Daniel Hand Makes It 2 Straight Football State Championships

NEW BRITAIN, CT – This one was over early.

Quarterback Phoenix Billings threw three touchdown passes and Colin McCabe ran for a game-high 146 yards and two touchdowns as the top-seeded Daniel Hand High School football team won its second straight Class L championship Saturday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Stadium with a 56-14 victory over No. 7 Maloney.

Hand (13-0) staked its claim as the No. 1 team in the state, finishing the season undefeated for the ninth time in school history. The Tigers, who already had a school-record 550 points before the game kicked off, scored 32 points in the first quarter and had 54 points at halftime.

The Spartans, who upset No. 2 Middletown in the quarterfinals and outlasted cross-town rival Platt in the semifinals, finished the season at 10-3.

Maloney got the first touchdown of the game. The Spartans kicked off and recovered the onside kick. On their first play, Maurice Brackett scored on a 42-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Elliot Good with 10 seconds gone in the game.

From that point, it was all Hand, which won its 13th state championship.

“One of the big questions we’ve heard all year was that you haven’t faced any adversity,” Hand head coach David Mastroianni said. “Football is adversity. I don’t care what happens in the game. Maloney scores, our kids come to the sideline and said ‘OK, we’re good.’”

And they were. Hand scored 54 points in a row to blow out the Spartans.

“We’re all supportive of each other and we’re real competitive,” McCabe said. “When one guy scores, we all want to do something to keep the momentum going.”

Once the Tigers got going, it was hard to slow them down. It took just four plays for Hand to score with McCabe running in from 31 yards away. A two-point conversion from Isaiah McNeilly put Hand ahead, 8-6.

On their next drive, the Tigers scored on a 14-yard run from Billings. Another McNeilly two-point run pushed the lead to 16-6. Hand’s Ben Corniello sacked Good in the end zone for a safety and less than two minutes later, Billings found Chris Bartosic for a six-yard TD pass for a 28-6 lead.

Kevin Girardi scored on a 36-yard TD pass from Billings with 1:26 left in the first quarter for a 32-6 lead after eight minutes.

In the second quarter, Hand added three more touchdowns with Julian Banerji scoring on a 47-yard punt return, McCabe scoring on a 46-yard run and Ethan Haberman scoring on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Billings. Hand led 54-6 at halftime.

Billings completed 5-of-11 passes for Hand for 79 yards and three TDs. Brett Leckey ran for 89 yards on 15 carries for the Tigers. Hand held the Spartans to minus 11 yards rushing.

Maloney was led by Good, who competed 17-of-34 passes for 215 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Most of Maloney’s production came in the second half after the game had long been decided. Good completed eight of 18 passes for 159 yards in the second half.

Victor Marquez caught six passes for 36 yards for the Spartans.

Story and photo credit: Gerry deSimas

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