Stamford outlasts Central in defensive clash

STAMFORD — At this point in the season a win is a win and the Stamford High football team will take them anyway they can.

Saturday at Boyle Stadium the Black Knights escaped a defensive struggle against Bridgeport Central with a 7- 0 victory.

It was Stamford’s second win on the season while Central remains the only team in the FCIAC without a victory.

While neither offense was able to get going, it was the defenses for both teams shining.

“Getting the shutout feels good,” Stamford defensive back Daniel Simms said. “We were getting put in bad situations by our offense but ( the defense) executed the whole time. We had a good shutout. We tried to stop the run first because they every time they threw the ball it was basically a 50/ 50 ball, so, we tried to stop them from running.”

Stamford’s lone touchdown came after a personal foul penalty on Central on a 3rd and long extended the Black Knights drive.

Five plays after the penalty, Terry Forrester dove in from 1- yard out for the score.

Other than that drive, Central matched the Stamford defense all day.

Central had scoring chances but dropped a potential touchdown pass in the end zone in the second quarter with the game still scoreless.

Central coach Derrick Lewis said while he was proud of how his defense competed, the team had too many mistakes along the offensive line.

“We brain- farted up front because we don’t know how to win, yet. We are not strong up front,” Lewis said. “I thought we played very well on defense and got after it. When you don’t know how to win, it bites you in the butt a little bit. It has to be more than playing hard, we need to play smart in games like this.”

Stamford coach Jamar Greene was equal parts happy with his defense and frustrated by his offense.

“The defense was outstanding. The defense carried us the entire game, they were amazing,” Greene said. “We are anemic on offense and we struggled today. The defense saved us today. It is good to get a win but we can’t be satisfied with it and I don’t think we will win again if we play offensively like we did today.”

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Jaden Dawkins, Stamford. The junior linebacker was in the Central backfield all afternoon disrupting running plays and chasing the quarterback from the pocket.

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“We were able to stop the run and force them to pass and they couldn’t pass the ball,” Dawkins said. “They kept running it and I kept getting in there and it was over from there. The shutout feels great.”