The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1942-02-13
STRONG RIVALS
AT Wildly GYM
SATURDAY EVE
Schofield Squad in Thick
of Fight for Valley
Championship
BY HUGO HOOKSHOT

Any time Crosby and TorrinRton
High school sports teams meet, whe-
ther on diamond, court or gridiron,
the contest Is quite apt to be very
interesting to John @. Fan and his
lady friend, too, if any. Tomorrow
night, for instance, the 1912 basket
ball boys from the New and Brass
City schools will match points in
the Wildly gym. Such game, of It
self can be counted upon to provide
more than an ordinary amount of
interest, for there have been few
basketball seasons that Crosby and
Torrington did not come up with
better than flair to middlin" hoop
units, and this year is no exception.
AS a matter Of fact, if Crosby wins
tomorrow, it will 60 into tie with
Warren Harding of Bridgeport for
the Naugatuck Valley championship.
If Torrington wins, 1t can sew up
the title, providing Ansonia, much
improved team, defeated Harding on
the latters' home floor, which 1t
does not figure to do under ordinary
circumstances, but this has been no
ordinary season, as witness Wilby's
defeat Of Harding recently at Bridge
port, to boot, in which a last place
outfit that has been playing bad
basketball all season, rose to the
heights to stop the league-leaders
and thereby help its arch-riyal,
Crosby and also Torrington.
Can Wildly Win?
Wildly goes to Naugatuck tornor-
row night and figures to be taken
unless 1t can pull another surprise
deluxe as it did in Bridgeport,
though Naugy has always and ever
been very tough to take in 'its own
back yard" Naugatuck comes to
Waterbury next week Wednesday to
meet Crosby at the Wildly gym.
Therefore, tomorrow nights Cros-
by-Torrington game Is very import
ant to both outfits, for Crosby can
tie Harding for the lead, and then
get the lead If Ansonia obliges by
knocking off the Presidents tomor-
row afternoon. It's quite compli-
Gated, for four way tie Is possible,
too, but good old Hugo is not so
hot with logarithms, so we will wait
and see what happens.
Torrington's Sam Ponzi, tall, ag-
gressive center and a nifty boy
under the hoops, Captain Jinx On
eglia and Sonny Tedesco are going
to be the headaches for the Crosby
defense, while the Schofleld squad
now has another potential high
pointer, Bud Belanger, a guard, who
got 16 points at Ansonia, and with
co-Captains Kelly and Fisher and
the advantage OF its home floor,
should be able to match Torrington
point for point and perhaps win
with a few points to spare. The scor-
ing battle between Kelly and Ponzi
alone, should bring out big crowd
Of fans who realize the class Of the
two boys concerned.
In State Meet
Crosby is already set for a state
tournament starting post having
won five of eight games played to
date while the leaders, Harding and
Torrington have won 6 of 9. Tor
rington topped Crosby by ten points
in the New City, but the latter is de-
flnitely better team now than the
one that lost the game, but will
have to prove it tomorrow night
when the chips are down."
Another interesting angle of the
Crosby -Torrington game is that
Torrington has scored but SO more
points than its opponents in nine
games while Crosby has "a points
more than eight opponents.