Rams Roll to 5-0 with Shutout of Seymour

The New Canaan Rams played at Seymour High School in an  out-of-conference game on Friday night and came away with a resounding 35-0 win. The Rams improved to a 5-0 record with their 21st consecutive win.

The Mustangs fell to 0-5 after being shut out for the first time this season.

Seymour took the opening kickoff and in a six minute-plus drive took it down to the New Canaan 1-yard line. On a fourth down quarterback sneak, the Rams held and that was as close to scoring as Seymour would get.

The Rams started and finished (until the game was out of reach) with Turner Baty at quarterback and Willie Ouellette as a wide receiver.

"There was no reason to change anything since everything was working with that lineup," said Coach Lou Marinelli after the game.

The Baty-Cody Newton combination—both players had huge nights—led to a 21-0 halftime lead. After a scoreless first quarter, Baty hooked up with Ouellette on a 55 yard completion—most of the 55 yards in the air—to the Seymour 19-yard line. Then a completion on a swing pass to Peter Gronseth to the 5- yard line, followed by Tim Robustelli taking it to the one and Baty taking it in on a keeper. Brianna Valente, whose confidence is growing with each game, nailed the extra point for a 7-0 lead. Valente went 5 for 5 on extras points in the game.

On their next possession, Seymour moved the ball to the Rams 23-yard line on some strong running by Jacob Drozd, a 6'2", 215 pound back, but on the next play, Blake Garrity sacked quarterback Luke Grabowski for a 15-yard loss. On a fourth-and-4, Robustelli intercepted in the end zone and the Rams were in business again.

Baty completed  a 51-yard pass to Newton on the second big play of the half—again most of that yardage was in the air—to the Mustangs 3-yard line. Baty ran it in and New Canaan had a 14-0 lead moments later.

The Rams weren't finished before the break. John Sullivan came up with an interception on a deflection and then it was Baty-Newton again for big yardage—a 37 yard gain to the Seymour 3-yard line with 23 seconds remaining in the half. On the next play it was Baty to Peter Park for the touchdown and a 21-0 lead at the half. 

"The pass protection was terrific all game and I could make my reads without much pressure," Baty said later.

In the third quarter,the Rams struck again. On a long drive, Baty completed to Gronseth to the Mustangs' five and after a penalty set them back to the 15-yard line, Baty connected with Park on a swing pass who broke a couple of tackles, made some nifty moves, and took it in for a 28-0 lead midway in the quarter. 

After Robustelli made his second pick, New Canaan drove to the seven on a (guess who?) Baty-Newton completion with the same two hooking up on the next play for a touchdown. The Rams led 35-0.

Late in the quarter Baty showed why he is an "equal opportunity employer" by connecting with Ouellette on another long pass to Seymour's 15-yard line at the end of the quarter.

Matt Milano replaced Baty and Daryl Cummings and Kevin McDonough were in as running backs early in the fourth quarter. Milano, who went three for four, drove the team behind some nifty running by Cummings and McDonough to the 2-yard line, but after a penalty followed by a fumble in the end zone, that was it for all the scoring. 

Baty finished the game completing 20 of 28 passes for a total of 367 yards. Milano was three of four for 33 yards.

Marinelli summed it up saying, "as far as a total team effort goes, it was our best game of the year," but added, as coaches at all levels like to say, "We've got a lot of work to do."

Next up for the Rams: the Homecoming Game against St. Joseph (4-0) next Saturday at Dunning Field at 1:30 p.m.