Fairfield Prep, Warde Show Emotion In First Preseason Scrimmage

It took a while for Fairfield Prep and Fairfield Warde to get the kinks out, but that's what preseason football scrimmages are for.  

In the first controlled scrimmage for both local programs on Wednesday afternoon, the Jesuits and Mustangs eventually began to click on both sides of the ball.

The Brien McMahon Senators also participated in the three-team affair at Warde High School.

 To no one's suprise, there was no love lost between the two Fairfield town rivals, as Warde and the visiting Jesuits collided with fury and jawed aplenty during the afternoon when temperatures soared above 90 degrees.

The Jesuits, who have a new coach in Tom Shea following last season's 0-10 campaign, exhibited plenty of passion from the first play onward.

Prep senior captain quarterback CJ Donohue rolled out smoothly on several occasions to gain positive yardage, while fellow captain and senior tailback Kyle Vignone juked a slew of Mustangs to reach pay dirt near the end of the Jesuits' 15-play offensive set versus McMahon.  

"We're not where we need to be or want to be, but we're getting there," Vignone said.  "We're focused and we're working every time we take the field, and coach is really pushing us hard out there.

"We're improving every time we practice, and today it was good to get out there against another couple of teams to see what we could do." 

Shea applauded certain areas while stressing there remains much work to be done.  

"We clearly have a long ways to go, but we showed some good things today," he said. "Execution-wise, we have to be a lot sharper. At the same time, the energy and the effort level was high."

Meanwhile, thanks to behemoth book-end tackles Mike Money and Miles McQuane, the Mustangs shook off a rocky start to get the chains moving and eventually connect for two trips to the end zone. 

 Alex Delaney carried with authority against both McMahon and Prep, punching one in from inside the 10-yard line. 

 "It was definitely good for our guys to finally play against some new faces," said Warde coach Duncan Della Volpe, the former longtime New Canaan assistant who guided the Mustangs to a 5-5 record in his first season at the helm a year ago. "We had a very slow start, but we finished hard and we finished strong."  

Throughout the humid afternoon, the Mustangs swarmed to the ball defensively, with hard hitters such as cornerback Craig Lowery repeatedly setting the tone for Warde's aggressive and unrelenting defensive unit.