By Ron Ragozzino, Special to The Sound:
The North Branford
Thunderbirds football team was inches away from heartbreak Friday night but
survived with a 28-20 victory over Housatonic/Wamogo in overtime to improve to
9-0 on the season.
In overtime, North
Branford senior quarterback Gary Esposito took things into his own hands by
scoring on a five-yard scamper to make the score 26-20. North
Branford went for the two-point conversion and converted when
Esposito kept it on the quarterback keeper and rushed to the left side for the
score. With the score 28-20, North Branford’s
defense came on the field and came up with four stops to seal the win to stay
undefeated.
With 28 seconds left
in the game, Housatonic/Wamogo drove 60 yards on six plays to tie the game at
20. The Mountaineers had a chance to win when they attempted the two-point
conversion. On the snap, the ball went into the hands of William Kennedy and he
rushed to the right side, but senior captain Joe Lasko chased him down and as
Kennedy stretched out to the goal line, Lasko wrapped him up and pushed him out
of bounds inside the one-yard line to keep the game tied at 20.
“We weren’t sharp at
all,” North Branford Coach Mark Basil said. “We had poor tackling, too many
penalties, and we survived this game. We didn’t take this team seriously and it
was a trap game. We were looking ahead to Cromwell next week. You can’t prepare
for Cromwell in one week. Cromwell has a lot of skilled players and they know
how to get to the perimeter. They can run the ball and have a quarterback that
can throw.”
After a scoreless
and rainy first quarter, the T-Birds struck early on in the second quarter.
Esposito led a five-play drive capping it off by throwing a 17-yard touchdown
pass to Anthony Vorio to make it 7-0.
After the
Mountaineers got a touchdown of their own to make it 7-6 (two point conversion
failed), North Branford answered with 51
seconds to go before halftime. Esposito hooked up with Vorio again on an
18-yard touchdown reception to cap off a five-play, 74-yard drive to make the
score 13-6. (PAT failed).
North
Branford scored
again in the third quarter increasing the score to 20-6. After calling a
timeout, the offense dialed up a screen pass on third down to Mitch Holcomb and
he was on the receiving end as he took it 48 yards to the house.
Housatonic responded with the next 14 points but
couldn’t capitalize on a two-point conversion to win. Throughout the whole game
both teams had to deal with a sloppy and muddy field as it rained for most of
the game.
“These were the
conditions Housatonic wanted,” Basil said. “We
couldn’t get our footing and we couldn’t get to the outside. They were bigger
and their style of offense was different.”
Before the game
seniors Gary Esposito, Jon McCarroll, Rob Richetelli, Elijah Shuler, Mitch
Holcomb, Eddie Harris, Michael Behr, John Just, Anthony Marriott, Jared
Gallogly, Albert Delucia, Kyle Hausman, Taylor Orsillo, Jeff Rivellini, Alex
Robertson, and captains Andrew “Poppy” Cottiero and Joe Lasko were honored before
the game for senior night.
“We have a history
on Senior Night of starting out slow,” Basil said. “It probably had something
to do with it.”
North Branford (9-0)
will take on an undefeated Cromwell team (9-0) at Pierson Park in Cromwell on
Saturday at 1 p.m.
Game at a Glance
Nov. 14: North Branford 28, Housatonic/Wamogo 20 (OT)
Key Performances
Gary Esposito: 12
completions, 284 all-purpose yards, 4 touchdowns
Anthony Vorio: 3
receptions, 38 yards, 2 touchdowns, 9 tackles, 2 pass deflections
Mitch Holcomb:
48-yard touchdown reception, 13 tackles
Joe Lasko: 11
tackles
Rob Richetelli: 6
tackles, interception
Jeff Rivellini: 1
catch, 20 yards, 6 tackles