Darien’s Mark Evanchick (left) and linebacker Samuel Giorgio (33) swam around Shelton’s Keith Prior in Saturday’s Class LL championship game in New Britain. Darien dominated in a 39-7 win.
NEW BRITAIN, Dec. 12 – Earning a spot in the state championship final wasn’t something new for Darien. Winning was.
After losing in the Class L final for the past two years to FCIAC rival New Canaan, the Blue Wave captured its first state championship since 1996 with a dominating 39-7 win over Shelton Saturday at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium.
Undefeated Darien (12-0) completed a magical season. The Blue Wave beat New Canaan, 28-21 on Thanksgiving to win the FCIAC championship. And then Darien rolled through the Class LL tournament with a dominating 41-7 win over Staples and a stellar 49-7 win over two-time state champion Southington, the No. 1 ranked team in the state. In the process, Darien snapped Southington’s 31-game winning streak.
In the final against Shelton, the Blue Wave overwhelmed Shelton (12-1). They intercepted five passes and ran two back for touchdowns. They allowed the Gaels just 124 yards of offense and held Shelton to minus 20 yards rushing. The Gatorade state player of the year Mark Evanchick of Shelton had seven tackles, two sacks and three tackles for a loss.
“We couldn’t just be satisfied with beating Southington (Monday in the semifinals),” said Darien defensive back and wide receiver Robert Trifone. “Obviously that was a statement game with a 49-7 win. But last year, we were satisfied with winning the Turkey Bowl (beating New Canaan) and came up short in the state championship game. We weren’t going to let that happen this year.”
Darien celebrates after winning the Class LL state championship with a 39-7 win over Shelton.
A year ago, the Blue Wave lost to New Canaan, 21-20 in the Class L championship game. Two years ago, New Canaan beat Darien, 44-12. With the win, Darien became just the fourth team in state history to win a championship after losing the previous two years in the final. The last team to do that was New London in 1989.
With this victory and the win Monday night over No. 1 Southington, it is highly likely that Darien will be voted the No. 1 team in the New Haven Register’s final state sportswriters poll for the first time since 1992. The Blue Wave were voted No. 1 in the New London Day’s state coaches poll just after Thanksgiving.
“I told the boys that they’ve already won the FCIAC championship,” Darien coach Rob Trifone said. “I told them that they have the opportunity to win the Class LL championship. And you have the opportunity to be the No. 1 team in the state. There aren’t too many teams that can claim a triple crown like that.”
Shelton’s Matthew Liscio (72) had the challenging assignment of trying to slow Gatorade state player of the year Mark Evancheck (90) of Darien in Saturday’s Class LL championship game.
Darien seized command immediately. With pressure from Evanchick, Shelton QB Zach Tuskowski’s first pass was intercepted by Chris Trifone and returned 25 yards for a touchdown and a 6-0 lead. The extra point was blocked by Shelton’s Alexander Kirk.
Shelton got the ball again and Tuskowski had to leave the game with a shoulder injury after being hit by Evanchick seconds after completing a 22-yard pass to Kevin Robinson. Two plays later, Darien’s Hudson Hamill got an interception from backup QB David Wells.
Darien QB Timothy Graham, who completed 19-of-29 passes for 252 yards, threw his first touchdown pass of the day with a three-yard TD reception to Hudson Hamill with 8:49 left in the first quarter for a 12-0 lead. The two-point conversion pass failed.
The Blue Wave made it 18-0 when Robert Trifone returned an interception 48 yards for a touchdown with 5:58 left in the second quarter.
A pair of touchdown runs from Shelby Grant (12 carries, 34 yards) and another touchdown pass from Graham to Hamill gave Darien a 39-0 lead.
“We tried to execute but it didn’t happen,” Shelton coach Jeff Roy said after the Gaels had their 12-game winning streak ended. “Our kids worked hard this season. We won 12 games. We got back here to the finals. We lost to an excellent football team. They’re the best in the state. Our kids left it all on the field.”
Shelton lost to Xavier in last year’s Class LL championship game, 28-27 in overtime.
Darien’s Mark Schmidt led the Blue Wave defense with 13 tackles. Finlay Collins and Samuel Giorgio had eight each. “Our defense has been swarming all year,” Evancheck said. “This was another outstanding performance by our defense and we’ve come to expect that from ourselves. This entire year, we did a good job finishing.”
