CT Insider will host the first GametimeCT High School Sports Awards show this summer.
The GametimeCT High School Sports Awards Show will bring together student-athletes, coaches, families and community leaders to recognize and celebrate the outstanding performances, achievements and sportsmanship that made this year unforgettable. From All-State MVPs to the year’s greatest plays, we'll highlight the best of the best across all high school sports in our state.
Expect a night of celebration, inspiring moments and special guests as we shine a spotlight on Connecticut’s top talent and honor the dedication and hard work of our local sports community.
CT Insider is the home of GametimeCT and Hearst Connecticut Media Group's statewide website. GametimeCT, in its 12th school year, is dedicated to covering the very best in high school sports across Connecticut.
Event details will be announced in the coming days.
Listed below are the finalists, in alphabetical order, for each category. In addition to these awards, GametimeCT will honor its All-State teams, its Athlete of the Week award winners and its All-State MVP winners.
Athlete of the Year — Boys Sports
Kadear Dembele, West Haven football: GamtetimeCT Football MVP made 74 tackles and 15.5 sacks to lead Westies to Class LL final. He will play at Wake Forest next season.
Soheib Dissa, Newtown cross country/track: GametimeCT Cross Country MVP won the State Open and New England championship. Won State Open title in indoor track.
Drayvn Roberts, East Hartford football/wrestling: A GametimeCT All-State selection in both sports, Roberts was an all-purpose quarterback for the Hornets. As a wrestler, won four straight Class LL titles and a State Open crown as a senior. Will play football at Central Connecticut.
Abdou Toure, Notre Dame-West Haven basketball: GametimeCT MVP, ranked among the top 50 recruits nationally in his class, led NDWH to the Division I state championship. He has more than 15 Division I offers.
Josh Marcus, Staples football/boys lacrosse: Was a first-team All-state punter for the CIAC Class L runners up in football and the GametimeCT player of the year and a three-time state championship goaltender, including this year's Class L championship. Also won a state title in football as a junior.
Athlete of the Year — Girls Sports
Lauren Kropo, Naugatuck track: GametimeCT Indoor Track MVP set three CIAC Class L meet records, in the 55, 300 and 600 meters.
Ceci Patterson, New Canaan soccer, basketball, lacrosse: All-American and top-ranked lacrosse goalie nationally in senior class, is signed to play for Notre Dame. Helped soccer to FCIAC and CIAC championships and basketball to an FCIAC runner up finish.
Alexa Pino, St. Joseph soccer: Three-time Player of Year for GametimeCT had 24 goals and 23 assists to lead Cadets to fourth-straight state championship game. Signed to play at South Carolina, ended career with 123 goals.
Brooke Strauss, Glastonbury cross country/track: GametimeCT Cross Country MVP won State Open, then won mile at indoor track national championships.
Cam Fisher, Ellington: GametimeCT Softball Player of the Year. She led the Purple Knights to the Class L semifinals both as one of the state's top pitchers and batters.
Team of the Year — Boys Sports
Farmington boys soccer: The only non-Class LL team to voluntarily opt into the top division won the CIAC Class LL tournament championship.
Greenwich boys swimming: Cardinals won their 11th straight CIAC Class LL championship meet and 49th overall. Added 11th straight State Open and 39th overall.
Manchester boys basketball: Captured CIAC Division II tournament crown for first state title since 1938.
Shepaug Valley boys basketball: Completed a 27-0 record with the CIAC Division V tournament championship, the first in the program's histsory.
Lyman Hall baseball — Went 25-3, including its first SCC title and the Class L championship for its first state title since 2002 and finished No. 1 in the GametimeCT Top 10 poll.
Team of the Year — Girls Sports
Bloomfield indoor track: Won its 15th straight CIAC Class S championship meet and fourth State Open. More than doubled point total of runner-up in the State Open. Bloomfield also won the Class M and State Open in outdoor track.
Darien hockey: Went 22-0 with championships on both the FCIAC and state tournaments after allowing just 10 goals in 22 games.
Northwest Catholic girls basketball: Won the CIAC Class L tournament championship over Bethel, its third straight CIAC title, all in different classes.
Staples field hockey: Staples won the CIAC Class L tournament title and finished the year 19-1-0-0, with its only loss a 3-2 defeat to the No.1 ranked team in New Jersey, Camden Catholic.
Foran softball: Went 28-0, winning a state championship battle of unbeatens with a 1-0, 13-inning victory over No. 1 seeded Woodland behind Abigail Corris epic performance, striking out 32 batters in a three-hit shutout.
