New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Working overtime
Doumah, Hamden outlast West Haven in extra session
HAMDEN — All Sam Doumah wanted was to pound the ball all night.
It didn’t exactly work as Hamden struggled offensively at times, but Doumah raced up the middle for 10 yards and the gamewinning touchdown on the first play from scrimmage in overtime as the Green Dragons outlasted West Haven 13-6 in a Southern Connecticut Conference contest to remain unbeaten after two weeks.
“Keep pounding, keep pounding,” Doumah said. “Eventually I was going to break it and as you saw, I broke it. It’s a big win with all odds against us.”
It was the first win over West Haven (1-1) for Hamden coach Tom Dyer, who is in his sixth year at the helm of the Green Dragons.
“We had a tight game with them a couple years ago at West Haven, but they beat us,” Dyer said. “We moved the ball well, but we couldn’t punch it in at times. At the end, we dug deep. We knew going to overtime that the kids were conditioned well and stepped up.”
After Doumah put Hamden ahead in the overtime, West Haven couldn’t move the ball. Quarterback Preston Denno was hurt on third down and backup quarterback Nick Conlon’s pass attempt on fourth down was broken up by Camyran Winder.
The only touchdown of the first half came late in the second quarter.
West Haven’s Aivan Evans fumbled the ball on the threeyard line, but Denno picked it up and was able to take it to the oneyard line where he dove for the goal line and outstretched his right hand with the ball to get it barely over the goal line.
The extra point was blocked by a pair of Hamden defenders to leave it at 6-0 with 2:31 remaining until intermission.
Hamden had a shot to score right before the half, but the Green Dragons were stopped at
the West Haven 14-yard line as time ran out.
Hamden tied the game up with 7:59 left in the third quarter. Denno threw a pass into coverage down the right side where Winder of the Green Dragons picked it off at his own 19-yard line and raced untouched down the left sideline in front of his own bench for the score. However, Julian Barajas’ extra point attempt to tie things was wide left.
“I dropped one last week because of my visor, so I told my teammates I’d get one this week,” Winder said. “I’m proud of myself. I’ve been working on it all week.”
Both teams struggled offensively from there for the remainder of regulation.
“They are all tough losses, but some are tougher than others,” West Haven coach Rich Boshea said. “Our defense played awesome, but we didn’t do well on our special teams. They were a disaster. My hats off to Hamden. They played a good game.”
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Camyran Winder, Hamden: Blocked two punts, had an 81-yard interception return for a touchdown and broke up the pass on fourth down in overtime to end the game.