| Branford Freshmen |
8 |
12 |
0 |
0 |
- |
20 |
| Hamden Freshmen |
8 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
- |
14 |
434 Photos
It was a cold, dreary day at Hamden High School and the
rain drops turned to ice pellets and then snow as this one got underway.
Branford received the opening kickoff and went right down and scored as Justin
Blood tore off some large gains around both ends before Andrew Cohen bowled into
the end zone from short range for a touchdown. On the ensuing PAT, a bad snap
was scooped up by kicker Matt O'Neill, who alertly threw to Alex Borkowski at
the 1 and Alex powered into the end zone through a Dragon tackler for 2 points
and an 8-0 Branford lead.
Hamden took the kickoff and after a fumble moved them
backwards 5 yards, the Dragon QB, #15, took a high snap in the shotgun, and then
broke through the left side and scored a long touchdown leaving several broken
and missed tackles in his wake. #15 took another direct snap out of the shotgun
and barreled through the right side for an additional two points to tie the
score at 8.
The Hornets next drive moved across the timeline and
sputtered somewhat, so a rested Curtis Sutherland was called upon off the bench
to pick up an important first down. After moving inside Hamden's red zone,
Sutherland took a pitch and followed Nick Pataky's perfectly executed block of
the Dragon's end around the left side and into the end zone for a touchdown. The
PAT kick was blocked, so Branford's lead was 14-8.
Hamden's next drive came up a little over 5 yards short of
a first down deep in their own end. After lining up for a punt, a 5 yard
encroachment penalty on Branford made it 4th and less than a yard, so the
Dragons tried to get something going and went for it, but were stuffed for a
loss. Branford took over on downs and scored quickly as Sutherland broke through
the right side for a touchdown. The pass attempt for 2 points failed so the
score was 20-8 at the half.
The second half was played much quicker than the first as
conditions continued to deteriorate. Branford controlled the ball for most of
the second half as well, but either came up short on downs or had to punt.
Hamden continued to not mount any sort of threat in this half either, but after
one of Andy Klarman's punts pinned the Dragons in on their 15, a broken play saw
big #15 go on another romp through the line and as many would be tacklers either
missed or were pushed aside, Hamden scored on another long run to cut into the
lead. The run that followed was stuffed so the score was 20-14 as the 3rd
quarter ended.
Branford took the next kick to open the fourth quarter and
ate up a good chunk of time by making several first downs before turning it over
on downs on Hamden's 35. The Dragons moved out to midfield before fumbling it
away and the Hornets ran out the clock to win 20-14 and improve their record to
4-1.