New London — Kyle Baron watched Norwich Free Academy from afar last season as a Fitch girls' soccer assistant, and always came away impressed.

When he got an up-close look at the Wildcats as their new head coach back in August, well, let Baron explain:

"At our first tryouts, I thought, 'This could be something special. These girls really know how to play.'"

Baron was spot on in his assessment. NFA's magical season continued on Saturday when the Wildcats beat New London to clinch the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I championship.

NFA (10-3, 7-0), ended East Lyme's five-year reign atop the division.

"The key was getting them to buy into playing with each other," said Baron, whose Wildcats play East Lyme on Tuesday and Division II leader Bacon Academy on Friday as they attempt to improve their seeding for the upcoming ECC tournament. "And they have. Their dedication and hard work has been the key to our successful year so far."

Against New London, seven different players scored goals, while goalie Allyson Knorr Anderson posted her seventh shutout of the season. MacKenzie Teper scored twice for NFA, while Natalie Dionne had four assists and Kayla Park had a goal and an assist.

Jillian Brunelli, Haley Warzecha, Juliette Hogan, Jessica Bryan and Teagan White also scored goals for the Wildcats while Cassidy White and Brooke Boisclair added assists.

New London is 2-9, 0-6.

In other games:

• Montville played ECC Division II leader Bacon Academy to a scoreless double overtime tie. Lauren Ross made seven saves in goal for the Indians (8-4-1, 5-3-1), who held an 11-9 edge in shots. Bacon is 10-1-1, 7-1-1.

• Kacey Lawrence, who has committed to play at Division I Michigan, scored twice as Masuk defeated East Lyme 3-0 in a nonleague game. Masuk is 7-3-3. Hayley Sorrentino made 14 saves in goal for the Vikings (6-6-2).

• Grasso Tech defeated Prince Tech 4-0 in the Connecticut Technical Conference on Friday. Morgan McNeil scored twice for the Eagles while Topaz Baker and Kelly Duarte each added a goal and goalie Cheryl Archer made four saves.

Boys' soccer

• Justin Philips scored three goals as Old Saybrook defeated East Lyme 5-1 in a nonleague game. The Vikings (6-4-2) have lost three games to unbeaten teams — Guilford (Class L), Stonington (Class M) and Old Saybrook (12-0 in Class S). Nick Esposito headed home a Duncan Manthous corner kick in the first half for East Lyme and goalie Sean Heaney made six saves.

• Brady Noniewicz scored in the second overtime to lift Bacon Academy to a 2-1 win over Waterford in an ECC Division II game. The Bobcats are 7-2-3, 5-1-2 while the Lancers fall to 7-5-2, 5-3-1.

Football

• Thames River rallied from a 20-6 halftime deficit to hand O'Brien Tech its first loss, 22-20, in the CTC. The winning points came on Xavier Wright's two-point conversion in the fourth quarter. The Crusaders (2-3) came up big on defense as Nathan Bastien returned an interception 45 yards for a touchdown, Ismael Rivera-Garcia had two interceptions and there were a pair of fumble recoveries. Trey Stimson led the offense by rushing for 185 yards on 25 carries. O'Brien Tech is 4-1.

• Mike Cullina threw for 189 yards and three touchdowns as Valley Regional/Old Lyme beat Nonnewaug 48-0. Ernest Jean-Pierre, Jacob Kruszewski and Blair Allen caught the TD passes, Nick Braga, Josh Donahue and Collin Stalls had touchdown runs and Jason O'Brien returned a punt 55 yards for a score. Brian Funk was 7-for-8 in extra-point attempts. Braga rushed for 137 yards on five arries, Allen caught five passes for 58 yards and Jean-Pierre had two receptions for 55 yards for Valley (4-1). 

Volleyball

• Jamie Stevens had 37 assists and eight digs to highlight East Lyme's 3-2 comeback win over Longmeadow (Mass.). Game scores were 25-17, 16-25, 22-25, 25-19, 15-9. Sydney Iannantuono added 20 kills and 11 digs for the Vikings (8-5) while Madison Bell had 25 digs and Sophie Dubreuil 13 kills and nine digs.

Field hockey

• Sabrina Torcellinici scored two goals, including the game-winner 3:14 into overtime, as Branford rallied for a 2-1 nonleague win over Stonington. Olivia Feliciano, assisted by Miranda Arruda, gave the Bears (9-3) a 1-0 lead in the first half. Aliza Bell made 12 saves in goal for Stonington, which was outshot 16-8.

• Emily Peterson scored both goals as Valley Regional defeated Waterford 2-1 in a nonleague game. Grace Briggs scored her first goals off a penalty corner for the Lancers (6-4-1) and goalie Lili Stoddard made seven saves.