Attianese helps Granby/Canton top Warriors in opener

Granby/Canton’s Will Attianese ran for two TDs and threw TD pass to help the Bears beat Valley Regional/Old Lyme on Thursday night.

Will Attianese ran for 88 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 13 carries as the Granby/Canton football team won their first game of the season with a dominating 28-7 win over Valley Regional/Old Lyme on Thursday night in Deep River.

Attianese also threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Vincent Forte. The Bears (1-0) had seven sacks in the game and 11 tackles for loss against the Warriors (0-2), who played in the Class SS championship game a year ago.

Attianese scored on TD runs of 25 and one yard while Forte also scored on a 13-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. Kicker Hayes Horst was 4-for-4 kicking extra points.

The Bears will travel to Ellington for a game next Friday night. Granby/Canton’s season-opening game with Rockville that was suspended twice on consecutive evenings due to lightning is due to be finished the week of Oct. 9. No date has been set yet. Rockville was leading 7-0 when the game was suspended for a second day with 5:26 left in the second quarter.

Granby/Canton 28, Valley Regional/Old Lyme 7
At Deep River
Granby/Canton (1-0)      7  14  0  7  — 28
Valley Reg./OL (0-2)        0  0  0  7 – 7
First quarter
G: Vincent Forte 13 run (Hayes Horst kick)
Second quarter
G: Will Attianese 25 run (Horst kick)
G: Attianese 24 pass from Forte (Horst kick)
Fourth quarter
G: Attianese 1 run (Horst kick)
VR: Lemay 4 run (kick good)

Berlin 33, Simsbury 7
BERLIN, Sept. 14, 2023 – In the first-ever game between these two programs, Berlin’s Toby Lavender returned an interception 70 yards for a touchdown and Kyle Melville scored on a 69-yard touchdown pass to lead the Redcoats to their first win of the season over Simsbury, 33-7, at Sage Park on Thursday night.

Melville caught two touchdown passes for 112 yards from quarterback Christian Riccitelli, who completed 8-of-10 passes for 172 yards.

SImsbury (0-2) blocked a field goal and a punt in the game and received a one-yard touchdown run from Chad Mairano late in the fourth quarter.

Berlin 33, Simsbury 7
At Berlin
Simsbury (0-2)                   0  0    0  7 – 7
Berlin (1-1)                       14  6  13  0  — 33
First quarter
B: Toby Lavender 70 interception return (Eli Rice kick), 7:07
B: Kyle Melville 44 pass from Christian Riccitelli (Rice kick), 0:12
Second quarter
B: Melville 69 pass from Riccitelli (kick blocked), 3:37
Third quarter
B: Toby Lavender 7 run (pass fails), 5:40
B: Ryan Lavender 5 run (Rice kick), 2:38
Fourth quarter
S: Chad Mairano 1 run (Marshall Potter kick), 4:44
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Berlin – Toby Lavender 10-58, Elijah Santos 4-31, Christian Riccitelli 4-minus 2, Ryan Lavender 4-19, Cody Puzio 2-4, Jon Morales 1-0, Mason DiMauro 2-14, D. Ricuppento 2-5
PASSING: Berlin – Christian Riccitelli 8-10-0, 172, Cody Puzio 0-1-0
RECEIVING: Berlin – Toby Lavender 1-11, Santos 1-1, Morales 1-13, Kyle Melville 2-112, Will Balicki 1-15

RHAM 35, Lewis Mills 7
HEBRON, Sept. 15, 2023 – The Raptors (1-0) won their season-opening contest with a 35-7 win over Lewis Mills on Friday night. Danny Mantilla ran for three touchdowns to lead RHAM.

The Raptors’ first game of the season against Avon that was suspended due to lightning with 7:17 left in the third quarter a week ago will be completed on Friday, Oct. 13 at 4 p.m. in Avon. The Raptors own a 28-7 lead.

RHAM 35, Lewis Mills 7
At Hebron
Lewis Mills (0-2)           0    0  0  7  — 7
RHAM (1-0)                 14  14  0  7  — 35
First Quarter
R: Daniel Mantilla 2 run (Mason Little kick)
R: Mantilla 4 run (Little kick)
Second quarter
R: Mantilla 9 run (Little kick)
R: Mantilla 4 run (Little kick)
Fourth quarter
R: Joseph Fahey 38 run (Mantilla kick)
LM: Mateo Dolzadelli 50 pass from Alex Weaver (Gianluca Dolzadelli kick)
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Lewis Mills – Mateo Dolzadelli 3-minus 4, Alex Weaver 3-minus 4, Turner Clawson 1-1, Gianluca Dolzadelli 7-19, Lynch Aiden 1-13, Casey McKinley 7-0, Owen Magnola 2-9
PASSING: Lewis Mills – Alex Weaver 6-14-1, 77; Larry Weaver 1-1-0, 8
RECEIVING: Lewis Mills – Tyler Pierzchalski 5-38, Mateo Dolzadelli 2-60, Casey McKinley 3-minus 1

Bye week for Farmington
This week was a bye week for Farmington, which lost to Bristol Eastern week. Four of the five Valley teams will be playing Connecticut Football Alliance contests next week against non-conference foes.

Simsbury hosts Stamford in a first-ever meeting between the two long-time football programs on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Holden Field while Stratford visits Farmington for a contest that begins at 6 p.m. at George Bennett Field. Granby/Canton visits rival Ellington in a key Pequot Conference game beginning at 6:30 p.m.

On Saturday, Notre Dame-Fairfield will visit Lewis Mills beginning at noon in Burlington and Avon travels to East Lyme in a first-ever meeting between the two schools in football on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m.