NEW CANAAN – Despite inspired play on both sides of the ball, a valiant second-half comeback would fall short as the New Canaan Red 3’s dropped a 20-6 decision to the Wilton 3rd Grade White team on Saturday at Dunning Field.
The game was closer than the score would indicate, as New Canaan was within a yard of either tying or taking the lead late in the 3rd quarter. With that said, a ferocious Wilton goal line stand and a late 4th quarter Wilton TD would seal NC’s fate, ending their season in the first round of the FCFL Bantam 3 playoffs.
New Canaan started off the game on defense and promptly stopped Wilton at their own 35-yard line behind strong tackling by Giovanni Cascione, Cooper Dinan and Will Larson. On the ensuing possession, Cascione gained 9 yards on a third-and-10 behind textbook blocking from Matthew Mercede, James Casey, Sean Watchmaker, and Will Casey, setting up fourth-and-one. Wilton, however, was able to stop New Canaan at midfield, taking over on downs.
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The Red 3’s suffered a major loss when lineman Jason Pastushan left the game with an injury. And despite the solid play of Gunnar Watson, Brian Balkun and Andrew Rittenberry up front and Richie Whitcomb and Max Budnick in the secondary, Wilton was able to slowly mount a sustained drive. New Canaan seemingly had them stopped but Wilton was able to convert a huge fourth-and-6 on a 24-yard pass from QB George Hahn to TE Alexander Reyes, putting the ball on the New Canaan 1 yard-line. Three plays later, Wilton’s Ryan Preisano punched in the game’s first score. After the conversion failed, New Canaan trailed 6-0 with 10:50 left to go in the 1st half.
On its next possession, New Canaan would gamble from deep within their own territory, going for it on fourth-and-five at their own 25 yard-line. Wilton would again prevail, stopping New Canaan just a yard shy of the marker and forcing another turnover on downs.
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Set up with favorable field position at the New Canaan 29, Wilton wasted little time in reaching the end zone again as Preisano capped off a 6-play drive with a 6-yard TD run. Wilton led 13-0 going into halftime.
New Canaan came out of the break needing a quick score, and that is exactly what they got. On the second play of the opening drive of the second half, Cascione faked an end around to Trey Hartnett and sprung by a Griffin Gentner block, outraced the Wilton defense for a 60-yard TD run. New Canaan was back in it, trailing 13-6 with 9:08 left in the 3rd quarter.
The TD seemed to swing the momentum to Big Red’s favor. A combination of penalties and great tackles by Cascione, Larson and Ryan Connelly pinned the White 3’s in the shadow of their goalpost, forcing them to punt. New Canaan was set up with outstanding field position at the Wilton 30.
And on the third play of the ensuing drive, the entire game almost changed dramatically.
On third-and-15, Cascione dropped back to pass and - getting tremendous blocking from Colin Tiscornia, Jack Hladick and Charlie Besgen - hit Hartnett with a perfectly thrown ball. The New Canaan WR broke a tackle at the 20-yard line and streaked down the sideline with only Wilton’s Camden Pelletier standing in the way of another NC touchdown. With a desperation dive, Pelletier was able to force Hartnett out of bounds, and New Canaan was set up with a first-and-goal from the Wilton 9-yard line.
New Canaan was eventually able to get it to the 1-yard line on runs by Cascione. But that was as far as they got as Wilton’s defense stiffened up and held the Red 3’s on 4th-and-goal. The 3rd quarter ended with Wilton clinging to a 13-6 lead.
New Canaan’s defense continued their high level of play as Matthew Cutler, Matthew Salmini and Charlie Harrison led NC to another stoppage of Wilton, setting up the offense for one last drive. New Canaan was able to get the ball to midfield, but could not advance any further as Wilton was once again able to stop NC on fourth down. With less than 2 minutes left in the game, Presiano put the game away with a 2-yard TD run, giving Wilton a 20-6 advantage which held up as the final score.
“While we are sad to see the season come to an end, we are very proud of the effort the kids gave us,” said head coach Bill Besgen. “We look forward seeing everyone returning for another season next year.”
The New Canaan Red 3’s are:
Brian Balkun, Charlie Besgen, Max Budnick, Giovanni Cascione, James Casey, Will Casey, Ryan Connelly, Matthew Cutler, Cooper Dinan, Griffin Gentner, Charlie Harrison, Trey Hartnett, Jack Hladick, Will Larson, Matthew Mercede, Jason Pastushan, Andrew Rittenberry, Matthew Salmini, Henry Scott, Colin Tiscornia, Sean Watchmaker, Gunnar Watson and Richie Whitcomb.
They were coached by Bill Besgen, Nick Cascione, Al Fusco and Jon Whitcomb.
-Terry Dinan
