New Canaan romps in Stamford
STAMFORD — With a passing attack that always puts up gaudy numbers, the New Canaan football team isn’t typically known for its running game.
John Wise changed that story line on Saturday.
Wise ran for four touchdowns in the first half, setting the tone as the Rams romped to a 547 victory over Stamford at Boyle Stadium.
It was a great rebound for New Canaan, which was coming off a loss to Ridgefield on a lastsecond field goal from Adam Biernat in week two.
“We just wanted to put that behind us and make sure that we came out focused and followed our assignments and executed to the best of our ability,” Wise said. “It was a lot happier (on the sidelines) than after the heartbreaker last week.”
“It was really all about shortterm memory,” New Canaan cocaptain Zach LaPolice said. “We had to flip the page. That adversity is going to happen to great teams and we practiced really hard, got the basics down, and executed today.”
New Canaan (21) won the turnover battle with two fumble recoveries and a pick, each of which came in Stamford territory and set
up touchdowns. The defensive line, led by ends Chris Carratu and Braden Sweeney, along with Matt Rigione, Alex Tchir and Ethan Chalon, did a great job bottling up Stamford’s elusive QB Isaiah Johnson.
“(Defensive coaches) Chris (Silvestri), AJ (Albano), Frank Arcamone and Jason Miska put a great plan together to try and contain ( Johnson) because he’s not easy to contain,” New Canaan coach Lou Marinelli said. He’s dangerous, but the defense played great today and for the first half, we were able to contain him.”
For the Black Knights (12), it was a second straight loss since an emotional 1413 win over Staples in Week 1. A 55yard touchdown pass from Cameron Cahoon to Tyriq Deveaux with 4:46 remaining prevented Stamford from being shut out.
“We were our own worst enemy,” Stamford coach Jamar Greene said. “We can’t make mistakes the way we did today against a team like that. Hat’s off to Marinelli, I look up to him, and he runs and amazing program over there. We’re young and we’ve got to figure out how to play better as a team. We’re still learning that.”
The Rams wasted little time getting on the scoreboard, as Wise ran for a 5yard touchdown 3:55 into the game. He added a second TD for 11 yards later in the first quarter, as New Canaan took a 140 lead.
Wise scored again on a 4yard run early in the second and, after Braden Sweeney recovered a Stamford fumble at the Knights’ 42yard line, the Rams went in for another TD, as LaPolice scored on a 10yard pass from QB Drew Pyne.
Wise then scored his fourth touchdown on a 9yard run for a 340 lead with 5:30 to go in the half.
Wise finished with 64 rushing yards on 12 carries and had one 19yard reception, with all of the damage being down in the first half.
“He practices like an animal,” LaPolice said of Wise. “You expect this out of a kid who’s been grinding the whole offseason to get to where he is. He answered today. I love the kid, he had a great game, and that’s great for him and for us. I’m so proud of him.”
“I just try to get in their every play, run as hard as I can, and do the best that I can,” Wise said. “That’s what I did today and it worked out well. It was good that we were able to put the game away early and let some of the younger guys have some opportunities in the second half.”
Pyne threw TD passes to Kyle Russell and Christian Sweeney for a 470 halftime lead, and the large advantage put the game in running time during the second half. Christian Carson’s 3yard run was the Rams’ last touchdown, before Cahoon and Deveaux hooked up for Stamford’s TD.
For Marinelli, getting a victory after last week’s loss was a big lift.
“Personally, when we get beat, I feel like we’re never going to win again,” Marinelli said. “So coming into this, you never know how the kids are going to react. Stamford beat Staples and if you look at them on film, they’re scary. We just got good field position, a bunch of good breaks, and we were able to convert.”
The Knights, meanwhile, will go back to the work in preparation for city rival Trinity next week.
“We’ll watch film, we’ll correct it and then we’ll go from there,” Greene said. “We’ve got to get ready for Trinity and we can’t worry about this one for too long. We’ve just got to go back to the drawing board and get better week by week.”
PLAYER OF THE GAME
John Wise, New Canaan. Wise scored the Rams’ first three touchdowns and finished with four on the day. The junior had 83 yards from scrimmage, rushing for 64 and catching one pass for 19.
QUOTABLE
“We can’t get too high on ourselves and I hope that they don’t get too down on themselves. I think that’s a pretty good football team over there and it was key turnovers and penalties at the wrong time today. That hurts any football team. We played well today and took advantage of our opportunities.”
— New Canaan coach Lou Marinelli