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If the game that Darien's Senior eighth-grade White team and the New Canaan Red team played Saturday is repeated on the high school level in four years, it will be a Thanksgiving Day classic. Darien scored two late touchdowns to defeat New Canaan, 21-14, at Darien High School.
Jack Feeley scored on a 43-yard touchdown pass from Cooper Drippe with 13.5 seconds left for the win. Drippe passed to Daniel Traver for the conversion. John Sommi's interception on New Canaan's final drive sealed the victory.
"The kids hung tough,'' New Canaan coach Doug Hart said. "They did everything we asked of them."
New Canaan (2-1) fell behind on Drippe's 1-yard touchdown run with 3:13 left in the second quarter. The Rams responded with Brandon Abate's 38-yard touchdown pass to Cam Harris with 2:09 left in the quarter. New Canaan took the lead late in the third when Davis Budd hit Justin Meichner on a 10-yard touchdown pass. Frank Cognetta scored the conversion on a pass from Budd to give New Canaan a 14-8 lead. Cognetta's long punt return set up the touchdown.
New Canaan held the lead until late in the fourth quarter. Darien scored on a 1-yard run by Traver with 1:23 left to tie the game. The pass for the conversion failed. New Canaan moved to the Darien 30 on its next possession, but an interception with 49.7 seconds left ended the drive.
After Darien scored the game-winning touchdown, New Canaan's last-gasp drive ended with another interception. "The difference was just a couple of plays,'' Hart said. "I have confidence these guys can hold their own with any one in the league."
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