“Playoffs? Don't talk about playoffs. Are you kidding me? Playoffs?” – Jim Mora, former Indianapolis Colts coach
NEW CANAAN – With a quick-strike offense and a takeaway-oriented defense more reminiscent of their high school counterparts than 8 and 9-year-olds, the New Canaan 3rd Grade Black team has steamrolled through the Fairfield County Football League this season. Outscoring their opponents 152-69 in a regular season that saw the Black 3’s go 7-0, one would guess someone would be able to figure out how to stop them as the league playoffs started this past weekend.
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Guess again.
Led by Eoin Mueller’s 4 touchdowns – three on the ground and one via an 80-yard pass from QB Ty Groff – New Canaan dismantled the Fairfield 3rd Grade Wildcats 34-18 Saturday morning at Dunning Field.
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The Black 3’s utilized an up-tempo offense, complimented by textbook upfront blocking execution, to completely overwhelm a winded Wildcat defense.
“(It was a) great win today,” said New Canaan head coach Jason Milligan. “The offensive line did a great job blocking.”
New Canaan set the tone on the second play from scrimmage. Devon Christian, Joshua Mun and Alex Capelo opened up gaping holes on the line and Mueller was able to take care of the rest, racing virtually untouched for an 80-yard TD run. After Henry Garrity scored the 2-point conversion on a counter, helped by a great sealing block by WR Will Pepe, New Canaan was up 8-0 before most of the crowd at Dunning had taken their seats.
Fairfield was able to mount a sustained drive on the ensuing possession, relying on the run to make it to the New Canaan 28 yard-line. That was as far they got, as tackles from Dominic “The Dominator” Rasso, Andrew Nolan and Mueller pushed the Wildcats back, ultimately setting up a fourth-and-14 from the NC 32-yard line. Fairfield reached into their bag of tricks with a FB option pass but when the ball was dropped, NC took over possession.
The Wildcats were able to stop New Canaan’s offense on the next drive, and set up with favorable field position mounted another solid drive. Despite strong tackles by Tommy “Whatever He Wants He” Goetz, Caeden Bowling, Tucker Milligan and Mack “The Knife” Seelert, Fairfield was able to cap an 8-play, 40-yard drive with a 2-yard TD run. The extra point was stopped as Seelert made a shoestring tackle short of the end zone, and New Canaan had an 8-6 lead with 5:08 left in the 1st half.
On the very next play, Mueller struck again.
Aided by a veritable wall of blocking from Groff, Mun and Bowling, Mueller hit the hole and never looked back. 80 yards and an extra point later, New Canaan had extended to a 15-6 lead with 4:52 left in the half.
A shell-shocked Fairfield was unable to answer on offense. Strong defensive play from Milligan, A.J. Bell and Johnny Maechling set up a third-and-fifteen. And when the Wildcats tried to go back to the FB option pass, the Black 3’s were ready. Seelert broke through the line and forced a severly underthrown ball. And waiting for it was none other than Mueller, who picked off the pass at the Fairfield 32-yard line.
Three plays later Mueller was in the end zone again, taking a pitch 12 yards to paydirt. After another Garrity extra point, New Canaan led 22-6. With time winding down in the half, Fairfield tried to score on a desperation heave. But Seelert was once again able to cut through the line and tipped the pass, allowing Garrity to secure the INT. The teams went into the half with New Canaan rolling.
The Black 3’s came out of the break without missing a beat. Tackles by Seelert, Milligan and Peter Cieszko forced a Wildcat three-and-out. Although Fairfield was able to get the ball back via a fumble recovery at midfield, it did little to phase the New Canaan defense.
R.J. DeCamillo, Mueller and Garrity slowed the Wildcats down with excellent defensive pursuit, and a huge hit by Rasso set up a fourth-and-long. New Canaan managed to force another turnover on downs, and the 3rd quarter ended with NC still leading 22-6.
The change in field direction did little to change the momentum of the game. Big runs by Groff, Garrity and Milligan set the Black 3’s up at the Fairfield 5-yard line, where Groff hit a wide-open Holden Busby for a TD. New Canaan led 28-6 with 6:49 left in the game.
The Wildcats pulled to within 28-12, rumbling 80 yards in 6 plays, but New Canaan answered immediately. Given outstanding protection from the blocking of Flynn Coffey, Mun, and Bowling, as well as a perfect shotgun snap from center Colin Perkins, Groff threw a beautiful spiral to a wide-open Mueller, who outraced the Wildcat secondary to the end zone. The 80-yard TD was the exclamation point to an amazing offensive performance, as New Canaan led 34-12 with 1:52 left in the game.
Despite great defense from Hugh Gardiner and Ben Capelo and a near-interception from Perkins, Fairfield managed to score a TD with time expiring to make it 34-18. That said, it did little other than cover the spread as New Canaan moved on to the next round of the FCFL playoffs.
-Terry Dinan
New Canaan will next take on Ridgefield in the Bantam 3 NFC Championship on Saturday, 11/9 at Dunning Field. Kickoff is at 9am. The winner of this contest will take on the winner of the Darien-Wilton White AFC Championship for the league crown. In their previous matchup in Week 5, New Canaan escaped Tiger Hollow with a hard-fought 8-6 win.
