In a game that saw a whole bunch of offense, it was a goal line stand that propelled St. Paul football to a 32-30 win over Wilby on Friday night at Municipal Stadium’s Ray Snyder Sr. Field.
The Wildcats had the ball 1st and goal, just two yards from the Falcon end zone with a little over a minute left. Three runs were stopped by the St. Paul defense, setting up a 4th and goal in the final seconds. The Falcons were there again to stop the Wildcat rush attempt and secure the win. St. Paul improved to 2-2 while Wilby fell to 0-5.
The Falcons were run-dominant in their first win of the season, 30-14 over Derby, on Sept. 25. St. Paul was also missing two key offensive players, Jeremy Taveras and Erik Suzio, due to injury. The Falcons threw the ball with much success against the Wildcats on Friday. Ryan Kilpatrick was 15-for-18 passing for 232 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Two of his favorite targets were Taveras (5 catches, 173 yards) and Suzio (5 catches, 73 yards). St. Paul did take the lead on a run of one yard by Nick Dube, but the go-ahead points came on Kilpatrick’s two-point pass to Isaiah Conner.
Wilby had its run game going against St. Paul. Three rushers — James Richards (176 yards), Aaron James (112) and Damaury Downing (45) — combined for over 300 yards on the ground.
Want to read more about the game? Check out the story from my fellow Rep-Am sports writer Roger Cleaveland here.
Here’s more of what happened from Week 5:
THURSDAY
Ansonia 27, WCA 8: The Spartans had the lead on the Chargers, 8-6, in the second quarter. WCA trailed by just four points, 12-8, after three quarters, but Ansonia pulled away and picked up its 100th straight NVL win.
FRIDAY
Crosby 34, Oxford 20: Tanner Leo fired four touchdown passes, including a pair to Taji Blizzard Jr. Blizzard had over 100 yards receiving while Michael Scott ran for 115 yards and a touchdown. Leo also had five pass breakups on defense in his first game at defensive back.
Seymour 48, Wolcott 12: Anthony Bell ran for a touchdown and the Eagles also had an interception return for a score.
Capital/Achievement First 21, Bristol Eastern 15: Alex Marshall had a pair of touchdown runs for the Lancers.
SATURDAY
Holy Cross 40, Woodland 28: Thomas Ligi rushed for three touchdowns and caught another from David Kacprzyski in the win at Ray Snyder Sr. Field. Marques Campbell also caught a touchdown pass from Kacpryzski, and he added a touchdown run as well.
Naugatuck 36, Kennedy 6: Dereck Ledee scored on a 12-yard run in the third quarter. Here are my photos from the game.
Bristol Central 52, Hartford Public 48: You’re not reading that score incorrectly. The Rams and Owls combined for 100 points in a wild Saturday afternoon game in Hartford. A week after rushing for 324 yards, Victor Rosa gained over 250 and threw for over 100. He accounted for four of the team’s touchdowns while Justin Despins went over 100 yards on the ground and scored twice. Rosa also made the game-saving tackle at the two-yard line on the final play.
Records after Week 5: Bristol Central 4-1; Holy Cross 4-1; St. Paul 2-2; WCA 2-2; Bristol Eastern 2-3; Crosby 1-2; Kennedy 1-3; Wolcott 1-3; Wilcox/Kaynor 0-4; Wilby 0-5.
Photo caption: St. Paul’s defense came up with a goal line stand on the final drive of the game to beat Wilby, 32-30, on Friday night. (Copyright, Sports on CT-69, file)
