Big plays help Manchester hand Simsbury its first loss, 14-7

SIMSBURY, Sept. 28 – The only thing missing was the mud. On a wet evening on a soaked artificial turf surface, the Simsbury High and Manchester High football teams slugged it out in a CCC West Division I contest Friday night.

Neither team gave up much defensively in a hard-hitting affair but it was Manchester taking advantage of a 88-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the first half and a 30-yard kickoff return to open the third quarter to earn a 14-7 victory during Homecoming at Simsbury.

Simsbury’s Cormack Mulshine (14) ran for 21 yards in the Trojans’ Homecoming loss to Manchester.

Quincy Thomas’ kickoff return to open the second half was followed by the longest offensive play of the evening – a 33-yard scramble up the middle by Manchester QB Marquis Little to the Simsbury 27-yard line. An interference penalty on the Trojans put the ball on the Simsbury 14-yard line and leading rusher Roy Roberts scored on a one-yard run three plays later.

Little completed a two-point conversion pass to wide open Issacs to give Manchester (3-0) a seven-point lead with 9:17 remaining in the third quarter.

There was plenty of time left but Simsbury (2-1) couldn’t keep its hands on the ball. Four times in the game, the Trojans turned over the ball on fumbles. Simsbury coughed up the ball inside its own 14-yard line twice in the second half.

“We always seem to play well against them defensively,” Manchester coach Marco Pizzoferrato said. “We came at them and tried to make things happen in the backfield. We were ripping (the ball) out and getting after it.

“Those were big plays for us and we needed them to beat a team like that,” he said.

Manchester took a 14-7 lead and Simsbury responded with a 12 play drive that began on its own 35-yard line to the Indian 12. On fourth down, Brad Helmkamp drove up the middle for three yards and had the ball stripped away for Simsbury’s third turnover of the day with 3:27 left in the third quarter.

Manchester ran just four plays before Simsbury’s Eddie Novak stripped the ball from Manchester QB Marquis Little and recovered the fumble on the Indian 16-yard line.

But Simsbury gained just two yards on two carries and on third down and eight, Christian Martinez lost the ball on a fumble after driving to the 10-yard line.

On Simsbury’s next possession, the Trojans drove 50 yards to their own 14-yard line with 3:45 left in the game. On fourth down and five from the 14, Simsbury QB Steven Steijn tried to complete a pass but it was batted away by Manchester’s Quincy Thomas before Helmkamp could catch the ball.

Manchester needed one more big stop to secure the win.

Simsbury’s defense forced Manchester to punt from its own 21-yard line and big Christian Kaljulaid blocked Tajay Wright’s punt into the air and caught it, giving Simsbury one last opportunity on its own 10-yard line with 2:10 remaining.

“Our defense played well,” Simsbury coach Jeff Osborne said, noting that they have given up just seven points in three games so far this season.

Blair Zentek gained two yards on first down, Helmkamp didn’t gain a yard on second down and Steijn completed a five-yard pass to Helmkamp to the three with 47 seconds remaining. On fourth down and goal, Steijn tried to sneak up the middle but only made it to the one-yard line with 19 seconds remaining.

“We have the personnel to get the job done,” Pizzoferrato said. “Unfortunately, they have to be pushed to that point to get it done.”

Simsbury took a 7-0 lead when Helmkamp scored on a 1-yard run in the first quarter to cap off a 10-play, 70-yard drive. Manchester answered immediately when Quan Soyini returned the kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown. The two-point conversion failed.

NOTES: Manchester beat Simsbury for the third straight year for the first time. The Indians now trail the series between the two schools, 13-5-1. They began playing each other in 1975. … Manchester has two players who have committed to Division I schools. Little will play outside linebacker at Boston College and Andrew Issac has committed to play at Maryland.

Manchester 14, Simsbury 7
At Simsbury
Manchester        6  0  8  0 – 14
Simsbury            7  0  0  0 – 7
First quarter
S: Brad Helmkamp 1 run (Kyle Dougherty kick), 4:00
M: Quan Soyini 88 kickoff return (run fails), 3:44
Third quarter
M: Roy Richards 1 run (Andrew Issacs pass from Marquis Little), 9:17
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Simsbury – Steve Steijn 9-9, Brad Helmkamp 11-41, Blair Zentek 2-3, Cormack Mulshine 8-21, Christian Martinez 8-40; Manchester – Andrew Isaacs 1-1, Roy Richards 16-51, Marquis Little 9-52, James Landon 1-6, Elijah Udoh 5-13, DaQuan Adams 1-minus 3
PASSING: Simsbury – Steijn 4-6-0, 27; Manchester — Little 2-3-0, 12
RECEIVING: Simsbury – Martinez 1-11, Helmkamp 2-12, Mulshine 1-4; Manchester – Isaacs 2-12