Congrats to our UChoose Student-Athlete of the Week: Andrew Tuscano, Valley Regional football

December 10, 2014

Photo courtesy Tuscano family

Andrew Tuscano, a senior running back from Valley Regional High in Deep River, has been voted our 10th UChoose Student-Athlete of the Week of the fall!

Andrew ran for 173 yards, including touchdowns of 74 and 50 yards, went 42 yards on a screen pass for another score, and had an interception in Valley’s 34-0 rout of Bullard-Havens Tech of Bridgeport Dec. 6 in the CIAC Class S-Large semifinals.

The victory gave Valley (12-0)  a berth in the Class S-Large final. The Wildcats meet 19-time state champion Ansonia Saturday Dec. 14 at 10 a.m. at Veterans Stadium in New Britain, the second of four LIVE state title games this weekend on CPTV Sports.

From the Valley-Bullard-Havens game story by the New London Day’s Gavin Keefe:

Caked in mud and sporting a bloody nose, senior Andrew Tuscano looked like he had taken a beating.

Just the opposite was true.

Tuscano and his Valley Regional/Old Lyme teammates handed out the punishment in Saturday’s CIAC Class S-Large semifinal football game against fourth-seeded Bullard-Havens.The top-seeded Warriors rolled to a 34-0 victory and advanced to their first state championship (game). . .

“We knew we had to get here,” Tuscano said of reaching the state championship. “At the beginning of the season, this was definitely what we wanted to do. … It’s just something that we haven’t been able to reach. We’ve been trying so hard for the past few years.
“Now to just get here, it’s just so great.”. . .

Valley Regional (12-0) led 9-0 at halftime and broke it open with 19 points in the third quarter. . .

On the first play of the second half, Tuscano bolted around the left side and raced down the sideline for a 74-yard score. . . . On Tuscano’s first carry after his big run, he found daylight again, going 50 yards for a touchdown to increase the lead to 21-0.

“In the second half, it just started rolling for us and we just kept the momentum going,” Tuscano said.

Congrats to Andrew, who joins Fairfield Warde girls soccer player Taylor Gabrenas, Cheshire girls volleyball player Jillian Haberli, Torrington boys soccer player Kevin Vaca, Cheney Tech-Manchester quarterback Rafael Lebron, Maloney-Meriden soccer player Ricardo Lopez, Danbury boys soccer goalie Ian Shannon, Northwest Catholic-West Hartford running back Delano Robinson, Derby’s Ben Slowik and Norwich Free Academy’s Jawaun Johnson as our UChoose honorees this fall.

Click here on our guidelines for the award, which is determined in an online vote starting Sunday and ending Tuesday at noon. Be on the lookout for our CIAC football championship weeekend nominees Dec. 14!