South Windsor Maroon A defeats Vernon 31- 7
Once again defense was the name of the game in the South Windsor Panthers' (A-Maroon) victory over the Vernon Vipers. For the second game in a row (and three out of four) the Panthers' defense did not give up a touchdown en route to a 31-7 victory.
Overall, the Panthers only allowed the Vipers 39 yards of offense (32 rushing and 7 passing), including a negative 11 yards in the second half.
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Vernon's lone score was on a broken play fumble recovery in the 3rd quarter.
Offensively the Panthers were anchored by their offensive linemen, including Matt Kennedy, Muhammad Hassan, Chad Croxford, Dylan Hodge, Jimmy Tamburro, Tito Pasqualoni, Julian Ibes, Michael Gore, Matt Pereira, Benett Saylor, Alex Valente, and Brendan Mabey (who was not hampered at all by playing with a broken thumb). Split ends Colin Ryan and EJ Kelly occupied the Vernon defensive secondary with downfield blocks that aided tremendously he Panthers' running game.
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The linemen were able to handle Vernon all day allowing the Panthers'rushing attack to amass 316 yards on 28 carries. As usual, ball carrying duties were spread out among Gavin Duff (1 carry for 24 yards), Michael Bazzano (3 for 30), Will Nowak (5 for 16), Matt Smith (7 for 68), Ankit Saini (5 for 70), and Randy Holmes (3 for 79).
After Saini caused a fumble (recovered by Smith) on Vernon's opening offensive drive the Panthers opened scoring on a 45 yard run by Holmes (extra point conversion by Ben Custer). The Panthers' Gavin Duff recovered the ensuing onside kick and Quarterback Adam Harz led the offense on a 3-play drive that included a 21-yard run by Bazzano and was capped by a 3 yard dive by Smith.
On the first play of the following drive Bazzano stripped the ball from the Vernon running back and once again the Panthers recovered. In the second quarter the Panthers switched offensive squads and QB Connor Kapisak led the Panthers on another scoring drive, including a 28-yard pass to Custer and finished with a 5-yard run by Saini (Custer's kick was good). First half scoring concluded with a field goal by Custer.
During the second half the Panthers' offense moved between ball-control and taking to the air, with Kapisak hitting tight end Will Pineo with a 25-yard pass and finishing with a 15-yard TD strike to Custer (Nowak ran up the middle for the extra point conversion).
Captains for the game were Michael Gore, Julian Ibes, Gavin Duff, and Alex Valente. Next up for the Panthers is a battle of 3-1 teams when the Panthers take on the East Hartford Hornets at Rye Street Park at 1:00 PM on Sunday.
South Windsor Panther scores:
South Windsor Gold A defeats New Hartford 12 – 0
South Windsor Maroon B defeats Vernon 25 - 6
South Windsor Maroon C lose to Vernon 0 – 6
South Windsor Mighty Mites lose to Vernon 0 – 19
