Hard work finally puts youthful Stonington in the winner’s circle
Howdy,
As gray and rainy as it was Saturday, everything probably looked a little brighter to the Stonington football team.
“Oh, absolutely,” Bears head coach A.J. Massengale more than 24 hours after Stonington won its first game of the season, 42-28, over Waterford.
“It's just been one of those years where we've had a lot of games where our kids have fought and battled, and it hasn't worked out. (Friday) night, we kind of flipped it and we turned some things in our favor. The kids were just opportunistic, taking advantage of some things that they were presented to us instead of going against us.”
It's been a rebuilding season for the Bears (1-6) as this is the youngest team Massengale has had in his 15 years as head coach. They have a handful of seniors and juniors and a fleet of sophomores and freshmen.
Stonington led 35-28 with about five minutes left when Waterford had first-and-goal. Massengale said that there were four sophomores and two freshmen on the field playing defense.
“Oh, my gosh, we've never played this many (underclassmen),” Massengale said. “We have some seniors out there that I believe are very good football players, and then we have a lot of young kids. …That's not how we've normally had to play (in previous seasons), but that's the kind of team that we are.
“Some of our seniors, like Riley (Burnside), Nate Miller, Jon Curtin, and Ben Cook, they've kind of rallied those (young) guys. Our seniors, they're in a tough spot. It's their senior year (and the team is rebuilding), but they're embracing it. I do think it's going to be a delayed gratification-thing (for a better future), and these seniors are kind of making that happen. It's good.”
Burnside had a big role in Friday's win. He scored on a 30-yard run on the game's first play from scrimmage after the Lancers fumbled the opening kickoff. He intercepted a pass at the Stonington goal line in the second quarter. He scored on an 80-yard kickoff return before halftime, and stopped Waterford from tying the game during the Bears' afforementioned fourth-quarter defensive stand.
“They had second-and-goal from the 5-yard line, and Riley made a tackle — I swear to God, the kid was about to walk into the end zone,” Massengale said. “And (Burnside) came flying across and took the kid out. I'm thinking, ‘oh, my God, we're about to be looking at a tie score now', and Riley stopped him. It was huge.
“He's that kind of kid that's setting an incredible example for the (younger) kids.”
Burnside also had a key block that gave Curtin a hole to run through for a 61-yard touchdown to ice the game after the defensive stand.
Stonington also had the breakthrough game offensively that it
had been waiting for. It had scored just 42 through its first six games.
“I told the kids after the game, ‘you were able to win this game because of the way you've played every game before it,'” Massengale said. “They always give it their best effort. It's just a great group of kids. Their effort is incredible.
“I like this group of kids a lot. It's such a good group.”
The Bears jumpstarted their offense by shelving their spread offense and going back to the system that has been their identity for most of Massengale's tenure — the double wing, known lovingly here at the Lonesome Polecat as “GOD'S OFFENSE”.
Stonington ran a luscious 47 times (to just six pass attempts) for 355 yards and five touchdowns.
Junior Josh Curtin ran 10 times for 111 yards, and Jon Curtin ran six times for 85 yards.
“We ran the hell out of the double wing,” Massengale said. “I love the double wing. I think it's the way football should be played.
“(Friday), it was what we needed to do. I don't know if (this) week or the week after that that it's going to be the case, but that (the double wing) was what we needed to do (Friday) night. That had to be the way, no doubt about it.”
•••• Nobody would have blamed anyone involved with Norwich Free Academy for looking back more than forward Friday night.
It was Senior Night, meaning no more home games.
The playoffs aren't a possibility, leaving a potentially hollow feeling.
Many marquee games — Xavier, Newtown, Fairfield Prep, Windsor — have already passed.
And yet the Wildcats played with enough vigor to suggest there is plenty of season remaining with plenty of goals left to accomplish.
They defeated Fitch 32-21 — it was 327 midway through the fourth quarter — and clinched at least a tie for the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I title. NFA, the lone remaining team without a divisional loss, can win the championship outright with a win over New London on Thanksgiving.
And still more: The Wildcats will be involved in the ECC's Game Of The Year in 2018: at Killingly on Nov. 9, a chance to derail Killingly's path to a third straight postseason.
“Still plenty of season left,” NFA coach Jason Bakoulis said.
NFA's passing game is perhaps the best in the league. Quarterback Elijah Parker threw for 247 yards, using several different targets: Kevin Pomroy, Nolan Molkenthin, Max Pierre-Louis, Jahiem Spruill and Damien Bleau. Given New London's success throwing the ball against Killingly earlier this season, the storyline gets juicy in two weeks.
Fitch, meanwhile, all but lost its hopes to make a repeat postseason trip. But the Falcons had their share of highlights as well. Kennard Tate (two) and Keiv Lucas intercepted Parker, while senior Brandon Hamilton had a quarterback sack and tipped ball that led to one of Tate's interceptions.
Fitch plays at Capital/Achievement this week and ends with home games against East Lyme and Ledyard.
•••• When in need of a big play last Friday night, East Lyme senior quarterback Chris Salemme usually found senior Dalton Franco, who made some terrific catches.
Franco outbattled a New London defender to haul in a 26-yard reception on a key third down and 14 late in the fourth quarter that helped set up the victory-clinching touchdown in the Vikings' 33-20 win over New London.
“There were few catches that were ESPN highlights,” New London coach Johnny Burns said.
Franco was Salemme's favorite target, catching a team-best seven passes for 92 yards. His nickname is Biscuit.
“We moved him into the slot and moved Spencer Duthrie to give us more options in the passing game,” coach Rudy Bagos said. “We always knew that Biscuit had great hands. You could see it tonight. He made some great plays.”
Salemme finished 13 for 19 for 183 yards, including a five-yard touchdown pass to Franco. He hit five different receivers overall — Tommy Mason (two catches, 32 yards), Shawn Soja (two catches, 20 yards), Duthrie (one catch, 32 yards), and Blane Hart (one catch, seven yards).
“It's just trust,” Salemme said. “I just trust my guys.”
Bagos likes his team's chances with Salemme at quarterback.
“The kid can sling it with the best,” Bagos said. “He's a real good quarterback. I'm definitely going to miss him. They did a great job taking away the run, so we had to go to the air. … Chris was able to bail us out and he made some great plays.
East Lyme's defense also rose to the occasion during key stages.
Clinging to a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter, junior Scott Galbo intercepted a Jacob Commander pass with just under five minutes left. Junior Owen Robbins picked off a pass to end a New London drive in the second quarter.
The Vikings also forced a fumble to stop a fourth down play.
•••• It's been a difficult few weeks for the Whalers, who are dealing with the fallout from a post-game fight with Hillhouse on Oct. 12. They had a bye week last week.
The Whalers played shorthanded on Friday as several players didn't play due to “program reasons,” Burns said.
“Sometimes the toughest part is not playing,” Burns said of the bye week. “For the kids, it was kind of a little bit of medicine. When you go through adversity and there's a long layoff, sometimes it all adds up on you and you hope you can put your best foot forward.”
“There's a lot of positives tonight from the guys that played. We move forward. We've got four regular season games that we want to make the most of.”
•••• Thanks to Mike “VELO” DiMauro Addazio (Fitch-NFA) and the president of the “I <3 Steve Pearce” fan club, Gavin Keefe (East Lyme-New London), for their contributions to this here blog.
•••• Thanks for reading. Please check out the state variant of the Lonesome Polecat blog, which shall be posted either Monday night or Tuesday morning, depending on our ability to multitask.
Adios.