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WILTON, Conn. The New Canaan 3 Red football team fought valiantly against the Wilton White on a picture perfect Saturday evening but lost in the end, 18-8.
Hayden Shin opened New Canaan's first possession with a strong four-yard burst up the middle. When New Canaan could not convert the third down, Wilton took over. But Griffin Koch and Jack Murphy stopped it cold on third down. Wilton picked up a first down on a fourth-down attempt. On the next series, Henry Cannon made a huge fourth-down stop to end the drive. Maddox Underwood, Charlie Borthwick, Johnny Dunn and Ben Marshall made a number of impressive hits before Cannon's stop.
As the second quarter got under way, New Canaan took over and Chris Canet rambled 24 yards, highlighted by an agile straight arm to a Wilton defender. Great blocks by Jack Connors, Dylan Kortman and Jackson Slazyk opened the hole for Canet. Hayden Shin and Tommy Towers then reeled off 8- and 12-yard runs in succession, which were made possible by blocks by Mac MacHale, Aidan Blair, Will Thomas and Corey Pickering. After a questionable holding call, New Canaan turned the ball back to Wilton.
Nicholas Radman and Marshall then made a couple of impressive stops, but Wiltonbroke outside and went ahead 6-0 at the half. A solo tackle by Murphy stopped the extra point.
Just before start of the third quarter, Jack Connors showed that the New Canaan kids were ready to roll by punching out a number of pushups on the sidelines to his cadre of fans.
Playing defense for majority of the third quarter, aggressive hits by Koch, Radman, Cannon, Underwood and Griffin Deane (who also doubled as center on offense) made it difficult for the Wilton offense. Many in the crowd mentioned Cannon was the perfect last name for Henry given the explosive nature of his hits.
With Wilton leading 18-0, fans felt the momentum change with Harry Appelts' "zen-like" defensive read of a Wilton play, single-handedly stripping the Wilton quarterback of the football and almost recovering it himself. This jolt of energy powered the New Canaan offense as Canet then went 20 yards for the team's first score. He then calmly threw a screen pass to Towers, who scored the two-pointer to end the game, 18-8.
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