Defense makes the big plays in Farmington’s win over Simsbury

Farmington running back Ivan Guadalupe uses his arm to move away from a Simsbury defender.

SIMSBURY – It took some time for the Farmington High defense to adjust to playing against Simsbury’s triple option veer offense. An additional 12 hours didn’t hurt, either. 

The Central Connecticut Conference between the two long-time rivals was suspended with 1:53 left in the third quarter on Thursday night due to heavy rain and lightning. Simsbury was leading at the time by one after a 10-yard run from Brad Helmkamp. 

The two teams played the final 13:53 of the game on a sunny Friday afternoon and the Farmington defense stood tall in a 26-14 victory at Holden Field. In the fourth quarter, Farmington allowed Simsbury just one first down, made a huge stop on fourth-and-one on the Indian 36-yard-line and had Ivan Guadalupe run back an interception 32 yards for a touchdown with 1:16 remaining to clinch the victory. 

“We’re resilient,” Farmington coach Chris Machol said. “We’ve been that way for a few years now. We’ve turned ourselves into a big play team. I love big plays. As soon as it turned into a big play game, I knew we would have the edge.” 

Farmington’s Kenny Jones (10) cradles a touchdown catch against Simsbury.

Farmington has its offensive weapons in Guadalupe, who ran for a team-high 130 yards, quick receiver Kenny Jones, who scored two TDs including an aerobatic catch in the end zone, and QB Jeremy Buck. 

But it was the defense that made big plays to decide this game. And Machol was thrilled with an Indians team that featured a young defensive line. Sophomores Askash Kuman, Matt Goralski and juniors Connor Martin and Dan Hardiman were making their first varsity starts in this game. Seniors Jayson Martin and Elijah Johnson saw limited playing time last year. 

“I’m proud of how they played in the second half,” Machol said. 

Simsbury had a 14-13 lead when the game resumed Friday thanks to Helmkamp’s 10-yard run and the extra point from James Dougherty. 

But Farmington responded and scored on Buck’s 20-yard touchdown pass to Jones, who made a leaping catch with 53 seconds left in the third period. The two-point conversion run failed, leaving Farmington with a 19-14 lead. 

A 45-yard punt from Dougherty pinned Farmington its own 11-yard line. Penalties ruined the drive for Farmington and Simsbury took over on the Farmington 46-yard line with 6:59 remaining in the game. 

Helmkamp, who ran for a game-high 183 yards on 21 carries, gained eight yards to the Farmington 36-yard line, setting up fourth down and inches for a first down to keep the drive alive. On fourth down, Helmkamp went up the middle but was stopped just inches short and Farmington took over with 5:13 remaining. 

Simsbury got the ball back with 1:53 left in the game on its own 26-yard line. The drive ended when Guadalupe intercepted a deflected pass and ran it back 32 yards to clinch the contest for the Indians with 1:16 left. 

“A few plays were the difference in this game,” Simsbury coach Jeff Osborne said. “We executed as we expected except for a few plays that cost us.” 

It was the first win for Farmington over Simsbury since 1965. The two schools first met on the gridiron in 1923 and played each other every year from 1948-68. Since then, there was just a pair of games in 2008 and 2009 won by Simsbury.

Machol was pleased to play Simsbury, a challenging rival close to home. Adding tougher teams to the schedule has been something that Farmington has tried to do since they were left out of the CIAC playoffs with a 9-1 record in 2011 because their schedule wasn’t strong enough.

Farmington 26, Simsbury 14
At Simsbury
Farmington (1-0)         7  6  6  7 – 26
Simsbury (0-1)            7  0  7  0 – 14
First quarter
F: Kenny Jones 8 run (Wyatt Queirolo kick)
S: James Hermsen 1 run (Kyle Dougherty kick), 2:24
Second quarter
F: Jeremy Buck 1 run (kick blocked)
S: Brad Helmkamp 10 run (Dougherty kick)
Third quarter
F: Jones 20 pass from Buck (run fails), 0:53
Fourth quarter
F: Ivan Guadalupe 32 interception return (Queirolo kick), 1:22
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Famington – Ivan Guadalupe 21-130, Jeremy Buck 7-28; Simsbury – Brad Helmkamp 21-183, Eric Bedson 3-37, James DeMaio 4-34, James Hermsen 12-37
PASSING: Farmington – Buck 10-20-1, 86; Simsbury – Hermsen 2-10-1, 15
RECEIVING: Farmington – Kenny Jones 4-52, Anthony Carpenter 4-22, Ben Rossetti 1-6, Elijah Johnson 1-5; Simsbury – Bedson 1-8, Dougherty 1-7