We'll start with the first game of the day, Wilby's come-from-behind, 38-28 win over Derby. Neither the field conditions nor the referees were great, but I don't think either factor affected the outcome. The game was a fantastic duel between Wilby quarterback JayLen Mahan and Derby quarterback Ray Kreiger. Mahan did his work mostly without his arm. The senior returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, converted on several fourth-down runs, ran for two touchdowns, made three two-point conversions, and sealed the game with a 65-yard interception-return touchdown on Derby's two-minute drill. The game was never a two-possession game until the final score as Kreiger threw for almost 300 yards and two touchdowns while running for two more. It looks like the Raiders (1-3; 0-2) are completely out of things in the Brass and the Wildcats (2-2; 1-1) have pumped new life into their season by finally winning a game in the fourth quarter.
Next up is Torrington's controversial, 80-39 beatdown of St. Paul. We've already had some fierce opinions on both sides of the issue in this game, so to properly inform yourself of what happened to make a good judgment, check out one of the three articles linked in this paragraph. In short, Torrington had a 61-12 lead before the half and pulled its starters before St. Paul quarterback Logan Marchi led a comeback to 61-39 and the Falcons were threatening again. According to Torrington's coaching staff, St. Paul also refused a running clock to begin the second half. The Raiders varsity re-entered and re-extended the lead with two touchdowns before a pick-six accounted for the final margin. I have no problem with that Torrington did as I've explained in some previous comments, but that's just me. Perhaps the bigger storyline in this game is the Raiders' new spread offense in which new quarterback Phil Bresson was 17-of-24 for 318 yards and three touchdowns while Brenden Lytton ran for 311 yards on 11 carries with six touchdowns. Maybe this new offense can revive the Raiders' (2-2; 1-1) chances in the Copper.
In the closest game of the night, Naugatuck rallied to beat Sacred Heart, 34-29. The Greyhounds lost a 21-0 halftime lead when the Hearts went ahead late in the fourth quarter on a 52-yard interception-return touchdown by Shyquan Thompson to make it 29-28. On the ensuing kickoff, Nate Franklin returned a 72-yard touchdown to put the 'Hounds back on top, 34-29. Sacred Heart's final drive stalled at the Naugatuck 35 when Jake Yourison made a fourth-down stop to seal the game. The near-come-from-ahead loss can't be comforting to Naugy, but the Greyhounds (4-0; 2-0) will certainly take it. Two of Sacred Heart's touchdowns came on returns and Naugatuck had another pretty balanced offensive effort.
Our Game of the Week turned out to be a dud--as we expected--with Ansonia romping over Holy Cross, 45-13. The Crusaders were able to do something no other team has yet been able to do by scoring first on the Chargers. But after Dave DiGiorgi's 2-yard touchdown run on the opening drive, it was all Ansonia. Arkeel Newsome had another 385 yards on 23 carries and five touchdowns before exiting in the second half. There's not much left to say about the Chargers except that I'm not sure we can feature them in any more Games of the Week.
Wolcott established itself as potentially the second-best team in the Brass Division with a fairly easy, 39-14 win over Seymour. The Eagles' pair of playmakers--DeVante Bonvillian and Mike Nicol--stayed hot as each found the end zone three times. Bonvillian is finally looking like one of the league's top skill players and Nicol is all of a sudden seeming like one of the league's best quarterbacks. Seymour really couldn't get anything going on either side of the ball in its first game against a quality opponent. Now, Wolcott (3-1; 2-0) has vaulted to the top of the Brass standings while Seymour (3-1; 0-1) is left looking up at the rest for the time being.
Woodland's 32-0 win over Kennedy was about as unexciting as a game gets. The Hawks led, 19-0, at the half and coasted all the way for an easy Copper Division win. Tanner Kingsley had his best game of the season at quarterback, going 13-of-22 for 199 yards and three touchdowns. Two of those went to Kyle McClintick while one went to Anthony Scirpo. Matt Zaccagnini and Taylor Tucciarone also scored on the ground while Woodland allowed just 103 yards of total offense. It could be another blowout next week against St. Paul before the Hawks' (3-1; 2-0) schedule ramps up in a hurry.
