West Haven downs Shelton in Top 10 clash
SHELTON — West Haven senior Armani Reid and his teammates wanted to set the tone right from the start when the Westies traveled to play Shelton Friday evening.
Reid and company did exactly that, scoring early and never looking back, as second-ranked West Haven knocked off Shelton, the No. 6 team in the GameTimeCT Top 10 poll, 31-21 in a SCC contest at Finn Stadium.
West Haven has now defeated a pair of top 10 teams on the road, opening the season with a win at Staples.
Reid caught a pair of touchdown passes from Nick Conlan and finished with 109 yards receiving, and he also sealed the game with an interception as Shelton was trying to make a stunning fourth quarter comeback.
The balanced West Haven attack also saw Conlan run for 52 yards and throw for 172 yards and the two scores. Senior Camren Kemp ran for 148 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries.
“It’s great,” Reid said after his team improved to 4-0. “I know when our receivers have the ball in our hands, our running backs are taking breaks, and when the running back has the ball in his hands, we are taking our breaks.”
That attack helped West Haven jump out to a
Shelton’s Kanye Tinney (22) gets taken down by West Haven’s Camren Kemp on Friday night.
10-0 lead, but, despite holding a 34-16 play advantage and a 158-14 advantage in yards in the opening half, West Haven led just 10-7 as Shelton’s defense forced a late second quarter score.
“He always does a great job,” West Haven coach Rich Boshea said of Reid. “He is a great player, a great high school player. He is always bragging he is a great corner also besides being a great receiver. His catch over here was absolutely enormous to get us down to the 1yard line.”
West Haven outgained the Gaels 368-181 in the game, but the Westies had to hold on as Shelton controlled the fourth quarter.
“The kids didn’t give up,” Shelton coach Mike
DeFelice said after his team fell to 2-2. “We had a couple bad breaks. The weather obviously was a factor. We had some missed snaps, but they had some missed snaps too. You can’t really put the blame on that. We have to overcome those things. We missed tackles. We missed some blocks. Those aren’t going to cut it against a good team.”
After West Haven was stopped on fourth down to open the fourth quarter, Shelton needed three plays to go 77 yards, capped with a 59-yard touchdown run by David Dojlidko 3:55 in the final quarter to get the Gaels within 24-14.
A mix up on the ensuing kickoff had the Westies
start at their own 2yard line, before punting. The Gaels again struck quickly, needing three plays to get within 24-21 when Dojlidko scored from 27 yards out with 4:44 remaining in the fourth.
“They lined up how we thought they were going to line up and played the defenses we thought they were going to play,” DeFelice said. “It was a few miscues. We had a good thing going and we lose yards. It was little things that compounded going against a good team.”
West Haven recovered the onside kick at its own 47, and after a beautiful catch and run by Reid to the Shelton 3, Kemp capped the scoring drive with a 1-yard run just 56 seconds after Shelton got within striking distance.
“He sees what I see,” Reid said of Conlan. “We talk before the play, after the play. It’s just having the right communication with your quarterback to make huge plays like that.”