Class M semifinals: Hillhouse wears down pesky Yellowjackets

WATERBURY, Dec. 4, 2010 – For two quarters, the Gilbert/Northwestern Regional football team stood toe to toe with New Haven’s Hillhouse High. Even after the Academics raced out to a two-touchdown lead after one quarter, the Yellowjackets were able to use their defense to take a two-point lead.

But Hillhouse was too quick and too hard hitting.

Five Gilbert players left the game with injuries and some key defensive plays by the Academics enabled No. 8 Hillhouse to earn a spot in the Class M championship game with a 42-14 victory over No. 4 Gilbert at Municipal Stadium Saturday.

After Hillhouse (9-3) took a 12-0 lead by scoring on its first two drives of the first quarter, the Yellowjackets responded with a pair of touchdown drives to take a 14-12 lead. Gilbert actually moved the ball well on its first drive, getting as far as the Hillhouse four-yard line before the Academics stiffened forcing a 26-yard field goal attempt that was short.

Trailing 12-0, Gilbert quarterback Bobby Lippincott raced 26 yards around the end fo the Hillhouse 42-yard line. Two plays later, Drew McCarthy broke through the line for a 30-yard touchdown run. John Ambrozaitis’ kick was good to cut the lead to 12-7.

On Hillhouse’s next possession, the Academics got as far at the Gilbert 21 but were set back by a holding penalty. On fourth and seven from the Gilbert 39, McCarthy made a great open field tackle to help the Yellowjackets take over on downs.

Gilbert wasn’t able to take advantage and on fourth down, Lippincott nailed a 57-yard punt that was downed on the Hillhouse 4-yard line. On the first play, Gilbert’s Kyle Jones forced a fumble that Lippincott recovered. Two plays later, Lippincott scored from three yards away for a 14-12 lead with 4:55 left in the second quarter.

“What helped was the first drive knowing we could move the ball on them if we needed to,” Gilbert coach Scott Salius said. “It wasn’t beyond them at 12-0 to come back.”

Molway, who led Gilbert with 110 yards on 14 carries, had a 49-yard run to the Hillhouse seven on that initial drive. But after a three-yard gain to the four, Lippincott was hit for a five-yard loss and a third down pass was incomplete.

“We have to punch the ball in,” Salius said afterwards. “We have to score. You can’t get inside the 10 and not score. You play games to get into the end zone.”

Gilbert nearly led at halftime. Hillhouse took over on its own nine-yard line with 1:42 left in the second quarter. But sophomore quarterback Je’Vaughn Moore calmly led Hillhouse downfield. The Academics ran for 47 yards on five straight running plays before Moore completed a 22-yard pass to Steven DeJournett and a 10-yard pass to Andre Anderson to the Gilbert 13 with 15 seconds remaining.

After an incompletion, Moore found William Glover in the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown pass. A two-point conversion run from Taurese Washington made it 20-14 with 7.4 seconds remaining.

“We had some good breaks, some turnovers,” Salius said. “We needed to create turnovers. We knew we could match them speed for speed on the corners so we had to make plays. We’re able to make plays to (halftime) and it was anybody’s ballgame.”

Injuries were beginning to take their toll on the Yellowjackets. On the first play of the game, John Lippincott, Gilbert’s starting outside linebacker was injured with a concussion. In the second quarter, John Marshall, a starter on both sides of the ball was injured trying to recover a kickoff.

On its opening drive of the third quarter, Hillhouse tried gain a first down on fourth-and-one near midfield. Gilbert held and took over. But after a 18-yard run by Molway, he was stripped of the ball by Glover. The ball spun on its nose and nearly rolled out of bounds. But it didn’t and Glover scrambled on all fours to recover the ball.

Three plays later, Hillhouse’s Harold Cooper ran 25 yards to the Gilbert 42-yard line. Then Moore hit Glover for a 42-yard touchdown pass down the sideline for a 28-14 lead.

Gilbert wasn’t dead, yet. McCarthy had a 39-yard kickoff return to the Gilbert 45. With some nice running from Lippincott (32 yards on 3 carries), the Yellowjackets marched to the Hillhouse seven.. Molway gained three yards to the four and Kyle Jones gained two to Academics two. On third down and goal, Lippincott got to the one.

But on fourth down, Jones was stopped and the Academics took over with 2:40 left in the third quarter. A play earlier, Gilbert center Jim Schmitz was injured and was out for the game.

“Those were big defensive plays,” Hillhouse coach Tom Dyer said. “The biggest change was that goal line stand. We made some good plays. Our defensive tackles really came up big.”

Hillhouse added a pair of touchdowns from Taurese Washington in the fourth quarter. Jones and Molway were injured in the final quarter and left the game.
“Losing five players on a team with 33 isn’t that easy,” Salius said. “But that is a good team. They are one of the best teams we’ve every seen. They had a mix of size and speed. For our kids to be able to hang in there in an environment like this, there is no shame in that.”

