; we just joined the Alliance and they put the games together from there. I was excited to play bigger schools and prove people wrong,” Garzone said. “It gave us the opportunity to beat some teams people didn’t think we could beat, and it also challenged our players and made them fight.”
Because the Berkshire League only has seven teams in volleyball, Nonnewaug had to play eight regular-season out-of-conference games. The Chiefs went 8-0 in those games.
“Those games gave us great competition, preparing us for states, and I think those games had a big part in our success as a team this season,” senior captain Maggie Keane said. “Our team looked forward to those games as we loved to play against really good teams.”
The boys soccer team, coached by Toby Denman, doesn’t play any non-conference games because the BL provides a full 16-game schedule in boys and girls soccer, the only sports that don’t have non-league openings.
“I think if we played some out-of-league games, it could have helped us prepare for states, but it is what it is,” senior captain Nick Higgins said.
The 2023 season was the last year, though, that the soccer teams will be the only ones at Nonnewaug High School to not play out-of-league games because the upcoming merger of Wamogo and Litchfield will drop the league to eight teams, giving the Chiefs two non-league openings in their soccer schedules.
“I know the underclassmen will rise to the challenge next season when they have to play those non-league games,” said Higgins.
