Good times in Canton as Bears top Stafford/Somers for fifth win of season

CANTON, Oct. 23, 2026 – As part of its co-op agreement, the Granby/Canton football team practices one week a year in Canton and plays one of their five home games on Canton’s turf field.

It provides the eight Canton players on this year’s varsity Bears roster an opportunity to play in front of their peers at their own high school.

Canton High’s Wyatt Bernabucci got a sack, running back Keandre Hunter ran for 64 yards  and caught two passes for 14 yards while Michael Lapenta made several big hits and crucial blocks for the Bears, who improved to 5-1 with a 42-21 win over Stafford/Somers Friday night under the lights in a Pequot Conference Uncas Division contest.

Granby/Canton Joe Lewie ran for three 100 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries while completing 7-of 14 passes for 82 yards and two touchdown passes to lead the Bears, who had two interceptions and a fumble recovery. The Bears (5-1, 3-1 Pequot Uncas) also had four sacks for a loss of 36 yards.

Granby/Canton’s Reece Cuscovitch had a busy evening with 3½ tackles, a fumble recovery, a sack and an interception.

“Our defense has the mentality of bend, don’t break,” Granby/Canton head coach Erik Shortell said. “We made big plays when we had to. We flexed when we had to. It was good to see the kids step up, fly around and be physical.”

Before the contest was two minutes old, the Bears had a 7-0 lead thanks to an interception return by Justin Nagy to the Bulldog 10-yard line and the first of Lewie’s three rushing touchdowns.

Stafford/Somers responded immediately with a six-play, 72-yard drive that tied the game three minutes later.

But the Bears made the plays they had to on both sides of the ball.

“We fought back. We stayed together. We made the plays we had to make,” Bernabucci said. “It was a great team effort.”

Midway through the second quarter, Nagy punched the ball out of the hands of Stafford/Somers QB Kaiden Bobskill and Cuscovitch recovered the ball. That led to Granby’s second touchdown and a 14-7 lead.

With 5:26 left in the first half, Lewie found Elijah Sam with a short screen pass in of the backfield but Sam weaved his way through the Bulldog defense for a 37-yard touchdown reception and a 21-7 lead.

With 26 seconds left in the second quarter, the Bears had Stafford pinned deep in their own end zone. Great pressure from the Bears forced a low punt from the Bulldogs that skidded along the turf and Zachary Mayle scooped up the ball and returned it seven yards to the Stafford five-yard line. Lewie scored two plays later for a 28-7 halftime lead.

Stafford/Somers (3-3, 1-3 Pequot Uncas) scored on their initial drive of the second half to cut the lead to 28-14. They were driving to pull within one score but Cuscovitch intercepted a Bobskill pass on the Granby/Canton 16-yard line to stop the march.

Five plays later, Lewie scored on a 47-yard run to boost the lead to 35-14.

Shortell also praised Canton’s Michael Lapenta, a receiver and safety, who is the captain of the defense, making a lot of defensive calls. Lapenta had plenty of tackles in the game.

It was the 50^th win for the co-op program since it began in 2019 and the sixth straight win in Canton for the program. The only game the co-op program has lost in Canton was an overtime loss to Rockville in 2019.

“It felt amazing,” Bernabucci said of playing on the Canton turf. “I love it here. The atmosphere is great every time we play here. We have a packed house every year.”

The victory keeps Granby/Canton among the contenders for the eight-team CIAC Class S tournament. The Bears are currently ranked No. 3 in Class S and will host the current No. 1 seed North Branford (6-0) next week in Granby.

For Stafford/Somers, Bobskill completed 18-of-29 passes for 206 yards but he was intercepted twice. Alex Brodeur caught four passes for 83 yards and two touchdowns for the visiting Bulldogs.

Banners for Saturday’s stadium dedication ceremony were visible for the game. On Saturday afternoon, the stadium will be dedicated as Nancy Grace Memorial Stadium in honor of Canton’s Hall of Fame field hockey coach, athletic director and teacher who passed away in 2024. The turf will be dedicated as Legend’s Field.

Granby/Canton 42, Stafford/Somers 21
At Canton
Stafford/Somers (3-2)               7     0  7    7  — 21
Granby/Canton (5-1)                14  14  0  14  — 42
First quarter
G: Joe Lewie 2 run (Jacob Kilty kick), 10:14
S: Alex Brodeur 24 pass from Kaiden Bobskill (Logan Moriarty kick), 7:46
G: Kilty 12 pass from Lewie (Kilty kick), 3:16
Second quarter
G: Elijah Sam 37 pass from Lewie (Kilty kick), 5:26
G: Lewie 5 run (Kilty kick), 0:07
Third quarter
S: Brodeur 16 pass from Bobskill (Moriarty kick), 8:12
Fourth quarter
G: Lewie 47 run (Kilty kick), 9:27
S: Bobskill 7 run (Moriarty kick), 6:59
G: Kilty 14 run (Kilty kick), 2:57
Individual leaders
RUSHING: Granby/Canton: Jason Kiely 3-25, Joe Lewie 16-100, Elijah Sam 5-36, Keandre Hunter 13-64; Stafford/Somers: Kaiden Bobskill 18-34, Alex Brodeur 1-4, Jackson Frassinelli 5-7
PASSING: Granby/Canton: Joe Lewie 7-14-1, 82: Stafford/Somers – Kaiden Bobskill 18-29-2, 206
RECEIVING: Granby/Canton – Keandre Hunter 2-14, Jacob Kiely 1-12, Elijah Sam 2-43, August Mayne 2-13; Stafford/Somers – Stephen Tantillo 3-42, Wyatt Marin 3-42, Alex Brodeur 4-83, Jackson Frassinelli 3-38, unknown 1-14

 

Pequot Uncas	Div	Overall
Rockville	3-0	4-2
Granby/Canton	3-1	5-1
Ellington	3-1	3-3
Windsor Locks co-op	1-2	2-4
SMSA co-op	1-2	3-2
Stafford/Spmers	1-3	3-3
CREC co-op	0-3	0-5