Each week, GOOD Morning Wilton will run news of weekend results and scores from Wilton Youth sports teams. Please send all stories and updates, along with a photo to editor@goodmorningwilton.com by noon on Monday of each week. Stories received after the deadline may not be included. Results write-ups will be grouped by sport and published in the order they are received.
Wilton Youth Soccer
Wilton Soccer Association Travel Teams Qualify for SW District Playoffs
The Wilton Soccer Association is congratulating and recognizing eight Girls and Boys travel teams for their accomplishments this regular season. All of the teams listed below qualified for the Southwest District playoffs as one of the top four teams in each of their respective divisions.
They’ll move on to playoff play this coming weekend.
Girls
U11 (2007) Girls Blue
U12 (2006) Girls Blue
U12 (2006) Girls White
U13 (2005) Girls Blue
U14/15 (2003/2004) Girls Blue
Boys
U11 (2007) Boys Blue
U11 (2007) Boys Gold
U13 (2005) Boys Blue
Wilton Girls U9 Blue Blanks New Canaan, 1-0
On Sunday, Nov. 5, Wilton Girls U9 Blue faced off against the team’s rival New Canaan on a wet and muddy away field. The Wilton team played probably their all-around best game of the season. They passed the ball extremely well and played sound defense.
In the first half the teams played to a 0-0 tie. Wilton was led on the offensive end by Audrey Lepore, Victoria Jankowski, Casey O’Connor, Ally Phelan and Kate Wickersham. The defensive tandem of Maddie Rayment and Sophia Solomon kept New Canaan at bay in the first half. Alexandra Jankowski made a couple of good saves to keep New Canaan scoreless.
In the second half Wilton kept constant pressure on the New Canaan goalie, especially Andie Langeland, who had a couple of good rushes. O’Connor, A. Jankowski and Phelan also had a couple of good chances as well. The constant pressure finally paid off when Rayment broke through with a goal in the middle of the half, making it 1-0. The game ended that way because of the great defense from Wickersham, Lepore and Solomon. In the last few minutes of the game V. Jankowski made a great save to preserve the 1-0 Wilton victory.
Wilton U10 Boys Blue Clinch Playoff Spot with 1-1 Tie with Bethel
The Wilton U10 Boys Blue team wrapped up their regular season with a 1-1 tie against Bethel and in doing so clinched a spot in next weeks playoffs.
With only 10 players available the game was a complete team effort throughout as the team showed off their versatility and desire to take a 1-0 lead early in the second half, as Matt Demassi scored on a great feed from Jack Crossen. Bethel tied up the game late in the second half and the teams battled to a well-played tie.
Forwards Jack Vermulen, Luke Perna, Amit Solomon, Demassi and Crossen applied constant pressure and had multiple shots on goal that kept Bethel on their heels all game long while, the brick wall of Finn Burke, Jack Barker, Stefano Cross and Maddox Backman were superb as Bethel was not able to muster very many scoring chances while goalie Will Soucy made several big saves to fluster the Bethel attack.
With a regular season record of 5-2-1, the boys look poised and ready to take on Westport in the playoff semi-finals.
Wilton Youth Football
Wilton 8 White Edges Darien, 8-6 to Head to FCFL Semi-Finals
Wilton 8 White is headed to the FCFL 8th grade semi-finals after escaping with an 8-6 victory that was sealed on the game’s final play.
Wilton came out of the gate firing on all cylinders as QB Grant Masterson took the opening play of the game 29 yards on a run behind the line of Jimmy Luce, Ryan Jackson, Joe Schiavone, Andrew Pellicano, and receivers Ciara Garcia, Christian Bazarian, Chris Calderone and Charlie Fischer. Masterson and Joe deGrasse each carried multiple times to get the ball down to the Darien 15-yard line before a Wilton turnover ended the drive. After the defense continued to shut down Darien behind the excellent defensive backfield coverage by Parker Woodring, Jackson Luther, Matthew Giller and William Ryan, Wilton saw two more drives stall in the first half on the Darien 32- and 8-yard lines respectively. These drives were sparked by a 54-yard run by Woodring and a 16-yard run by deGrasse.
The Warrior defense got things rolling on the first play of the second half as Woodring intercepted the Darien pass to give Wilton the ball on the Wilton 48-yard line. Again though, the drive stalled on the Darien 27-yard line after a costly error. Linebackers Masterson, Wade Steffens and Max Silva continued their physical play to quickly get the ball back in the Warriors’ hands on the Darien 28-yard line. Wilton, with less than five minutes to play, finally got rolling behind deGrasse, who carried seven times for over 40 yards, and Masterson, whose 10-yard, QB sneak moved the chains. Two penalties and a negative play seemed to once again kill another drive, but Masterson threw a long bomb over 40 yards in the air to Woodring who made a clutch catch for the 34-yard touchdown on 3rd-and-17. Wilton decided to kick a live, two-point PAT, which Woodring hammered home behind the great snap by Jackson and hold of Silva.
Darien, last year’s reigning co-champs, did not give up easily however, and drove the ball down to Wilton’s 17-yard line before Luther made huge play by knocking down the Darien pass on fourth down. Wilton took over on downs but after two costly penalties, were driven back to their 5-yard line. Giller punted from his 15 yard line which, after the return, gave Darien the ball at Wilton’s 26 yard line. On Darien’s ensuing play, with only 18 seconds remaining in the game, Darien hit pay dirt on a 26-yard touchdown pass that set up a two-point attempt for the tie. Wave’s quarterback completed the pass but Woodring, as he was falling down, pulled the receiver down one handed to end the game one yard short of the tie.
