Domination
Wilton intercepts Masuk 4 times to advance to first state final since 1995
MONROE — Hearing the year brought a soft “wow” from Todd Woodring. His Wilton football team had just shut down Masuk 35-10 in the Class MM semifinals through Sunday’s rain showers at Benedict Field and had earned the right to be the first Wilton team in a CIAC football final since 1995.
“It’s awesome. I’ve dreamed about it since I was 10 years old back in youth football,” said Woodring, a senior, who took the first of Wilton’s four interceptions back for a first-quarter touchdown that handed momentum to the Warriors.
“I didn’t think we’d ever get here. It’s crazy to think about.”
The third-seeded Warriors (10-2), ranked 10th in the GameTimeCT Top 10 Poll, will face fifth-seeded, fifth-ranked and defending champion North Haven (10-2) in the final on
Saturday, 10:30 a.m., at Central Connecticut State University’s Arute Stadium in New Britain.
This will be Wilton’s fifth trip to a CIAC final. It won Class L in 1978 and 1985, and it lost in the 1984 Class MM final and the 1995 Class M title game. The Warriors didn’t make the playoffs again until 2019.
“When I first got here (taking over in 2018), the first thing I did was try to prepare a speech for the first time I beat Ridgefield, because I didn’t know what I was going to say,” Wilton coach E.J. DiNunzio said.
“The second thing I did was I said I’ve got to get my kids to the point where they understand they can be a New Canaan, they can be a Darien (perennial contenders), but it takes work. It takes work in the offseason. It takes work during the season . ... They bought in.”
North Haven beat Wilton 14-7 in last year’s Class MM semifinals on the way to the title. The Warriors won a regular-season game 28-7 against the Nighthawks in 2021.
Masuk, seeking its first trip to a final since 2017, finishes 9-3 at the end of a season full of drama.
Head coach Steve Christy has been on administrative leave since July as the town board of education initiated an investigation into the program.
Assistant coach Eric Giordano was also on
leave, then resigned in November, which brought a walkout from other coaches that nearly led the team to forfeit at least one game and possibly the whole rest of their season. They'd won the past four to get here.
“This year has probably been the worst and best year of football I've ever had,” Masuk senior Jason Champagne said.
Champagne helped the Panthers into the red zone on the first drive of the game, but they had to settle for Jackson Zylick's field goal.
On Masuk's third drive, Woodring ran a pickoff back for a score.
“I didn't even think I was going to catch it, first of all,” Woodring said. “I was running right (and thought) OK, I'm just going to go down here. I saw a lane to my left: Oh my God, I was gassed after that.
“I think that really
sparked us. They were moving it again. We just needed that.”
The first of two Joey Hagerty touchdown passes to Cole Stevenson stretched the lead to 14-3 at halftime. And Wilton's defense gave Masuk little except a 94yard Shane Walker touchdown in the third quarter.
“We pretty much locked No. 14 down, Jason Champagne, hell of a player, good things for him,
but we're the best defense in the state,” Woodring said.
“The D-line, up front, we really shut them down. There were no holes, squeezing gaps, and the linebackers filled in, all 11 to the ball.”
Player of the Game
Senior linebacker Todd Woodring's pick-six turned the tide in Wilton's favor, and he helped the defense contain Masuk's potent offense.
Quotable 1
“We're not the biggest, not the strongest, but we definitely have the most heart out of anybody. We fought to the last end of this. It's been a rough season. You can say all the excuses you want, but we battled to the end.” —Masuk senior Jason Champagne
Quotable 2
“I just told the kids, listen, you don't get many names come out of Wilton . ... We play as a whole, 11 on defense, 11 on offense, 11 on specials, and we play our butts off. I'm so proud of those kids.” —Wilton coach E.J. DiNunzio
Wilton 35, Masuk 10
WILTON ......................... 7 7 7 14—35 MASUK ........................... 3 0 7 0 —10 M—Jackson Zylick 28 FGW—Todd Woodring 40 interception return (Luke Ginsberg kick)
W—Cole Stevenson 29 pass from Joey Hagerty (Ginsberg kick) W—Stevenson 22 pass from Hagerty (Ginsberg kick)
M—Shane Walker 94 pass from Robert Klein (Zylick kick)
W—Charlie Calabrese 5 run (Ginsberg kick)
W—Calabrese 5 run (Ginsberg kick)