Moore completed 7-of-13 passes for 158 yards and two touchdowns. Cooper, only a freshman, ran for 130 yards on 13 carries. Washington finished with 97 yards on 13 carries for Hillhouse.

“The important thing is that kids made plays,” Dyer said. “We don’t have some big superstars. You said kids step up for their team when they needed it.”

Hillhouse 42, Gilbert/NWR 14
At Waterbury
Hillhouse            12   8  8 14 – 42
Gilbert/NWR       0 14  0   0 — 14
First quarter
H: Jevaughn Moore 3 run (kick blocked), 4:22
H: Harold Cooper 25 run (kick failed), 1:24
Second quarter
G: Drew McCarthy 30 run (John Ambrozaitis kick), 11:48
G: Bobby Lippincott 1 run (Ambrozaitis kick), 4:55
H: William Glover 13 pass from Moore (Taurese Washington run), 0:07
Third quarter
H: Glover 42 pass from Moore (Washington run), 7:18
Fourth quarter
H: Taurese Washington 18 run (Moore kick), 9:22
H: Washington 33 run (Moore kick), 7:34
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Hillhouse — Andre Anderson, 6-42; Harold Cooper, 13-130; Taurese Washington, 13-97; Jevaughn Moore, 6-25; Mario Callahan, 2-7; Gilbert/NWR — Drew McCarthy, 4-30; Bobby Lippincott, 14-69; Devon Molway, 14-110; Kyle Jones, 5-16; John Ambrozaitis, 3-11
PASSING: Hillhouse — Jevaughn Moore, 7-13-0, 158; Gilbert/NWR — Bobby Lippincott, 3-14-0, 24; Drew McCarthy, 1-1-0, 16
RECEIVING: Hillhouse — William Glover, 2-55; Steve Dejournett, 2-74; Andre Anderson, 3-29; Gilbert/NWR — Bobby Lippincott, 1-16; John Ambrozaitis, 1-5; Sean Fitzgerald, 2-19
MISSED FIELD GOAL: Jean Paul Dulac 26 yards

Team statistics

	Gilb/NW	Hillhouse
First downs	15	22
Rushing yards	236	301
Passing yards	40	158
Comp-att-int	4-15-0	7-13-0
Fumbles-lost	2-1	2-2
Penalties-yards	2-20	0-0
Total offense	459	276

New London 30, Brookfield 12
STRATFORD, Dec. 4, 2010 — Jevon Elmore ran for 151 yards and two touchdowns and New London advanced to its 11th state championship game with a 30-12 win over Brookfield in the Class M semifinals at Bunnell High School.

Elmore’s 72-yard run with 9:38 remaining allowed the Whalers (10-2) to turn a 17-12 lead into 23-12. Elmore scored on a 73-yard run earlier in the game. Kyle McKinnon ran for 153 yards for the Whalers.

New London quarterback Josh Clements completed 10 of 19 passes for 111 yards and also kicked a 25-yard field goal on the last play of the first half to give New London a 17-12 lead.

Boeing Brown finished 20-of-37 for 291 yards, a touchdown and three interceptions for Brookfield (9-3). Brown hit Brian Kelly from 59 yards out to give the Bobcats their only lead, 6-0, with 9:09 left in the first period. Leaon Gordon led Brookfield with 83 yards rushing.

New London 30, Brookfield 12
At Bunnell-Stratford
Brookfield            6 6 0 0 — 12
New London       14 3 0 13 — 30
First quarter
B – Brian Kelly 59 pass from Boeing Brown (kick failed)
NL – Jason Piontkowski 2 pass from Josh Clements (Clements kick)
NL – Jevon Elmore 63 run (Clements kick)
Second quarter
B – Leaon Gordon 39 run (kick failed)
NL – Clements 25 FG
Fourth quarter
NL – Elmore 72 run (kick failed)
NL – Stephan Dance 3 run (Clemens kick)
Individual statistics
RUSHING – New London — Kyle McKinnon 18-153; Jevon Elmore 4-151; Josh Clemens 5- minus 15; Carlos Lozada 2-4; Stephan Dance 3-6; Brookfield – Leaon Gordon 17-83, Boeing Brown 6- minus 17; Tyler Puglisi 3-11; Brian Kelly 3-8
PASSING – New London: Clemens 10-19-0, 111 yards; Brookfield — Brown 20-37-3, 291 yards
RECEIVING: New London – Garick McQueen 1-32; Jason Piontkowski 4-38; Khaleed Fields 3-29; Dance 1-12; Brookfield – Kelly 4-104; Nick Paez 3-29; David DePoi 2-39; Alphonso Gordon 3-33; Nick Moores 5-55; L. Gordon 3-31