Indians have everything clicking
Montville dominates in all phases en route to rout of Ledyard
Montville — The opening kickoff from Montville High School was an onside kick.
And while that didn't win the game for the Indians on a sodden Friday night against Ledyard, Montville's attitude might very well have.
"We just wanted to get out and play, taking every chance imaginable as early as possible," Montville coach Tanner Grove said. "Come out and throw everything we ever designed at it. Get some en- ergy and emotion flowing through these kids. We had to come out of the gates fast."
In the first quarter alone, Montville blocked a punt and recovered a pair of fumbles, scoring twice before Ledyard ever had a first down. The Indians, who limited Ledyard to minus-32 yards offense overall, blanked the Colonels 40-0, holding them without an offensive touchdown for the second straight week.
Montville used a revamped backfield, getting big plays from two guys who had never run the ball before in Greg Clark and Nick Tibbetts, and 107 yards and three touchdowns from junior Sam Kury. It was 27-0 at halftime. "They knew our weaknesses. They knew how to attack us," said Ledyard coach Mark Farnsworth, whose team dropped to 1-3. "They had so many guys in our backfield tonight. They're stronger. They're big kids. They're well-coached. They came off the ball
hard."
As it turns out, Nik Angell's blocked punt on Ledyard's first series, was just the first big play of the night for Montville (2-2).
The next two, a pair of fumble recoveries, came in rapid succession in a saturating rain. Montville sophomore quarterback Luke Hall was intercepted in the end zone on the Indians' opening drive, but the Colonels fumbled it back to Montville on the 1-yard line, allowing Kury to score two plays later from the 2.
Montville onside kicked once more and Ledyard once again fumbled.
The Indians appeared stalled, but that's when Clark, formerly a receiver, ran his first counter of the night on fourth-and-3 from the Ledyard 35. Montville gained eight yards despite a 10-yard holding penalty which would have tacked even more yards on to Clark's run.
Later in the drive, Clark ran the same play for 21 yards to the 3 and Kury scored once again to make it 140.
Montville kept up the momentum on the next drive, getting a 29-yard catch on a halfback option from Kury to Bradley Johnson and Kury took a pitch for a 14-yard touchdown for a 20-0 advantage. Even when the Indians punted on their ensuing drive, Clark's kick rolled 61 yards to the Ledyard 28.
Montville then recovered a third fumble deep in Colonels' territory and Clark scored on a 7-yard reverse with 34 seconds remaining in the half for a 27-0 cushion.
Ledyard's only first down in the first half came on a pass interference call against Montville.
"We couldn't catch a break in the beginning," said Farnsworth, whose two sons, Erik and Mike, are members of the Montville coaching staff. "They're a stronger team than us and they were able to punch it in."
Montville was coming off a 21-12 loss last week to Waterford, thus Grove's sense of urgency to start the game off right.
He used Kury and Joe Satiro interchangably at running back, while throwing newcomers to the running game Clark (6 carries, 43 yards) and Tibbetts (8 carries, 65 yards) into the mix, each of them scoring a touchdown. Clark was a member of the Indians' Eastern Connecticut Conference champion 4x400-meter relay team in the spring.
And that's not even counting the Montville defense, which tackled Ledyard for a loss 10 times.
"We came into the game saying if they're going to beat us, they're going to have to throw the ball. And that was before it rained," Grove said. "We put nine guys in the box.
"... In high school football, there's so many peaks and valleys, that sometimes when you're in a valley you feel like you're never going to get out of it. Hopefully, we can be more steady from now on." v.fulkerson@theday.com