Cardinals crush Eagles in opener
GREENWICH — During the preseason, Greenwich High School football coach John Marinelli mentioned AJ Barber as a receiver capable of stepping up and making plays.
Well, Marinelli was right on in his assessment.
Barber, a sophomore, helped set the tone of the Cardinals’ season- opener against Trumbull, catching three touchdowns from quarterback Gavin Muir in the first half.
Those three receptions, coupled by Ryan Raybuck’s interception return for a touchdown sparked Greenwich to a 42- 7 win over FCIAC foe Trumbull.
Muir threw three touchdown passes, and the defense stepped up for the Cardinals, who entered halftime with a 28- 7 lead.
Saturday’s showdown marked the coaching debut at Trumbull for veteran coach Marce Petroccio, who previously walked the sideline at Staples for numerous seasons.
“We fought and fought and fought,” Petroccio said. “It’s a long season, this is only one game and that’s a legitimate football team, no doubt. We’ll go back to the drawing board and do what we have to do.”
Eagles senior quarterback Colton Nicholas threw a touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Kyle Atherton for Trumbull’s first- half score.
The matchup was penaltyfilled, with both teams whistled for infractions throughout the first half. Greenwich was charged with an astounding 14 penalties for 120 yards, while Trumbull was hit with eight for 65 yards in the first half alone.
“I felt like it was a sloppy game on our side, we made too many mistakes in the first half — too many undisciplined mistakes,” Marinelli said. “That’s got to change and we will change it in practice. Overall, I’m happy with how we came out in the second half, where we had less penalties.”
It was also a half full of touchdowns for pound Barber.
Greenwich drove 61 yards in six plays on the game’s opening possession, which was ended by a 39- yard touchdown reception by Barber, on a play involving some trickery. Lining up in the wildcat, senior running back Tysen Comizio tossed the ball back to Muir, who lofted a perfect pass to Barber, who got behind an Eagles defender for a touchdown 1 minute, 33 seconds into the first quarter.
“AJ is a special player, he is going to be great for us,” Marinelli said. “He has no ego, he comes to work every day and he has a great motor.”
Aided by six Greenwich penalties, Trumbull drove 75 yards on its opening possession for a score. Nicholas’ 20- yard pass in the right corner of the end zone was caught by Atherton, who ran a go- route on the play, and evened the score with 6: 39 to go in the first quarter.
Greenwich took the lead for good when Muir completed a pass to Barber in the right flat for a 9- yard scoring strike with 3: 30 remaining in the first quarter. Ben Howarth converted the point- after attempt, giving the Cardinals a 14- 7 advantage. Muir’s completions to Stephen Bennett ( 11 yards) and Lance Large ( 9 yards) helped key the drive.
“Our defensive line had a heck of a performance,” Feda said. “As a defense, we played really well, but we have to work on our penalties. It was our home- opener, but there’s no excuse.”
Nicholas was pressured for a good portion of the game.
“I thought Colton played very well,” Petroccio said. “The interception, that’s part of football. He was throwing the ball very well today and he was under duress that’s for sure. I was happy with his play overall.”