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Ansonia rolls to dominating 58-12 win over Bloomfield

Ansonia head coach Tom Brockett and the Chargers celebrate after winning the Class S championship on Saturday in East Hartford.

EAST HARTFORD, Dec. 14, 2023  — There was no way Ansonia’s Quintez Whittle was going to leave Saturday’s Class S championship game.

The Chargers’ senior running back took a shot to the shoulder early in the second half and needed some help to get off the field. But a few plays later, he was back.

“No way I am leaving a state championship game like that,” he said. In his scholastic career, Whittle has recovered from two torn ACL injuries and a knee injury as a junior.

Whittle made sure his last high school game was a memorable one. He ran for a game-high 198 yards and four touchdowns as No. 2 seed Ansonia rolled to a 58-12 victory over No. 5 Bloomfield Saturday afternoon at Rentschler Field.

The Chargers (12-1) won their second state championship in the last three years and extended their state record to 22 state titles.

“Any time you win here it is special,” Ansonia head coach Tom Brockett said. “It’s awesome. Just to see them perform at such a high level as a coach makes you feel good.”

It was the eighth time the two schools met for a state championship and it was the most lopsided Charger win over Bloomfield (9-4) since a 40-point win in 1994.

“We don’t talk about records,” Brockett said. “We talk about adding to the legacy of Ansonia football.”

Mistakes doomed the Warhawks efforts. QB Cameron White was intercepted twice and Ansonia recovered consecutive onside kicks in the third quarter to turn the game into a blowout.

Ansonia took advantage of mistakes early. Jahzari Lawson intercepted White and returned the ball to the Bloomfield 2-yard line before losing the ball. But Ansonia teammate Jacob Romanowski scooped it up and ran it two yards for a touchdown. Whittle’s two-yard run gave the Chargers an early 8-0 lead with 9:46 gone in the first quarter.

The Chargers made it 16-0 on a 58-yard run from Whittle and another two-point conversion run with 3:07 left in the first quarter.

Bloomfield responded with two scoring drives to cut the lead to four.

The Warhawks marched 62 yards on six plays with White completing 4-of-5 passes , including a 37-yard touchdown pass to Lamont Applewhite. The conversion pass failed.

After forcing an Ansonia punt, White completed a nine-yard pass to Zion Banton to the Ansonia 42-yard line. A 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty for taunting moved the ball to the Charger 27-yard line. Zachai Kimber scored on a 27-yard run to cut the lead to 16-12 with 10:21 left in the second quarter. Again, the two-point conversion run failed.

That proved to be the high water mark for Bloomfield.

Ansonia QB Matteo Sorrentino scored on a 32-yard run to extend the lead to 22-12. After a second interception, Whittle scored on a 43-yard touchdown run with 3:42 left in the second quarter. Sorrentino scored on a two-point run to extend the lead to 30-12.

Whittle scored on runs of 22 and eight yards in the third quarter while Sorrentino scored on a two-yard run. Crishon Fogle also scored on a 22-yard run for the Chargers.

The 58 points falls one point of an Ansonia record for most points in a championship game. The Chargers scored 59 in a 59-28 win over North Branford in 2012.

“We all know the legacy of Ansonia football,” Whittle said. “As soon as we start, you’ll all know the goal is chasing that (championship) ring.”

Sorrentino ran for 80 yards for Ansonia while Fogle ran for 70 yards.

For Bloomfield, White completed 11-of-24 passes for 118 yards with two interceptions. Applewhite caught three passes for 53 yards. Zachal Kimber ran for a team-high 43 yards on 1-0 carries.

Class S championship
Ansonia 58, Bloomfield 12
At East Hartford
Bloomfield (9-4)            6    6    0   0  – 12
Ansonia (12-1)              16  14  28  0 — 58
First quarter
A: Jacob Romanowski 2 fumble return (Quintez Whittle run), 9:46
A: Quintez Whittle 58 run (Q Whittle run), 3:07
B: Lamont Applewhite 37 pass from Cameron White (pass fails), 0:00
Second quarter
B: Zachal Kimber 27 run (pass fails), 10:21
A: Matteo Sorrentino 32 run (run fails), 6:34
A: Q Whittle 43 run (Sorrentino run), 3:42
Third quarter
A: Q Whittle 8 run (Sorrentino pass from Q Whittle), 7:15
A: Q Whitte 22 run (run fails), 6:48
A: Sorrentino 2 run (Crishon Fogle run), 4:49
A: Fogle 22 run (kick wide), 0:45
Individual results
RUSHING: Ansonia – Crishon Fogle 10-70, Deon Newton 1-3, Chase Antrum 1-2, Matteo Sorrentino 6-80, Quintez Whittle 18-198, Jayden Whittle 1-5; Bloomfield – Zion Banton 5-36, Zachal Kimber 10-43, Romar Heron 3-minus 8, Lamont Applewhite 1-2, Cameron White 4-minus 21
PASSING: Ansonia – Sorrentino 0-3-1, 0, Romeo Charles 0-1-0; Bloomfield – Cameron White 11-24-2, 118
RECEIVING: Bloomfield – Romar Heron 1-1, Zion Banton 2-28, Lamont Applewhite 3-53, Dakhai Powell 2-13, Vernon Kelly 2-23

2024 CIAC football results

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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