Haters, Hopkins carve up Vikings
STAMFORD — Danbury quarterback Malachi Hopkins ran for two touchdowns and threw for another as the Hatters gained 515 rushing yards Saturday in a 52-20 win at Westhill.
Hopkins ran 16 times for 184 yards and completed 5 of 11 passes for 67 yards, including a 29-yard touchdown to his older brother, R.J., who also ran for a touchdown. Running back Jack Pompea scored twice while gaining 120 yards on 16 carries and Malik Thomas also found the end zone on an 83-yard afternoon.
Westhill had some success setting the edge and containing sweep plays but couldn’t find an answer for Malachi Hopkins when he pulled the ball on the option and ran it himself. Hatters coach Augie Tieri called Hopkins “the focal point of our run game.”
“Usually when we do an outside scheme, it’s a read,” Pompea said. “So if I go outside, everybody’s flooding outside to stop me and he pulls it and everything’s open inside. And vice versa: If they crash inside, I have the whole open lane outside.”
“Everybody has their blocking, and if I read it right and find the hole, then that’s really it,” Hopkins added. “That happened in the game. … If they’re worried about me pulling it and running they’re going to focus on me and not Pompea.”
But neither player had much trouble Saturday. Danbury ran 48 times, averaging 10.7 yards while improving to 2-1. They scored so many long touchdowns that even leading 38-14 after three quarters, their redzone offense was still 0-for-1 on the day, settling for a field goal in the first quarter after a drive that started on the Westhill 19. Their second trip inside the 20-yard line didn’t come until late in the fourth quarter, and Thomas scored from 16 yards out on the first redzone play.
“It’s just desire,” Westhill coach Joey DeVellis said. “We can scheme guys however you want, but you just gotta want to run to the football and gotta want to make plays. We’re just look-
Stamford up 12-7.
Garcia scored again on a 4-yard run with 17 seconds remaining, putting an exclamation point on the Black Knights’ first victory of the season. Trinity turned the ball over three times, twice on special teams.
The second special-teams turnover proved especially costly as Stamford scored its first touchdown six plays after recovering a fumbled punt. Quarterback Isaiah Johnson score on a 1-yard dive.
“Too many mistakes to beat a team with the athletes they have,” Trinity coach Donny Panapada said. “Our kids played hard but too many mistakes. I sound like a broken record. The penalties we had are just foolish and we can’t give any yards away, especially 15 yards or motion penalties third-and-short. We are not good enough to do that.”
Trinity took a 7-6 lead in the third quarter on a 15yard touchdown pass from Sam Pensiero to Tahj Morgan.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Lenny Garcia, Stamford. Garcia ran hard all afternoon, scoring two touchdowns.
QUOTABLE
“This is a big one coming off the two losses. We made a couple mistakes, but we got the win,” Garcia said. “This was more of a run game than passing. We barely passed the ball this game and they couldn’t stop the run.”