Sports
New Canaan Holds Off Fairfield Warde, 28-14 [VIDEO]
Tied at 7-7 after three quarters, the Rams responded with 21 points in the fourth period to improve to 3-0
New Canaan fans who came to see the usual 40-point romp at Dunning Stadium were a little nervous Friday night as the Fairfield Warde Mustangs held the Rams to seven points through three quarters.
In a game that had 190 yards in penalties, six fumbles and an uncharacteristic Matt Milano interception for a touchdown, it appeared for awhile that Warde was going to upset last year's state runner-up and coach Duncan Della Volpe finally was going to beat his longtime mentor, Lou Marinelli.
However, the Rams responded with 21 points in the fourth quarter and held off the Mustangs 28-14, giving Marinell a 3-0 record against his former top assistant.
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Della Volpe, who spent 10 years at New Canaan, was hoping he could show his teacher what he had learned. His effort did not go unnoticed by New Canaan.
Both Marinelli and Milano had high praise for the Mustangs.
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“It’s amazing what Coach Del (Dellavolpe) has done with their program in just three years, “ Milano stated.
When Marinelli was asked how it felt for the teacher to beat the student he responded, ”they have a great program now, those kids worked hard tonight, and they will beat us eventually."
However, Friday night was not that time, as New Canaan scored three times in the fourth quarter, first on a 28-yard pass play from Milano to Patrick Newtown.
Milano, who was 20-of-37 for 274 yards, had a hard time connecting with his usual band of receivers throughout the game and started calling his own number to move the Rams up field. Shapiro missed the point after, leaving the Mustangs (1-2) ahead, 14-13.
The touchdown came shortly after Warde scored on its opening drive of the fourth quarter on a 37-yard pass from Chris Foley to Kevin Sullivan to go up 14-7.
Then with under eight minutes to go and down one, the Rams began the drive that put any thoughts of an upset to rest.
Milano took the snap from center and after finding no open receivers, ran right and down the sideline for 35 yards and a first down in the red zone. Two plays later with 1st-and-goal from the 3, Milano called his own number again and plunged in for the TD.
When the Rams got the ball back with less than five minutes left, Milano once again marched the Rams down the field and plunged over the goal line with a 1-yard TD run, securing another win for the Rams (3-0).
Della Volpe was proud of his team and their effort.
"They played hard on both sides of the ball," he said. "I have nothing to be ashamed of about my kids.”
In the loss, there was a standout performance turned on by Warde running back Devon Lofton, who ran for 145 yards on 26 carries.
New Canaan travels to McMahon for a Thursday night showdown while Warde hosts Bassick, also on Thursday.
