Murray’s pick-6 seals No. 5 New Canaan’s slugfest with No. 9 Hand

MADISON — It was a heavyweight battle between the last of the lines of two great football houses: New Canaan’s Vincent Cognetta and Hand’s Seth Sweitzer.

That fight, which saw haymaker traded for haymaker, ended with no clear-cut winner. So it was going to come down to someone else to put this FCIAC vs. SCC showdown away.

Figures it would be by someone with no family legacy to speak of. Just a senior with a dream of making a play.

But New Canaan will take it. Leading by just three points and under 3 minutes left, Dylan Murray tipped and then picked off a Patch Flanagan pass and took it 22 yards the other way to lift the No. 5-ranked Rams to a 28-18 victory at the Surf Club Friday night.

“That’s happened to me in practice a few times, and usually a linebacker or safety steals it,” said Murray, a senior. “I was like, there’s no way any linebacker or safety takes this one. I saw it in the air, grabbed it and took it to the house.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to win a game that way. I got to give credit to my big men up front. They put some pressure on the quarterback’s face and I finished it for them.”

New Canaan, led by Army recruit Ned Brady, dominated the line of scrimmage and outgained Hand 442-263 in total offensive yards.

Cognetta, the last of a family of four brothers who have starred for New Canaan over the years, led the way with 152 yards rushing on 16 carries and a touchdown.

But Sweitzer — the last of a long line of brothers, a father and uncles to star at Hand — was just as good, if not better given the circumstances. He caught eight passes for 129 yards, including two touchdown passes and an interception that led to one of them. He also boomed a handful of 50-yard punts.

“He’s an All-American in my eyes,” said Hand coach Erik Becker, whose team fell to 0-2.

“This is adversity. We welcome adversity. Now it’s: How will we respond?”

New Canaan was about to take a 14-0 lead into the half, but Hand — which didn’t even get a first down until midway through the second quarter, finally came to life.

Flanagan scored on an 11-yard scamper and then Sweitzer picked off a New

Canaan pass and, seconds later, caught a touchdown pass with 6 seconds remaining. Hand had scored two touchdowns in 32 seconds to get within 14-12.

“When you get old you make bad decisions and I made a bunch of bad decisions tonight,” said Lou Marinelli, now in his 40th year as New Canaan’s coach. “But I think that’s a hell of a football team. I wouldn’t want to play them in a couple of weeks.

“And that kid, Sweitzer, if he’s not one of the best receivers in the state I don’t know who is.”

Cognetta’s 20-yard scoring run in the third quarter upped the ante to 21-12. But when New Canaan quarterback Henry Cunney had to leave the game briefly, Cognetta just couldn’t convert a fourth-and-short at the Hand 11.

Just a few plays later, Flanagan tossed a 33-yard touchdown to Sweitzer to make it a three-point game with just over six minutes left. Though New Canaan couldn’t run out the clock, Murray’s pick-6 ensured New Canaan escaped undefeated.

“I this is a tough place to play, as you can see,” Marinelli said. “I’m glad we won’t have to play here again.”