In our Game of the Week, Torrington had just enough to outlast Naugatuck, 31-27. Brenden Lytton had perhaps his best overall game of the season with 287 rushing yards, four total touchdowns, and two interceptions--the last of which sealed the game. The Naugy defense couldn't bring down Lytton very often and Torrington's defense looked solid. Meanwhile, the Greyhounds' offense was disappointing, aside from Jake Yourison, and they never got anything going in the passing game. This result really throws things into upheaval in the Copper Division and will definitely make for some exciting games over the next few weeks.
Our other big game of the week saw Wolcott beat Wilby, 23-20. DeVante Bonvillian powered the Eagles' offense with 100 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Wolcott's defense was able to hold up, too, despite allowing 199 combined rushing yards to Jay'Len Mahan and Jacob Thomas. Now the Eagles are 4-1 and still unbeaten in the Brass Division. While winning the division over Ansonia is unlikely, Wolcott's chances in Class M are very much alive. Still, the Eagles don't yet have a quality win so we'll see what happens.
Ansonia's 41-6 win over Seymour was pretty uneventful after the Wildcats made a game of it for about a half. Arkeel Newsome ended up with four more touchdowns and 327 rushing yards and the Chargers' defense was excellent after allowing early success to Luke Grabowski.
Holy Cross struggled with Kennedy all night before pulling out a 28-12 win in a game that appeared to be closer than the final score would indicate. Cross actually trailed, 6-2, at the half. Adrian Brown and Dave DiGiorgi both rushed for over 100 yards, which is a good sign for the Crusaders' offense. Still, Holy Cross seems a little shaky at the moment but appears to be in good position to make its Copper Division challenge.
In a pair of Friday night blowouts, Derby beat Watertown, 41-0, and Sacred Heart beat Crosby, 47-6. Finally, the offenses that we expected to have some pop to them came alive in a pair of must-win games for those teams. Incredibly, both the Red Raiders and Hearts are alive in the Class S playoff race, but challenging for a spot will likely take winning out.
And in the last game of the weekend, Woodland beat St. Paul, 27-17, in a game that wasn't quite as close as the score would indicate, although the Falcons probably played their best game of the season. Tanner Kingsley continued his solid play at quarterback with three more touchdown passes and Matt Zaccagnini got back on track with over 150 yards. Now the Hawks will take on all their Copper challengers in a row, which should be interesting for a team that doesn't have a quality win yet.
Who Did It
In the spirit of keeping our NVL Blog Player of the Week award rotating among different athletes while still acknowledging game-breaking efforts, our Week 5 honor goes to Wolcott running back DeVante Bonvillian. The senior rushed for 138 yards and two touchdowns, including a 62-yarder to re-extend the Eagles' lead late in the game.
Week 5's top rushers: Newsome (327 rush yds, 3 TD); Lytton (287 rush yds, 3 TD); Sacred Heart's Jaquan Overbey (208 rush yds, 3 TD); Zaccagnini (152 rush yds, TD); Yourison (147 rush yds, 3 TD); Bonvillian (138 rush yds, 2 TD); Brown (129 rush yds, 2 TD); DiGiorgi (120 rush yds); St. Paul's Jordan Rowley (117 rush yds); Kennedy's Talance Stith (106 rush yds); Mahan (100 rush yds, 2 TD); Thomas (99 rush yds, TD).
Week 5's top passers: St. Paul's Logan Marchi (18-35, 192 pass yds, 2 TD, 1 Int); Kingsley (12-16, 190 pass yds, 3 TD, 1 Int); Crosby's Marcel Lugo (8-30, 190 pass yds, TD, Int); Derby's Ray Kreiger (15-22, 166 pass yds, 2 TD); Grabowski (9-21, 148 pass yds).
How It Looked
Remmy worked double-time in Week 5 to bring you two highlight videos. Click here for the Ansonia-Seymour highlights and here for the Wolcott-Wilby highlights.
As always, our friends from the Rep-Am and other outlets have some additional multimedia for the pleasure of your eyes.
Videos: Ansonia-Seymour (highlights), Ansonia-Seymour (full first half), Holy Cross-Kennedy, Holy Cross-Kennedy, Torrington-Naugatuck
Photos: Ansonia-Seymour, Holy Cross-Kennedy, Torrington-Naugatuck, Wolcott-Wilby
What's Next
Week 6 was circled on our calendar before the season even began because of its massive implications in the Copper Division race. Two huge Friday night games--Torrington at Woodland and Naugatuck at Holy Cross--will go a long way in telling us who's going to win the division. If either Torrington or Naugatuck lose, they're likely eliminated from the race. But if one or both of those teams win, we're going to have a three- or four-team contest on our hands.
Wolcott continues its Brass Division schedule with a trip to Derby, which suddenly found its high-scoring offense again, while Seymour has a chance to break its two-game losing streak with a game against struggling Crosby. Ansonia hosts Watertown in a game that probably won't be very good.
What We Know Halfway Through the Regular Season:
Remmy: First thing's first. Picks are getting harder and harder to make. With Derby absolutely shelling Watertown, Crosby losing big to Sacred Heart, and Wolcott at 4-1, it's just ... a little crazy, perhaps?
No team looks like it has what it takes to compete with Ansonia--yet. Ansonia has played through the grunt of its schedule, beating three of the top four teams in the Copper. On paper, Ansonia has two really important games left on the schedule. Wolcott is one (Nov. 4) and Naugatuck is the other (Thanksgiving). And now that Naugy went down to Torrington, things are very uncertain in the Copper. Torrington still has a date with Woodland and Holy Cross has two pretty big games left (vs. Naugy, vs. Woodland). Things are just getting hectic in the Copper Division, as we expected prior to the start of the season. Which team will emerge as the victors in the Copper? Anyone want to see a Torrington-Ansonia rematch? Raise your hand. I do.Kyle: So far, we know that Ansonia is certainly going to win the Brass Division, we're going to have a mess atop the Copper Division, and a few teams who haven't yet been tested will be very soon. Holy Cross, Naugatuck, Torrington, and Woodland are all within striking distance in the Copper Division race, and we're either going to sort out the contenders from the pretenders this week or we're going to have a muddle on top. All I know so far is that Ansonia is for real. I'm still not totally sold on Holy Cross, Wolcott, Woodland, Torrington, or Naugatuck. Out of those five teams, I think Woodland and Torrington are the best, but it's hard to tell, especially since Holy Cross beat Torrington earlier this season. Another thing that we don't know is how to sort out a three-way tiebreaker if the Copper Division comes to it, so I'm going to get on that soon and get an answer before chaos starts.
As always, our Week 6 picks thread will be up on Monday afternoon!
