Undefeated Granby tunes up for playoffs with shutout win over Canton

Canton senior Matt Bangs carries the ball in Wednesday night’s Pequot West Division game in Granby.

GRANBY, Nov. 25 – It was the annual Thanksgiving rivalry game between Canton and Granby for the old milk jug. But both teams had their minds elsewhere Wednesday night.

Playing in its first game since Nov. 6, the undefeated Bears were looking to polish their game and not give away any secrets. As thrilled as Granby was to finish an undefeated 10-0 season and reclaim the old, red, milk jug with a dominating 42-0 win over Canton, the Bears were playing with an eye toward next Tuesday’s Class S quarterfinal.

Granby (10-0, 5-0 Pequot West) will be hosting a game on Tuesday, Dec. 1 in its first-ever CIAC playoff appearance. “Our theme was tune up and try to get better,” Granby coach Rich Gadoury said.

Canton, meanwhile, was trying to build a foundation that they can grow upon. It’s been a tough year for the overmatched Warriors. Inexperience, youth, injuries and some players leaving the team at mid-season have left Canton (0-10, 0-5 Pequot West) without many options. Undersized freshmen seldom have success at the varsity level especially against stronger upperclassmen.

Canton had more yardage returning seven kickoffs (87) than they had passing (36) or running the ball (49). The Warriors were shutout for the first time since October 2012 against Gilbert/Northwestern.

“I’ll take the off-season to get better as a coach and we’ll try to get our players to be better as players and go into next season with our heads up and shoot for the stars,” first year head coach Chris Currier said. “We want them to work on getting stronger, getting faster and taking time to heal up. We’ll get back at it in January.”

It was a challenging assignment from the start. Canton was 10-1 a year ago, won the Pequot Uncas Division title and earned a bid to the Class S tournament. But coach Paul Philippon left after three seasons and there were just 18 players left in the program.

Currier was hired in June but by that point, Canton missed out on spring practice. He was able to recruit additional people to join the program but the learning curve was steep. “A lot of young players stepped up when they were thrown to the wolves,” he said. “That happened by necessity and their effort in practice throughout the season.”

He praised seniors such as Matt Bangs, Will Carlson and Elliott Moreau who played through injuries and did whatever was needed to help the team. In one game this fall, Moreau played every single play – offense, defense and special teams. Bangs began the year as a fullback, played some quarterback when Alex Higley was injured and moved to fullback later in the season. Bangs ran for a career-high 179 yards and a touchdown on 30 carries in Canton’s recent loss to Valley Regional/Old Lyme.

Granby reclaimed the old, red, milk jug with a dominating 42-0 win over Canton Wednesday.

Granby is thrilled with their season. Their last game was against Nonnewaug on November 6. Their game against Coginchaug on Nov. 13 was forfeited when the entire coaching staff resigned over an investigation of the head coach a few days before the game.

It wasn’t that long ago (2010) that Granby was 0-10. Now, they are the Pequot West champions and will be hosting a Class S playoff game. “We didn’t show anything tonight,” Gadoury said. “We still have a lot to work on and there are different things we want to accomplish with our offense and bring it to a playoff level.“

And the Bears have a point to prove. They get little respect playing in the Pequot Conference, playing with some of the smallest schools in the state. “We have a chip on our shoulder,” Gadoury said. “We think we can play with any football team in the state right now and we hope to prove that.”

Granby had little trouble with Canton on this cold 32 degree evening. Leading rusher Connor Field scored on Granby’s first offensive play, rushing around the end for a 32-yard touchdown. On the Bear’s next offensive possession, it was quarterback Dominic Pagano with a 30-yard touchdown run and a 14-0 lead.

Logan Strain scored on a seven-yard run for a 21-0 lead after one quarter. Pagano finished the game, rushing for 167 yards and three touchdowns on seven carries. Strain ran for 60 yards and a touchdown on seven carries. Granby didn’t attempt a pass.

Matt Bangs run through an opening in Wednesday night’s game in Granby.

Bangs led Canton with 42 yards rushing on 17 carries. Quarterback Alex Higley completed just 1-of-10 passes, a 36-yard completion to Azon Click in the fourth quarter to the Granby 16-yard line. But that is as far as the Warriors would get to the end zone. Gabe Florentino sacked Higley for a five-yard loss after the big completion and the drive ended after three consecutive incomplete passes.

Will Carlson and Max Klinkert did recover fumbles for Canton.

OLD MILK JUG NOTES: Granby’s 10-game winning streak is a school record in football. … Canton has given up 424 points this season, the most in the team’s history. … Granby set a new single season record for most points. They currently have scored 362 points. The Bears have allowed a school-record low of 86 points. … The overall series between the two schools is tied 3-3, although Granby has a 3-2 edge in Thanksgiving week football games between the two schools. … This is the third 0-10 season for the Warriors since the sport was revived in 2007. The other winless seasons came in 2007 and 2011. … Wednesday’s shutout win was the second of the year for the Bears, who blanked Enfield, 41-0 in September.

Granby 42, Canton 0
At Granby
Canton (0-10)               0  0  0  0  — 0
Granby (10-0)            21  7  7  7  — 42
First quarter
G: Connor Field 32 run (Frederick Moffa kick), 9:46
G: Dominic Pagano 30 run (Moffa kick), 7:11
G: Logan Strain 44 run (Moffa kick), 2:51
Second quarter
G: Pagano 23 run (Moffa kick), 2:23
Third quarter
G: Pagano 55 run (Moffa kick), 11:20
Fourth quarter
G: Trevon Samuels 12 run (Moffa kick), 11:27
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Granby – Pagano 7-167, Field 3-39, Strain 6-60, Samuels 1-12, Tyler Disabella 1-16, Logan Disabella 4-10; Canton – Alex Higley 10-9, Matt Bangs 17-42, Sam Jenkins 3-minus 2
PASSING: Canton – Higley 1-10-0, 36; Granby – no passes
RECEIVING: Canton – Azon Click 1-10
RETURNS: Canton – Jack Szczepanski 3-19 (KO), Dugan Lloyd 2-37 (KO), Brian Connolly 1-9 (KO), Matt Bangs (KO) 1-21, Azon Click (punt) 1-5; Granby – Jacob Hasuer 1-0 (KO)
FUMBLE RECOVERY: Will Carlson (C), Max Klinkert (C), Jacob Hauser (G); SACKS: Hauser and Mark McDermott (G) 1-7, Strain (G) 1-6, Gage Florentino (G) 1-5