Notre Dame Prep had the ball with three minutes to go in its season-opening football game against Windham Friday night. The Lancers trailed by five.
A long pass put Notre Dame at Windham’s 5-yard line with a minute and a half left. Things were not looking good for the Whippets.
“Our backs were against the wall,” Windham coach Randall Prose said. “They ran a couple of running plays. The (Windham) kids made big stops. They tried to throw the ball once and (Windham senior) Darien Jenkins had amazing bat-down in the end zone.
“We have a senior team. We lost one starter on defense from last year. We’re not big, but they’ve played for three years.”
Windham got an offsides penalty and the officials moved the ball to the 1 ½ yard line. It was fourth down with 12 seconds left.
“The stands had emptied, they were all down along the fence,” Prose said. “(Notre Dame) put a big power package in there. They had some gigantic linemen.
“They tried to muscle it up the middle and our kids got through and gang-tackled them and that was it.”
Windham won the CT High School Alliance game, 12-7, at Windham High.
“This is a big, signature win for us,” Prose said. “That’s quite a program.”
Notre Dame Prep, formerly Notre Dame-Fairfield, advanced to the Class S semifinals last year, where the Lancers were beaten by eventual champion Bloomfield 20-14. Windham lost in the first round of the Class SS playoffs to Sheehan.
Seniors Ezra Rosa, McKenzie Vilche and Louis Paulino were keys to the big plays on the defensive line. Prose said Malachi Fowler, a senior linebacker, had “15 to 20” tackles during the game and senior defensive end Asael Garcia Rodriguez had five or six tackles down field and “had the game of his life on defense.”
Windham will host New London Friday.
Maloney drops opener
In a highly anticipated rematch of last year’s Class L semifinal game (and the previous year’s Class L championship game), Maloney faced New Canaan on opening night but came away with its third straight loss to the Rams, 42-13.
Cloe Poisson / Special to the Courant
Maloney coach Kevin Frederick wasn’t happy with how his team played in an opening day loss to New Canaan Friday. Photo by Cloe Poisson/Special to the Courant
It was not the outcome Maloney coach Kevin Frederick was looking for.
“Very disappointed at the outcome of the game,” Frederick said in a text. “We were in the red zone five times and only came away with two scores. We tackled poorly. We need to fix these issues before going to play a solid Glastonbury team on Thursday night.”
A little history
Farmington, which went 2-8 last season, won its first game on opening day of football since 2013 with a 16-0 victory over E.O. Smith, according to the Collinsville Press. Farmington coach Chris Machol said he had heard about the drought all week but when he looked back, the River Hawks had won the second game of the season seven of those years so “it never felt like a tough start to the season.”
Machol said his team’s defensive play was outstanding with four interceptions, a safety and two red zone stands in the fourth quarter. “The last few seasons have been tough but our underclassmen have worked hard to step up and the core group of seniors who have stuck it out are intent on getting our program back on track.”
Conard’s Chance McKoy had a 91-yard kickoff return for a touchdown during Conard’s 35-22 victory over Pomperaug Friday night. It was the first opening night kickoff return for a touchdown for the Red Wolves since 2004 when KeAndre Easterling had an 80-yard return against Fermi.
Here are some top performances from Week 1:
Vincent Burbank, Northwest Catholic: Burbank threw five touchdown passes in Northwest Catholic’s 49-0 victory over Weston.
Dante Casdia, Glastonbury: Casdia rushed for 277 yards and two touchdowns in Glastonbury’s 34-27 victory over Platt Friday.
Vincent Forte, Granby/Canton: Forte scored four touchdowns, three passing and one rushing, and had 102 yards in a 40-6 win over SMSA Friday.
John Manning, Windsor: Manning had six touchdowns, five rushing and one receiving, and a career-high 302 yards in Windsor’s 53-26 win over East Hartford Friday night.
Dravyn Roberts, East Hartford: Roberts scored three touchdowns and had 25 carries for 126 yards in a 53-26 loss to Windsor Friday.
Tyler Wolf, Stafford/Somers/East Windsor: Wolf scored three touchdowns and had 10 carries for 86 yards along with seven tackles, a sack and an interception in the Stafford co-op’s 33-0 win over the CREC co-op Friday
