Wilton 7Blue 22, Darien Blue 0

With contributions from all 18 players on the squad, seventh grade Wilton Blue improved to 3-0 on the young football season with a 22-0 thumping of Darien Blue on Sunday, Sept. 21 at Darien High School.

Demonstrating the level of talent on the roster, 13 different players ran the ball on offense – Cole Stephenson, Nish Wangneo, Sean Purdy, Dan Incao, Maden Herve, Ryan Healey, Michael Gamboa, Dominick Caratazzolo, Dominick Polito, Jimmy O’Brien, Matt Dooley, Kyle Hyzy and Austin Andersen.

On the defensive side of the ball the Warriors were suffocating. Darien had the ball first, but penetration into the backfield by linemen Jack Savarese and Jack Lenz forced the Blue Wave to punt setting up great field position at the Wilton 49 where the offense went to work.

Dooley, Andersen, Hyzy and O’Brien carried the ball on consecutive plays to the Darien 29.  On the next play Jack DiRocco made a leaping grab of a Hyzy pass over a Darien defender at the 15.  The Warriors went back to the run with Hyzy scoring behind crushing lead blocks from Healey, Dooley and Andersen.  DiRocco drilled the kick to put the Warriors up 7-0 just six minutes into the contest.

On the second play of Darien’s next possession, DiRocco blitzed from his linebacker position and leveled the quarterback as he threw while Herve jumped the pass route, picked off the throw and raced untouched into the end zone for the second Warrior touchdown. Again DiRocco’s PAT was good to make the score 14-0.

The Warrior defense did not let up as Caratazzolo, Wangneo and DiRocco all made big hits to thwart Darien’s ground game forcing them to take to the air, but with even less success.  Healey intercepted a pass at the Wilton 45 and returned the ball to the Darien 28, putting the offense in great position once again.

Two plays later Andersen burst up the middle for a 24 yard TD run.  The point after kick by DiRocco, which is worth two points against live rushing, was good, pushing the score to 22-0 with just four minutes gone in the second quarter.

The rest of the game was a defensive battle with numerous notable plays by the Warriors.  Nick Wert made a leaping deflection of a pass on fourth down, Herve nearly had a second interception while Barrett Brown and Steven Tuin contributed to making the Warriors impenetrable against the run.

Wilton 6White 19, Darien White 0

Sixth grade Wilton White rolled to its third consecutive victory to start the FCL season with a 19-0 whitewashing of Darien White on Saturday, Sept. 20 at Fujitani Field in Wilton.

On Wilton’s second possession, the talented Warrior offensive line of Neil Satsangi, Jack Carroll, Davis Cote, Matt Gulbin, Brian Cipri and Will Jarvie took control of the line of scrimmage, opening holes for Sean Sullivan and Trevor Martines.  With Evan Kauh in at guard, Sullivan took a handoff, and running between Kauh and Gulbin blew through the line on his way to a 47 yard TD scamper and a 6-0 lead.  The point after failed.

Darien had no luck moving the ball as the defensive line of Everett Andersen, Gulbin, Christian Theoharides, Connor Healey, Henry Sell and Jimmy McKiernan swarmed to the ball and every play saw three or four Wilton defenders making the tackle.

After a punt by Darien on their next possession to the Wilton 49, the Warriors took to the air.  Andersen’s perfect spiral down the middle was snagged by McKiernan who was tripped up at the 8 after a 43 yard gain.  Three plays later Martines bulled over from the 3 for a 12-0 lead.

Darien’s next possession was another three and out with a punt to the Wilton 45.  With Ryan van Heyst now under center the Warriors wasted no time.  Chase Autore and Luke O’Neill carried the ball on consecutive plays to the Blue Wave 42 where Quinn Wiseman took van Heyst’s handoff and blazed to the end zone for the third Warrior TD early in the second quarter.  Van Heyst’s kick was good to make the score 19-0.

The defense locked down Darien the rest of the way highlighted by fumble recoveries by McKiernan and Martines, multiple tackles for loss by Theoharides, Martines, Gulbin and Jarvie, great pass defense by Cote and a touchdown saving tackle by Jack Carroll late in the fourth quarter.

On offense the Warriors controlled the clock with hard running by Alex Smith, Healey and Luke O’Neill.