Conard hosted perennial powerhouse Southington on Friday night in West Hartford. 

Sports reporting is sponsored by Keating Agency Insurance

By Paul Palmer

Things started out well for the Conard Red Wolves in their football home opener on Friday night.

Michael Kirkutis took the opening kickoff to the 47-yard line, and Southington was nailed with a 15-yard penalty at the end of the play. That  set the home team up with first down at the 32. A series of runs and short passes moved them into a fourth-and-seven before quarterback Brady Cersosimo connected with Tyler Walsh for the first down. Three players later it was Cersosimo finding Kirkutis with the pass and he dashed into the left side of the end zone and four minutes in, it was 7-0 Conard.

From there on out, it was a nightmare for head coach Matt Cersosimo and his players as they gave up 42 straight points, half of which came on three consecutive turnovers. “Our guys were not executing and they (Southington) did. We gave them 21 points off punt block scenarios,” said Cersosimo.

Southington would answer with a score of their own on their first possession and that would be all the scoring in the first quarter. The next 12 minutes would haunt Conard and determine how this game was going to play out. After switching ends to start the second, Cersosimo threw an incomplete pass on third down forcing the team to punt from its own end zone. Southington broke through the line and blocked the punt. The loose ball spun towards the right side of the end zone before Colin Martin fell on it for the touchdown.

On the ensuing possession  Conard found itself facing a fourth-and-19 deep in its own zone and decided to punt. Once again, the Blue Knights got through and blocked the punt, recovering it at the Conard 15-yard line. Conard’s defense held for three downs and on fourth-and-10 still at the 15, freshman quarterback Nathan Pelletier found a wide-open Jaxiel Rivera for the easy touchdown – and a 14-point lead with just under two minutes played.

“We had a great opening kick return and marched down the field and scored,” Cersosimo said after the game.” We had the momentum, but they fought back and took it.”

Special teams were the Achilles heel for Conard once again when Southington recoverin a short kickoff. The wind forced both teams to kick short all night and played with any punts that got air. Conard turned it a strong defensive effort that saw Justin Nanayakkara break-up a long pass on second down, and then Luke Jones and Joe Andrews combined on a third down stop to force the punt. The ball rolled dead at the Conard 6 – a frequent sight in the game as the Red Wolves return men chose to let the ball continue to roll on several punts.

On fourth down, the Red Wolves did not execute a punt as planned, instead the snap was fumbled in the end zone, and Nathan Blumes picked it up and managed to get out to the 4-yard line before being gang tackled. Southington was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct on the tackle and the ball was placed at the Conard 19 with the Blue Knights on offense. The Red Wolves looked like they might survive this time when Ryan Gillis and Ryan Cicchetti combined for a big stop on third down. Southington went for it on fourth and Pelletier found Leif Renehan for a 16-yard touchdown and a 21-point lead with 6:39 to go in the first half.

“We have got to get better at learning our assignments,” Cersosimo said of his team’s effort.

After Conard turned the ball over on downs at the Southington 5-yard line, the visitors cashed in again. On second down Pelletier found a receiver deep in Conard territory with a perfectly placed pass that moved the ball to the 24. The Blue Knights found something they liked going against the left side of the Conard defense on the ground and in the air all game, especially on key plays. Two plays after the long bomb, it was Pelletier finding Rosco Cook cutting into the end zone and hitting him on the run for another touchdown.

Conard pushed forward for one final try before the half ended. Cersosimo picked up the first down when he scrambled just over midfield then found Kirkutis with a pass to the 39 with under :30 to play. After an incomplete pass. Blumes took a screen and fought his way to the 12 with just :06 to go.

An incomplete pass into the endzone appeared to end the first half, but official ruled there was still :01 to go. With one more chance, Cersosimo looked for Kirkutis in a on-on-one matchup on the right side. But defender JoJo Fabiano undercut the throw for the interception to end the drive and the half at 35-7.

The Blue Knights received the second half kick and on first down Pelletier went down the right side with a keeper and was hit out of bounds by a Conard tackler, adding 15 yards to the run and putting the ball at the Red Wolves’ 38. Zack Findley, who carried the rushing load all night for the Knights, advanced the ball to the 20 before scampering untouched into the end zone to make it 42-7 just 1:53 into the third quarter.

The rest of the game saw the two sides move the ball, but not score. In fact, Southington’s last drive saw them run the ball on all but two plays – and those were touch passes to motion receivers. Conard had one final possession late in the fourth but turned the ball over on downs, allowing Southington to run the clock out for the 42-7 victory.

The bright sports were hard to find for Conard in the game, but Kirkutis was clearly the top offensive performer for Conard. On defense, Jackson Hardman had his name called often, and captain Brayden Sohn was a force on both sides of the ball before having to leave the game in the second half with an apparent arm injury.

“We shot ourselves in the foot on multiple plays,” Cersosimo said of the game. “I have got to do a better job of coaching.”

Both Conard and Southington are now 1-1 on the season with the Red Wolves traveling to New Haven next Friday to meet Hillhouse.

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