Norwich — The Thames River Crusaders opened their 2018 football season with a 14-6 victory over Platt Tech in a Connecticut Technical Conference game at Norwich Tech.

The Crusaders are a cooperative program featuring players from Norwich Tech, Grasso Tech and St. Bernard.

Quarterback Logan Starr had four carries for 55 yards and a touchdown while Cole Occhiolino scored the other touchdown as the Crusaders' offense came alive after a sluggish first half.

Eddie Cruse had six tackles for Thames River, including two sacks and a forced fumble, while Josh Brown added seven tackles and Luis Aguilar had six.

"I can't say enough about our defense," coach Darin Jones said. "They played their hearts out and kept us in the game."

Volleyball

• Gretchen Dusza had 39 assists to highlight Waterford's 3-1 season-opening win over Valley Regional. Game scores were 25-18, 25-22, 23-25 and 26-14. Ryleigh Gonyo added 13 kills and four aces for the Lancers while Jenny Keth had 15 digs and five aces.

• East Lyme bounced back from a five-game opening night loss at Woodstock Academy by defeated Guilford 3-1 in a non-conference match. Game scores were 25-19, 23-25, 25-20 and 25-15. Mya Delesdernier had 13 kills and seven digs for the Vikings (1-1) while Ava Sheehan had five kills and five blocks, Sydney Iannantuono 24 kills and three aces, and Kamryn Ebersole 35 assists.

• Montville opened its season with a 25-10, 25-7 and 25-11 non-conference win over Norwich Tech. Abby Diamantini had five digs and five aces for the Indians while Mackenzie Ullrich had 10 assists, Savanna Perkins added seven aces, three digs and four kills, Ashley Rogers had three aces, three kills and five assists and Haley Kerwin had four kills, four aces and five digs.

Field hockey

• Keegan Donohue's unassisted goal with 3:50 remaining lifts Stonington a 4-3 non-conference win over Guilford. Following a corner play, ball rebounded low off the goalie and Donohue picked up the loose ball and scored from a tough angle. Ellie Korinek scored two goals for the Bears (2-0), who were outshot 9-6, while Miranda Arruda added a goal, Daisy Williams had an assist and goalie Abby Mann made six saves.

Boys' cross country

• East Lyme's Sam Whittaker placed fourth overall in 16:33 to lead the Vikings to a fifth-place team finish in the Varsity 1 race at the 40th Haddad/Windham Invitational. Suffield won the race with 59 points and East Lyme had 146. NFA finished 12th with 309. Chris Abbey (14th, 17:03) and Noah Barnhart (20th, 17:10) also cracked the Top 20 for the Vikings while Dylan McGuire placed 35th in 17:38 for NFA.

In the Varsity 2 race, Waterford's Sam Lenes was the top local finish in 15th place (17:56) as the Lancers finished eighth with 1986 points (Brookfield won with 57). Stonington's top finisher was Nathan Gonzalez in 23rd (18:11), Montville's top finisher was Rishabh Iyer in 26th (18:23), Ledyard's top finisher was Simon Reichert in 27th (18:27), New London's top finisher was Rashawn Wright in 31st (18:37) and Wheeler's top finisher was Michael Carroll in 68th (19:32).

• Williams finished second in its own season-opening invitational, a fund-raiser for Miracle Feet, an organization that helps with surgery for children born with club foot. The Blues finished with 42 points with Philip Knowlton placing third in 20:33, Hartmut Doerwaldt fourth in 20:48, Hunter Dolphin sixth in 21:51, Colin Ladd 12th in 23:59 and Jasper Wright 17th in 25:23.

Girls' cross country

• East Lyme finished third in the Varsity 1 race at the 40th Haddad/Windham Invitational with 132 points. Hall won with 31 and NFA was ninth with 259. NFA's Ann'darly Barhot finished 17th in 21:37 while East Lyme's Madison Sjostrom was 21st in 22:05 and Samantha Lyster was 25th in 22:13. In the Varsity 2 race, Stonington's Lily Madison was the top local finisher in 15th (22:01) while Montville's Maddie Gould was 23rd (22:29) and Ledyard's Jade Dessaint was 26th (22:37.)

• Williams won its own season-opening invitational with 17 points as Mary Madaus (24:08), Grace Cassineri (26:06) and Farrah Scott (26:21) finished 1-2-3 for the Blus. Ella Adin-Atheron was fifth in 28:36 and Anna Terry sixth in 30:12.