After two victories in a row, the Wilton White 8th graders finished their season on Saturday with a hard-fought 28-8 playoff loss to New Canaan Black. It was their second loss at New Canaan in a season that was otherwise a success.
Wilton began the year with three convincing wins, before injuries contributed to a mid-season four-game losing streak. But the team refused to quit, coming together again late in the year. They beat Westport on the eve of the playoffs, then knocked out Darien Blue in the first round.
In the end, though, New Canaan proved to be just too tough on Saturday. They scored on their first drive, then recovered a fumble deep in Wilton territory before the Wilton defense, led by Michael Coffey, E.J. Fasano, Matt Gulbin, Trevor Martines and Sean Sullivan stuffed a drive on fourth down.
New Canaan scored again at the start of the second quarter, despite a touchdown-saving open-field tackle by John Stanley, who also blocked the extra-point attempt. Evan Kauh recovered a New Canaan fumble near the end of the half to keep the deficit at 14-0.
The Warriors kept fighting, pushing back another New Canaan drive with a big tackle by Coffey and Martines to save a touchdown. The Rams soon scored anyway – despite what appeared to be a fumble in the end zone – to make it 22-0 with 5:48 left in the third.
After that, Stanley engineered some smooth passes, with strong protection on the line from Michael Burton, Max Greenberg, Howie Long, Quinn O’Connor and Ryan Witty. Stanley had his pick of targets, with Nolan Graham, Mack Kepner, Jimmy McKiernan, Mattias Onnerud and Will Rath confounding the Rams’ secondary.
Stanley connected with McKiernan on a spectacular 21-yard catch into New Canaan territory. Then he found Kepner for a 20-yard catch to bring Wilton to the Rams’ 8-yard line. After scrambling for three yards, Stanley fired a five-yard touchdown pass to Kepner, with Ryan vanHeyst knocking through a two-point kick. That made it 22-8, but that was as close as the Warriors got.
The Rams scored again midway through the fourth quarter, though Coffey blocked an extra-point attempt. Stanley moved the ball effectively, with receptions by McKiernan and Kepner, but New Canaan’s 20-point lead was too much to overcome.
By Tyler Kepner
