WILTON – Up until tonight’s matchup against Wilton, it seemed nothing short of a natural disaster would be able to derail the New Canaan Rams this season.
And for one half of football, it looked like we had the makings of a perfect storm.
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Losing both their star QB as well as their leading tackler to first-half injuries, the Rams headed into halftime deadlocked at 7-7 with a determined Warriors team who gave New Canaan all they could handle.
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That being said, when it came down to gut-check time, the Rams responded. And responded. And responded. And responded.
Led by Frank Cognetta’s 3 touchdowns, and a clutch, bend-but-don’t-break defensive performance, New Canaan overcame the loss of QB Nick Cascione (concussion) and LB Michael Root, scoring 28 unanswered points in the second half en route to a gritty 35-7 win over Wilton. With the victory New Canaan qualified for the FCIAC championship game, earning their first crack at the league title since winning it in 2008.
“We were stunned,” said New Canaan head coach Lou Marinelli, who saw his team improve to 9-0 overall and 7-0 in the FCIAC. “A couple of years ago we lost a game against Stamford, and all of a sudden it had shades of that. But for us to come back and keep fighting…it says a lot about our kids.”
Especially of Cognetta. The junior RB gained 152 yards on 16 carries, reeling off 3 consecutive TD’s (two running, one receiving) to help New Canaan pull away in the second half.
Judging by the opening sequence of plays, it looked as though the Rams would have a tougher time than expected. Wilton was able to move from their own 8-yard line to midfield, before the New Canaan defense forced a turnover on downs. However, a New Canaan fumble on the first offensive play from scrimmage gave the ball right back to Wilton at the Warriors 43.
The Rams defense held, and after the Warriors punted New Canaan mounted their first scoring drive of the game. Moving 77 yards in 9 plays, the quick-strike Rams offense seemed to be in sync as Cascione capped off the drive with a 3-yard strike to Cole Turpin, giving New Canaan a 7-0 lead with 4:02 left in the 1st quarter.
Both defenses would hold throughout much of the first half, but the Rams suffered a big loss when Root came out of the game with an apparent hip injury. He would spend the remainder of the game on crutches.
With 3:36 left in the half Wilton took advantage of another Ram miscue, recovering a fumble at the New Canaan 25-yard line. More importantly, Cascione was injured during the pileup, and would not return to the game. 7 plays later, Wilton scored via a John D’Elisa 3-yard TD plunge. New Canaan headed into the half in a dogfight without their biggest respective weapons on offense and defense.
“We say it in the beginning of the year, and actually in spring practice, 'next man up, next man up' - whoever it is,” said Marinelli. “It happened to be our quarterback, it happened to be Michael Root…they went down, they couldn’t play anymore. Next man up, let’s play, let’s see.”
After a nice kickoff return by Mike DiCosmo to open the half, New Canaan was set up at their 40-yard line. Cascione’s replacement, sophomore Mike Collins guided New Canaan to the Wilton 3-yard line where Cognetta took care of the rest, giving New Canaan a 14-7 lead.
“We thought it was very important to come out and make a statement, because going into halftime at 7-7 is a little bit scary,” said Cognetta. “I give all the credit to the linemen on that drive. They did a great job of opening up holes.”
Credit also goes to Root’s replacement, Ted Dumbauld, who helped the New Canaan defense stop Wilton in their tracks for the rest of the 3rd quarter.
On the first play of the 4th quarter, New Canaan started to pull away. Cognetta took a handoff and rumbled 49 yards for an electrifying TD, and a 21-7 New Canaan lead.
“I took the handoff and immediately I saw this big highway down the middle of the field,” said Cognetta. “I thought ‘don’t even think, just run’ and I just ran as fast as I could and bounced it to the outside. I had one man to beat. I tried to shake him off a little bit and I dove for the pylon.
“Some people told me it was a little Madden-like,” continued Cognetta. “It was a real nice feeling.”
After New Canaan forced another turnover on downs, the Rams offense struck again. Driving 47 yards in just over 2 minutes, Collins found a wide-open Cognetta for a 16-yard TD pass. New Canaan suddenly had a 28-7 lead with 4:26 left in the game,
90 seconds later, Morgan Carson put New Canaan up 35-7 with a 13-yard TD run. The score would stand as a final, but did not indicate how close the game actually was.
“For us it was a good wakeup call,” said Marinelli. “Hopefully we’ll be a better team for having played down here.”
The Rams will take on Trinity Catholic next, then wait to see who stands in the way of their first FCIAC championship since 2008.
“It’s hard to win, but I’m glad to be back again…it’s awesome,” said Marinelli. “Especially with this group, they’ve worked especially hard.”
-Terry Dinan
1 2 3 4 TOT
NEW CANAAN 7 0 7 21 35
WILTON 7 0 0 0 7
NC – Turpin 3-yd. pass from Cascione (Swindell kick)
W – D’Elisa 3-yd. run (Sassani kick)
NC – Cognetta 3-yd. run (Swindell kick)
NC – Cognetta 49-yd. run (Swindell kick)
NC – Cognetta 16-yd. pass from Collins (Swindell kick)
NC – Carson 13-yd. run (Swindell kick)
Records:
New Canaan; 9-0 (7-0 FCIAC)
Wilton; 3-6 (1-6 FCIAC)