The Warriors play Ridgefield next weekend for the AFC division championship and the right to play in the overall FCFL 8th Grade championship.
4th Grade Warriors Victorious in First Round Playoff Matchup Over Darien, 19-0
The fourth grade Wilton football team beat their first playoff opponent, Darien, on Sunday. The weather did nothing to dampen the Warriors spirits or the enthusiastic cheerleaders in a wet, cold match-up that ended in a 19-0 win.
Winning the coin toss, Coach Calabrese deferred and Darien began on offense but a strong Wilton defense pulled off an impressive, three-consecutive sack attack by Charlie Calabrese, Keiran Wiseman and Craig O’Neill. With their first offensive opportunity, Calabrese handed off the ball to Wiseman, who ran it 30 yards to score the Warriors’ first touchdown. A QB sneak made possible by great blocking from the offensive line of Quint Furman, Hunter Lishnoff, Evan Christiansen, Josh Meltzer and Max Totten gave the Warriors an additional two points. Solid defensive play by Emma Van Heyst, Will Byrnes, Charlie Roy, Jake Padilla, and Marco Chila stalled any attempts by the Blue Wave and the first quarter ended at 8-0.
The second quarter began with several big yardage gains by O’Neill, allowing for a second touchdown run in by Calabrese, to bring the score to 14-0. Effective blocking by Theo Satrazemis, Jack McMenamey, and Grant Santosky allowed Padilla a first down and ultimately a third touchdown by a pass play from Calabrese to O’Neill, who ran it in for the Warriors’ third touchdown. The half ended at 19-0.
The third quarter saw more strong defensive play by Jack Bernard, Mason Behar, Michael Butler, and Erik Kieran A fumble by the Blue Wave was recovered by Evan Christiansen and Wilton was again on the offensive. Ellie Smith and Trevian Goldman had successful catches to continue the Warriors’ offensive assault and finish the third quarter.
The fourth quarter was largely uneventful, aside from a fantastic tackle by Chila. Patch Angerame came in for the victory formation and took successive knees to close out the Warriors’ first playoff win.
Wilton 5th Grade Blue advances to Finals with 8-0 Win Over New Canaan
It was a defensive struggle between Wilton 5th Grade Blue and New Canaan Red, with the Warriors coming out on top, 8-0.
The Wilton defense was tough on Sunday, allowing New Canaan only two first downs during the game and never letting them get close to the end zone. Nate Jackson, Jack Schwartz, Cole Siegel, Liam Murphy, Cael Dexter, Liam Snyder, Ray Ferranti, Ryan Meenan, Ryan Stocker, Luke Ginsburg, James Jackowski, and Will Cristini all recorded tackles for the Warriors. The Wilton defense also forced two turnovers – an interception by Cristini that set up the only touchdown of the day and a fumble recovery by Schwartz.
The offense did its part by consistently moving the ball and controlling the clock. The offensive line of Vito Banner, Maja Driscoll, Cole Galante, Jack Huntley, Meenan, Liam McKiernan, Murphy, Jack Santosky, Siegel, Henry Soojian, Jaxon Thomas and CJ Young controlled the line of scrimmage all game long, creating running room for Schwartz, Ginsburg, Cristini, Snyder, Dexter, Ryan Luchetta, Jackson, Charlie Keller, and Ferranti. It was a wet afternoon which limited the passing game, but McKiernan made the one successful catch of the day. The only touchdown of the game came on a five-yard run by Schwartz and a successful kick by Ginsburg. Those eight points were all the Warriors would need to defeat the Rams.
Wilton remains undefeated at 9-0 headed into the Championship Game against Westport.
Wilton 7 Blue Demolishes Westport Wreckers, 28-0
After a week off, Wilton 7 Blue looked rested and confident putting together a dominant performance against the Westport Wreckers in the second round of the playoffs. Wilton’s aggressive defense and running game played well to the soggy field conditions. After forcing Westport to punt on the first series of the game, Wilton took over at midfield and opened the game with a 20-yard run by Spencer Liston behind great blocking. Charlie Guglielmo added a 16-yard run to put Wilton inside the 10 yard line. Andrew Acosta-Rua then got it over the goal line on another well blocked play. Wilton offensive line of Luke Totten, Connor Sweeney, Alexander Dempster, James Cristini and Andrew Kress established the running game early and dominated throughout the game. Tight ends Caleb Rath and Nicholas Walden opened up huge running lanes on the off tackle plays and had many important down field blocks.
After another defensive hold and a tackle for a loss by George Rushevich, Westport was forced to punt again. A nice catch and run by Quinn Stengrim, a hard run by Christopher Capone and a well-executed screen by Liston got Wilton in the end zone for the second score of the game. Wilton’s defense held again giving the ball back to the offense with great field position. Although Wilton drove the ball down into the red zone, they were not able to score and were forced to turn the ball over to Westport. Tackles by Michael Colavecchio, Xander Petrides and Walden forced another Westport punt and gave Wilton the ball back with 30 seconds left in the half. A screen to Liston and a run by Acosta-Rua put Wilton on the board for the third score of the half. Wilton added a fourth score in the second half behind hard running by Capone, Stengrim and Acosta-Rua and continued solid blocking.
Wilton’s defensive line of Bobby DiPalma, Jake Enman, Cristini, Merrick Snyder, Sweeney, Colavecchio, Rushevich, Aiden Cruickshank and pass rush specialist Dempster frustrated Westport’s defense throughout the game. Wilton’s defensive ends Walden and Kress shut down Westport’s outside running game while linebackers Stengrim and Petrides and safety Capone racked up the tackles. Cornerbacks Guglielmo and Liston did a great job not only covering the athletic Westport receivers but also supporting the run and making open field tackles.
