"Men, I want you just thinking of one word all season. One word and one word only. Super Bowl." – Bill Peterson (former Houston Oilers coach)
DARIEN - It's not often a team completely out-runs, out-blocks and out-tackles an opponent and still ends up on the losing side of things.
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But that is exactly what happened to the New Canaan Red 3’s this past Saturday.
Despite an inspired performance on both sides of the ball, including 2 TD runs by Giovanni Cascione, a punishing ground attack from Matthew Salmini and Trey Hartnett and a stifling defense led by Will Larson, Gunnar Watson, and Charlie Harrison, the Red 3’s found themselves at the wrong end of a 16-13 score against the Darien Blue 3’s at Darien High School Stadium.
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New Canaan opened up the game with a scoring drive highlighted by runs of 55 and 19 yards from Cascione, capped off with a 1-yard plunge by the Red 3 QB. After converting the extra point, New Canaan had a 7-0 lead with 6:07 left in the 1st quarter.
Darien did not take long to respond.
On the second Blue 3 play from scrimmage, Darien QB Isaac McMullin - recently dubbed “The Fastest Kid I’ve Ever Seen” - took the ball 67 yards for a stunning TD run. After the 2-point conversion, Darien took an 8-7 lead with 4:33 left in the 1st.
New Canaan continued moving the ball well throughout the rest of the half. Behind solid blocking from Jack Hladick, Brian Balkun and Cooper Dinan, New Canaan rolled into the red zone as Salmini reeled off a 15-yard run, followed by a 9-yard gain from Andrew Rittenberry. Cascione finished the drive with a 19-yard TD run, and although the conversion failed, New Canaan had a 13-8 lead going into the half.
The defense was able to contain Darien on three consecutive drives, thanks to the tackling of Colin Tiscornia, Ryan Connelly and Charlie Besgen. But with only :14 seconds left in the 3rd Quarter, “Dash” McMullin struck again, taking a direct snap 53 yards to the end zone. After the 2-point conversion, Darien led 16-13 heading into the 4th Quarter.
Taking over at its own 20, New Canaan had time to mount one final rally.
On 1st down, Casione took a QB sneak around the right end for a 5-yard gain. Salmini then rumbled 12 yards to the NC 37 for a 1st down. After Darien was able to break through to drop NC for a 4-yard loss, Cascione ran 13 yards to set up 3rd & 1.
A designed QB sneak up the middle was stuffed by the Blue defense, and New Canaan was facing a 4th & 1, with less than 6 minutes left in the game. Behind excellent blocks from Richie Whitcomb and Griffin Gentner, Cascione was able to gain 8 yards on a power sweep to the right side for an NC first down. The Red 3’s had the ball at the Darien 28 yard-line.
On 1st down, Salmini ran for 3 yards, followed by a 5-yard run from Hartnett. On 3rd down Hartnett was stopped just short of a 1st down. Again, New Canaan was facing 4th & 1.
And again, Cascione came through.
Just barely diving past the first down marker, Cascione put New Canaan on the Darien 17 with less than 2 minutes left.
From there, the Darien defense tightened up at the wrong time, dropping New Canaan for losses on three consecutive plays. Faced with a 4th & 18, the Red 3’s could not get the first down. Darien took over on downs and ran the remaining time off the clock to seal the game.
-Terry Dinan
1 2 3 4 TOT
NC 7 6 0 0 13
D 8 0 8 0 16
NC – Cascione 1-yd. run (1-pt. conversion good)
D – McMullin 67-yd. run (2-pt. conversion good)
NC – Cascione 19-yd. run (conversion failed)
D – McMullin 53-yd. run (2-pt. conversion good)
*Footnote - Cascione’s 2 touchdowns, combined with older brother Nick’s 5-TD performance against Greenwich High School later in the afternoon gave the brothers 7 TD’s on the day.
