"No one, and I mean no one, comes into our house and pushes us around." - Chelcie Ross as Dan Devine in "Rudy" (1993)
NEW CANAAN - From the Joe Sikorski-coached teams of the 1960's to the heated, prank-laden games of recent years, the New Canaan-Darien football rivalry is Fairfield County’s version of Yankees vs. Red Sox, Hatfields vs. McCoys, Coke vs. Pepsi, Daniel-san vs. Johnny.
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On Saturday, another chapter of the rivalry was written.
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Led by Eoin Mueller’s 3 TD’s and a spirited defensive effort, New Canaan jumped out to a 28-6 lead at halftime and held on the rest of the way, edging a resilient Darien squad 35-26 to win the FCFL 3rd grade title.
“I’m very proud of these kids,” said head coach Jason Milligan. “They worked hard all season, and the results today were because of that.”
New Canaan’s hurry-up, quick-strike offense was a work in progress throughout the season, gaining traction and efficacy with each passing game. And in Saturday’s championship, they would need every bit of offensive help they could get, facing one of the most dangerous players in the league – Darien’s QB Isaac “Dash” McMullin.
“He’s probably the fastest kid in the league, and we knew we were going to have our work cut out for us,” said Milligan. “We tried to practice all week where we had guys stay in their positions, and played in their positions and not try to run all over the field, cause that’s how he takes advantage of you.”
And while New Canaan's defense was largely successful in containing McMullin in the first half - despite the absence of safety Henry Garrity who was out with a fever - they unleashed their own offensive weapon…RB Eoin Mueller.
On the fourth play of the game, Mueller took a misdirection snap from Colin Perkins to the left side. Sprung by a textbook block from Devon Christian, Mueller got around the corner, broke a tackle and cut back against the grain into daylight. 30 yards later, he was in the end zone and New Canaan had a 6-0 lead with 9:17 left in the 1st quarter.
“All season he’s been a breakaway runner,” said Milligan. “He’s got unusual talent for a kid his age. He’s got good vision, he’s quick, he’s fast and he reads the blocks well.”
After New Canaan’s defense held Darien to a three-and-out on their opening possession, the offense went back to work. Strong runs by Mueller and QB Ty Groff set the Black 3’s up at the Darien 7-yard line. Hitting a huge hole opened up by Beckett Beatman, Flynn “Mister” Coffey and Joshua Mun, Mack “The Knife” Seelert rumbled for the second New Canaan TD of the day, extending the lead to 14-0 with 5:10 left in the 1st.
Darien would break through on their next possession. Despite Caden Bowling’s spectacular, TD-saving tackle of McMullin, it only delayed the inevitable. Gordon “Don’t Call Me Jarrod” Washburn was able to score on a 5-yard run, cutting the New Canaan lead to 14-6, with just under 4 minutes left in the 1st quarter.
Darien was able to stop New Canaan on their next drive, but the Black 3’s immediately returned the favor. Led by bone-crushing tackles by Mueller, Andrew Nolan, Tommy “Whatever He Wants He” Goetz and Johnny Maechling the Black 3’s forced a turnover on downs, taking over possession at midfield.
Running behind an inspired offensive line, New Canaan drove to the Darien 5 yard line. With terrific blocks from Tucker Milligan, Will Pepe and Alex Capelo, Seelert scored his second TD of the game, giving New Canaan 21-6 lead with 1:13 left in the half.
Darien went three-and-out again as Miligan, Goetz and Dominic “The Dominator” Rasso combined to hold the Blue 3’s in check. It seemed as though the half would end with New Canaan up 2 scores, as there were mere seconds left on the clock. On what would be the final play of the half, Mueller struck again. Taking a handoff around the right side, Mueller raced 21 yards for a crushing TD and a 28-6 New Canaan lead.
To Darien’s credit, the Blue 3’s did not give up. Despite excellent tackling from R.J. DeCamillo, A.J. Bell, and “Mad” Max Bombeck, McMullin pulled Darien to a 28-14 deficit with 3:40 left in the 3rd quarter with a 1-yd. TD plunge. And when they recovered a New Canaan fumble on the next NC possession, the momentum had seemingly swayed 180-degrees to the Darien side.
New Canaan’s defense would halt that momentum.
In what might have been the signature turning of events of the season, New Canaan forced a Darien punt. On the very first play from scrimmage, Mueller sliced though the Blue 3’s defense for a 50-yard TD run. New Canaan had a 35-14 lead with 8:10 left in the game.
Darien would not quietly into that goodnight. Solid defensive play by Holden Busby, Ben Capelo and Hugh Gardiner set up a fourth-and-long for Darien at their own 25-yard line. Even so, McMullin would continue his one-man show. Racing for a 55-yard TD, the scrappy Darien QB cut the New Canaan lead to 35-20 with 5:07 left.
After stopping New Canaan on the next drive, Darien had enough time for one more possession. Despite good pursuit from Peter Cieszko, Nolan and Goetz, McMullin would reel off another huge run, scoring from 42-yards out. The New Canaan lead was down to 35-26, but with less than 20 seconds remaining it was too little, too late. The championship belonged to New Canaan.
“It’s always tough with Darien,” said Milligan, who saw his own share of the Blue Wave while playing football for NCHS back in the 90’s. “They’ve got good coaching, they’ve got tough kids and you can see that they never gave up. That’s what we expect at every age and every game against Darien.”
“I’m glad we won,” said New Canaan’s Dominic Rasso. “We tried our best to hustle, to run, every single day. Doing laps and practicing and trying our best.”
And against a tough opponent, New Canaan’s best was just good enough.
“I feel great, because all of our offensive line was great this whole year,” said NC QB Ty Groff. “We couldn’t have done it without everyone.”
-Terry Dinan
1 2 3 4 TOT
DARIEN 6 0 8 12 26
NEW CANAAN 14 14 0 7 35
NC – Mueller 30-yard run (conversion failed)
NC – Seelert 7-yd. run (2-pt. conversion good)
D – Washburn 5-yd. run (conversion failed)
NC – Seelert 5-yd. run (conversion good)
NC – Mueller 21-yd. run (conversion good)
D – McMullin 1-yd. run (2-pt. conversion good)
NC – Mueller 50-yd. run (conversion good)
D – McMullin 55-yd. run (conversion failed)
D – McMullin 42-yd. run (conversion failed)
