Amity Falls to Shelton on the Road

Amity fell 14-7 on Friday night in a Southern Connecticut Conference Division I West football contest at Edward C. Finn Stadium in Shelton. All the scoring took place in the first half. Amity falls to 3-4 on the season while the Gaels improve to 4-3. Shelton recognized their seniors before the game.

"I told the kids after the game that I was proud of you and the way that you played," Amity Head Coach Bert Mozealous said. "We played hard but we made some fundamental mistakes. I told them that we are not underclassmen anymore. We cannot make an excuse and say that after seven games.  We certainly played hard and better than we have. I think we have played better the last four weeks."

The game was scoreless at the end of the first quarter. With 10:13 left in the second quarter Shelton quarterback Jonathan Groth ran the ball up the middle before cutting to the outside and down the sideline for a 33-yard touchdown. Ed Groth converted the point after try to give the Gaels a 7-0 lead. Shelton would take a 14-0 lead as Jonathan Groth would run the ball for 36-yards down the sideline for a touchdown on a third and two play with 2:11 remaining before halftime. On the previous play Groth had an eight yard run. Ed Groth again converted the PAT. Jonathan Groth had 10 carries for 79 yards which included the two Gael touchdowns. Shelton junior running back Gary Thompson added 71 yards on 14 carries.

"(Jonathan Groth) did a good job on those two runs," Shelton Head Coach Jeff Roy said. "We put in a new formation for him. We call it the "V" formation. It has a tight end, a wing and a couple of fullbacks and he was able to bust a couple early. This is probably the difference in the game. We were having trouble moving the ball. (Amity) played very good on defense against us. I thought their linebackers and  defensive front line played great. I thought coming into the game that we would be able to move the ball but Amity handled us up front."

Shelton has relied on their defense to earn victories all season.

"I thought our defense did a great job again tonight," Roy said. "It has been keeping us in games all year. We have a lot of inexperienced guys (offense) and our defense keeps us in games. We were in the game with (top ranked) Xavier last week (lost 14-7) because of our defense. We were able to stop Amity's run early and they went to more of a passing game. (Amity) showed that they could run and pass the ball. Kalanta went out and he gets two or three yards extra per carry. It was a grind-it-out kind of football game."

The Spartans would answer before the half. Amity took possession on their own 39 yard line. Amity would go on a six play scoring drive. On a third and seven play from their own 42 yard line the Spartans Tyler Vallie would complete a 13-yard pass to Spartan Taylor Wright. Vallie gained five yards on first down to bring the ball down to the Shelton 40. With 18.2 seconds left Amity's Vallie would complete a 16 yard pass to Sebi Aliberti giving Amity a first down at the Shelton 24. With nine seconds left in the half Vallie completed the ball to Hunter Ricks for a 24-yard touchdown pass. Vallie was hit by the Shelton defense as he released the ball to Ricks. Amity seemed to gain momentum as they entered the half trailing 14-7 after senior Greg DeBarba converted the PAT.

"I thought we did a good job on offense," Mozealous said. "Hunter (Ricks) did a real nice job for us. We had more opportunities than we have had. This is the first time that we have thrown the ball well."

The Amity defense has improved but The Gaels took advantage in the first half.

"Our defense played well," Mozealous said. "Our linebackers played well, much better tonight. We did have some breakdowns on defense that did cost us. Their quarterback #14 (Jonathan Groth) is a tough son of a gun. He gave us some headaches. We knew that would happen. We did not cover from over the top and he ran outside. The guys that had the outside contained did not do the job."

Amity lost star running back Kyle Kalanta with about five and a half minutes to play in the second quarter. He tried to return but was unable to and left about half way through the third quarter after a loss of yardage on a screen pass and a three yard gain. Kalanta had scored a touchdown in five straight games.

"We worked on his hip and knee, "Mozealous said. "We taped his knee and gave his hip a massage. We tried to get him back out there. It kind of threw our backfield off. We were out of sync. We had a pitch that went to nobody for a turnover. These things cannot happen."

 Vallie, the Spartan junior quarterback, has been playing with a bad non-throwing shoulder. He will have surgery in the off season but the doctor has said that he can play and it will not get any worse.

With two minutes remaining in the third quarter.  Amity senior linebacker Beau Grenier tackled quarterback Jonathan Groth for a three yard loss on a third and two play from the 13 yard line. After the Shelton punt Amity took over at the 50 yard line. Vallie would complete a 20-yard pass to receiver Codey Ellisoon first down. At the start of the fourth quarter on the second play after the completion to Ellison Amity would fumble the football and recover their own fumble and pick up a first down at the Shelton 17 yard line on a second and six play. Amity was unable to pick up another first down on third and three (from the Shelton 27). The Spartans were whistled for a false start on fourth down and faced a fourth and eight yards to go for the first down. Vallie's pass was incomplete to receiver Taylor Wright, turning the ball over to Shelton with ten minutes remaining in the game.

On the ninth play of the next Shelton drive Amity's Brian Speer recovered a Gael fumble by Thompson at the Amity 35 yard line.  The Spartans would go on an eight play drive but they could not convert. With two and a half minutes remaining in the game, Dan Cote had a 17 yard reception on a third and five from the 50 yard line moving the ball to the Shelton 33 yard line. Amity would complete a pass to Sebi Aliberti on a third and three for no gain. Amity was called for a false start and faced a fourth and eight chance from the Shelton 32 yard  line and the ball would fall incomplete, intended for Wright of Amity.  Shelton, taking over with 1:24 remaining in the game would fumble the exchange but  would fall on the ball and retain possession. With 27.2 seconds left Amity would receive a punt. Amity's Ellison fumbled the punt and it was recovered by Shelton's Mike Dellollo to secure the victory for the Gaels.

"In the second half we moved the ball and had our opportunities again. We just came up short," Mozealous said. "We have to have more of a sense of urgency. We need to realize the time that is on the clock. We need to know what the situation is both offensively and defensively if we want to be successful."

Amity plays at Lyman Hall next Friday Nov. 5 at 7pm.