Lyman Hall scores road win

LYMAN HALL 47 EAST HAVEN 13

EAST HAVEN — After three home losses to start the season, the Lyman Hall football team was eager to play a road game. That eagerness showed from the opening kickoff.

Gavin Janowski’s 56yard kickoff return set up Lyman Hall’s opening score and the Trojans never looked back in a 47-13 Southern Connecticut Conference Division III victory over East Haven at Crisafi Field in East Haven Friday evening.

Lyman Hall, which had been outscored 103-50 in its opening losses, took advantage of four fumble recoveries in the game to post its first victory of the season.

“In week one against Foran, we had seven turnovers,” Lyman Hall coach Bill Weyrauch said after his team improved to 1-3. “That is very hard to come back from. You are not coming back from that disadvantage. It always helps when you are in the plus column in turnovers. We did a good job with that tonight.”

East Haven, playing in its first game since September 10, opened the school’s new turf field optimistic in looking for its first win of the season. That optimism faded away quickly as Lyman Hall’s Kadin DeWallace scored from 2 yards out on Lyman Hall’s opening possession, and East Haven fumbled the ensuing kickoff.

While East Haven freshman Nick Bilides recorded an interception to stop Lyman Hall’s second drive, the Trojans used a 9-yard score by Ryan Bannon for a 13-0 lead with 1 minute, 12 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.

“I thought we all played great tonight,” Bannon said after rushing for 171 yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries. “We just ran the ball and the line opened up some nice holes tonight. Gavin (Janowski) set the tone with that kickoff to start the game. It was a great night for us.”

East Haven needed just one play to respond as Jake Ortiz raced 53 yards for a score to cut the deficit to 13-7. The Yellow Jackets never got closer as they were outgained 222-58 in the first half, with 53 of those yards coming on the touchdown run by Ortiz.

“Lyman Hall did a good job,” East Haven coach Scott Benoit said after his team fell to 0-2. “They were a lot bigger and they made more plays than we did. With our situation right now, we are just looking at this play by play. We are starting two freshmen, and we have a lot of kids who have not played since they were freshmen or have not played at all.

“This is a rebuilding job. I thought the effort was good tonight. We played hard. There were moments we did some good stuff. There will be some growing pains.”

Lyman Hall held a 21-4 play advantage in the opening quarter and increased the lead to 20-7 in the second quarter when Bannon capped a 10-play, 73-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown run. The Lyman Hall senior ran 8 times for 75 yards in the drive alone.

“Our offense has been looking to get going,” Bannon said. “We started to get going last week and today we were able to put it all together.”

The Trojans put the game away with two scores in the final 3:44 of the opening half. After recovering its second fumble, Lyman Hall took a 27-7 lead on a 7-yard run by Janowski.

“At that point in the game (13-7), it could have been here we go again,” Weyrauch said. “We could have let it slip away, but we responded. This team needed a big lead to get that confidence that we were not going to give it away. I think that was very important for us.”

East Haven fumbled again three plays later and Lyman Hall needed seven plays to take a 33-7 lead on a 1-yard score by DeWallace with 19 seconds to go in the opening half.

“I don’t think not playing affected us,” Benoit said. “Honestly, I think we improved since the first game. We need to continue practicing hard and keep going.”

East Haven fumbled on its initial offensive play in the second half, which Lyman Hall turned into a 1-yard touchdown run by Bannon four plays later for a 40-7 advantage.

The Yellow Jackets did have a bright spot in the contest as Bilides not only had a first half interception, but the freshman ran 11 times for 92 yards in the final six minutes, including a 19-yard touchdown run.