Play of the Year
Mercy girls soccer: Molly Benson, a 15-year old sophomore scored the game-winner in the closing seconds on an assist from her sister Kaylee, an 18-year old senior, to lead Mercy to a 2-1 win over St. Joseph in the CIAC Class LL championship . The play was featured on ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10 Plays.
Ansonia football: With the Chargers trailing by one with 0.5 seconds remaining in the CIAC Class S semifinals , Ansonia quarterback Matteo Sorrentino connected with receiver Romeo Charles for a 34-yard touchdown to defeat Woodland 30-23. The play was featured as Scott Van Pelt's Best Thing I Saw Today on ESPN.
St. Bernard boys basketball: Tyler Mangual hit a running 3-point shot to lift St. Bernard to a 66-65 victory over Notre Dame Prep at Sacred Heart University’s Pitt Center in a matchup of the top two teams ranked in the GametimeCT Top 10 poll at the time.
Weston boys basketball: Kollen Kyle banked in a shot just beyond half court at the buzzer to help Weston defeat Masuk 52-49 in a SWC playoff quarterfinal-round game on Kyle's 17th birthday. The play was featured on ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10 Plays.
Guilford field hockey: Cassie Ward scored with 7:42 remaining in the second overtime to lift the Grizzlies to the CIAC Class M field hockey championship .
Coach of the Year — Boys Sports
Nick Boorman, Farmington soccer: Led team to CIAC Class LL tournament championship with a 3-1 win over Xavier as the No. 7 seed. Boorman gave his players the opportunity to vote to move up to Class LL in the preseason.
Joe Della Vecchia, St. Joseph football: The 26-year head coach guided team to school's 16th state championship, juggling key injuries and navigating one of the state's toughest schedules to finish the regular season 7-3 and knocking off two unbeaten teams -- Hand and Brookfield -- in the final two rounds to win the Class M championship.
John Reiser, Manchester basketball: Became only the third coach in Connecticut high school basketball history to capture a state championship with both boys and girls teams by leading Red Hawks to a 77-74 win over New London for the CIAC Division II championship , their first state title since 1938, in their first appearance since 1956.
Jason Shaughnessy, Fairfield Warde wrestling: Won his 500th match during a season which the Mustangs won the FCIAC and Class LL championships and snapped Danbury's FCIAC dual meet streak at 461, handing the Hatters their first dual meet loss since 1986.
Mike McDermott, South Windsor baseball: Coached team to a 1-0 victory over No. 32-seeded Glastonbury to win the Class LL baseball championship, the school's first title since 1993.
Coach of the Year — Girls Sports
Mike Busillo, Sheehan girls basketball: Busillo led the Titans to their first CIAC championship since 1976 with a 56-51 win over top-seeded East Catholic in the Class M tournament final.
Cathy McMahon, Trumbull gymnastics: Led Trumbull to both the CIAC Class L and State Open championships for the second-straight year.
Owen Moore, Shepaug field hockey: At 22-years old led 12th-seeded Shepaug, captained by his sister Clare, to a 1-0 win over Sacred Heart Academy in the CIAC Class S championship game .
Danielle Scolpino, Bethel girls basketball: A 2010 graduate of Bethel, Scolpino led the Wildcats to their first CIAC championship game appearance and second SWC tournament crown. Bethel fell to Northwest Catholic in the Class L final.
Leigh Barone, Masuk softball: Coached her team to a seventh-consecutive state championship, 3-0 over Waterford in the Class L championship. Team also needed to rally past St. Joseph in the semifinals.
Comeback Player of the Year — Boys Sports
Connor Fahey, St. Joseph baseball: A year to the day after having surgery on his right hamstring, Fahey broke the tibia and fibula in his left leg. He missed two football seasons and a baseball season before returning to play in his senior spring .
Alex Lamarre, Bristol Central wrestling: First overcame a broken elbow suffered in December to battle back to the State Open final at 138 pounds . Then, he injured his right knee and ankle in the semifinals, battled through to defeat Simsbury senior Coleman Finn, 5-3, before his knee buckled and he fell to the mat.
Ryan Johnston, Trumbull basketball/baseball: After having surgery on his right leg in late December, he was told the recovery time would be six to eight months . He returned to play baseball for the Eagles in mid-May.
Comeback Player of the Year — Girls Sports
Vanessa Greenstein, Brookfield girls lacrosse: Suffered a torn ACL during lacrosse season, an injury that ended her junior year of competition and required nearly a full year of recovery. She missed the volleyball season, yet never missed a practice or game—showing up every day to support, encourage, and lead her teammates from the sidelines. She returned to the field in the first game of this lacrosse season against Bethel, reclaiming her role as a key player with the same determination and excellence that defined her pre-injury success.
