Notre Dame can’t fend off New Fairfield
NEW FAIRFIELD — With their CIAC Class S playoff lives hanging in the balance, the New Fairfield football team went to its ground game to rally past Notre Dame-Fairfield in the second half.
The Rebels overcame a 14-point halftime deficit, shutting out the Lancers in the second half on the way to a 29-20 win at Rebels Stadium.
The win keeps New Fairfield (7-1) in the top half of the Class S draw with two games to play.
New Fairfield, which started the night as the
No. 4 team in Class S, still has to play Class LL Newtown next week before finishing the season on Thanksgiving against New Milford (4-3).
With those two contests looming, the Rebels knew they needed to dial up the intensity in the second half.
“I love senior night, don’t get me wrong, but being on the field for two hours, we just came out flat,” New Fairfield coach Anthony Fata said. “Everything we were calling wasn’t working. We looked sluggish and it didn’t look like us. Hats off to Notre Dame, they came out with a mission and it showed. At halftime, we told the guys to settle down and take control of the game and that’s what we did on both sides of the ball.”
Notre Dame (5-2) came in as the No. 7 ranked team in Class S.
The Lancers close the season by hosting Stratford and taking on Pomperaug the night before Thanksgiving. Both of those opponents have losing records.
Notre Dame took control early behind the arm and legs of quarterback Jailon Denny who threw for three touchdowns and avoided sacks by scrambling out of trouble.
Denny had touchdown passes of 4, 13 and 1 yard in the first half, throwing two to Bailey Coleman and one to Jose DeJesus.
New Fairfield’s only score of the first half came on a 75-yard fumble return by Daniel Handlemaier in the second quarter.
The Rebels came out running the ball in the second half with both running back Jason Caswell and quarterback Justin McCormack finding big holes to run through.
New Fairfield scored in the third quarter on a 28yard touchdown run by Caswell, cutting the lead to 20-14.
The Rebels took the lead in the fourth with McCormack running it in from 6-yards out.
After a Notre Dame fumble,
New Fairfield put the game away with a 17-yard touchdown run by McCormack.
Notre Dame had many of its players going both ways and by the end of the game, they were worn down.
“This is our first introduction to playoff-style football with this environment and how tough New Fairfield plays,” Notre Dame coach John Johnson said. “We are a private, Class S school and we dressed 22 guys for the game. We had 11 guys playing both ways plus playing special teams. We condition the heck out of them but we
got worn down a little bit in the second half.”
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Jason Caswell, New Fairfield, Sr., RB: Caswell put the team on his back in the second half, finding holes and hitting them hard.
QUOTABLE
“Oh my god, my O-line. The holes were whoop, right there. Then my Hback got anyone else out of the way and I just take off. That’s how we roll. We came out a little flat but then we turned it up in the second half. This week, we came out, four quarters. The first half was a little iffy
but we turned it up in the second half.” — New Fairfield running back Jason Caswell
sericson@stamfordadvoctae.com; @EricsonSports
NEW FAIRFIELD 29, NOTRE DAME-FAIRFIELD 20
NOTRE DAME .................. 7 13 0 0 — 20 NEW FAIRFIELD .............. 0 6 8 15 — 29 ND—Bailey Coleman 4 pass Jailon Denny (Jaidyn Cummings kick) NF—Daniel Handlemaier 75 fumble return (pass failed)
ND—Jose DeJesus 13 pass Denny (Cummings kick)
ND—Coleman 1 pass Denny (kick failed) NF—Jason Caswell 2 run (Justin McCormack run)
NF—McCormack 6 run (Jaden Arterberry kick)
NF—McCormack 17 run (McCormack kick)