Prep made statement vs. Shelton, but Jesuits not finished
Fairfield Prep’s vaunted student section, ‘The Bomb Squad’ came dressed for success Friday night, all decked out in blazers and ties as if they’d come straight from class to Rafferty Stadium for their classmate’s showdown with SCC rival Shelton.
While Shelton’s students — The Finn Finatics — packed the opposite side in a ‘White Out,’ the Bomb Squad’s attire represented a mission: “They’re all business,” said Colleen Adams, the school’s director of communications.
And then the team went out and played like it, crushing the No. 6-ranked Gaels to an eye-popping score of 53-0 Friday night.
Indeed, it was fifthranked Fairfield Prep’s last scheduled home game of the year. But now that could change if the Jesuits (7-1) manage to finish their regular season with two more wins over Xavier (5-3) and West Haven (7-1), virtually assuring themselves a spot in the Class LL playoffs as one of the top four seeds. The Jesuits are presently seeded second in Class LL.
“Everybody prepared for this like it was their last game,” said University of Pennsylvania-bound lineman Ryan O’Connell, who fiercely led a smothering defensive effort.
“This was a huge deal for us because it could have been our last home game. So we left everything out on the turf. Our coaches gameplanned perfectly for them.
From the get go, we were locked in.”
That might have been the understatement of the night. The defense held Shelton to just one first down, 21 total yards and forced two fumbles that led to touchdowns in a 23-point first quarter that included a stripped fumble return touchdown by Tymaine Smith and a sack by junior Sean Donohue that became a safety.
It was easily one of Fairfield Prep’s most thorough victories in decades and came against a Shelton program the Jesuits had only beaten four times in 20 meetings since the rivalry began in 1994, including a 49-14 wipeout with a playoff berth on the line in 2019.
The 54-point margin was Prep’s largest since beating
East Haven 75-0 in 2003.
That famous result — which contributed to the SCC realigning by size in 2004 — was also the last time Fairfield Prep had won three-straight games by shutout. That year, Prep opened the season with shutouts over Sheehan (47-0), Guilford (53-0) and East Haven.
This group has won four straight since a 14-7 loss to Greeniwch, has shut out four teams overall and has only allowed one opponent — Notre Dame-West Haven on Oct. 15 — to score more than 20 points.
“That’s a credit to the kids and my coaching staff,” said Keith Hellstern, now in his sixth season as head coach. “It’s something we’re proud of, but that we’re not satisfied with and that is the truth because they’ve worked so hard to get to this point and they want to keep trying to improve.
“That’s the greatest compliment I can give to my team is that they keep working to get better every week, especially after losing the 2020 season. We’re trying to make the most out of this one.”
Hellstern, who has taken two Fairfield Prep teams to the state playoffs, believes he would have had one of his best squads had Connecticut played in 2020.
As it was, he saw two of his best players move to Texas and earn NCAA FBS scholarships playing for Texas 6A champion Westlake-Austin — linebacker Nick Morris, now at Duke, and Connor Robertson, a Texas A&M commit.
Hellstern sees talent in this team, but says it’s taken much more time to develop because there wasn’t a 2020 season.
Prep roared past Hand in the opener 29-16, only to get rescued from Hillhouse by three blocked punts in a 20-13 Week 2 win. Though defensively strong, Prep’s offense sputtered in the Week 4 loss to Greenwich — a team Shelton had just beaten 35-14 the prior week.
“What you’ve seen on this roller coaster ride is a combination of them learning on the job and us learning mentally on how to handle this competition,” Hellstern said. “We’re at the point now, I think they’ve kind of figured out how important every day is.
“The kids understand what needs to be done and hopefully we can continue to put (teams) down like this.”
Fairfield Prep hasn’t won a state playoff game in two appearances since reaching the Class LL finals in 2013. The Jesuits haven’t won a state championship since Earl Lavery’s 1988 squad.
That’s a long way off — “We preach one day at a time here,” Hellstern said. — but as statements go, this was a big one for the Jesuits.
“I think it’s a sign of what we’re capable of,” Hellstern said.
AND THEN THERE WERE FIVE
Maloney’s 49-18 victory over Hall dropped the Warriors
from the ranks of the unbeaten last week, leaving just five remaining in the state.
It also left Darien (8-0) as the last unbeaten in Class LL. The Blue Wave, which roared back from a 21-20 halftime deficit vs. Norwalk to win 49-21, have all but officially clinched a state playoff spot in the Class.
The other remaining unbeaten teams were Killingly (7-0) in Class M and Bloomfield (8-0), Ansonia (9-0) and Cromwell/Portland (7-0) in Class S.
At this point, all of the unbeaten teams were close to clinching spots, if they hadn’t already done so mathematically this week.
(Frankly, the CIAC’s new schedule strength points modifier makes it significantly more time-consuming to determine than past seasons. We’re working on it, but statisticians and/or zealous coaches are welcome to give us a hand).
In Class LL the six 7-1 teams were in good position to qualify, perhaps with another win. Shelton, currently 7-2 with Derby’s forfeit, will need to beat Cheshire this week or it’s going to need help.
Of note here, two of the SCC’s Tier II Class LL teams — West Haven and Hamden — have both put themselves in position, especially West Haven at 7-1.
“We can start looking at other scores and there is meaningful football,” said West Haven coach Rich Boshea, whose team hasn’t qualified since 2017. “I was very depressed the last three years. These kids worked their way through COVID and coach (Tom) Unger did a great job in the weight room when nothing was going on. We kept everyone together. That was the key.”
In Class L, St. Joseph and Maloney were both more than 200 points ahead of the rest of the field, and close to qualifying.
In Class M, it was a bit more muddled with so many teams with two losses and three games remaining. Killingly is a good bet to qualify with a win over NFA this weekend.
In Class S, Bloomfield at 8-0 and Ansonia at 9-0 are virtually qualified. New Fairfield would give itself a great shot if it can topple Class LL Newtown.