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Eighth-seeded Ridgefield (10-2) meets No. 4 Southington at 2 p.m. at West Haven High School. The winner advances to the Class LL championship game on Dec. 14 at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain.
The Tigers upset Newtown, 35-33, in Tuesday’s opening game. Running back Will Bonaparte rushed for 226 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Tigers, who won their first state tournament game since winning the state title in 2002.
Ridgefield stunned Newtown in the first half in taking a 21-7 halftime lead and built the advantage to 35-13 in the second half. The game came down to the final seconds when Newtown was denied on a two-point conversion after a Cooper Gold touchdown for Newtown.
Southington (10-1) defeated fifth-seeded Norwich Free Academy,52-14. The Blue Knights’ only loss this season came in October to Hall of Hartford, 49-37.
Quarterback Stephen Barmore has thrown for 2,550 yards and 35 touchdowns, with just five interceptions. Running back Tyler Hyde is the team’s leading rusher with 899 yards and 16 touchdowns. Barmore threw for three touchdowns and Hyde ran for four in the win over Norwich Free Academy.
Southington is the highest remaining seed in the tournament. The top three ranked teams all lost in the opening round. No. 7 Fairfield Prep beat No. 2 Glastonbury, 33-23, and No. 6 West Haven took out Hall, 51-26. Prep meets West Haven in Saturday’s other semifinal.
Ridgefield is one of four teams from the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference into the state semifinals in the four divisions. New Canaan, Darien and St. Joseph will also play semifinal games on Saturday.
Real-time statistics and play-by-play will be available on the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference website.
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