Conard hosted Berlin in football Friday night in West Hartford, and after a strong first quarter, lost 48-21.

Sports reporting is sponsored by Keating Agency Insurance

By Paul Palmer

Conard football coach Matt Cersosimo will probably keep the game tape from the first quarter of Friday night’s game with Berlin.

Everything went right for Conard as they scored, played good defense, and even managed to run trick plays successfully. Cersosimo will probably want to burn the film of the other three quarters as penalties, bad punts, poor field possession, and undisciplined and unfocused play allowed the Red Coats to walk away with the 27-point win.

“We have all got to do our jobs better, including myself,” Cersosimo said after the game which dropped his team to 1-3. “ We all have to take a deep breath and look at what we’re doing and figure out how to do it better.”

Conard’s opening drive stalled after six plays and a punt of just 15 yards gave Berlin the ball at midfield. The Red Coats marched down the field with a pair of second-down runs that resulted in first downs, then Cody Puzio took the ball 9 yards up the middle to go into the end zone untouched 4:40 into the game. The point after was wide, but Conard was called for a penalty. Before the second try took place, the Red Wolves were whistled for offsides, and Berlin then kicked the PAT to go up 7-0.

The hosts would put on their best offensive series of the game on the ensuing possession. Ryan Gillis returned the kick to the Conard 40. On first down quarterback Brady Cersosimo hit Darien Tejada with a short pass that the senior took inside the Berlin 20. A face mask call on the tackle moved the ball inside the 1-yard line and Davien Rodriguez ran it in from there to tie things at 7.

“In the first quarter we played mistake free,” Cersosimo said.

A strong defensive stand on Berlin’s next possession featuring a quarterback stuff by Taurean Cauley and Aiden Bailey as well as a third-down stop by Joe Fukuyama forced a punt. Again, Conard put together an impressive drive with Michael Kurkutis hauling in a pass along the sideline for a first down, and Nate Blumes picking up another on a run from the wildcat formation. On fourth down, Conard called the trick play and snapped it to the up-man Rodriguez who rumbled to the 25 just before the end of the quarter.

After a bad snap on second down saw Cersosimo have to cover the ball at the 35 on second down, the junior QB galloped 25 yards on third down for the score just :41 into the second to give Conard the 14-7 lead.

Neither team did anything on their next possessions, and Conard was forced to punt on the following fourth down. The poor punt and a Conard penalty gave Berlin the ball at the Red Wolves 26. On third down the Red Coats rushed for a first down and on the next play it was Puzio again, this time scoring from 34 yards out to tie things just under halfway into the quarter.

After that, the game got away from Conard as they became their own worst enemy. A long run by Cersosimo was negated by a holding penalty, and then on fourth down at the 26, Conard’s punt went nine yards after a bounce. On its first play from scrimmage, Berlin’s Gabriel Rio ran a perfect double move along the sidelines to get open in the end zone, only to be interfered with by a Conard defender. That put the ball at the Conard 20 where Puzio ran for a tough eight yards, and the Red Wolves were called for a face mask to put the ball at their own 3.

Puzio scored his third of the night with a sweep to the right with 3:48 to play to make it 21-14. With a chance to tie things up, a pair of offensive penalties forced Conard to punt again, with the ball going just 16 yards to put it on the Red Wolves 36. A sack and a pair of penalties pushed Berlin back and they were forced to punt.

The opening of the second half saw both sides have to punt away the ball on their first possession. When they got the ball back off the Conard punt, Berlin once again marched down the field with Aiden DeJesus capping it off with a 40-yard run for score. Conard once again could not get the ball moving and on fourth down saw three Berlin players bust through the line and one of them blocked the punt, recovering it on the Conard 14.

Two plays later it was DeJesus again, this time going 13 yards up the middle and with 7:02 played it was now 35-14 Red Coats.

Gillis once again gave his team good field position by returning the kick to midfield, but Conard was once again flagged on the play – this time back at its own 20. And when the penalty was walked off, it was now first-and-10 on their own 10. A penalty on second down on Berlin and long runs by Rodriguez and Blumes got the Red Wolves rolling, but on a fourth-down play, the snap sailed over Cersosimo’s head. He managed to track it down, dodge a few would-be tacklers and while running for his life threw the ball downfield and out of bounds to give it back to Berlin.

“We could move the ball, but when we were undisciplined, our drives stalled,” said Cersosimo. A screen pass and run by Rio moved the ball to the Conard 35 as the third quarter ended.

On the opening play of the fourth, DeJesus caught a pass at the ten and raced down the far sideline to the 1 before being tripped up by a defender. Puzio took the ball in on first down and after Conard blocked the PAT it was 41-14 just :18 into the final quarter.

Conard opted to go to the wildcat again with Blumes taking the direct snaps but Berlin held and Conard turned it over on downs at the Conard 39. Kayden Tirado took the first play to the house making it a one-play, 9-second scoring drive and it was 48-14.

Both teams began to put in substitutes and the game dissolved into a series of punts and turnovers on downs. In the final minutes of the game, Henry Tamaccio assumed the wildcat position and took the direct snap passing and running the ball down field. As the clock headed for 00:00, Tamaccio ran the ball in from eight yards out to make the final score 48-21.

Conard’s coach said he will take the bye week and work with his team to focus on doing a batter job and being locked in on each play. “We can only go up from here. We have so much we can work off of and get better.”

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