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Attianese scores five TDs as Bears pulls away from Thunderbirds

Granby/Canton’s Will Attianese (22) scored five touchdowns and tied a state record Friday night for fumble returns for TDs in a 39-13 win over North Branford.

GRANBY, Oct. 6, 2023 – Senior Will Attianese tied a Granby High school record by scoring five touchdowns with two fumble returns for a touchdown as the Granby/Canton co-op football team won their fourth straight game with a 39-13 win over North Branford in a Pequot Conference game Friday night in the Bear’s Den outside Granby High.

Attianese tied the school record set by Connor Field, who scored five touchdowns in a win over the Coventry co-op team in 2014. Attianese scored on touchdown runs of 26, 5 and 1 yard along with a 60-yard fumble return with one second left in the second quarter and recovering a loose ball in the end zone early in the third quarter.

Attianese’s five TDs and 30 points scored are co-op records. Granby/Canton are in their fifth year together as a co-op program.

“Defensively, I can’t take credit for that,” Attianese said of his two fumble returns for TDs, which ties a state record shared by former teammate Luke Maher (2022 vs. CREC co-op) and Capital Prep/Achievement First’s Jahvon Olmstead in 2019. “It was the defensive line for the most part. I was just in the right place at the right time.”

Granby/Canton (4-0, 2-0 Pequot Uncas) had a 20-13 and was looking to expand it late in the second quarter. But Bears QB Vincent Forte was intercepted after a pass was tipped off the hands of Attianese into the arms of a Thunderbird defender with 48 seconds left in the first half.

North Branford completed a 37-yard pass into Granby/Canton territory but Hayes Horst forced a fumble and a five-yard loss for the Thunderbirds on first down. On the next play, North Branford QB AJ Sigel was sacked by Kyle Pavlik, who jarred the ball loose.

Attianese scooped up the ball and began a 60-yard run down the near sideline, scoring with 1.6 seconds left on the clock. It was a bitter setback for North Branford (3-1), who couldn’t regain the energy they had showed on their first three drives of the game. The Bears had a 14-13 lead midway through the second quarter.

With its opening drive of the second half, the Bears stomped on any comeback hopes by North Branford by scoring a five-yard touchdown run from Attianese with 6:56 left in the third quarter and a 32-13 lead. It was a 10-play, 80-yard drive for Granby/Canton.

North Branford got the ball back and on its second offensive play of the half, a bad handoff put the ball on the ground and it rolled backwards toward the back of the end zone before Attianese finally jumped on it and regained control for a touchdown and a 39-13 lead.

“The big thing is that he never comes off the field,” Granby/Canton head coach Erik Shortell said. “He plays defense, offense, kickoff. The only break he gets is field goal. He is just the guy that needs to be out there.”

Granby/Canton forced three fumbles, recovering two, and an interception.

Will Attianese tied a school record with five TDs and 30 points in Friday night’s 39-13 win over North Branford.

“I think we are playing great,” Attianese said. “This might be the most physical team I have been on as Granby/Canton. Everyone here wants to hit and be in on every play. The energy here is great.”

Added head coach Erik Shortell, ”We started the season slow but now we’re beginning to click and we’re getting better.”

The Thunderbird quickly scored on their first drive of the game, marching 70 yards on seven plays in less than four minutes for a 7-0 lead on a 11-yard TD run from AJ Siegel.

Using a quick-tempo offense, the Bears marched 85 yards on 14 plays to tie the game at 7-7 on a one-yard run from Attianese. The crucial play of the drive was Forte’s 32-yard pass to Ryan Cunowski on a fourth down and 17 yards play from the T-Bird 35-yard line. That put the ball on the North Branford three-yard line. Two plays later, Attianese scored from the one-yard line.

North Branford responded immediately, quickly driving to the Granby/Canton 11-yard line in just four plays. But Cunowski intercepted a Sigel pass in the end zone to stop the threat.

And the Bears proceeded to march 80 yards in eight plays to take a 14-7 lead on a one-yard touchdown run from Forte.

North Branford pulled within a point, 14-13, when Siegel found a wide-open Braden Burns for a 55-yard touchdown reception with 7:16 left in the second quarter. The extra point failed due to a bad snap.

“We had an excellent game plan coming in,” Shortell said. “We knew that with the option coming in (with North Branford) we had to be rules-based (and disciplined). We pounded that into the ground (this week). This is your job and if you do that, good things will happen.”

Granby/Canton defenders close in on North Branford’s AJ Sigel after an interception in Friday night’s Pequot Conference contest.

Granby/Canton has matched the best start in co-op history. They were also 4-0 in 2021 before getting shutout by Rockville.

The Bears will resume their season-opening game with Rockville (3-0, 2-0 Pequot Uncas) on Thursday on the turf field beginning at 6 p.m. The game was suspended on consecutive days by lightning.

The two teams played on Friday night before the game was suspended. They came back on Saturday night only to see the game suspended a second time with 6:53 remaining in the second quarter for another lightning storm.

Rockville currently has a 7-0 lead after Amir Knighton scored on a five-yard run and an extra point from kicker Molly Wilson.

Granby/Canton 39, North Branford 13
At Granby
North Branford (3-1)       7    6    0  0  — 13
Granby/Canton (4-0)      7  19  13  0  — 39
First quarter
NB: AJ Sigel 11 run (Luca Landino kick), 8:23
G: Will Attianese 1 run (Hayes Horst kick), 3:15
Second quarter
G: Vincent Forte 1 run (Horst kick), 9:43
NB: Gregory Ferraro 55 pass from Siegel (run fails), 7:16
G: Attianese 26 run (kick blocked), 5:28
G: Attianese 60 fumble return (kick blocked), 0:01
Third quarter
G: Attianese 5 run (pass fails), 6:56
G: Attianese recovers fumble in end zone (Horst kick), 6:00
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Granby/Canton – Will Attianese 17-153, Vincent Forte 17-128, Ozjhawn Headley 5-27; North Branford – Thomas Hansen 15-63, AJ Sigel 11-61
PASSING: Granby/Canton – Vincent Forte 8-13-1, 112; North Branford 6-7-1, 98
RECEIVING: Granby/Canton – Ryan Cunowski 3-49, Ben Vrabel 3-45, Carter Chambers 2-18; North Branford – Braden Burns 74, Greg Ferraro 1-55, Thomas Hansen 2-17, Craig Miller 1-7

Pequot Conference

Uncas Division Div. Overall
Granby/Canton 2-0 4-0
Rockville 2-0 3-0
SMSA co-op 2-0 3-1
Stafford/EW/Somers 1-1 3-1
CREC co-op 1-1 1-2
Windsor Locks/Suffield/EG 1-2 1-3
Ellington 0-2 0-3
Coventry co-op 0-3 0-5

 

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Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of The Collinsville Press. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 40 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.

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