St. Paul football had Woodland right where it wanted them on Friday night at McPhee Field, but the second half of the game didn’t go as planned and the Falcons dropped to 1-4 on the season.
Sacred Heart/Kaynor Tech picked up its first win of the season while Waterbury Career Academy went back over .500 with a road victory. Wilby was shut out by Derby a week after winning its first game since Thanksgiving 2014.
Here’s what happened in each game:
Woodland 23, St. Paul 22
The Falcons got off to a great start against the undefeated Hawks and took a 22-7 lead into halftime.
St. Paul used the run, and the pass, to build that advantage. After falling behind 7-0, Kevin Ashworth hit John Ivers for a 22-yard touchdown, according to a summary posted by Dan Orencole on The Bristol Press website. Connor Bogdanski snapped off a 50-yard touchdown run. The conversion failed after Bogdanski’s touchdown, but the Falcons led 14-7.
The lead stretched to 22-7 in the second quarter when Quentin Conner scored from three yards out, then ran in the two-point conversion. St. Paul took that 15-point lead into the halftime break.
After halftime, Woodland roared to life behind standout running back Edit Krivca and the leg of kicker Angelo Kollcinaku. Krivca ran wild for the Hawks, and Kollcinaku’s field goal with 3:01 remaining in the game completed the comeback for the visitors and put them ahead 23-22.
Bogdanski led St. Paul with 117 yards rushing with Ashworth had 66 yards passing.
Sacred Heart/Kaynor Tech 46, Crosby 12
The co-op tasted victory for the first time this season by beating the winless Bulldogs at Jimmy Lee Stadium.
SH/KT had its highest scoring output of the season on Friday night. The previous best for the co-op came the week before in a 46-28 home loss against Torrington at Ray Snyder Sr. Field. SH/KT was one-point shy of victory in the season opener against Kennedy (21-20 on Sept. 8) then battled WCA before losing (34-22 on Sept. 14).
On Friday night, SH/KT got over the hump and picked up its first win since a 42-6 victory over Wilby on Thanksgiving Eve 2017.
Waterbury Career Academy 24, Torrington 14
The Spartans rode Jalen Gopie’s legs to a road victory and a 3-2 record.
In fact, Gopie scored all three WCA touchdowns against Torrington. He had rushing touchdowns of 68 and five yards on offense and returned an interception 73 yards in the third quarter for the other score. The Spartan defense also produced a safety in the second quarter as the visitors built their lead, according to a summary from Peter Wallace posted on the GameTimeCT website.
Gopie has been a major player for coach Pete Flammia’s team all season, and he continued in that role on Friday night at the Robert H. Frost Sports Complex.
Derby 30, Wilby 0
A week after downing Crosby, the Wildcats couldn’t keep up with the Red Raiders in a loss at Ray Snyder Sr. Field.
Wilby was shut out for the fourth time in five games and fell to 1-4 on the season.
A Saturday showdown
Holy Cross couldn’t have a bigger game for its 50th anniversary Homecoming weekend at Alumni Field.
The Crusaders host the Kennedy Eagles in a battle of NVL Brass Division unbeatens today at 3 p.m. Kennedy enters the game at 3-0 in the division and 3-1 overall while Holy Cross is 2-0 in the division and 2-2 overall. The Eagles have won the last two Brass Division titles, a streak the Crusaders would most certainly love to break.
Holy Cross is still smarting after losing in the final seconds to Seymour, 14-13 last Friday at John T. DeBarber Field. Kennedy is coming off of a 40-22 win over WCA.