30-Year Reunion Feature --- Warde Volleyball 1976

One of the highlights of Andrew Warde High School's sports program during the 1975-76 school year was the football team's sweep of Roger Ludlowe High School on the gridiron. It marked the only time both schools played each other twice in the same season. The Crimson Eagles won both contests by the scores of 27-13 and 28-6.

This year, the schools will meet for the first time at Warde since Thanksgiving of 1984. That game marked the last-ever varsity football game for the Crimson Eagles. Fairfield Ludlowe won last season's first renewal of the rivalry, 20-14, at the Unquowa Road home of the Falcons.

Another highlight was the baseball team's dramatic come-from-behind victory over the Flying Tigers at Ludlowe on May 12. The victorious Crimson Eagles scored four runs in the seventh inning to post the 4-2 triumph over the state-playoff bound Tigers. Bob Henry pitched a complete game three-hitter for the winners.

However, the most successful Warde sports squad 30 years ago was the girls' volleyball team. The Lady Crimson Eagles advanced to the state championship before falling to Maloney High School of Meriden. It was the first of four state title appearances for coach Ed Bengermino's teams. They also lost to Maloney the following year (1977), Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference rival Westhill of Stamford (1980), and perennial power Amity Regional (1983).

Bengermino's volleyball teams consistently finished among the top teams in the FCIAC every year. Many of his players earned all-conference honors. His legacy as one of the greatest coaches at the Melville Avenue school also includes back-to-back baseball state championship game appearances in 1981 and 82. The Warde Crimson Eagles baseball team won the Class LL title in dramatic fashion by defeating Rockville, 9-8, in 1981, but they lost a heartbreaker to North Haven, 7-6, one year later.

It was Bengermino's volleyball team which will be remembered during our senior year at Andrew Warde, though. The team got off to a tremendous start by winning its four matches in shutout fashion. The Lady Eagles won their fifth match, 2-1, against rival Ludlowe, before falling to Stamford's Westhill High School, 2-1. The team won its next nine matches, eight of which were shutouts, to finish with a 14-1 record heading into the league playoffs.

The squad lost the FCIAC title to Westhill, then entered the CIAC tournament ranked third in the state. In the first round of the double-elimination tournament, the girls beat Buckley soundly, but in the second and third rounds they were defeated by Maloney and Ludlowe. These losses eliminated them from further competition, and dropped them to fifth in the final standings.

Senior captain Diane Dionis was the only senior on the squad. According to the Flame yearbook, "They are looking to go all the way (next year)." Ironically, the team finished runner-up to Maloney once again the following year.

Thus, Bengermino began building a tremendous volleyball program at Andrew Warde High School. The 1975-76 team was the first of many outstanding teams he would guide over the next 10 years at AWHS.

Paul