Simsbury erases 14-point deficit and beats Conard with field goal in final seconds

Simsbury’s Cole Roberts (4) tries to find open space in Thursday night’s game in Simsbury against Conard.

SIMSBURY, Oct. 17, 2024 – They’re trying to change the culture around the Simsbury High football program. Over the past few seasons, the Trojans have come close in some games but have failed to finish.

That wasn’t the case on Thursday night in a Central Connecticut Conference Tier II contest at Holden Field.

Simsbury’s Marshall Potter hit a 22-yard field goal with 5.7 seconds left in regulation to help the Trojans beat Conard, 44-41, for their second straight win and their fifth win in a row over the visiting Red Wolves.

Conard (1-4) led by 14 points with less than four minutes gone in the game but the Trojans (2-3) didn’t panic. They scored 16 points in the fourth quarter and made a key stop late in the game to give them an opportunity for their game-winning drive.

Quarterback Patrick Matyczyk completed 13-of-17 passes for a season-high 263 yards and three touchdown passes. Alex Medina caught six passes for 132 yards with two TD receptions while sophomore Stephen Wharton caught a 52-yard touchdown reception.

“What we needed to do was fight back and then we went toe-to-toe with them and we didn’t give up that whole game,” Simsbury High coach Dave Masters said.

Simsbury, who was 1-9 a year ago, had lost 15 of their last 16 games before beating Enfield a week ago.

Conard (1-4) ran the ball extremely well behind back Nate Blumes, who ran for a game-high 199 yards and three TDs on 28 carries. The Red Wolves led 14-0 with 3:37 gone in the game.

But Simsbury rode their offense back into the game.

“For us to move forward as a program, we needed a win like that,” Masters said. “It wasn’t pretty and we had a hard time stopping their run, obviously. That’s not how we’ve been winning. A lot of tables turned. It was good. That one felt good.”

Conard’s Nate Blumes (25)  ran for a game-high 199 yards and three touchdowns.

Simsbury tied the game at 28-28 on their first drive of the second half with Matyczyk finding Mednia down the sideline for a 32-yard touchdown reception. But Conard marched right down the field with their no huddle offense to take a 35-28 lead on a 10 yard pass on fourth down from QB Brady Cersosimo to Michael Kirtkutis.

Simsbury had the Red Wolves stopped on their own 28-yard line but a 15-yard facemask penalty kept the drive alive for Conard.

The Trojans responded with a 12-play, 61-yard scoring drive converting three times on third down to keep the drive alive. Matczyk scored on a five-yard run with 11:36 left in the game but Nolan Pendergast missed an extra point and the Trojans trailed by one, 35-34.

Conard extended their lead on a 11-yard TD run by Darien Tejada but Conard kicker Luke Rubino missed an extra point and the lead was seven, 41-34.

Simsbury converted on two big plays to tie the game at 41-41. Facing third down and seven on their own 41-yard line, Matyczyk completed a 40-yard pass to Medina to move the ball to the Conard 19-yard line. It started off as a quick five-yard pass but Medina was able to weave his way through the Red Wolve defense.

On fourth down and seven from the 16-yard line, Matyczyk lofted a pass into the end zone and Medina outjumped a Conard defender to pull down the ball for a touchdown with 4:42 remaining. Pendergast’s extra point tied the game at 41-41.

Simsbury’s defense came up big with a stop, forcing the Red Wolves to punt for the first time with 3:20 remaining.

Three straight runs from Roberts drove the ball to the Conard 34-yard line. With 54 seconds left in the game and facing third down and seven, Matyczyk completed a 23-yard pass to Medina to the 13-yard line with 49 seconds remaining.

“We finally put it together and got a big win,” Matyczyk said. ”They were mostly in man (to-man coverage). I knew my guy was better than their guy so I got it out to our playmakers. It’s a big win. A much needed win.”

Butler’s game-winning kick came from 22 yards away.

“I just had to step up in a big-time scenario,” he said. “And just make the best of a great opportunity. You don’t get a chance to do many of those (game-winning kicks) in your lifetime.”

Conard went down the field quickly to take a 7-0 lead with Blumes running in from the seven. After a Simsbury fumble, the Red Wolves scored on another Blumes run for a 14-0 lead.

A 31-yard kickoff return from Wharton put Simsbury in good field position and they got on the board with a four-yard run from Roberts.

Conard scored again on a 10-play, 80-yard drive to stretch the lead to 14 for a second time, 21-7 but Simsbury drove right down the field to score on a four-yard run from Sean Metz to cut the lead to seven.

A 52-yard touchdown reception to Wharton from Matyczyk with 3:37 cut the Conard lead to seven in the second quarter.

The game was the highest scoring game in the history of the series that began in 1974. The 85 points topped the 69 points scored in Simsbury’s 41-28 win in 2018. It was the most points that Simsbury has scored in the series.

Simsbury 44, Conard 41
At Simsbury
Conard (1-4)                 21    7  7    6  — 41
Simsbury (2-3)              7  14  7  16  — 44
First quarter
C: Nate Blumes 7 run (Luke Rubino kick), 9:48
C: Blumes 6 run (Blumes kick), 8:23
S: Cole Roberts 6 run (Nolan Pendergast kick), 5:14
C: Darien Tejada 37 pass from Brady Cersosimo (Rubino kick), 1:00
Second quarter
S: Sean Metz 4 run (Pendergast kick), 10:31
C: Blumes 1 run (Rubino kick), 5:29
S: Stephen Wharton 52 pass from Patrick Matyczyk (Pendergast kick), 3:37
Third quarter
S: Alex Medina 32 pass from Matyczyk (Pendergast kick), 8:54
C: Michael Kirkutis 10 pass from Cersosimo (Rubino kick), 4:44
Fourth quarter
S: Matyczyk 5 run (kick wide), 11:36
C: Tejada 11 run (kick wide), 8:34
S: Medina 16 pass from Matyczyk (Pendergast kick), 4:42
S: Marshall Potter 22 FG, 05.7
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Simsbury — Patrick Matyczyk 14-64, Cole Roberts 19-78, Andrew Kerwin 1-4, Max Konopka 2-4, Sean Metz 1-4; Conard — Brady Cersosimo 7-16, Nate Blumes 28-199, Darien Tejada 1-1, Justin Nanayakkara 2-10, Michael Kirkutis 2-19, Raymond Lamoureaux 7-25
PASSING: Simsbury — Patrick Matyczyk 13-17-0, 263; Conard — Brady Cersosimo 7-14-0, 96
RECEIVING: Simsbury — Tim Beaulieu 1-6, Cole Roberts 3-68, Alex Medina 6-132, Shane Butler 1-1, Stephen Wharton 1-52, Andrew Kerwin 1-4; Conard — Blumes 3-43, Darien Tejada 2-41, Justin Nanayakkara 1-2, Kirkutis 1-10