Conard hosted Simsbury in West Hartford Friday night, beating the Trojans for the first time in quite some time.

Sports reporting is sponsored by Keating Agency Insurance

By Paul Palmer

Two plays, 46 minutes apart in the game, showed what the Conard Red Wolves football team can do. It was all that time in between that kept coaches, players, and fans on their toes in a 21-13 win over Simsbury Friday night.

On its first offensive play of the game, Holden Smith rambled 58 yards down the left sideline to stake his team to a 7-0 lead just :17 in. Two-and-a-half hours later it was Taurean Cauley, a nose tackle, picking off a fourth-and-goal pass for Simsbury just three yards out of the end zone to secure the victory.

“That is a team we have not beaten in quite some time,” said Conard head coach Matt Cersosimo. “It feels good to get the home win.”

It has been a season of learning and overcoming for the Red Wolves. After alternating wins and losses in their opening four games, they hit the skids in their last three, losing by a combined 105 points. They have been playing without two of the captains – quarterback Brady Cersosimo and senior Justin Cruz – both out with injuries. While there have been signs of progress, stopping opposing teams from scoring has been an issue all season.

When the game came down to having to make a defensive stop, the Conard defensive was up to the task … but it was not easy. They lost a fumble with the Trojans recovering at their own 30 with 3:42 to play. Quarterback Braeden Siano put together a drive that featured his scrambling ability and his knack for finding receivers that had found open space. That included picking up a fourth-and-13 at Conard’s 37, a completion to Bryan George for first down at the 18 with 1:39 left, and another to George on a slant to the Conard 7 with 1:16 to play.

The Conard defense stiffened and broke up one pass in the end zone, and forced an incompletion. On third down it was Joe Fukuyama who stopped Siano in the backfield on third down. One the next play, Conard was called for pass interference inside the 5 and with :50 to go. Simsbury would get to replay fourth down, this time from the Conard 5.

Siano dropped back and looked for his crossing receivers, but it was Cauley dropping back into coverage and stepping right into the path of the pass. The big lineman rumbled for about 10 yards and then hit the deck to secure the win.

“Our defensive coaches actually called for him to do that on the play as they had been looking for slants,” said Cersosimo. Conard had to take just one snap and with the Trojans out of timeouts, they could not stop the clock and it ran to :00

In the opening 11-and-a-half minutes, things could not have gone any better for the Red Wolves. After Smith’s opening TD run, Cauley recovered a fumble at Simsbury’s 28 to put his team back in position. After Smith ran it to the 8, the Simsbury defense dug in, but Smith willed himself into the end zone on fourth-and-1 to make it 14-0. The scoring run had Smith with 78 yards on five carries in the first quarter of the game.

Simsbury’s next possession saw Fukuyama trip up a scrambling Siano on third down, forcing his team to punt. When the Red Wolves drive stalled at the 22, they went for the field goal but it went wide right.

Simsbury launched their best drive of the opening quarter as Siano began finding the speedy Stephen Wharton-Mohammed and the ball was over midfield. Siano then took advantage of a blown coverage and hooked up with Will Davignon on a long TD pass to make it 14-7 with just :34 to go in the first.

Conard went three-and-out as the game moved into the second quarter and the Trojans would put together another long drive starting at its own 47. Siano ran for 24 yards on first down, and later on a third down raced to the Conard 3 for another first down. On the next play it was George pushing his way in from a full house backfield. Jameson Lamoureux would bust through the line and block and the score was 14-13 Conard.

“We started out great, but took our foot off the gas,” said Cersosimo.

The Red Wolves had a promising drive on the next possession and when quarterback Xavier Williams connected with Justin Nanayakkara it was first down at the Simsbury 32. On the next play Williams was intercepted by Warton-Mohammed and the Trojans took over at their own 23.

The defense would push Simsbury back and when the Trojans punted it was out of their own endzone. Conard had the ball in decent field position but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty pushed the ball back over midfield. Williams was putting together another good drive including a great catch by Nanayakkara when he high-pointed a pass between two defenders at the 10. With the ball on the 4, Willaims ran left, but was tackled for what was a big loss. But a horse collar tackle call on Simsbury kept the drive alive for the Wolves.

On third down a Conard TD pass was negated by a penalty, and on the next two snaps it was the Simsbury defense breaking up pass plays to regain the ball. The visitors moved the ball deep into Conard territory as the final minutes of the second quarter ticked off. The Trojans went for the field goal on fourth down but Gio Scheff-Mota and Lamoureux combined on a block of the kick to end the first half just as the rain started falling.

Simsbury took the second half kick and had a drive going until a holding call put them in a second-and-20 situation that they never recovered from and once again had to punt. Conard’s next possession would see them hold the ball for nine minutes on a drive that was frequently interrupted by penalty calls. With the ball sitting at Simsbury’s 32-yard line, a penalty made it first-and-20. Williams sprinted out and through a pass on the run that Riley Williams grabbed just before it hit the ground at the 6-yard line. But another penalty on the Wolves erased the gain and pushed the ball back.

On third down Williams found Nanayakkara on a middle screen that made it first-and-10 at the 15. Each team took a penalty and on a third-and-1 at the 16, Williams was sacked. Conard went for it on fourth down and Williams hit Henry Tamaccio with the TD pass and Conard had an 8-point lead with just 1:10 to play in the third.

After a pair of punts, Simsbury was once again on the move but on a fourth-and-6 near the Conard 20, Ben Walsh broke up the pass at the goal line to end the Trojan’s drive and give his team the ball. Conard would get a first down and later appeared to have another, but another unsportsmanlike penalty wiped that out.

On second-and-25 Williams hooked up with Lamoureux on a screen pass and run that moved it to the Simsbury 45 with 4:20 remaining. Later it was Smith running down the right side, but the ball came loose on the tackle and Simsbury had the ball, and a chance to go for the tie with 3:42 to play.

That set up the late game drama that saw the Trojans move the ball to the 5 with :50 to play before Cauley’s huge play.

“Getting a home win creates momentum as we move into November,” said the Conard head coach. “It is time now to show what we can be after coming through the adversity we have faced this season.”

Smith, Nanayakkara, and Lamoureux were huge on the offensive side of the ball all game for Conard, and Cersosimo said there was lots of credit to go around. “Holden and Jameson and then our offensive line controlling the line of scrimmage were important.” But one thing he said his team has to correct quickly is taking bad penalties. “We are taking way too many of them and we have to start learning from them.”

Conard is back on the turf at McKee field hosting Enfield next Friday night and closes out the season with the annual West Hartford Mayor’s Cup matchup against Hall (3-5, also with a win on Friday night) on Nov. 22.

GAME NOTES:

• The game was the 50th all-time meeting between the two schools.
• They have played every year since 1974 with the exception of 2009.
• Conard now leads the all-time series 27-21-2.
• The win snaps a Simsbury seven-game win streak against the Red Wolves.

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