In the least offensive game of the night, Watertown beat Crosby, 20-0, and scored all of its points in the fourth quarter. There aren't any stat lines that jump off the page from this game except the Indians' nine sacks and Eric Ford's 91-yard interception-return touchdown to make it a 13-0 game. Anthony Avoletta and Dan Brodeur also scored on the ground in the fourth quarter for the Indians (2-2; 2-0) who share the best record in the Brass Division.
Who Did It
Week 4 featured some of the best stat lines we've seen in this young season. Our NVL Blog Player of the Week didn't put up the same yardage as some of the other passers and runners, but he more directly contributed to his team's win than any other. Wilby quarterback JayLen Mahan willed the Wildcats to a comeback win over Derby with his kickoff return touchdown, two rushing touchdowns, three two-point conversions, several huge fourth-down conversions, and the game-sealing pick-six.
As always, here's a look at Week 4's top rushers: Newsome (385 rush yds, 5 TD), Lytton (325 rush yds, 3 TD), Nicol (154 rush yds, 3 TD), Yourison (125 rush yds, TD), Wilby's Jacob Thomas (112 rush yds), Seymour's Luke Grabowski (109 rush yds, TD), Avoletta (95 rush yds, TD), and Bonvillian (75 rush yds, 2 TD).
The passing game vaulted back into the driver's seat of offense this week, so here are Week 4's top passers: Marchi (21-48, 397 pass yds, 6 TD, 3 INT), Bresson (16-24, 313 pass yds, 3 TD, INT), Kreiger (22-37, 292 pass yds, 2 TD, 2 INT), Kingsley (13-22, 199 pass yds, 3 TD, INT), Nicol (8-15, 193 pass yds, TD), Naugatuck's Zac Mercer (6-12, 155 pass yds, 3 TD, INT), and Grabowski (10-26, 120 pass yds, TD).
Since the passing game flourished, we need to include some of the league's best receivers in Week 4: St. Paul's Justin Gonzalez (9 rec, 209 yds, 2 TD), Bonvillian (4 rec, 160 yds, TD), Lytton (5 rec, 151 yds, 2 TD), Torrington's Desmond Langs (4 rec, 123 yds, 2 TD), Naugatuck's Mick Pernell (3 rec, 109 yds, 2 TD), Scirpo (5 rec, 101 yds, TD), and Derby's Dillon McMahon (8 rec, 87 yds, TD).
How It Looked
Check out Remmy's video of the Holy Cross-Ansonia game here.
And here are some photos and videos from our friends at the Rep-Am, Register-Citizen, and CT Post.
Videos: Naugatuck-Sacred Heart, Torrington-St. Paul
Photos: Naugatuck-Sacred Heart, Torrington-St. Paul, Ansonia-Holy Cross
What's Next
Week 5 features an excellent slate of games, starting with a pair of important Brass Division games. In one contest, Seymour hosts Ansonia on Thursday, and in the other, Wolcott heads to Municipal Stadium on Friday to take on former coach Patrick Russo and Wilby. The winner of the latter game will establish itself as Ansonia's most significant Brass challenger.
On Friday night, another domino will fall in the Copper Division race when Torrington heads to Naugatuck. That game is nominated for NBC's Game of the Week and will be ours, as well. The other Copper contenders, Holy Cross and Woodland, shouldn't be tested in their games against Kennedy and St. Paul, respectively. Derby also visits Watertown in an intriguing Brass game. The Indians will look to stay unbeaten in the division.
We look forward to what you thought about Week 4--especially on the Torrington-St. Paul subject--and we'll have our Week 5 videos and threads up starting Monday!
