| Branford Freshmen |
2 |
7 |
6 |
7 |
- |
22 |
| Sheehan Freshmen |
0 |
0 |
0 |
14 |
- |
14 |
636 Photos
The Hornets traveled to John J. Riccitelli Field in Wallingford to face a very
good 5-2 Sheehan High School Freshmen team in a game picked up after the
Jonathan Law cancellation that was originally on the schedule. The Titans won
the coin toss so Branford kicked off. Sheehan moved across midfield but their
drive stalled and the ball turned over on downs after an incomplete 4th down
pass. The Hornets took over and moved in close with runs by Curtis Sutherland
and a clutch 4th down catch by Jared Keck. Once inside the 5 yard line the drive
ended when a fumble gave the ball over to Sheehan. But shortly after, an unclean
Titan handoff in the endzone resulted in a fumble which Sheehan recovered for a
safety and provided Branford with a 2-0 lead.
The Hornets took the following free kick and moved right
down and scored on the first play of the second quarter on a pitch to Andrew
Cohen who took it around the right side and in for a 7-yard touchdown. Matt
O'Neill kicked the PAT to make it 9-0.
Sheehan took the next kickoff and moved to midfield, but
then fumbled it away and Branford took over. The Hornets again moved right down
to the goal line, but when Keck couldn't haul in a slant pass on the goal line
it went to 4th down. DJ Ryan took the next snap and rolled left, but was
intercepted by Sheehan in the end zone, and the Titans took it back 40 yards.
But the Titans couldn't capitalize and they ultimately turned the ball over on
downs and Branford was content to take a 9 point lead into halftime.
The Hornets took the second half kickoff but could not gain
10 yards so Andy Klarman punted it away. The Titans seemed to be gaining
momentum as they drove across midfield, but Justin Blood intercepted a pass at
the goal line and Branford took over on their own 10. The Hornets then put
together a 90 yard drive which consumed the rest of the 3rd quarter and
consisted mainly of screen passes to Sutherland and another downfield catch by
Keck to move across midfield before they had to punt it away. But Sheehan muffed
catching the kick and Sutherland recovered it on the Titan 21. Branford scored a
few plays later on a short run by Sutherland to open up a 15-0 lead.
It seemed at this point the Hornet defense was tiring as
Sheehan scored twice the fourth quarter on consecutive possessions. The first
touchdown included a 2-point conversion that was successful when the Titan QB
made it around the right side and into the end zone to cut the lead to 15-8. The
second one came on a screen pass from about 40 yards out and included several
missed and broken tackles. In between, the Hornets had another nice drive which
culminated with a 10 yard screen pass that Sutherland grabbed and took around
the left side and in for a touchdown. O'Neill's kick was good and it put
Branford up by a score of 22-8.
Sheehan's second touchdown in the fourth quarter narrowed
the lead to only 8 points, but there was a little under 3 minutes left to play.
After Klarman covered up an onside kick attempt, the Hornets moved across
midfield and down inside the Titan 10 yard line with a heavy dose of Sutherland
and the zig zags of Justin Blood. With under a minute left, Ryan took a series
of "knees" to end this game.
The 22-14 final score is misleading because the Hornets
really dominated both sides of the ball - limiting the Titans to only 2
sustained drives all game while controlling the ball for more than 75% of the
clock. Considering the 3 turnovers inside Sheehan's 10 yard line and the series
of "knees" inside the 10 at the end of the game, the score should have been much
higher.
With the win, the Hornets' improved their record to 7-1
with two games remaining. Next week will be the last home game of the year and
the opponent will be Foran Lions, who also run a pass orientated shot gun style
offense.