Darien 39, Shelton 7
At New Britain
Darien (12-0) 12 6 14 7 — 39
Shelton (12-1) 0 0 0 7 — 7
First quarter
D: Chris Trifone 20 interception return (kick blocked), 11:44
D: Hudson Hamill 3 pass from Timothy Graham (pass failed), 8:49
Second quarter
D: Robert Trifone 48 interception return (pass fails), 5:58
Third quarter
D: Shelby Grant 5 run (Riley Stewart kick), 10:03
D: Grant 7 run (Stewart kick), 8:24
Fourth quarter
D: Hamill 37 pass from Graham (Stewart kick), 8:11
S: Kevin Robinson 24 pass from David Wells (Joseph Zoppi kick), 5:06
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Darien – Chris Trifone 7-42, Shelby Grant 12-34, Hudson Hamil 1-5, Timothy Graham 5-minus 4 ; Shelton – Keith Prior 11-17, Jon Sobotka 4-6, Alexander Kirk 1-0, Ron Hubbard 3-minus 3, David Wells 5-minus 40
PASSING: Darien – Timothy Graham 19-29-1, 252; Shelton – David Wells 11-24-3, 95, Zach Tuskowski 2-3-1, 49, Hubbard 0-1
RECEIVING: Darien – Hudson Hamill 8-90, Colin Minicus 3-68, Rock Stewart 3-45, Shelby Grant 3-34, Colin Corcoran 1-9, Spencer Jarecke 1-6; Shelton – Kevin Robinson 6-86, Alexander Kirk 3-9, Anthony Schiavo 2-23, Joseph Zoppi 1-18
Class L championship
New Canaan 42, North Haven 35
WEST HAVEN, Dec. 12 – Ryan O’Connell scored from 1 yard out with 3:34 left to lift New Canaan to the Class L state championship 42-35 over top-seeded North Haven Saturday night before 6,500 at Ken Strong Stadium. Read more about the game at GameTime CT.
Matt Cognetta rushed for a game-high 224 yards on 27 carries and two touchdowns for the Rams (11-1), who won their 11th state title overall in 14 attempts. Michael Collins, who threw for 440 yards in the semifinal-round win over Notre Dame-West Haven, threw for 180 and a touchdown to Kyle Smith to finish his season with a state-record 54 touchdown passes.
It was the third straight state championship for the Rams (11-1) and 11th overall for the program. Their only loss came to Darien, the Class LL champion and likely unanimous No. 1 team when the final Register/GameTimeCT poll is released
New Canaan 42, North Haven 35
At West Haven
New Canaan (11-1) 14 14 7 7 0 — 42
North Haven (12-1) 7 14 7 7 0 — 35
First quarter
NC: Matt Cognetta 53 run (Peter Swindell kick), 9:01
NoHaven: Nick Ponzio 23 pass from Mike Montano (Sabrina Fronte kick), 1:12
NC: Ryan OConnell 3 run (Swindell kick), 0:00
Second quarter
NC: Kyle Smith 9 pass from Michael Collins (Swindell kick), 8:46
NoHaven: Mike Montano 6 run (Fronte kick), 5:30
NC: Matt Cognetta 1 run (Swindell kick), 3:05
NoHaven: Nick Ponzio 36 pass from Jack Steinman (Fronte kick), 0:59
Third quarter
NoHaven: Mike Montano 29 run (Fronte kick), 6:21
NC: Mike Cognetta 0 run (Swindell kick), 1:12
Fourth quarter
NoHaven: Mike Montano 6 run (Fronte kick), 9:45
NC: Ryan O’Connell 1 run (Swindell kick), 3:34
Individual statistics
RUSHING – New Canaan – Matt Cognetta 27-224, Mike Cognetta 4-31, Michael Collins 4-17, Ryan O’Connell 4-16; North Haven – Michael Montano 24-171, Connor Suraci 10-33, Nicholas Ponzio 8-21
PASSING: New Canaan – Collins 22-28, 180; North Haven – Jake Steinman 10-21 146, Montano 2-4, 38, Thomas Dodge 1-1 19
RECEIVING: New Canaan – Kyle Smith 9-91, Peter Swindell 4-37, Andrew Jahns 4-31, Matt Cognetta 3-13, Andrew DeFranco 2-8; North Haven – Ponzio 6-117, Jeremy Imperati 2-36, Montano 3-21, Kyle Meillo 1-19, Suraci 1-10
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