Lonesome Polecat: NFA embraces its challenging schedule

Sep. 12—Norwich Free Academy head coach Jason Bakoulis chuckled when discussing his team's schedule.

"It's funny because every year, people say to me, 'Man, you guys have a tough schedule,'" Bakoulis said. "Norwich Free Academy, that's who we are and we're going to play the best-of-the-best."

NFA started its season with the first of four non-league games on its schedule as part of the Connecticut High School Football Alliance. It lost Friday night 31-19 at Xavier, ranked eighth in the GameTimeCT/New Haven Register Top 10 preseason media poll.

It certainly wasn't the way the Wildcats wanted to start the season, but Bakoulis believes there's a benefit to playing the likes of Xavier in addition to the team's Eastern Connecticut Conference schedule.

"Our guys get better from it," Bakoulis said. "Our program over these past five years that we've been doing this has grown so much.

"The guys that we have who are playing college football right now, they come back home, and they feel that they're better prepared because they are playing higher-level competition week-after-week (at NFA)."

NFA will play interleague games against Darien, Shelton, Cheshire in addition to East Lyme, Fitch, Killingly, Waterford and, of course, its old friend New London on Thanksgiving.

Bakoulis saw a lot that he liked during the Xavier loss. Senior quarterback Jayden Desilus ran for two touchdowns and threw for another to Max Pierre Louis. Both started for the Wildcats in 2019 when they qualified for the LL playoffs.

Bakoulis also praised the development of two-way lineman Jordan Ribeiro (6-foot-2, 300 pounds)

"He was a guy in 2019 that was kind of like the sixth, seventh offensive lineman," Bakoulis said. "He completely transformed who he is. Physically he's a little bit taller. He's been working on his flexibility so he's able to use his strength and his power. Doing track helped his footwork. He changed who he was from his sophomore year.

"It was great to see him get out there and play like we expect him to do. He kind of exceeded a little bit as well."

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Fitch sophomore quarterback Ben Perry showed a great deal of poise in his first game Friday night, a 13-7 victory over Stonington.

Perry was 5-for-6 passing out of the run-based triple-option for 78 yards, carried 12 times for 36 yards and, with the game on the line late in the fourth quarter, led the Falcons to four straight first downs to put the game away.

Perry, who is 5-foot-9, 145 pounds, got the job when senior quarterback Shawn Beebe (hip flexor) was injured during the preseason.

"Ben is just really kind of calm and cool," Fitch coach Mike Ellis said. "Shawn Beebe hurt himself early in the preseason and Ben has played all the scrimmages, everything, he stepped up to the plate. For his first game, I thought Ben did a great job."

Perry scored Fitch's first touchdown on a tough 9-yard carry in the second quarter. He tried to do the same on Fitch's next possession, getting the call on first-and-goal from the 3 with 1:13 remaining in the half, but fumbled on the goal line. Ellis said that was perhaps Perry's only mistake.

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Montville head coach Tanner Grove took some positives out of Friday's 41-18 loss to East Lyme.

The Indians have some playmakers on offense, including seniors Chas Terni, Miles Sarmiento and Bernard Hawkins.

Sarmiento, a running back, scored three touchdowns and ran for nearly 100 yards.

Another positive: Montville finally took the field for a game.

"We got to play," Grove said. "We've been smart about all the COVID protocols and all that stuff. So, we've been okay there."

The Indians have this week off to polish some rough edges before playing an opponent that is a better matchup than East Lyme, an ECC Division I team.

"Now we have an off week and then we play an Alliance game (on Sept. 24) against East Catholic, another small school like us," Grove said. "We're going to be in a situation where we might be able to play a little deeper into the game against them because we might not be up against it depth-wise."

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It's easy to forget that most underclassmen had no varsity game experience prior to this season.

East Lyme head coach Rudy Bagos was impressed with the play of his sophomores during Friday's win over Montville.

"It's a good sophomore group. It hurt that last year we didn't get anything. The last thing that they saw was youth football. And we'll see how they adapt. It took them a little while to get going, but you could see the talent that they have.

"Aidan Patterson had a couple touchdowns on screens and he had a nice long run. Jeremiah Jean had a great run for us. Another sophomore, Matt Leone, was great for us at receiver and he's also the long snapper."

Senior Will Anglin, who was a receiver prior to this season, played well at quarterback. He threw three touchdown passes and scrambled 16 yards for another score.

"He was terrific," Bagos said. "He had those touchdown passes and some good scrambles and good runs. He's just a good athlete. And he's also our quarterback on defense."

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Killingly has been rather noteworthy over the years for producing running backs that deliver more hits than they absorb. Examples: Ben LaBelle was the centerpiece of Gene Blain's championship team in 1996, while Gatorade Player of the Year Spencer Lockwood led Chad Neal's 2017 title team.

The narrative around Killingly, 2021, is Jack Sharpe, the senior, 220-pound back who gained nearly 2,200 yards as a sophomore. Sharpe did not disappoint, gaining 140 yards in the team's 42-14 win over Waterford on Friday night.

Now, though, there's another concern for defensive coordinators: sophomore Soren Rief, whose 39-yard touchdown run and 72-yard interception return earned him the Waterford Dental Health Player of the Game honor on GameDay.

"All the credit goes to the line," Rief said. "Sometimes, it's two and three yards at a time. That's what fullbacks do."

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Stonington's Jack Zuro blocked a punt in the fourth quarter that gave the Bears the ball at the Fitch 8-yard line. Stonington scored from there on an 18-yard pass from Lucian Tedeschi to Brady Mullen and Josh Mooney kicked the extra point to pull the team within 13-7. Stonington coach A.J. Massengale said the punt block was something his team worked on coming into the game.

"We were very confident that we could get at least one," Massengale said. "We almost had another earlier in the game, as well. The reason we got the second one was because of Jack's angle and aiming point."

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The postgame routine has changed a bit.

After East Lyme beat host Montville on Friday night, the two teams remained on their own sidelines, skipping the usual postgame handshake line due to COVID-19 related concerns.

Bagos and Grove met at midfield to chat before talking to their respective teams.

"They didn't tell us about it until earlier this week," Bagos said. "As long as we're playing, we'll take it."

It's understandable that schools are taking precautions after not having a normal season last fall.