WILTON, Conn. The Wilton High School football team had to work harder than most teams to be prepared for its opening game. After missing five straight days of practice and having their opener moved to Monday evening thanks to Hurricane Irene, some wondered whether the storm would put the Warriors behind the eight ball all season.
Scoring the second-highest point total in three seasons can change that outlook.
Quarterback Sean Carroll connected for three touchdown passes and ran for another in a 33-20 victory over Bridgeport Central in Wilton's Monday night opener. Alex Ward caught touchdown passes of 21 and 33 yards, while Rob Keers reeled one in for 39 yards.
"We worked hard and worked for every single rep to be perfect. We needed to be perfect," said Ward, who also intercepted Central's last-gasp heave to the end zone. "We put in hours and hours of running. We won this game in the fourth quarter because we kept working."
Not really known for its offense, Wilton came out firing and Carroll connecting with his receivers early. His 1-yard run with time winding down in the first half gave Wilton a 27-14 cushion going into the break.
What could have been a blowout soon turned into a nail-biter briefly. After a scoreless third, Bridgeport converted a long drive into a touchdown halfway through the fourth quarter, cutting the Warrior lead to 27-20. Wilton attempted to kill the clock when it appeared momentarily that disaster had struck.
The Warriors were stopped on the Bridgeport 45 and forced to punt. The snap went over the head of the punter, seemingly giving Central prime field position to come back and tie the game.
But the Hilltoppers were penalized for too many men on the field, and Wilton had a 4th-and-1 situation instead of 4th-and-16. Head coach Bruce Cunningham took the risk with the better field position and Connor Devane blasted through to give Wilton a fresh set of downs. Devane plunged the dagger four plays later, scoring from three yards out.
"In the off-season we really stressed trying to get the offense to take pressure off the defense in special situations," Carroll said. "When we click I think we can be as good as any offense in the conference."
Wilton (1-0) will have little time to celebrate, though, as the Warriors host defending Class S state champion St. Joseph on Saturday at 3:30 for their homecoming.
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