Hall hosted Maloney Thursday night in West Hartford, both teams arriving at the game with just one loss apiece.

By Paul Palmer

They may need to replace some of the turf at Hall’s Robert Chalmers Stadium after Maloney chewed up chunks of the turf running past and through the Titans defense en route to a 41-17 win in a game that featured a pair of 5-1 teams.

The Spartans relied on the speed of Donte Kelly and the power rushing of Donald Highsmith running behind a big, but mobile, front line to gain more than 250 yards on the ground. When he wasn’t using his speed, Kelly was using his pass catching skills to keep drives alive.

With 8:32 to go in the first, Kelly hauled in a pass from quarterback Ethan Nedinsky that deflected off the hands of a Hall defender and dashed in for the early lead. After the hosts went 3-and-out on their first possession, it was Kelly again catching a 20-yard scoring pass from Nedinsky and quickly it was 13-0.

Hall found its offense late in the opening quarter when quarterback Bode Smith picked up a bobbled snap and raced 43 yards through the Maloney defense to paydirt with 2:34 left in the first. But Maloney once again had the response it needed.

Highsmith used his bruising, straight ahead running to compliment Kelly’s speed and quick cuts to march the Spartans to the 3-yard line, where Zakkai Moore took it in one play later.

Hall was pinned back at its own 10 after the kickoff but Smith and company managed to put together some crisp, short passes and hard runs to move across midfield. But a penalty managed to push the ball back to the 37 and the drive stalled, forcing the Titans to punt the ball away.

“We needed to make plays,” said Hall coach Frank Robinson after the game. “They are such a good team you have to make those plays.”

As the game approached halftime, Hall’s defense had perhaps their best moments. James Varellas sacked Nadinsky on third down forcing Maloney to punt the ball away. Hall’s offense put together a drive starting at its own 30. Smith hit Jordan Brice who galloped for big yardage and with 30 seconds to play in the half the Titans lined up for a field goal attempt. Maloney called a time out and when the teams came back onto the field, Robinson had his offense lined up in an attempt to draw the Spartans offsides. When that failed, Hall called a time out, sent kicker Joseph Griffin back out to kick the field goal and the half would end with Maloney leading 20-10. “We had bad field position from the get-go,” Robinson said.

Hall received the kick to start the third, but Smith was intercepted on a rollout and the visitors returned it to the 28 to set up the offense in great position. Four plays later, it was Kelly taking the direct snap from center and going off the right side of the line for a 10-yard score and a 27-10 lead.

After a 3-and-out from Hall, Maloney put together a 60-yard drive – mostly on the ground – that ended with Highsmith muscling his way across the goal line with 14 seconds to play in the third quarter. For Hall, the offense never seemed to find its rhythm. Smith used a lot of short passes to try to keep drives alive. When he threw deep it was usually without success, and when the Titans tried to sustain a running game, Maloney was there to stop it in its tracks.

Maloney delivered the knockout blow with 5:52 to go in the game. Leading 34-10, Nedinsky hit Jesus Martell on a post pattern that turned into a 90-yard catch and run for a touchdown. Smith would lead Hall on one final scoring drive that was capped off when he hit Colin McGann in the corner of the endzone with 2:18 to play, but it was too little, too late for the Titans.  “We had our chances, and that’s why you play the game,” said Robinson.

Hall slips to 5-2 on the season and faces East Hartford next week. The win was Maloney’s fourth in a row and they will take their 6-1 record to Southington next week.

Like what you see here? Click here to subscribe to We-Ha’s newsletter so you’ll always be in the know about what’s happening in West Hartford! Click the blue button below to become a supporter of We-Ha.com and our efforts to continue producing quality journalism.