West Hartford”s Conard High School was defeated Friday night by Maloney High School (Meriden), 46-22.

Sports reporting is sponsored by Keating Agency Insurance

By Paul Palmer

Quarterback Eli Showerda threw for seven touchdowns – including four on his team’s four possessions in the first half – as Maloney routed Conard 46-22 in high school football Friday night. The loss brings Conard to 2-2 on the season, after starting off 2-0.

“I still believe we are the team that started 2-0,” said Conard head coach Matt Cersosimo. “The last two weeks we just have not executed. We have to execute what we are doing in practice.”

The visiting Spartans wasted no time in setting the tone for the game as Showerda led an opening drive that ended with a touchdown pass to Cayden Simonds Gaskin with 9:20 on the clock. Unfortunately for the Conard defense that combination would run wild all game long.

When Conard got the ball for the first time their game plan was clear. Senior running back Holden Smith carried the ball on his team’s first 10 plays, gaining 61 yards setting the Red Wolves up with a 4th-and-goal from the 2. The direct snap to Smith went wide and he fell on the loose ball at the 16, ending the drive and turning the ball over on downs.

It took Maloney just three plays to score again when Showerda found Jameir Diaz for a 69-yerd catch and run down the left sideline with 2:00 to play in the first quarter to make it 13-0. Smith would carry the ball on Conard’s next four plays to run out the opening quarter.

Smith would not touch the ball again on the drive that ended on an incomplete pass from quarterback Henry Tamaccio, giving Maloney the ball on its own 27. The Spartans then put on a spectacular drive that featured Showerda escaping pressure and finding Simonds Gaskin for a completion. Later it was Diaz taking a swing pass, making the first tackler miss, before gaining another first down. Next up was running bac Jaybriel Chacon with a great one-handed catch down the middle to the 6-yard line. Chacon was filling in for the injured Devon Becote – the Spartans’ number one running back. One play later was Simonds Gaskin using his size advantage to haul in the TD pass.

Tamaccio was intercepted on the next Conard possession and Diaz caught his second scoring pass of the game from 14 yards out and it was 26-0 Maloney.

The Red Wolves finally got things going on a 14-play drive that ended with Tamaccio following Smith’s lead block to score on a four-yard run with :44 to play. Conard squibbed the kickoff and recovered the loose ball at the Maloney 44. Tamaccio converted a 4th-and-3 with a run and then hit Riley Williams to take the ball to the 18 with four seconds to go in the half. On the next play Maloney’s defense lost track of Graham Lamoureux in the end zone and Tamaccio found him for the score as the horn sounded to end the half.

Smith carried the ball 19 tames for 106 yards in the first half with Tamaccio completing seven of 13 passes, throwing for one score, and running for another. It looked like Conard was going to take that late first half momentum and run with it as the third quarter started. Beginning at their own 16, the Red Wolves handed the ball to Smith on the first two plays. On third down Smith took a handoff and went off the right side, breaking several tackles and racing down field until he was caught from behind by the speedy Simonds Gaskin at the Maloney 7 for a 70-yard run. On 4th-and-goal from the 1, Conard opted to have Tamaccio keep the ball, but he was swallowed up by Mike Talley of Maloney to end the drive with no points.

“We had Holden (Smith) on the lead block and in our eyes he and Henry are both dangerous runners,” said Cersosimo of the decision to not have Smith run the ball. He added that a block was missed allowing Talley a free shot at the ball carrier.

Two plays later it was Showerda from his own 2-yard line hitting Joel Lopez with a short pass over the middle. He raced to the Conard 40 before being dragged down from behind. A 35-yard completion with Simonds Gaskin set the Spartans up at the 5 before Showerda ended the drive with a TD pass to Diaz. The 14-point swing made it 33-14 with 7:43 to play in the third.

Following a Conard punt on the next drive Maloney was again moving the ball in for another touchdown, but Showerda’ s pass deflected off the hands of Diaz and into the arms of Conard defender Gio Mota in the back of the end zone. Mota was Conard’s best defender all game long making some big stops and slowing the Maloney run game.

When the Red Wolves began their drive it was sophomore Jayden Vo at quarterback replacing an injured Tamaccio. The first snap sailed high off his hands and he covered the loose ball for a loss of 8. A screen pass to Smith got the ball to midfield on third down an one play later Vo scrambled to his right and hit Ian Caldwell down the sideline on a 50-yard TD hook-up with 1:18 to go in the third.

Maloney would then go on a long drive that bridged the third and fourth quarters and end with 8:51 to go in the game when Showerda found Diaz cutting across the middle of the end zone for his fourth TD catch of the night. Ahnyell Hamilton would break up the 2-point conversion attempt to make the score 39-20. After a Conard punt, Showerda would put together his seventh TD drive of the game, capped off with a 6-yard throw to Simonds Gaskin with just over six minutes to go in the game.

The game’s final points would come when Conard defenders Brandon Buckley, Chase Morales, and Dylan Wiktor combined for a safety sack of Showerda and made it 46-22 Maloney.

“We left at least three scoring chances in the red zone and you can’t do that especially against a team as good as Maloney,” Cersosimo said after the game.

Game notes

• Maloney has now won eight of the last meetings nine meetings between the two schools, including the last seven.
• Entering the game Maloney was averaging 30.3 points per game and Conard was one yard better at 31.3 per game.
• Showerda’ s seven passing touchdown were just one fewer than his total for the team’s opening three games. He also passed the 1,000-yard passing mark on the season in the Conard game.
• Holden Smith has gained 519 yards on 95 carries this year averaging just under five and a half yards per carry.
• Tamaccio now has six rushing and six passing touchdowns through four games.
• Cersosimo said after the game he believes Tamaccio will be back as the starting QB for next week’s game with Berlin.

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