Singing the Blues: NC Red 3's Fall to Wilton

"Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein." – Joe Theismann

WILTON - Coming off a big win against the Wilton White 3’s last week, the New Canaan 3rd Grade Red team knew their next opponent – the Wilton Blue 3’s - would be tough. The Blues came into the game in 2nd place, their lone loss coming against the New Canaan Black 3’s in Week 2, giving them more than one reason to exact revenge.

And revenge is precisely what they got.

Despite NC’s tight defense and patented ball-control offense, Wilton handed Big Red a 23-6 loss this past Sunday at Fujitani Field.

After getting a first down on their opening possession behind solid runs by QB Giovanni Cascione and FB Matthew Salmini, the Reds were eventually forced to punt. Wilton took over, and despite some great defensive play by Sean Watchmaker, Charlie Harrison and Charlie Besgen the Blue 3’s were able to score via a 29-yard TD run by Christopher “Don’t Call Me Al” Capone. After the 2-point conversion, Wilton led 8-0 with 5:20 left in the 1st quarter.

Undaunted, the tough New Canaan Reds looked primed to come back. Consecutive runs by Cascione behind superb blocks from Max Budnick, Jack Hladick and Gunnar Watson gave NC another 1st down. Salmini then took the ball 6 yards, dragging half the Wilton defense along for 5 of them. On second-and-five, Brian Balkun fell on a New Canaan fumble at midfield to maintain possession and keep the drive going.

On third-and-two, a quick count seemed to catch Wilton napping, and Cascione’s QB sneak up the middle appeared to have given New Canaan another first down. However, an offsides call negated the play and after Cascione was stopped for a 1-yard gain on third down, NC faced a fourth-and-six.

On a gutsy call by New Canaan coaches Bill Besgen and Nick Cascione, the Red 3’s went for it, and Matt Salmini did his part to make it look like the right one.

Taking a direct snap from Balkun, Salmini followed a caravan of blockers around the left side, turning upfield and seemingly headed for the end zone. Only a TD-saving tackle by Wilton’s Cole Silvia prevented the score, and as the first quarter came to a close, Salmini had to settle for a 25-yard gain and a first-and-ten from the Wilton 20 yard-line.

The drive would stall there, however, as a combination of penalties and Wilton’s defensive play forced a turnover on downs. Three plays later, Spencer “Don’t Call Me Sonny” Liston ran for a 38-yard TD and a 16-0 lead with 5:06 left in the half.

Despite some impressive gains by Cascione, Salmini and Henry Scott, Wilton was able to stop New Canaan on the following possession, forcing another turnover on downs with time winding down in the 1st half.  

The Blues opened the ensuing drive with a bootleg. As the QB rolled out, Giovanni Cascione read the play perfectly dropping back to intercept the resulting pass. Running up the sideline, Cascione appeared to break free and was headed for a pick-six, however he was ruled to have stepped out at the Wilton 25 yard-line.

Three plays later - in a heartbreaking turn of events - Wilton returned the favor and picked off a pass, returning it to the NC 5 yard-line with only 4 seconds left in the half. And on the last play of the half, Capone ran in his second score of the day for a 23-0 Wilton lead.

Instead of giving up, New Canaan came out of the locker room more motivated than ever. A spirited defensive stand led by Colin Tiscornia, Trey Hartnett, Ryan Connelly and James Casey stopped Wilton for the first time all day, and appeared to swing the momentum 180-degrees. And when Cascione hit Hartnett on a screen pass that the NC WR took 34 yards for a spectacular TD, New Canaan was seemingly back in it, trailing 23-6 with 5:37 left in the 3rd quarter.

Wilton, however - recognizing the threat posed by the quick-strike New Canaan offense - adjusted accordingly, choosing to run the clock out with time-consuming drives. And despite the outstanding efforts of Will Casey, Richie Whitcomb and Jason Pastushan on defense and Griffin Gentner, Cooper Dinan and Matthew Mercede on offense, the 23-6 score held up as a final.

-Terry Dinan

                              1       2       3       4              TOT

NEW CANAAN          0       0       6        0               6

WILTON                  8      15      0        8              23

W – Capone 29-yd. run (2-pt. conversion good)

W – Liston 38-yd. run (2-pt. conversion good)

W – Capone 5-yd. run (1-pt. conversion good)

NC – Hartnett 34-yd. pass from Cascione (conversion failed)

The NC Red 3’s look to get back on track at home on Saturday, 10/19 against the Wilton White 3’s. Kickoff is at 9am at Dunning Field.