Simsbury dominates Amity for seventh straight victory, 49-13

Simsbury defenders surround Amity’s Samuel Sachs (25) in Friday night’s high school football game in Simsbury. The Trojans won, 49-13.

SIMSBURY, September 20 – For just the third time this decade and for the first time since 2014, the Simsbury High football team has captured their first two games of the season.

In the first-ever meeting between the two teams on the gridiron, the Trojans dominated Amity-Woodbridge Friday night with a 49-13 victory at Holden Field. Simsbury (2-0) intercepted the visiting Spartans three times and gave up just 163 yards in the win.

“The defense is playing lights out,” Simsbury head coach Dave Masters said after the Trojans seventh straight win. “They were crazy.”

The Trojans didn’t give up much. A 15-yard personal foul penalty kept Amity’s first scoring drive alive while Jamie Genovese scored the second Amity touchdown on a 70-yard blocked field goal return at the end of the second quarter.

That cut the lead to eight points at halftime, 21-13. “The block wasn’t good,” Masters said. “A kid missed an assignment.” Before the blocked field goal, Simsbury had scored three consecutive touchdowns to take a commanding lead but they didn’t falter.

“We’re mentally tougher than we have been in a while,” Masters said. “They grew a lot from last week because of the way we won. We were down and you know you can battle back. Those kinds of games have good lessons.”

A week ago, Simsbury beat Hall, 9-3 in overtime. The Trojans hit a field goal with six seconds left to tie the game and won it in OT.

Simsbury’s junior QB Aiden Boeshans had an outstanding game against Amity, completing 11-of-16 passes for 270 yards and two touchdown passes. The most impressive passes was a 91-yard touchdown bomb to receiver Zack Gilbert – one of the longest scoring plays in the program’s long history that dates back to 1908.

Facing a third down and 12 play from their own nine-yard line, Boeshans found Gilbert about 50 yards downfield in stride. Gilbert didn’t miss a step as he raced down the sideline for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 42-13.

Running back Dan Sohn (2) ran for two touchdowns and a game-high 103 yards on 12 carries.

Boeshans completed 11-of-16 passes for 270 yards and two touchdowns – all career-high performances for the young junior quarterback.

“He has that capability (to throw the deep pass) if he uses the right mechanics,” Masters admitted. “He is still learning. He will grow into it. He is capable of it which is why he is there. He made better reads tonight and he was much calmer in the pocket.”

A 15-yard penalty for a late hit kept alive Amity’s first drive and on the next play, Amity’s Ralph Toussaint scored on a 12-yard touchdown run and a 7-0 lead for the visitors.

Simsbury came right back. A 21-yard completion to Jeffrey Coleman (4-83) put the ball on the Amity 37-yard line. On the next play, it was Dan Sohn with a 37-yard touchdown run – his first TD scamper of the day. The kick from rookie Lill Caden (7-for-7 PATs) was good to tie the game at 7-7.

Early in the second quarter, Simsbury took a 14-7 lead on a one-yard run from Dan Sohn, who ran for a game-high 103 yards on 12 carries. The big play on the seven-play, 50-yard drive was a 32-yard completion from Boeshans to Rory Walker to the Amity 2-yard line.

Simsbury extended the lead to 21-7 on a 16-yard touchdown run from Boeshans with 5:59 left in the second quarter. The drive started on the Amity 43 after the visitors tried to run for the first down on a fourth down and four play but sophomore John Mairano and senior Drew Dubois stopped Amity’s John Neary two yards shy of the first down.

Boeshans scored on a four-yard run with 1:29 left in the second quarter for a 28-7 lead. Simsbury defender Tommy Guilfoyle intercepted the first of two passes to give the Trojans another chance to pad their lead. The Trojans drove to the 12-yard line when Caden’s attempted field goal of 30 yards was blocked, leading to an Amity touchdown.

An interception by Brandon Gaffney in the third quarter led to another Simsbury score. Two plays after the turnover, Boeshans found Jeffrey Coleman (4-83, 1 TD) on a short screen pass and Coleman proceeded to weave his way through the Amity defense for a 49-yard touchdown pass and a 35-13 lead for the Trojans.

Sohn and Baoeshans each finished with a pair of touchdowns.

Simsbury returns to action next Saturday when they travel to South Windsor for a 10 a.m. morning start.

* * * * *

Research is ongoing on the longest scoring plays in Simsbury High football history. Research by this author – which isn’t complete yet – has so far found a 96-yard touchdown pass from Doug Cramphin against Middletown in 1969 and Rafael Nieves with a 97-yard touchdown run against Hall in 2017.

* * * * *

The game was scheduled because the Central Connecticut Conference joined the Connecticut Football Alliance to provide competitive non-league contests to teams across the state. Eighty-four teams from five leagues will play 99 games this year.

Representatives from the Southern Connecticut Conference (SCC), Southwest Conference (SWC), FCIAC and Eastern Connecticut Conference (ECC) also participated in the alliance along with the CCC football teams.

League representatives met several times in the past year to develop the schedule and matchups, which were based on factors as classification, school enrollment and recent program success.

Simsbury 49, Amity-Woodbridge 13
At Simsbury
Amity (1-1)                  7    6  0    0  — 13
Simsbury (2-0)           7  21  7  14  — 49
First quarter
A: Ralph Toussaint 12 run (Ammar Badawl kick), 5:35
S: Dan Sohn 37 run (Lill Caden kick), 4:04
Second quarter
S: Sohn 1 run (Caden kick), 11:24
S: Aiden Boeshans 14 run (Caden kick), 5:59
S: Boeshans 4 run (Caden kick), 1:28
A: Jamie Genovese 70 blocked FG return (kick fails), 0:00
Third quarter
S: Jeffrey Coleman 49 pass from Boeshans (Caden kick), 4:49
Fourth quarter
S: Zack Gilbert 91 pass from Boeshans (Caden kick), 10:28
S: Boeshans 1 run (Caden kick), 4:22
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Simsbury – Auden Boeshans 15-58, Kye Terry 1-0, John Mairano 3-18, Dan Sohn 12-103, Brendan Gaffney 2-12; Amity – Max Dempsey 3-6, James Deston 2-5, Nicholas Bevvino 10-30, Joseph Digello 11-51, Ralph Toussaint 6-7, Samuel Sachs 9-23, Ben Iwaszkiewicz 1-2
PASSING: Simsbury – Boeshans 11-16-0, 270; Amity – Dempsey 0-3-1, 0; Iwaszkiewicz 4-11-2, 39
RECEIVING: Simsbury – Sean Carr 2-22, Zack Glbert 2-114, Jeffrey Coleman 4-83, Caden Musser 1-16, Rory Walker 2-35; Amity – Samuel Sachs 2-24, Joseph Digello 2-15
INTERCEPTIONS: Tommy Guilfoyle (S) 2-6, Brendan Gaffney (S) 1-0
BLOCKED FG: Caden (S) 30