The Lonesome Polecat: Payton Sutman left his mark at Waterford
Howdy,
Payton Sutman only got to play in seven games for the Waterford football team but, oh, what an impression he made.
The senior wide receiver saw his season end on Friday night when he suffered a fractured fibula and dislocated tibia on his left leg after making a catch in the second quarter of a 14-7 win over Griswold/Wheeler.
His numbers are astounding. He caught 23 passes for 473 yards and eight touchdowns, while helping the Lancers get off to a 6-1 start.
Sutman helped Waterford wins titles in basketball (Division II) and baseball (Class L) as a junior and came out for the football team for the first time this season.
"The biggest thing is he's a kid that's very rare in that every kid playing next to him plays better,'' said Waterford coach John Strecker. "He's coachable, very athletic and he does everything the right way.
And he makes everybody else feel good about themselves just standing there.''
Sutman, who has a scholarship to play baseball at Holy Cross, could recover in time to play the tail end of the basketball season and should be able to play the outfield and pitch on the baseball team in the spring.
"It would have been my understanding that if everything goes well he might get to play the last part of the basketball season,'' said Strecker. "The kid's in great shape and he's a physical specimen.''
Sutman even contributed to Friday's win, while playing less than half the game. His 23-yard touchdown catch from Ryan Bakken gave the team a 6-0 lead.
"He's going to be impossible to replace. This kid is a whole lot more than just a great athlete. He's a solid citizen,'' said Strecker.
The Lancers are third in the CIAC Class M rankings with games left against Ledyard (1-6, Friday), Woodstock Academy (6-1, Nov. 16) and East Lyme (5-2, Thanksgiving). Two more wins might be enough to get the Lancers into the playoffs.
"We don't have Payton, but we've got guys,'' said Strecker. "I certainly expect our kids to be confident out there the rest of the way.''
•••• The fullback may be an endangered species nowadays thanks to the spread becoming in vogue, yet it remains important as the first option in the triple option.
The Norwich Free Academy defense took away the fullback dive from Fitch in Friday night's crazy 2239 win. They held the Falcons' James Deichler to 25 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries and forced the latter to run to the perimeter or throw.
“The key is to take away that inside (run),” Wildcats' head coach Jason Bakoulis said. “The QB (Fitch senior Josh Letellier) does a great job for his first year running it.
“The key is to get to the ball, pursue the ball. We got those plays when
we needed them and capitalized on some of them. They played hard.”
Fitch ran 40 times for 149 yards (3.75 yards per carry) and two scores.
NFA also stopped the Falcons from scoring on drives that reached its 23, 19, and 22-yard line in the first half alone. It led at halftime, 21-10.
•••• Thames River coach Darin Jones has a 6-1 team heading to the bye week, largely because of two underclassmen at key positions: a sophomore at quarterback (Jackson Brenek) and a freshman at running back (Seth Cunningham).
“We have a young sophomore at quarterback and every week his confidence builds,” Jones said of Brenek. “He's got the arm that can do it, the confidence needs to get there. I also have a freshman (Cunningham), when he came into camp, we saw the potential he had. Now we see his confidence. He'll drop a shoulder to try to get another yard.”
Cunningham scored a touchdown and added a two-point conversion in Saturday's 16-6 win over Cheney Tech. Brenek threw a 60-yard touchdown pass to Cam Tomkin and drew Cheney Tech offside three times at the line of scrimmage with voice inflection.
The Crusaders are ranked sixth in the Class M ratings with three games remaining — vs. Wilcox Tech (1-5, Saturday), at Abbott Tech/ Immaculate (5-1, Saturday, Nov. 23), and vs. Quinebaug Valley (5-2, Thanksgiving).
• • • • Letellier wasn't the only one throwing the ball for Fitch on Friday night.
Fitch had three different running backs attempt passes against NFA — Steve Cantres, Lonnie Howard and Deichler. They were a combined 1-of-5 for 7 yards with an interception.
“We just thought that we had to put NFA in a bind where they had to defend the entire field,” Falcons head coach Mike Ellis Jr. said. “We couldn't be predictable. We had to have different people be able to do different things out there.”
•••• Lost in the 26-19 loss to East Lyme was New London's improved play on defense. Defensive end Jaidan McKenzie (two sacks) Donovan Jeffcoat (interception), Joe Lucas, Erick McKeil and Keeano Gonzalez all made impact plays.
East Lyme, meanwhile got an interception return for a score from Scott Galbo, a key second-half interception from Hunter Lewis and a fumble recovery from Idris Gassar, all helping the Vikes move to 5-2 overall.
•••• Thanks to David Davidson Davis (Waterford vs. Wheeler/ Griswold) and Mike DiMauro (East Lyme v. New London; and Thames River v. Cheney Tech) for their contributions to this here blog).
•••• That's all for now. Thanks for reading. More soon.
Adios.