Olivia Kelly, Old Lyme girls soccer / basketball / softball: Suffered three ACL injuries since 2021, two on her left knee. Two occurred during soccer season, one during basketball season. Missed all but four games of three basketball seasons, two full softball seasons and parts of two seasons in soccer.
Bella Lonergan, Darien girls hockey: After missing the last three seasons with injuries, the senior took over the starter’s role with the Blue Wave and led the state’s top defense. She allowed just seven goals overall and had 14 shutouts while helping Darien go 22-0 with state and FCIAC championships.
Championship Moment — Boys Sports
Brookfield Soccer: It took two halves of regulation, two overtime periods and four rounds of PKs for Brookfield to claim the CIAC Class L boys soccer championship. Brookfield finally pulled away when Brady Bulakowski found the back of the net on his team’s 20th penalty kick for a 15-13 win.
Manchester boys basketball: Cameron Major hit his only shot of the game, a 3-pointer to put the Red Hawks up five with 27.8 seconds left in regulation of a 77-74 win over New London in the CIAC Division II championship game to give Manchester its first state title since 1938 .
Masuk football: Junior Jackson Zylick kicked a game-winning 27-yard field goal with four seconds left to lead sixth-seeded Masuk over No. 1 Windsor, 24-21 in the CIAC Class MM final. Zylick came on to kick what would’ve been a 38-yard field goal, but Windsor called timeout just before Zylick kicked the ball to ice him. Zylick’s kick fell just short after the timeout, but the Warriors were called for roughing the kicker to move the ball up to the latter’s 10 to set up the game-winner.
St. Joseph football: The fourth-seeded Hogs built a 21-point third-quarter lead then needed every single point as Brookfield's bid for a two-point conversion to give the second-seeded Bobcats a one-point lead with 1:02 left came up a yard short. St. Joseph held on for a 21-20 win at Rentschler Field.
Woodland boys swimming: After two straight runner-up finishes, Woodland captured the CIAC Class S state championship by edging Northwestern Regional. Leading by just one point in the final race of the meet, Woodland's 400-yard relay of Nolan Bernier, Arkadiusz Kuzebski, Ryan Iannone and Alex Weisenbacher came in second with a time of 3:21.30, edging Northwestern (3:21.42), who took third place.
Championship Moment — Girls Sports
Farmington volleyball: Rallied from a 2-0 deficit and down by eight points in the third set to repeat as CIAC Class L champions with win over Bristol Central.
Chase Gilbert, Old Lyme indoor track: Broke the State Open record in the 1600 meters at State Open in 4:44.68 to beat Brooke Strauss and Tess Sherry.
Mercy soccer: Molly Benson scored as time ran out to give No. 2 seed Mercy an exhilarating 2-1 victory and the Class LL title over top seed St. Joseph. Molly Benson had the original serve into the box that came to her older sister Kaylee, whose attempt ended up coming back to Molly, who kicked it into the goal and set off the wild Tigers’ celebration
Ridgefield girls swimming: Broke the state record in the final event of the meet , 400 freestyle relay, to clinch the CIAC State Open title. The relay team of Lily Archibald, Bridget Kelly, Ava Ward, and Keira Giles finished in 3:23.97.
Shepaug Valley field hockey: Won the CIAC Class S championship led by 22-year-old head coach Owen Moore, the older brother of the team's best player, Clare Moore
Inspiration Award
Alex Inyatkin, Windsor cross country/track: The senior has overcome Tuberous sclerosis complex and autism to excel as a runner and a musician. Born with benign tumors in his brain that were causing him to have up to 80 seizures a day, there was a chance Alex would never be able to walk or talk. After undergoing successful surgery at age 18 months, Alex defied those odds and, while still coping day to day with his autism, developed into a standout distance runner and an accomplished musician who has sung at Radio City Music Hall and Madison Square Garden.
Community Service Award
AJ Tornatore, Stamford lacrosse: Co-founded Stamford's BuildOn chapter, then raised funds to build a school in Malawi last summer, along with teaching kids in the African country how to play lacrosse.
Special Recognition Award
Tom Brockett, Ansonia football: Concluded an 18-year head coaching career, taking the already dominant program to new heights with eight state titles among 215 victories against just 18 losses. Brockett retired as the most efficient winner in state history with a .923 career percentage.