Garrett Dagenais (45) opens a hole for Simsbury teammate Travis Bolognese in Friday night’s win over Conard at Holden Field. (Photo courtesy Scott Kerr)
In the first five weeks of the season, the Simsbury High football team has faced three teams ranked in the top 15 of the state high school football poll in the first four weeks of the season including No. 1 Southington, No. 3 Maloney and No. 12 North Haven.
Simsbury picked up their first win of the season two weeks ago with a 30-6 win over Norwalk at Holden Field. The Trojans secured their second win on Friday night with a 20-3 decision over Conard at Holden Field.
Daniel Sullivan hit a pair of field goals for Simsbury (2-3) from 28 and 31 yards while QB Charlie Strayer scored on a two-yard run and Travis Bolognese added a second TD on a 26-yard run.
Strayer completed 9-of-16 passes for 42 yards and rushed for 41 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. Bolognese ran for 39 yards on six carries.
“The offense is going in the right direction but not at the same pace as the defense,” Simsbury coach Dave Masters said. “It is taking a little longer.”
Strayer is a first-year quarterback and the offensive line is young. “We’re getting there. We’re getting close,” Masters said.
The Simsbury defense has played well. They had seven sacks against Conard and held the Red Wolves to just 57 yards rushing.
Senior Garret Dagenais has been all over the field. Against Conard, he had 13 tackles, had 3½ sacks, four tackles for a loss, recovered a fumble and blocked a punt. Two weeks ago against Maloney, he had 17 tackles.
Elijah Love had nine tackles for Simsbury against the Red Wolves along with an interception, a sack and three tackles for a loss.
Conard QB Julian Schneider did complete 19-of-35 passes for 156 yards. His leading receiver was Brendan Grady, Jr., who caught nine passes for 75 yards.
Simsbury has a bye next week before returning to action on Thursday, Oct. 20, when they travel to Manchester High for a 7 p.m. contest.
Simsbury 20, Conard 3
At Simsbury
Simsbury (2-3) 3 7 3 7 – 20
Conard (2-3) 0 3 0 0 – 3
First quarter
S: Daniel Sullivan 28 FG
Second quarter
S: Charlie Strayer 2 run (Sullivan kick)
C: Conor Mangini 30 FG
Third quarter
S: Sullivan 31 FG
Fourth quarter
S: Travis Bolognese 26 run (Sullivan Kick)
Platt 39, Avon 0
MERIDEN, Oct. 7, 2022 – Vittrio Church scored four touchdowns to lead Platt (3-2) to a 39-0 shutout win over Avon in a CCC Tier III contest on Friday night at Falcon Field. Church caught a pair of touchdown passes (16 yards, 51 yards) from quarterback Avery Robinson along with a 10-yard TD run and a 60-yard punt return.
Penalties and mistakes hurt the Falcons (2-3) throughout the game. Platt scored two touchdowns in the final 1:21 of the second quarter on a 12-yard TD pass from Robinson and a 20-yard fumble recovery for a TD by Julian Frias.
Avon has a bye week and returns to action on Oct. 21 when they visit Northwest Catholic.
Platt 39, Avon 0
At Meriden
Avon (2-3) 0 0 0 0 — 0
Platt (3-2) 7 26 6 0 39
First quarter
P: Vittrio Church 10 run (Trevor Cannata kick), 7:58
Second quarter
P: Church 60 punt return (kick failed), 10:50
P: Church 16 pass from Avery Robinson (Cannata kick), 8:16
P: Zach Baker 12 pass from Robinson (Cannata kick), 1:21
P: Julian Frias 20 fumble recovery (kick fails), 1:08
Third quarter
P: Church 51 pass from Robinson (kick fails), 5:50
Bloomfield 66, Farmington 3
BLOOMFIELD, Oct. 6, 2022 – After two consecutive losses to No. 4 Killingly and Berlin, Bloomfield wasn’t holding back. The Warhawks scored 58 points in the first half to beat Farmington, 66-3 on Thursday night.
Bloomfield (3-2) scored twice on punt returns, once on an interception return and once on a kickoff return. The Warhawks forced four turnovers (three interceptions, one fumble) and blocked three punts.
Bloomfield’s 66 points was the third-most points given up by the River Hawks in team history. Farmington allowed 75 points in a 75-12 loss to Middletown in 1992 and 72 in a 72-0 loss to Plainville in 1957. The 63-point loss is No. 2 on the list of most lopsided losses in team history coming behind the 72-point loss to Plainville in 1957.
Jacob Skinner had a 32-yard field goal for the River Hawks, now 2-3. Farmington returns to action on Friday, Oct. 21 when they host E.O. Smith at George Bennett Field at FHS beginning at 6 p.m.
Bloomfield 66, Farmington 3
At Farmington
Farmington (2-3) 3 0 0 0 — 3
Bloomfield (3-2) 28 30 8 0 — 66
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Bloomfield – Davien Kerr 1-21, D.J. Lewin 4-43, N.Hightower 5-67, Ja’den Jesurum 1-25, Za’kyi Kimber 3-14, Dakhai Powell 1-1, Maliq Collins 2-23, Edwin Rodriguez 5-21
PASSING: Bloomfield – Darrien Foster 4-4-0, 58
RECEIVING: Bloomfield – Davien Kerr 1-3, Jesurum 1-3, Davion Kerr 2-49
