Kris Pedra, left, is the new varsity boys basketball coach at Avon, replacing Chris Vozzolo, right, who will coaching the girls basketball team at Glastonbury this winter.
AVON – There is plenty of new opportunities awaiting the Avon High boys basketball team. The Falcons begin play in the Central Connecticut Conference in December and they’ll do it with a new head coach and without their leading scorer from a year ago – Nate Laszewski.
Avon has hired former assistant coach Kris Pedra as the team’s new head coach.
He replaces Chris Vozzolo, who stepped down last spring after six seasons. Vozzolo, a physical education teacher at Glastonbury High, is the new girls basketball coach for the Tomahawks. He is also an assistant on the Glastonbury High boys soccer team.
Laszewski earned All-State honors as a 6-foot-6 forward last winter. He averaged 20.4 points a game and scored more than 20 points in 14 of 24 games, including a career-high 42-points in an overtime win over Suffield. He is now attending Northfield Mt. Hermon in Gill, Massachusetts.
Northfield Mt. Hermon won the New England Prep School Athletic Conference title in 2012 and won a national championship in 2013. In the last decade, the school has sent more than 50 players to Division I collegiate programs. “We wish (Laszewski) the best of luck,” Pedra said. “He’s going to do a great job.”
Pedra has a nice group of players to build around this winter. Guards Dan Regan, Brian LaChance and Jordan Williams return along with forward Ian McDonald.
“We’re going into the CCC and it will a step up for us,” Pedra said. “It will be a challenge. But there is a lot of energy in the program and we’re excited about the challenge.”
Avon will be playing in the CCC Central White Division with Bulkeley, Farmington, Northwest Catholic, Weaver and Windsor. They’ll play two games against their divisional opponents along with single games against Southington, Conard, Hall, Maloney, Bristol Central, Glastonbury, Simsbury and E.O. Smith.
Avon will also continue to renew long-time rivalries with Canton and Granby at the Lewis Mills Holiday Tournament on Dec. 28-29. The Falcons have been playing Canton since 1959.
“We’re going to have to bring (intensity to the floor) every day. If we can do that, we can be successful,” Pedra said.
Pedra played at Avon High under Tim Curtis, graduating in 2005. In his senior season, Pedra and the Falcons won the CIAC Division III championship with a 55-48 win over Fairfield Ludlowe. That was the season that Curtis stepped down for a few days when the school administration didn’t uphold his suspension of some players for violating team rules (drinking alcohol).
The dispute was worked out, Curtis returned to the bench and the team went on to win the NCCC championship, the NCCC Tournament and the second state title in the school’s history. “We had a great team, a great bunch of seniors and a great coach,” Pedra said. “He’s been a mentor to me.”
Pedra played college basketball at Wheaton College in Norton, Mass. He graduated in 2009, earning a degree in Economics with a minor in management. He later earned a Masters Degree in Business from the University of Hartford. He works at the AJC Insurance Agency in Rocky Hill.
Pedra has been the junior varsity coach for the past five years with Vozzolo. Under Vozzolo, the Falcons won the NCCC championship in 2010 and captured the NCCC Tournament in 2013 and 2015. They qualified for the CIAC tournament in all six years he led the squad. Avon was 103-43 under Vozzolo.
“This is a new chapter in Avon basketball,” Pedra said. “I’m happy to take that next step.” The season begins Monday, Dec. 21, at Conard.
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