Seventh Grade Football Playoffs: Wilton Blue 23 - New Canaan Red 0

Turning in its most complete and dominating performance of the year, Wilton Blue rolled over New Canaan Red 23-0 on Saturday night under the lights at Fujitani Field in the second round of the FCFL playoffs.

Statistics can sometimes be misleading, but not in this case. Wilton outgained New Canaan 251 yards to -11 yards. The Warriors did not allow the Rams to gain positive yards on any play in the game, which was cut short when the lights went out with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter.

The Warriors set the tone early when on New Canaan’s first play linebackers Jack DiRocco and Austin Andersen buried the ball carrier for a loss.

On just the second play after New Canaan’s punt gave Wilton great field position at their own 48, Jimmy O’Brien took a pitch from Ryan Healey, burst through a hole opened by the offensive line of Maden Herve, Sean Purdy, Kyle Hyzy, Jack Lenz, Jack Savarese, DiRocco and Dominick Polito and followed lead blocks by Andersen and Matt Dooley 51 yards to the end zone. DiRocco booted the PAT for a 7-0 lead.

Smelling blood, the Warrior defense again gave the offense great field position when on the next play DiRocco picked off a pass at the New Canaan 32.

Back on offense, Kyle Hyzy and Andersen took turns running the football, culminating in a four yard scoring run by Andersen, making the score 13-0.

Two tackles for loss by Jack Savarese forced another punt, this time to the Wilton 37 where the offense again went into high gear. With Dominick Caratazzolo, Barrett Brown and Michael Gamboa leading the way with good blocking, Andersen and Hyzy moved the ball to the New Canaan 46 where the Warriors took to the air. Hyzy’s perfect spiral was hauled in by Maden Herve for a 25 yard gain to the 21. Again Andersen and Hyzy took turns pounding the ball up the gut until Andersen dove in from the one. The PAT made the score 20-0 at the half.

There was no let up in the second half. On the first play from scrimmage Hyzy raced 69 yards to the New Canaan one where the Rams defense stiffened. On fourth and two, with a perfect snap from Cole Stephenson and a hold by Hyzy, DiRocco drilled a 19 yard field goal for a 23-0 lead.

The Warriors ran down the clock with a ground possession game as Stephenson, Polito, Purdy, DiRocco, Daniel Incao, Caratazzolo, Gamboa, Nishant Wangneo, and Steven Tuin all had productive carries in the second half.

Wilton will take on Westport North in a semi-final game next weekend at Fujitani Field in Wilton.

SIV�9f