The West Haven Blue Devils faced the Notre Dame-West Haven Green Knights for the first game of the 2021-22 Connecticut High School Basketball season. This was more than a cross town rival matchup, Norte Dame came in the game with vengeance as West Haven took down the Green Knights in the finals game last season to win the championship. The game was played at NDWH, despite that though the Blue Devils fan group ‘Devil’s Den’ came out about 40 people strong to cheer on the away squad. West Haven was just not able to get it going at all as they were outscored in every period, Notre Dame made West Haven bleed blue.
The first period featured almost a shutout against the Blue Devils as NDWH led 12-2 at the end of one, going into halftime the score was 36-12 as West Haven was outscored 24-10. It was a true statement first half for the green team that turned into scoring machines against the inconsistent West Haven squad. For the third period NDWH broke into the half century range for points, putting up 33 compared to West Haven’s 17 to make it a 57-27 ball game. In the fourth and final period West Haven’s defense showed up along with the offense to play the closest basketball we saw that night, despite the defensive showing West Haven was still outscored 17-13 to sum up the overall score to a 74-40 loss.
The biggest thing that killed West Haven were the steals made by NDWH and the fouls not made by the team, by the looks of it West Haven underestimated the Knights and were caught off guard and it got into the players head. It also does not help when you are trying to make a free throw and there is about 70 people from the opposing team yelling in your face, this was a 100% mental game. West Haven has a great team this season, that is unquestionable and the fact is that this was just game 1 of 20. West Haven is projected to go 16-4 this season, their next game is Saturday against Naugatuck for the Blue Devils home opener.