Parents, Youth Football Credited For Team's Success

Heather Russak, a math teacher at Ledyard High School, has been organizing the football team’s weekly pasta dinners since 2007. She said she had taken in a player that year, Trevor Montierth.

“I wanted football to be a great experience for Trevor, so I went to Jimmy – he was pretty new here at the time – and I asked what I could do to help out. He asked me what I wanted to do, and I said anything off the field or behind the scenes to help bring the team together.”

“Jimmy,” aka head coach Jim Buonocore, asked Russak about pasta dinners. There had been a practice among some Ledyard parents of hosting pasta dinners the night before games.

Russak said the last thing she wanted was 50 teenagers traipsing through her house, so she and Buonocore talked about having the dinners at the school.

Out of that initial conversation came the tradition of Thursday night pasta dinners in the school cafeteria. Russak said for years all of the parents chipped with pasta dishes and bread and salad. “It was a lot of work, but it wasn’t so bad when it wasn’t all on one person.”

More recently, the dinners have been catered by Richie Vetrano of Valentino’s Restaurant. “Richie’s a good guy,” she said. “He gave us a good deal.”

Russak, who still coordinates the weekly productions, said the dinners have helped contribute to the team’s solidarity.

“This group of boys is very cohesive,” Russak said. “They’re not out for themselves. They’re very team-oriented, just a really tight group.”

Tight parents group, too

She said a similar thing can be said for the parents of these boys. Every game a group of 20-25 parents can be found up in the bleachers under the press box, with their cow bells and air horns, hooting and hollering.

“There’s Mark Rieman – he’s one of the coaches – and the Karpis, the Wootens, Mrs. Perry, the Turners – Mrs. Turner is always in the stands, Mr. Turner is usually down on the field. There’s the Moraleses, there’s Corey Smith, Dallas Smith’s father, and Steve Daggett – he’s on the field doing the stats.”

And Ted Stockmon, father of center Evan Stockmon. He and parent Sharon Baxley can usually be found down on the field with their cameras.

“For a handful of us parents, this goes back almost a decade,” Stockmon said. “My son Evan started at 8 years old in youth football. He started with Dallas Smith, Tommy Finney… You’ve got to know that these kids have been best friends since youth football. Four out of five on the offensive line are buddies since they were 11 or 12 years old. Bobby Bozym, Alec Gabriel, Ben Morales and Evan Stockmon – they’re the best of friends, and here they are, standing side by side.”

Stockmon said it’s no accident these kids grew up to be not only good athletes, but quality young men. He gives a lot of the credit to Ledyard youth football.

Youth football was huge

“Over the years, my kid’s coaches were Corey Smith, Mark Baxley, Steve Daggett. These were all good parents. I couldn’t have had my kid in better hands. Under their leadership, these kids were being groomed toward a team mentality since they were 8 years old. There are no prima donnas on this team, just good kids.”

Stockmon lives in North Haven, where he works as a police officer. He drives 50 miles to see the games.

“Bobby Bozym’s dad lives in Fairfield, even farther away,” Stockmon said. “And we haven’t missed a game in years.”

“All of the parents have been very supportive and helpful to the program, which has been vital to our success,” coach Buonocore said. “When parents are on board and are reinforcing the teaching concepts of the coaching staff, so many great things can get accomplished. I am so thankful and grateful for the support, dedication, and spirit from all of our parents of Ledyard High School football players.” 

The coach also thanked Vetrano from Valentino's, whose pasta dinner tonight will be provided free of charge. And he thanked Art Lamoreaux of the Coast Guard Academy for providing outdoor and indoor facilities for practice during the playoff stretch.

“We have a good coach, we have really good assistant coaches. But these seniors – Slade Baxley, Alex Manwaring, Dallas Smith – these are humble kids,” Stockmon said. “They’re not full of themselves. They’re not ego-driven, they’re team-driven. And as corny as that sounds, it has worked wonders for a team that wasn’t on anybody’s radar for being where they are.”