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Schools

North Haven Elementary Schools Participate in "Frenzied Finale of Four"

Green Acres wins 2011 Championship Game against Clintonville!

North Haven elementary school pride was on full display Friday afternoon. Fifth grade students from Clintonville, Green Acres, Montowese, and Ridge Road schools were part of the third annual intramural basketball tournament, the “Frenzied Finale of Four”, held at the North Haven High School.

The schools requested that attendees donate a canned food item as their cost of admission to the tournament. The donations went to the Community Services Food Bank. In addition, Montowese School ran the concession stand, with proceeds going to their fund to build a new playground.

Leading up to the tournament, the students had three weeks of practice. Each team was comprised of students with varying levels of skill. Yet, when it came to the game, students shared the basketball, passed to each other, and operated as a team.

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The first game, at 4 p.m., pitted Montowese against Green Acres. Both teams played a great game and Green Acres won by a close margin, 39-37. The second game was Ridge Road versus Clintonville, and despite being a low scoring game, the teams were evenly matched with a final score of 21-20.

The Championship game was played between Green Acres and Clintonville, both newcomers to the finals. Rose Puzone, a Green Acres parent, whose son Andrew participated in the tournament, said, “I will be happy with whichever team wins because neither team has ever won the championship before”.

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The game went down to the buzzer with the final score of 26-25. Mark Montano’s ability to kill the clock in the final seconds of the game clinched the win for Green Acres, despite a valiant rally by Clintonville, who earlier in the game had been down by as many as nine points.

Winning Coach Ben Staron, Green Acres Physical Education teacher, said, “I am happy to see all of the kids having fun together. It was more about bringing the kids together than anything else." The coaches made sure everyone had the opportunity to play. Every couple of minutes a buzzer signaled a shift in the rotation.

Students, principals, faculty and staff from the elementary schools all turned out to support their teams. Many teachers and principals wore the same color shirts as their school's team. Mary Federico, principal at Montowese wore red in support of her students, as did Chris Barry, Montowese’s Physical Education teacher.

Green Acres fifth grade teachers Jeanne Savoia, Connie Schingh, Shawna Bobbie and Natasha Domina sat behind the bench to show support for their students. Principal Linda Cahill rooted for Green Acres from the sidelines.

The crowd included many students who came to support their classmates, as well as family members of the players and underclassmen from the four elementary schools.

In another display of school spirit, students from the various schools proudly displayed handmade signs and banners that they created in order to energize their teams. At Green Acres, art teacher Sheri Schwarz helped students create banners and posters to cheer on their friends. Many students gave up their recess time to create the beautiful banners of support.

Stressing the importance of sportsmanship was of the utmost importance in this tournament. When players bumped each other or committed fouls, coaches and officials made sure to get the parties involved to shake hands and not allow it to escalate.

Special thanks to the coaches for taking the time to nurture the players, teach them the fundamentals of basketball and above all remind them to have fun while doing it.

The coaches were:

Clintonville – Frank Naples, Physical Education Teacher

Green Acres – Benjamin Staron, Physical Education Teacher

Montowese – Matt Mannochi, 5th grade teacher and Agnes Cornwall, Art Teacher

Ridge Road – Kate Giamattei, Art Teacher and Anthony Giamattei, Middle School Guidance Counselor

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